Des Plaines River report: 11/17/09

November 17, 2009

This past week has been a hit or a miss for everything in fishing. Inconsistent is the best way to explain it. Water temperatures have fallen to 50-degrees, and water levels are at the lowest they have been since early October.

The best of the bunch are Northern Pike, and the occasional Walleye and Sauger.

Pike remain to be best on jerkbaits such as X-Raps and Husky Jerks. In addition, spinnerbaits, bucktails, and swimbaits have yielded good results as well. Live bait in the form of shiners and chubs drifted beneath float set-ups are also catching some fish too. Areas worth fishing are creek mouths, wood, log jams, shorelines and backwater areas receiving direct sunlight, and deeper pools & main river channel.

Like pretty much this entire fall fishing season, Walleye and Sauger continue to be perplexing, thus giving many of us, who are trying for them, major headaches. The fishing by far is inconsistent for Walleyes as they have not been relating to the usual areas we find them during this time of year. We’ve been covering areas of the river with current, rock hard bottom, deep pools, and wood, and few fish are showing themselves. However, some fish up to 20″ are being caught on minnowbaits after dark. (Rebel, X-Raps, Rapala Floaters)

Meanwhile, Sauger fishing continues to be a little better but they’re inconsistent as far as river locations are concerned. The most common places we have been finding them at are in current with hard bottom. Fish up to 18-inches are being reported. Jig and plastics, jig & live bait, and minnowbaits are providing best results. Color doesn’t seem to matter as majority are being caught during the low-light and nighttime hours.

As for everything else, Largemouth Bass and Panfish are almost non-existent right now. However, some Bass are being found in the deeper pools and channels, and wood that receives sunlight — Crankbaits, jerkbaits, and spinnerbaits with a white shad profile.

Very few anglers are out fishing right now and this remains to be a mystery to me. Right now is quite possibly the best time of season to catch that fish of the year because before you know it, we will soon be ice fishing! . . . . . Sigh.

Salt Creek in DuPage County - Mid-November.

Matt Coppolino displays a 14-inch Sauger from the DPR.

Dan Cahill with his first-ever Sauger caught from the DPR.

25-inch Pike caught from DPR tributary, Salt Creek.

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Des Plaines River report: 11/9/09

November 9, 2009

Besides the weather and water temperatures, the river and its productivity in fishing has finally gotten back to normal. Flow rates are at 600cfs which deems it as being safe for floating/ boat fishing, and wading near shore. However, I’d be cautious because water clarity is poor right now - dark brown and 6 inches at best.

Over the weekend, I had the pleasure of getting out on a float trip for the first time ever with one of my blog readers, Dan Cahill. We covered about 2-miles worth of water in the S.W. suburbs near the Cook/Will co. border. Pike and Largemouth Bass were the norm on both a mild Saturday and Sunday in which we saw water temperatures come back up to 55-degrees.

Right now, Pike and Bass are relating close to shore. Wood such as downed trees, log jams, and stumps have been their areas of choice and if there’s some depth and maybe a nearby entrance to a ditch or creek mouth which holds clearer water, then the potential for some more fish increases.

Pike up to 25″ are being found on jerkbaits such as X-Raps and Husky Jerks. In addition, spinnerbaits and bucktails burned across the top of the water column have yielded good results as well. Live bait in the form of shad, creek chubs, and suckers, has been productive too. Once it gets cold again, expect the bigger fish to come out.

Likewise, Largemouth Bass up to 17″ have been best on spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, and X-Raps. Best colors are white/silver and anything with a shad colored profile.

As for the Walleyes and Sauger, there is little to report on, and not many have been trying either. A few 14 to 18 inch Sauger are being found in deeper hard bottomed pools with current. Minnowbaits at night best.

Very little angling pressure right now, and the tributaries like Salt Creek are devoid of fish. The river should be fully wadeable and walkable by later this week. Let’s pray for a cold-spell so that the fishing for all species improves, and water temperatures can fall back to normalcy and into the more seasonable 40’s.

DPR Northern Pike / Photo by Dan Cahill - 11/7/09

Kevin O’Connoor with 17″-inch Largemouth Bass / Photo by Dan Cahill - 11/7/09

Largemouth Bass / Photo by Andrew Ragas - 11/8/09

DesPlaines River in Will County / Photo by Andrew Ragas - 11/8/09

DesPlaines River in Will County / Photo by Andrew Ragas - 11/8/09

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Floating and Fishing on the DPR

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Thanks to the recent floods that killed whatever good fall fishing that was about to happen, my two week hiatus away from the river finally came to an end this afternoon. I had the pleasure of being invited by Dan Cahill, one of my PSO.com blog readers and Facebook friends, to join him in his boat for a float down the Des Plaines River.

