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John R. Flannery

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Everything posted by John R. Flannery

  1. All excellent points. The only thing I would have to add from my experience almost everywhere at this time of year during low water, is that bigger fish will often be in spots that have some type of overhead cover during bright daylight and clear water, like overhanging rocks on the Mazon or the gnarliest woodpiles on the Muskegon, undercut ledges and undercut banks, or even deep slots with broken surface water. They often emerge during low light. They will often bite if you can get a lure to them and you will have to make some tackle sacrifices. There is usually a way to use wading position to get a bait to them. My go-to recently on the Muskegon was pitching a Z-Man TRD on a Mister Twister Weighted Keeper Hook, with the hook buried in the plastic, upstream and working it gingerly through downed trees. The small ones were in the easy snag-free spots. The bigger ones were back in the trees. The keel weight combined with the buoyancy of the TRD and maintaining contact with the bait as it drifts through the wood made it possible to get a few bigger ones without losing too many baits. We had already figured out from the few dinks we caught on topwaters and plugs that they were on crawfish, from all the parts they choked up when caught.
  2. Both species of buffalo, smallmouth and bigmouth, have much wider bodies than a trout. Most species of sucker have a body that is somewhat similar in shape to a trout, and there are a number of species that are present in the Kankakee. Hard to tell without a picture. I have caught hog suckers, white suckers, redhorse suckers, even a few spotted suckers in Illinois rivers. Most tend to move in loose groups, feeding on the bottom and completely ignore artificial lures most of the time.
  3. I agree with alot of the comments already made. Two clubs I have been a member of disbanded for the reasons already mentioned. I see quite a few young anglers shore fishing and stream fishing, especially during the summer. I'm guessing that they are on their school's fishing teams, because they often have multiple casting rods, tackle backpacks and the right lures for largemouth fishing in a deep south reservoir. I watched a couple of them casting a 10" trout swimbait at Silver Lake in Warrenville, probably spooking every fish in a 20 foot radius with every cast with the depth charge like splash every time the lure hit the water. They seemed like nice kids, but did not notice the three largemouth I caught on a Ned Rig fished slow down the weedline, while they were carpet bombing the other side of the weedline sending panicked fish in my direction. Same thing on the Riverwalk in the summer-casting rods, heavy line and power fishing lures, no match for the eelgrass and algae. All kidding aside, i think these kids are an opportunity for the ISA- make contact with the coaches, offer speakers on local fishing, Midwest Finesse techniques, and that sort of thing. I'm guessing those coaches would welcome developing a relationship with the ISA. One of the clubs I was in got quite a few guests at meetings by creating business cards with club information to pass out to other anglers they encounter on the water. I probably would pass out at least 20 a season to other fishermen I encounter. I would always try to make sure they got introduced as a guest if they showed up at a meeting. I have been in some clubs that are kind of cliquey too. Sometimes beginners might show up, but get intimidated by the level that the other guys are at, maybe not interested in fly fishing but just wanting to learn to fish rivers, since we have so many in Illinois. A good topic to think about.
  4. Thanks, Bart. I will follow up with them when I get a chance. I suspect this pool drainage thing is a state-wide issue. I wonder if there are state standards or if they just ignore the effects and hope for the best.
  5. Thought I would let club members know about two issues I raised with the Dupage Water Commission regarding discharges into the West Branch in the city of Naperville. I fish the Riverwalk quite a bit due to bad knees and convenience. The first issue was run-off from the many construction sites near the river. William Novak, the Naperville City Engineer gave me his phone number (630) 420-6704 and asked me to report any incidents, as the city has mitigation policies and inspectors to make sure they are followed. I told him that numerous times the entire river has gone from clear to totally muddy from workers hosing down their sites in a way that the run off goes directly into the storm drains. The second issue is about Centennial Beach. This is an old rock quarry that has been repurposed into a giant swimming area with a beach at one end and is close to 20 feet deep at the other end. Every summer the area is filled with city water from fire hydrants, and in the fall drained, directly into the river. My concern is that fish exit the area until several days after the draining process is over. Though I have never seen a fish kill, there is obviously something in the discharge they clearly do not like. This is usually done when the river is low and weed choked. Mr. Novak told me that the water in the Beach is treated with chlorine, algecide, and hydrochloride acid, following Illinois regulations and that City workers stop treating the water for at least a week before draining it "to allow the chemicals to dissipate". I am no chemist, but I can see chlorine dissipating due to it's volatility, but am somewhat skeptical about the other chemicals. Then I got to thinking about how many million gallons of treated pool water are dumped into storm drains statewide. Anybody else have and knowledge or thoughts about this?
