Terry Dodge

Tear into some pizza with fellow ISA smallmouth freaks. NW Region rocks!

Best way I can think of to kickoff the 2016 smallmouth year.

Counted.

Damn good numbers.

Nice turnout! Great way to pass the Winter Blaaa's.

You are counted.

I live by the hour. (sorry guys)

HA! My bad. It's Saturday the 27th. Thanks for pointing that out.

NORTHWEST REGION MEMBERS: Saturday February 27 (Saturday) at 1:00 PM - Pizza Party at Salamone’s Italian Restaurant and Bar 103 S. Cherry Street, Cherry Valley, IL. Come out and spend an afternoon meeting your fellow NW Region members. Pizza and pop is covered. RSVP on the ISA website or at duckdodge62@yahoo.com

The smoking jacket just looks cool.

Smoking jackets would be nice. I'll have to bring that up with Jim and Scott.

Patrick Haaker?

If by chance I missed anyone please let me know. I dedicate myself to reading the Smallmouth Fishing Reports every day, but if somebody were to report a Brutus catch by way of piggy-backing onto someone else's report, then there's slight chance I could have missed it. All it takes is one twenty incher. Once you're in the club, you're in. If a person wanted to start their own club (3 Timer's Club) within the club then go right ahead. Once again CONGRATS to all 2015 members. I hope to read many Brutus reports in 2016. By the way.....A picture is helpful. I might be good at drawing Norm, but I don't know about anyone else.

Yes, a 20" Illinois smallmouth reported here on the http://illinoissmallmouthalliance.net/forums/index.php?showforum=31. We ARE the ILLINOIS SMALLMOUTH ALLIANCE after all.

Congrats to the 2015 Club Brutus Inductees....

I don't think anybody would like that.

What happened?

I got my kayak in January of 2013 and after much, much research I can tell you that I am very pleased with the Jackson Coosa I decided on. After all the research I had narrowed it down to two (2), the Jackson Coosa or the Wilderness System Ride 110. I chose the Coosa over the the Ride 110 because of the storage advantage incase I were to ever do any camp outings. I too have a Jeep, and am 53 years of age and can lift the Coosa fairly easily onto the top of the Jeep. Another factor in deciding on a kayak was my storage space for the yak during the off season. I needed something that was no more than 11.5ft. and both the Coosa and the Ride 110 fell into this range. The Jackson Coosa runs about three to four hundred dollars more than the Ride 110. Jackson, being the main manufacture for the USA kayak team, offers more color options than Wilderness System kayaks can afford to offer on their kayaks, that is if color matters. WS has extended their color options and offer some very nice looking options. The tracking on the Coosa is okay at best, but performs well on my upstream paddles on the Kish. Rocktown Adventure is the place to go. Talk with any of the guys there and they will go out of their way to fit you into a great kayak. If you go there on Saturday they can probably have the kayaks you are interested in at their Open Pool Session on Sunday for you to try out. Rocktown Adventure Paddle Sport Open Pool Session: Sunday at 4:00pm - 7:00pm Boylan Swim Complex 4120 Latham St, Rockford, Illinois 61103

That is where we meet. Best biscuits & gravy this side of the Mississippi.

Do you know of the location of the Cherry Valley Cafe?* *(this is important "need to know" information that is required of being an ISA, NW Region member)

Sycamore? The ducks are dumb in Sycamore. Welcome to the ISA!

TJ Branson - You've got a couple pockets full of bad timing. With this rain we are getting, and plus the big melt we've had after receiving 12" of snow last week, the Kish is going to be running a bit too high for any kind of wading. I would imagine the Apple will be the same, but you'd be better getting info on that from someone else. I do plan to get out tomorrow for Bronze Friday, but it really depends on what happens with the levels over night. PM me a number I can contact you at and I'll give you a call if looks like I'll make it out.

CAMP ISA In attendance - Jim Wright. Terry Dodge Friday 10.2.15 - We met at camp right around 11am. Unloaded our gear and began to setup camp. We had the property at Larsons Landing to ourselves. After setting camp we pulled on our waders and stepped foot in water to checkout the flow of the Kishwaukee River around the camping area. The wind was blowing strong and the bite would started off tough. I believe we ended the first days outing as listed ~ Jim - 6 smallies with the largest at 14.5" Terry - 3 smallies the largest at 17" We enjoyed skirt steaks and a can of pork & beans for dinner Pics from first day.... Saturday 10.3.15 - We started the morning off with chef Jim perking up a damn good pot of coffee followed by a mean egg scram/bacon skillet. After chow we loaded up out yaks and headed up stream fer enough so as to be able to to float the entire day back to the camp-site. Fishing and floating would both prove to be very tough on this 2nd day as the strong wind just refused to subside. ​I guess I should mention that the air temp during our camping trip wasn't all that favorable either. Both Jim and myself got blanked during the float until we hit the lower Kish area just up-stream of our camp. The numbers were as such (Jim you may correct me if I'm wrong) Jim 9 with the largest @ 17" Terry 6 with the largest @ maybe 10 inches. We tore up some brats and sauerkraut for dinner. Pics from day 2..... Sunday 10.4.15 ~ Kind of got off to a later start to the day, but after filling our bellies with more eggs and bacon we broke camp and headed out for one last wade. We decided to stick to the campground area as this area seems to be where the fish are at. On this day Jim would breakout his fly rod and hook into the first fish of the day. Again the wind was strong, the air temp mid 50's, and the fishing was tough. I was tossing a tube and could find no action at all. I switched to a topwater and got one blow-up Numbers for day 3.... Jim 3 with the largest @ 11.5" Terry 1 @ 17'5" Pics of the day.... It was a fun weekend even though the weather and fishing could have been better. I look forward to trying this again in 2016 but will be shooting for a date in September. Thanks to Jim for attending and playing the role of chef for the weekend.

It is done. Report coming soon.

Too bad we couldn't get any more participation on this. Oh well, it's the first year in many to come. (I hope) If any of you NW Region guys are free, feel free to stop by for some campfire chat. I think it's pretty dark by 7:30pm. Hell, I even thinkin' 'bout bringing my fiddle. Hope this wind dies down.