Fishinthefish Posted February 14, 2015 Posted February 14, 2015 Hey guys. I'm really new to river fishing. Only done it twice in my life outside of this past year. And I'm also quite naive to small mouth fishing. So when I hear the Fox river in Illinois is a phenomenal river to fish for small mouth, I am as excited as I am irritated leaving trip after trip skunked bank fishing for them and at times giving up and switching to walleye fishing around dusk. I firmly believe either I have no idea what I'm doing, or people from this area lie to those who move here and fish it just to keep appearances up that it does hold fish in order to trick people like myself into a vicious cycle of defeat. Any and all trips tricks or ideas would be absolutely great. Also if it helps I'm in the Elgin area for those of you familiar with the fox. I travel anywhere between half an hour north or south of here for fishing this river. Any further just to be skunked again would be agonizing. Quote
Super User Scott F Posted February 14, 2015 Super User Posted February 14, 2015 Are you trying to catch them now? It doesn't get much more difficult trying to catch them in the winter. Wait until the water starts to warm in another month or so. Smallmouth aren't everywhere. You do have to put in the time to locate the places they hang out. Fishing from the bank will also reduce your chances. Get some waders and get in the water. In spring, after it rains, the bass will hold very tight to the bank to get out of the rising water and fast current. You've got a shot at them from the bank then. 1 Quote
drew4779 Posted February 14, 2015 Posted February 14, 2015 Disclaimer: I'm not familiar with this river but... -look for rocks (smallies love crayfish) -current -flats (especially in the morning) -they have good eyesight, clear water seems to be better. I have good luck with tubes, jerks baits, and spinners. Droppshotting may be tough from the bank. Winter is tough for bass fishing. Not that you can't catch them (I tend to catch bigger fish in the winter than any other season but far fewer in numbers). Keep at it. Some of the most fun fish to catch. Quote
Fishinthefish Posted February 14, 2015 Author Posted February 14, 2015 I've beeb out a few times this winter when the ice has been thawed. I would like to start wading. I have wet waded during the hot summer months. No matter where I go I can't seem to put myself on the fish Quote
papajoe222 Posted February 16, 2015 Posted February 16, 2015 I am familiar with the Fox, but not for smallies although I have caoght them below the dam/spillway near Montgomery and I would immagine a similar area near you would also produce once the water temp. Gets above 50. Look for areas where there is a current break (obstructions like rocks, bridge pilings,etc) and don't forget current seams. Active smallies will be in the push area (upstream side) of the breaks, but presentation is a challenge at best. The areas behind the breaks will hold them the majority of the time. Washes or deeper pockets will hold them now, but the area you're in is shallow and there may not be many deep enough. Quote
Fishinthefish Posted February 16, 2015 Author Posted February 16, 2015 Thank you I appreciate the input. I'm going to be trying all over Illinois and Wisconsin this year I want to find new areas to fish since I don't have my own boat anymore and rivers seem most accessible. Quote
moguy1973 Posted February 16, 2015 Posted February 16, 2015 Smallies in rivers like current. The ends of pools before riffles where the water starts moving faster, ambush points behind rocks or stumps in current, etc. Quote
d3bf48 Posted February 17, 2015 Posted February 17, 2015 Its a decent fishery, especially for Illinois. Smallies like rocks and current. Quote
Super User slonezp Posted March 7, 2015 Super User Posted March 7, 2015 Just saw this. I haven't fished the river below Algonquin dam in a couple years. My current boat is too large to launch there. Much of the river is shallow and rocky and guys have done well wading. I used to fish from the Elgin water treatment plant north to Dundee when I had my old boat. There are a lot of cookie cutter bass in the 12"-14" range. They would stack up in the summertime near deep holes with current. In the spring, they were normally scattered. I used mostly soft plastics in green pumpkin. Don't think I ever caught any on crankbaits. Biggest one I ever caught on the river in the pic was caught on a pb&j jig during the spring in high water. Pb&j is a very productive jig color on the entire Fox system. There are also walleye, catfish, pike, and musky swimming around One of these days I'll get a flat bottom boat and fish the area again. Voyagers launch is only 15 minutes from my house. Quote
Fishinthefish Posted March 8, 2015 Author Posted March 8, 2015 Just saw this. I haven't fished the river below Algonquin dam in a couple years. My current boat is too large to launch there. Much of the river is shallow and rocky and guys have done well wading. I used to fish from the Elgin water treatment plant north to Dundee when I had my old boat. There are a lot of cookie cutter bass in the 12"-14" range. They would stack up in the summertime near deep holes with current. In the spring, they were normally scattered. I used mostly soft plastics in green pumpkin. Don't think I ever caught any on crankbaits. Biggest one I ever caught on the river in the pic was caught on a pb&j jig during the spring in high water. Pb&j is a very productive jig color on the entire Fox system. There are also walleye, catfish, pike, and musky swimming around One of these days I'll get a flat bottom boat and fish the area again. Voyagers launch is only 15 minutes from my house. I'm ten minutes from Voyagers landing at most, I'm right near 31 and big timber at the moment. Quote
Super User slonezp Posted March 8, 2015 Super User Posted March 8, 2015 If you can get yourself a small boat or kayak, I can put you on some good spots near Voyagers. You need to be conscience of the current and low summer water would probably be your best bet If you want to do some wading, I can show you where to park and enter the water. It's a couple miles north of Voyagers. I can show you on google maps, I only know how to get there by boat. On the west side of the river, you can park on any of those streets that end at the river and enter the water from there. The foot bridge in the lower 1/3 of the pic is as far as I was able to go in the boat under normal water levels. This area of the river is all rock and gravel and I used to see guys wading it alot. If the water is high, don't venture in because the water narrows south of the island at the bottom of the pic and the current rips thru there. Quote
Weightless Lizard Posted February 28, 2016 Posted February 28, 2016 Hi Guys, just woundering if anyone has had luck with tubs on the Fox for Smallies. If so, what size and colors, Thanks! Quote
Fishinthefish Posted March 3, 2016 Author Posted March 3, 2016 On 2/28/2016 at 6:28 PM, Weightless Lizard said: Hi Guys, just woundering if anyone has had luck with tubs on the Fox for Smallies. If so, what size and colors, Thanks! I definitely do, I've fished this river hundreds of times in the past year. Sometimes the river is dynamite sometimes it isn't. I like tubes up to 5 inches, usually in darker colors. Other than that I don't have a favorite color. Though the advice I can give you is to look at gold shiners, golden shiners. Those colors are the exact colors of the baitfish in that river. Quote
Weightless Lizard Posted March 3, 2016 Posted March 3, 2016 12 hours ago, Fishinthefish said: I definitely do, I've fished this river hundreds of times in the past year. Sometimes the river is dynamite sometimes it isn't. I like tubes up to 5 inches, usually in darker colors. Other than that I don't have a favorite color. Though the advice I can give you is to look at gold shiners, golden shiners. Those colors are the exact colors of the baitfish in that river. Thanks! Quote
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