Where are all the Illinois Guys ?

[bwell]

Shelbyville sucked only 12 bass brought in for our club, and even the ITT guys were struggling bad. We caught 9 bass but all short.

[ChiCityBasser]

Shelbyville sucked only 12 bass brought in for our club, and even the ITT guys were struggling bad. We caught 9 bass but all short.

I can believe it as the last couple of times I've been there its fished that way and I have one more event there before the b.a.s.s. guys come in for their event next month and I wanna see how well they do there also.

[slonezp]

First skunk of the year on the Chain today. Not even a bite. Water temp has dropped to 74 degrees and water still low. My son picked up a 14" walleye and that was it.

[Nice_Bass]

Great fishing this weekend- did not even take the bass rods out- looking for bigger fights and found them with wipers and flatheads on spoons. Fileted a few wipers for the weekend meals.

[Nice_Bass]

Great fishing this weekend- did not even take the bass rods out- looking for bigger fights and found them with wipers and flatheads on spoons. Fileted a few wipers for the weekend meals.

[slonezp]

Ho big was the cat?

[Nice_Bass]

Ho big was the cat?

48".

about two years to the date and 6" shorter than caught last time out of this lake. Full of big ones we catch fishing for bass every year, usually not this big though. I had to take pictures though, only time i have had one close to this big it got off.

[bwell]

Did you catch him at Clinton?

[Nice_Bass]

yes, clinton. Lost an even bigger one on friday though after a 45 minute fight. Got some of the fish on video however still not the same as hoisting that thing up.

Most fun i have ever had, 5'6'' pistol grip rod medium, 12 # test. Somthing had to give and sorry to say it was on my end.

[bwell]

So you are just vertically fishing those spoons? I have never heard of using spoons for flatheads. You definitely have that lake figured out, my hats off to you!

[Nice_Bass]

So you are just vertically fishing those spoons? I have never heard of using spoons for flatheads. You definitely have that lake figured out, my hats off to you!

Mostly casting the spoons actually- just waiting up on flats waiting for the stripers and wipers to chase the shad up in the evenings. Once they do, the flatheads just wait under at the dropoffs for easy pickings. Been a fun year!

[Skunked again]

Kaskaskia River?? Thinking about it, would put in at new athens. Is there enough water in it? Debating between there and carlyle, wind will decide!

[cadman]

I'm from around Gurnee, IL northern part of IL. Been fishing a lot of S.E Wisconsin Lakes, Phenominal fishing this year. Best ever.

[slonezp]

There is a meeting coming up in Des Plaines to inform the fishing communitee of any updates on the status of our fishery in Lake Michigan. In this meeting they will let us know about a proposed change in the black bass regulations. They want to change the daily limit from 1 fish over 21" for trophy considerations to 3 fish 14" for food. There reasoning is that the smallmouth fishery is has actually gone down. Numbers and size of smallmouth have declined due to lack of food. I know a lot of you guys on here are fishing smallmouth on the lake now. For them to say we have a lack of smallmouth out there is ludicrous. And to open it up to a 3 fish, 14" limit if they think the population is not there, is contradictory. Imagine those big 18" prespawn fish, face down in buckets all over the lakefront when they change this. If they think we don't have a smallmouth fishery now, it won't take long to totally destroy what we do have.

I plead with all of you guys who care about the smallmouth fishery that we do have to attend this meeting next Thursday evening. We need all of you there to let them know we don't aprove of this proposed change. Information and contacts below.

CMS Suburban North Faculty

9511 Harrison Street

Des Plaines, IL 60016

Park on south side of building enter at south doors

Contact Steve Robillard or Dan Makauskas (847) 294 4134 for more information or to let them know you disaprove.

Thursday November 15th 2012 at 7:00 PM

[MarkH024]

Anything to share from the meeting?

[slonezp]

I never made it. Got a call into a buddy who was there.

Wounded Heroes Ice fishing Derby

http://www.lvvaicefishingderby.com/index.html

I'm not an ice fisherman. Just thought I'd pass on the info

[slonezp]

Anything to share from the meeting?