Despite the unseasonably warm weather and poor fishing in which the conditions were not ideal, it was excellent to explore like Lewis and Clark and get a feel for some new water close to home; Water in which nobody ever fishes.

Dan works the river out of a small Pond Prowler with an electric trolling motor attached on rear, so it was a new experience to fish out a nontraditional craft like this, especially on a river.

We fished from 12:30-5pm, covering about a 2-mile stretch of water in Chicago’s southwest suburbs. Air temperatures were close to a HOT 70 degrees, water temperatures came back up to 55 degrees, and clarity was brown with flows in this section of river to be almost stagnant.

The types of water we covered were the deeper shorelines, laydowns, stumps, drop-offs, the channel, and deeper holes. We also fished the mouths of small creeks and ditches too. Some of the deepest areas we were able to mark were 9.5 feet, but on average, the deepest points in this stretch of river were anywhere from 5-7 feet.

Throwing an assortment of baits towards the loads of wood cover along the shores, all we could bang out was one Largemouth and a Pike - both coming from Dan. He stuck with a white spinnerbait for the entire float.

Throwing absolutely everything I had in the box from spinnerbaits, crankbaits, swimbaits, chatterbaits, and jig and plastic for Largemouths, nothing was seen. The same can be mentioned for the Pike as I also used everything on the big rod for them, things like big swimbaits, bucktails, and jerkbaits.

I got the skunk and didn’t see a single fish.

We fished everywhere with very little to show for our efforts. However, we still tried and our futility was time well spent. I mean, what else could we have done instead today? Watch the Bears get their asses kicked and then be in misery like everyone else?

I think not!

Anyways, despite not catching anything, I had a great time out on the river today. With identical conditions as the previous day, it’s amazing how one day the fishing is pretty good while on the next it drastically changes for the worst.

There’s talk of us meeting up again for another float next weekend. Good chance that we will probably float down some new water not too far away.

Below are some images from the afternoon float:

Above is my kind of ideal river boat. This guy and his lady in the 14ft Alumacraft Jon with 10-horse Johnson didn’t go fishing, but it seemed as if they motored down the river to burn off some gas.

It was a beautiful evening for it.

First thing I told Dan after we greeted, I let him know that his success of fishing and floating this river inspires me to bring my little river boat from up north home so that I can float our rivers in Illinois next season. He then reiterated, “You know why I began fishing this river? It’s because of you and I’ve been reading your stuff!”

It’s things like this that go hand-in-hand. I love it.

Thanks for the invitation, Dan. Let’s do this again with hopes of catching more fish the next time.

For those peoples who are interested, I am a frequent user of Facebook and enjoy the networking and socialization aspects of it, especially with other fishermen. If anyone would like to connect with me, like Dan did, feel free to friend request me. Beware, though. I like to be very entertaining on that social network platform.

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Mongoloid Salmon in Milwaukee

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Today was like the national fishing-headquarters.com go fish a Trout day. Many of our friends were out on the lake or its tributaries in one place or another.

Dan Sims and I dedicated an afternoon outing for whatever was willing to bite. He came over, picked me up at 12-noon, and we set northward to the city of brew to catch something. We would fish at the same venue for the entire day until 8pm.

We arrived at our destination sometime before 2pm. After a quick hour of catching nothing, Dan and I began walking all over the harbor grounds to see if any active fish were around. In the same process, I saw a familiar-looking face fishing off the elevated railing.

I looked to him slightly confused: “Hey, you look kinda familiar!”

It was our friend,Matt Tuomi. I told him to get the hell out onto the docks with us so we opened up the gates and let him in. He fished with us for the remainder of the day.

Right after we met with Matt, we began fishing alongside of the walls and a few fish were finally showing themselves. I remember hooking into a King or two from the first area we parked ourselves at. One took a tube jig and the other a small jigging Rapala.

Fish #1 was a smelly one.

A short while later, we moved down to a better area and stayed there until we left. I had a few quick hook-ups on the jigging Rap and got another one to go. This one happened to be my final fish of the day.

In the same process while handing my fish above, and fighting it off, a nearby boat had caught one hell of a Brown on float & spawn. It was a fatso fish but too bad this photo couldn’t do it justice.

