I checked the river gauges around 10 p.m. Thursday night. For those of us that like to wade rivers, it's been a tough spring. Every time the rivers seem to be getting close to normal, it rains again and makes a mess of it. I'm just glad I don't live in Iowa.
Fox River
It was flowing at just a hair above 6000 cubic feet per second. Which is about 5200 cfs faster than what I like. You would have to be nuts to wade the river when it's like this. I did pretty good the past weekend walking the shore in Geneva and doing the high, fast and muddy dabbling thing. Calm water or if you're lucky, a current break, is what to look for. Still water pockets no bigger than the mouth of a bucket held smallies.
Fox River Tributaries
These are in excellent condition and back to normal. Go early morning, late or on cloudy days because the water should be relatively clear. If you haven't figured out how to access them yet, go to the links page and start downloading maps from the various park and forest preserve districts. There are far too many places available to start listing them individually.
Apple River
It was flowing at about 750 cfs, which is over twice normal. In this river, since it's so narrow and basically running through canyons, that can still be a little high and fast. Normal is about 250 cfs. Always wanted to check it out when it was flowing like it is now. I have a feeling the fishing would be pretty good no matter what. Check out the links section for the IDNR Hunter Fact Sheets link. There are state park lands up and down the river. You may want to look for the Salem Thompson Unit. Stay out of the main park unless you plan on hiking up or down stream. Too many people. Okay, maybe a dozen people, but out there, that's crowded.
Kankakee River
That was flowing at about 4500 cfs at Wilmington. I've been out there when it's like that and I don't like going out from shore very far. 4500 cfs pushes hard. Upstream of the Iroquois River the flow was about half that. Aroma Park is where I liked to go above the Iroquois, but even 2500 cfs can push pretty hard so you have to be careful. I would imagine any creek flowing into the Kank would be in pretty good shape. If you look on the Kankakee and Will County park and forest preserve sites you can find access to creeks other than Rock Creek.
Don't really care much about the other rivers in the area. DuPage, DesPlaines and Kishwaukee and whatever else is out there. Have fished them, but the Kish is further than I want to go and the other two I just don't find all that appealing. One of these days I'm going to go explore the Dupe where it starts to get close to the Illinois and some of the creeks that feed into the Rock River. Some day.