Here's the response I got from my buddy

It went pretty good Paul.. It was my 1st DNR meeting ever. Economically they touched on the effects on the organization and how the fisheries personel are affected yatyata. I was actually impressed with the thought process and job they do for us.. I learned quite a bit and felt as thought the DNR is more involved then I thought. They passed out and discussed information on King stockings, browns steellhead stockings at the different harbors, regulations, whats doing with the perch, habitat, policeing etc. etc. There where probably approx 60-80 people there, regular guys like us, some Charter Captains, Business owners, some DNR suits, two biologists, secretaries people from down in Springfield etc. Also the Park Bait girl owner was there expressing her concerns over the July perch closing date Vs. closing the month when they spawn April/May I think?.. It was pretty good. They had interesting charts and graphs of whats happening with out Lake Michigan fisheries 1970/80,90s and today etc. It's pretty close to where I live so it wasn't a major inconvenience to attend that being said I recommend anyone that likes to fish to check out one of these meetings sometime, you'll learn something and I believe you will leave impressed with the DNR Organization.

As pertains to them changing the harvesting on Smallies. NOT going to happen. Most people there including myself were emotionally, dramatically against it. Literally everyone spoke up against it and everyone believes it will remain as it is. So thats good. Mission accomplished. I left just before it ended as I had to still get stuff ready for Muskegon..

and from the guy who let us know about it

With the state, it's never a done deal with proposed regulation changes. We definitely have a voice. I believe we changed there mind. The meeting reinforced how the fishing community stood strong in keeping the trophy black bass regulation the same. Before the meeting they got heavy pressure from several organizations. Power in numbers.

The perch deal with there findings through there regular surveys they've been doing for the last 20 years are becoming quite annoying at this point. They still use the same locations for beach seining and netting in the same depth as they did 25 years ago. I suggested as I have before, that they use other locations and times of year in addition to what they do do to compile there data. We all know that in November, the largest numbers of perch move into the Cal River, Navy Pier and all the north side harbors as well as the two downtown harbors. The perch are pretty much there until at least the end of February. The numbers of perch taken from Navy Pier alone are staggering. When we see that, it's hard to believe we have a shortage of perch on this end of the lake. So much has changed in Lake Michigan, from climate to low water to invasive species. I truly believe the methods they've used to collect and compile there data are out of date. This lake has changed, the fish aren't where your looking. I bet if we put commercial fisherman out on the lake, with the technology we have today. It won't take long for them to find the perch.

Well that's my two cents. Glad to see a good turn out.

[Pepul]

Has anybody fished in tampier lake?

[29JMP29]

Im out by Carpentersville, anyone know any decent ponds, lakes, or parts of the river around there?

[MarkH024]

I've fished by the Carpentersville dam a few times. Never had a lot of luck there, so I fish down by Elgin more so. Managed some smallies and a musky at that spot. As far as ponds and lakes, honestly not a whole lot around this area. You can try Bode Lake on Bode Road in Streamwood. Most places in the area a slammed with people when the weather is decent. 

[slonezp]

You need a boat to get on smalies in that stretch of river. I'll launch at voyagers landing. You need to know the river because it eats up props. Here's a springtime  Carpentersville smallie.

 

The smallies get concentrated in a few areas and once you find them, you can get a few hookups before having to move

[MarkH024]

Nice pig Slone.

[slonezp]

She was full of eggs. Caught her during high water a couple years ago on a pb&j jig. My biggest one on the Fox. If you can find them, you can catch dozens in the 12-15" range. Much of the river is not navigable over there, at least with my deep v. I'm picking up a flat bottom this spring so I can get out there more often

[MarkH024]

She was full of eggs. Caught her during high water a couple years ago on a pb&j jig. My biggest one on the Fox. If you can find them, you can catch dozens in the 12-15" range. Much of the river is not navigable over there, at least with my deep v. I'm picking up a flat bottom this spring so I can get out there more often

I have yet to take my boat out there and not really sure I even want to. There is so much debris and other junk in that river with my luck i'd take out my lower end unit. I've probably donated $100 worth of lures and tackle in that river..lol.  Shoot me a pm if you ever want to meet up out that way.  Biggest smallie from there to date was about 15.5". Smallest........about 6".

[slonezp]

If you have a glass boat, I wouldn't recommend it. You're only safe from the 1st island north of I90 to the water treatment plant south of I90. There are some good spots north of the island but all hard bottom. I tear thru a few props every year and decided I could have bought a boat for all the new and repaired props I paid for. I'll let you know Mark. I've got a 15hp that's been sitting in my garage for a couple years that keeps asking me for a boat.  Thinking about a 1440 or 1448 jon. If you're into wading, there are guys who wade the river north of where I fish up to Rt 72 in Dundee maybe even further. .