It took a while for the big brown to get revved back to life but she swam away which was good.

After a dead period from 3:30-5pm, Mike Planthaber and his friend showed up for a little while on their way home from fishing the Fox in Winnebago.

A generous Mike had brought his load of spawn sacs as well as two lighted slip floats for me to eventually lose to break-offs. I have some reimbursements to take care of because those floats aren’t cheap!

Anyways, after Guide Mike came to the rescue, we were back in business again but the fish didn’t start biting and going all crazy until 6pm which was when the two had prematurely departed after catching nothing.

Within a 1hr period, Dan, Matt, and I had so many hook-ups and take-downs that it was outrageous. The fish were ugly, and all on the verge of dying, but the fights and drag pulling were the most beautiful aspects of this entire ordeal.

Mike, Dan, and I had the same frequency of hook-ups. The only problems we encountered were the result of fishing a small area with the dimensions of 8′ x 30′. We had a whole lot of obstructions to deal with as the fish were peeling off and bursting off underneath the docks towards the lake.

From this, I had lost $14 worth in slip floats, and a total of five fish in a row due to break-offs. The same can almost be said for both Dan and Matt.

Those lighted floats that broke off were swimming out towards Lake Michigan. It was hilarious seeing this happen because as we saw these lighted floats still attached with line to the fish and swimming out towards the lake, we ran down the docks with the long net with hopes of somehow capturing the fish. It proved to be a comedic failure.

This was a battle. Nearly 75% of our wars with fish were lost due to underwater obstructions and break-offs.

This King was the least moldy of them all. It came in at 13.8lbs and lost probably 5lbs worth in eggs which I took home for future Salmon Caviar bait.

For the entire day, Dan was insistent that we could not go home once he had caught his first ever Salmon. . . . And he could not shave off his 1-month old beard until he caught one.

Based on the photo below, he was finally in luck.

When the clock turned 8pm, it was time for us to go home. A guy with a pissed-off demeanor, and expression that he really sucks at life and hates his job, had pulled up next to us and kicked us out from the harbor. Allegedly fishing isn’t allowed during the evening hours. We found this to be some kind of news. However, our limit was 8pm and the timing of this occurrence couldn’t have been any better.

Despite the fact that we were catching “basically dead” fish, and wanting to catch something to boost our individual morale thus showing that we sort of know how to catch these fish, a most excellent time of fishing was had today. The drag pulling was what we had ultimately made the trip for.

Thanks for driving, Dan. It was nice to meet you, Matt. Sorry for losing $14 worth of your floats Guide Mike. A future reimbursement is coming your way.

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S.E. Wisconsin Trout & Salmon

Friday, October 30, 2009

It’s funny how I ended up going fishing for a few unknowns to me: Trout and Salmon.

I was supposed to be in Michigan for the weekend along with my cousin to visit our grandpa. During mid-week, she got sick and I was left in the dust. Trip was canceled for a future date.

So I had nothing going on, have no class on Fridays, and I got the invite from friends, Mike Planthaber and Keith Jasch to chase some new fish in my lifetime. In all honesty, Mike and Keith are quite possibly the best Trout & Salmon fishermen whom I know.

I cannot stand the early-morning wake-ups for fishing, especially when the destination is someplace regional and semi-close to home. But when fishing like this, now I understand why you have to get there early, stay late, and be able to utilize all the time on the water.

I woke up at 3:45am, called Mike to see what the flow was like thanks to all the night’s rain. After consultations, we came to the accord that it was still safe for wading and good enough for fishing. However, I had the complete understanding that it would be raining for the duration of the day and water levels would be rising while we would be out there.

I left and we met up halfway in order to follow them to the tributary that we fished. It was a quick 90-minute ride.

We got there by 6am to mark our territory and claim our spot. This first area was a dam, located about 6 or 7 miles up from the lake. “Guaranteed fish”, Mike exclaimed.

Mike caught his first fish of the day with his bare hands. When the guide can catch an 8-pound King with his hands, you know that you are fishing with the right kind of company.

Once it got lighter out, we were able to begin casting. Both Mike and Keith were using their fly rods and I was working one of my 7ft med. heavy spinning rods with a reel equipped with 6lb line. I was throwing Mepps inlines for a while and stuck with them until I proceeded to lose 4 or 5 of them to the river.