  6. I agree that the way Wisconsin handles this issue is more sensible. Years ago, a small dam on the Pike River on a private golf course stopped the upstream migration of salmon and steelhead near Kenosha. Anglers could legally wade in and even walk on the bank below the high water mark. It did become somewhat of a mad house during the peaks of the run, but the Kenosha County Sheriff's Deputies watched for people violating the law and made arrests if anyone went beyond the high water mark. They arrested one unfortunate angler who hooked a gigantic steelhead and desperately tried to chase the fish upstream. The situation was resolved when the dam was removed, allowing the fish to get up to a state park. I had permission to access and wade fish the Mazon for many years. There are a few bridges where launching a kayak would be possible. The topography of the stream would make determining the high water mark difficult, though, because it is so flashy. At a normal low water level portages would be necessary for any watercraft in a few spots. I do think that the issue of the tubers behavior needs to be addressed somehow. People littering, relieving themselves and trespassing is a big problem, and though the business owners cannot control their actions on the river, if they are going to run that business, they need to use good judgement and not rent to drunken hooligans.
  7. I saw them too. They are back ordered or are not on sale till the end of the month. I had the same impression, Mark. Unless that part in front is plastic and not lead, they will not be good in rocks. Might be good in weeds or wood. If I get some, I will post the results. I have been keeping track of the Weighted Keeper Hooks longevity that I have been using in extremely rocky areas. The 1/16th oz. one goes back to March 2017 when I snagged the previous one by setting the hook into a branch. The 1/8th oz. one replaced the previous one that was bitten off by a pike in April 2017. Both are getting hard to sharpen and are not their true weight due to abrasion on the rocks. Even though the hooks on them are not the greatest, the combination with these buoyant plastics I have been fishing is almost miraculous how well it comes through the rocks.
  8. Z-Man has released its' latest Midwest Finesse bait, the TRD CrawZ. As far as I know , the only place that has them now is Anglers International Resources/ Fishing Gurus in Palatine. They have a web site and do free shipping on orders over 50.00. I tried them on the Dupage today. They are 2.5 inches and come in about 8 colors so far. They work well on a weighted keeper hook, look great in the water. The claws are very bulbous and buoyant and wag when you move and stop the bait. Obviously a dragging or hopping retrieve with stop and go would be most natural. Unfortunately the 20 or so bass I saw today were super spooky and had lockjaw. I could entice only one 10 incher that came on a half Zinker Z. Might have gotten a few more if I had the 2 inch grubs along. Not a fair trial for the bait. The owner of the store told me it is his fastest selling bait in a long time and that they are almost out of the black/blue color.
  9. Fun topic. If I am wading or bank fishing and I think the fish saw me move after following, I sometimes will reposition myself, try to be more stealthy, and cast the area from a different angle. Also, if a fish follows, but does not strike, I take that as an indicator that I'm attracting the fish, but something about the presentation is not triggering them, so I might try a presentation with more triggering qualities I learned that from steelhead fishing. Many times I have fished a run meticulously in a grid pattern with a float rod with spawn/beads, then make a cast with a spinner and catch a fish on the first cast. This has happened so many times that even though it is a hassle, I always carry a two piece spinner rod in the back of my vest when steelhead fishing and always fish a spinner after the float before moving on. I would say this has upped my catch 20-30%. Regarding fish that get hooked but escape, I figure that the memory span of a fish is fairly short, and since the fish went for the presentation, I let the spot rest for a few minutes, then make the same presentation, perhaps from a different angle. It might not apply to smallmouth fishing, but it is amazing to see how the mood of a group of fish can be radically changed by chumming (where legal). Back in the good old days of perch fishing, by anchoring and having multiple guys fishing minnows, you would get a spot to "fire" into a feeding frenzy once the amount of bait in the water increased from minnows getting stolen, and the fish getting attracted and competitive by the activity. Where it is legal, trout and steelhead guides do the same thing by flipping out spoonfuls of loose eggs into a run, or fishing in a hot water discharge with the same result. If you can get the fish into a competitive state, their willingness to bite increases. I think this is what happens when you have multiple following fish. Best thing to do then is to keep the hooked fish in the water if he is solidly hooked, and another angler flip in a Ned, tube or Senko.
  10. It is also a killer bait rigged as a drop shot for deeper smallies on Lake Geneva. Also the Hula Z, fished like a Neko rig on the bottom if the eel grass is not too bad. B&P Jighead in Carlyle, Il. (618) 594-8469 makes a special jighead they designed to Texas rig the lure weedless. It works great, but you will need to use the super glue. I have a Plano 3500 box that I have been using for the Neds for at least 5 years. The top is warped, which would be a problem if it was not for the latches. Some other boxes not so stuffed with baits so that the lures do not come into contact with the top have not warped at all. Netcraft in Toledo also sells a mold, hooks and keeper wires if you want to defray the high cost of the Shroom heads and try better quality hooks. Last fall I was fishing Racine Harbor for brown trout. Nothing was happening, so for the heck of it, I tried dragging a goby colored Ned across the bottom, with a few hops.. Caught a six pound brown trout. Any place there are gobies, like in Door County, the Ned is becoming a go-to lure. Bill Schultz, who kayak fishes up there a lot, and was our featured speaker many, many years ago at the Blowout, when it was still in Wilmington, uses them first, even though he is sponsored by Kalins. Not to imp[y that the Kalins grub is a bad lure, but that should tell you something.
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