7/5/09 Kankakee to Big Rock Creek

[Ken G]

I'll keep adding to it when I have time.





I like these old rail road track structures buried in the woods and out in the river.



Did catch a 16 inch.



Kept a couple of 12 inch smallies, didn't catch much more than that, for the Greater Chicago Area Smallmouth Bass Taste Test.

Fileted them out to find that for some of the smallies, the spawn isn't done yet.

I've had bass roe fried up in the past. Didn't bother keeping these.



Found this in all the rock on Big Rock. I think it was trying to tell me something. Maybe better ways to spend the day.

[Dan]

I never cut into a fish b4!! That's not what I thought it would look like?! You should make it your siggy!! LOL

[MattC]

I look forward to the reports.

[Ken G]

I never cut into a fish b4!! That's not what I thought it would look like?! You should make it your siggy!! LOL

I've butchered more fish than I could count. Can do it with my eyes closed.

The ISA would love that as a signature.

[MattC]

How was the water clarity, did the rain effect the river at all?

[Ken G]

It's been almost 5 years since I've been down there, so I couldn't remember what cfs I was comfortable with.

It's definitely not 2500. Almost filled my waders at one point.

Rain brought some silt into the river and the clarity was about a foot. I like it when your standing in 3 feet of water and can see your feet. That means the fish can see your lure better and I always do better.

I have a feeling I won't be going back any time soon. In an hour and a half at Big Rock I caught a half dozen smallies.

Why travel so far.

[Bob P.]

Ken,
For some reason i never really got in touch with cfs's. Always looked at the gage height. This i'm very confident about, once it's at or below 1.25 at Wilmington, the entire river opens up quite a bit. Careful not to throw caution to the wind however. That's not to say it's not wadeable at much higher levels, but a lot of structure becomes visible below that level. I know years ago when i was still learning many of its' secrets, it really got down(below 0.80) very low, it opened up a whole new world to me. Good luck and be careful out there.

C. P. R.

Bob P.