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Terry Dodge

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Posts posted by Terry Dodge

  1. What’s Been Up With Terry

    in Open Discussion

    Posted

    2 hours ago, Joe R said:

    I think you should stand knee deep in a river with guitar and play the smallmouth song.  Maybe someone with drone can circle you. 

    Ha! I actually just finished up writing new song called “Searching For Riffles” , that I’d like to record streamside. 

  4. What’s Been Up With Terry

    in Open Discussion

    Posted

    Hey Fellow ISA Members,

    Well it’s been about a year since I made the hard decision to step away from the ISA Leadership and Newsletter. Tough decision but one that I now feel was the right decision. Last season was a bad season for me sight wise. I struggled with hitting my target while casting.  Usually not even knowing where that damn lure was even going most of the time. This was using traditional gear. Very frustrating. My plan is to focus more on the fly rod this year as I believe the big colorful fly line will assist in casting on target because I can see it. Anyway, enough about my struggles. 
     

    Since stepping down,  I have started to produce my own newsletter, Kishwaukee Valley Newsletter (KVN), also, I created Kishwaukee River Rec, which is a Kishwaukee River safe  level guide to help inform and educate people on the levels of the Kish as it pertains to the USGS PRY12 gage, which is the most popular reach on the Kish. I am currently looking at different ideas of promoting this on a wider scale. I believe it will save at least one life. 

    Near the end of 2023, I was contacted by a group of blind veterans called the,  National Blinded Veterans Organization, asking if I would join their team and help out, which of course I did. Funny thing, I had already been working on the same very idea that they presented to me. In 2019, when I attended a VA blind rehabilitation center program, I walked out of there with so many visual aid devices, that when I got home after the 6 week program, it was all a bit overwhelming. Lot of learning to pack into a 6 week program. 
    We at NBVO.org plan to fix that by offering support with these devices. The website and everything else we do is all done by blinded vets. 
    If you know of a vet, with a vision impairment, feel free to share our site with them. 
    Links:

    https://nbvo.org
    https://nionwebsites.wixsite.com/nbvoaid
     

    I can say that with my vision, the way it is now, fishing just isn’t as enjoyable as it once was. 
    Not that I still don’t enjoy it, just not as much. 
      
    Sorry for the long post but just thought I’d let you know what I’ve been up to. Looking forward to reading your fishing reports this season. 
    Go out and catch a Brutus!

     

  10. Bronzeback Newsletter 11/1/23

    in Open Discussion

    Posted

    Congrats Brendan! I can already see that you’re getting the hang of CC format. Looks good and will only get better from here. Be sure to have fun with it. Thanks for the large size text. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Tip for Editor;

    1) sure to manage CC storage on a regular basis. 

    2) Download the Mobile App. I did many issues using only my phone. 
    Hope you enjoy doing it as much as I did. 
    Looking forward to Decembers issue.

  14. Milkweed Silk

    in BassBugger Member Submissions

    Posted

    7 minutes ago, John Gillio said:

    Wow! Never thought of milkweed silk. It looks like it could be a good substitute for feather fluff or maribou. I imagine it could be dyed too. The acorn popper is 🧐 interesting.

    Also, yeah,  I don’t know how to dye anything but me thinks maybe cracking a closed pod and dying the entire thing, then let it dry? Sure would hate to do those things one by one. 😁

  16. Milkweed Silk

    in BassBugger Member Submissions

    Posted

    Anyone ever use it? I just started playing around with it and and I think I kind of like it. The time is now to grab a pod or two. Plenty to play with from just one pod. I suggest handing it carefully and put a rubber band around the pod to keep the fluff inside. Tied up a Blockhead, dressed a hook for a lure, and had the idea of creating a Kishwaukee River organic fly, the Acorne Popper. IMG_9944.jpegIMG_9949.jpeg

    puck a pod and have some fun! It would be interesting to see how the silk gets used.

    ~Terry

    Bring it!

  18. Avoiding smaller fish

    in Gear & Techniques

    Posted

    1 hour ago, Paul Trybul said:

    Big fish are particular and some days its tough to get them to bite. 

    • I would start by fishing that section again. You have a section with numbers and some big ones mixed in so I would keep hitting that until you unlock its secrets. 
    • Bomb long casts - The water looks low and clear so the big fish can get spooky. Approach good spots with stealth and bomb long casts before the fish can see you.
    • Bigger baits - Sounds like you tried that and little ones will still tap on bigger baits. Bigger topwaters have been the key of me. They don't catch as many dinks and they can trigger some really aggressive strikes from the king of pool. Topwaters like walk the dogs, chug bugs, and whopper ploppers are all able to cast very long distances as well.
    • Fish the low light periods - When the water gets super clear like that, big ones seem to get tricked more often around the sunrise/sunset periods or on cloudy day with an impending storm front.
    • Some people will call this cheating but bring some creek chubs. Drift one through one of those nice pools where you saw a big one but couldn't get it to bite. Make sure you work over all the dinks first or they'll just steal your bait. Preferably catch your creek chubs out of a tributary of the same river basin so you're not introducing anything invasive. 

     

    This reply makes for a nice  Lock Screen on your phone if you screenshot it. Thanks, Paul!

  23. Kishwaukee River Rec

    in Open Discussion

    Posted

    Hey Folks,

    I’m sharing around a link to my, Smallmouth Hunter website, that is a level guide for safe recreation. 
    The info is there for you to make your own decision.            I hope to have a QR code posted at all put-ins along this stretch (PRY12 Gage) so people can check before they float and maybe safe a life or two.  From a kayak fishing stand point, I wouldn’t bother if the level is 7.20ft. and above. The water would be pretty heavily stained. Personally I wouldn’t go over 6.80ft. When it comes to wade fishing, you want the level at about 6ft. I don’t wade much above 6.30ft. Becomes very spotty here on up. Hope you find this helpful if you should plan a visit to the Kishwaukee River.

    https://duckdodge62.wixsite.com/tdsmh/kishriverrec
     

    E8A777A2-D0AD-4CD5-BF37-DB5BC7AE474E.jpeg

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