On my first cast of the morning, I felt some resistance on my line and I set the hook in mid-current. I had no idea whether I was snagged, or if I had a fish on. But after a few hook-sets, I felt the head shakes and a fish had exploded downstream.

FISH ON!!!! FISH ON!!!!

The fight lasted for about 10-minutes. It was a really powerful fish. Mike and Keith ran over downstream and assisted in landing the fish for me.

Salmon #1 of my life was an 8-10lb King. It hit a white Mepps #3 spinner.

We worked this first area for a few hours but as the morning went on, the place would become like a zoo, similar to what I had experienced at the Ohio walleye run in April. The fish were running and anglers were all up and down the banks casting for them.

We eventually progressed downstream a bit to look for some unmolested fish, and where there weren’t many fishermen.

Mike and I separated ourselves from Keith and we were casting and drifting over some shallow riffles and deeper channels. I had some hits on the spinners but they didn’t hold on. Then Mike had a really nice run of fish at this area but he had some problems landing them.

The first was a big Steelhead and it was zinging downstream. It exploded off, jumped out of water, and instantly broke off. It looked like a 15-pounder or so and was definitely pushing 30″ or more. Mike said repeatedly that he’d trade everything else he caught during the day just for that one fish. From what we had seen, it was a beauty with chrome sides, orange/pink belly, and all.

Then soon after, Mike had another hook-up. This was another Steelhead that took him downstream about 75-yards or so towards where another wader was at. I had the camera and was following and filming him and his fight up to where it ended. The fish took him into some wood and it also broke off.

Finally, Mike had a nice Brown take down the fly and it too went downstream. He had it hooked for more than 15-minutes and we came really close to getting it in. The fish surfaced 15-feet away, had a huge tail, then jumped, and unfortunately came unbuttoned. At this point Mike was exhausted, his arms burning from the fight, and he dropped down into the water and yelled out a few expletives. I followed suit with him as well.

After a few hours of working this stretch of water, with only a million hits and nothing caught, we packed it up from this first stretch of water, met with Keith, and we headed out.

By now it was raining for the first time all day, and water levels were on the rise. It was at 210CFS when we started and by the time we left it was close to 300CFS.

However, the fish didn’t seem to mind.

During this afternoon session on the small tributary, I was using one of Keith’s spare fly rods, a 7WT, and had a fun time fishing with it and trying to get my cast down to form. The fish were jumping all around us as we fished a pool with mid-grade current on the upstream side of a shallow gravel bar & riffle area. Browns, Steelheads, and Kings were all over in this area.

Keith was able to hook up with one. It eventually died so I brought it home and got some nice fillets off of it.

After a few hours of fishing this stretch, with marginal results, we headed out and then departed to downtown Milwaukee to fish the “Eric Haataja Harbor”. Watch those John Gillespie shows filmed during the ice fishing season and then you will know where we fished at.

The fish were really stacked up and cruising alongside of the walls and below the docks. They really had no place else to go to.

We fished for them by jigging small tube jigs, almost vertically, and then we float fished along the walls with spawn sacks. Action was not fast or furious for my guides, Mike’s and Keith’s, standards, but it was still a fun time nonetheless.

Keith was the first to hook up on the tube:

Then I was a poser with another Brown that Keith caught. We took this one home to make use of the skein, and then to eventually eat:

Then Mike had some hook-ups and got into the action.

By the time darkness fell, the fishing had tremendously slowed down, almost to the point of being dead. Mike was able to squeak out one last fish of the day which happened to take big fish honors. Shortly right after, we had called it a day. Back home to Chicago we went.

In the end, this was a day-trip worth making and now I have come to the realizations of what I’ve been missing out on for all this time. I had loads of fun and I’m sure that with a fly rod, I will have even more fun again the next time.

We are scheduled to return again next weekend, on either Saturday or Sunday.

If any of you want to get into some S.E. Wisconsin Trout or Salmon fishing from now thru December, which is basically the duration of the fall run, give the Trout Mafia a hollar by visiting either of their personal blogs that can be visited below.

Mike Planthaber authors a blog off my site which can be visited here: Angling in Mplant’s Neck of the Woods. In addition, not joined with us is another prominent Trout Mafia member, Tom Harris, who operates a highly informative blog about fishing the Great Lakes Region, not to mention with some most excellent photography. It can be seen here: Great Lakes Angler

These guys will put you on fish and know where to go in order to find them. I cannot thank them enough for introducing me to another awesome style of fishing!

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