"Fox Ribber" - Report

[bossbob50]

Saturday, August 30: Fox River, Les Arends area

Fishing with Rich Delaney (Mayor Daley’s Fish`N Kids Fishing Instructor) and John Hochberg, friend.

Rich used spinning gear and a small, silver bladed "zip-blade" lure. John and I used fly rods with jigheads and plastics.

50+ smallmouth for the three of us. 1 big white bass (Rich), 1 plump carp and two small walleye (me). The majority of the smallies were with Rich and his zip blade (sounds like some sort of 1950’s “West Side Story” weapon).

Water: low, stained, 9-12” or so viz, 770cps, very wadable. Water temp: 75 on my digital thermometer: Cooler than I expected.

We parked at Les, walked upstream about 1/2 mile from the cars, got in and waded, casted and fished going downstream only. Morning fog rising off the river was very nice – felt like somewhere else than 49 miles from Chicago. I don’t know why that’s so pleasing, but we all seem to remark about such sights in our reports.

Rich could make the long casts, while John and I did the 30 feet or less thing I recommend for fly guys on these local rivers (hell, any smallmouth rivers actually).

Fish were spotty at first, but where you would expect them to be; at the end of riffles, heads of pools, along current seams with a bubble line, and in sections of rocky bottom with a broken surface (I call these “haystacks”). Most fish were in knee-to-crotch-deep water, 18” – 30."

95% of the fish were 12 – 15”; cookie cutters - a couple larger or smaller. But, healthy fish, one and all. Most of mine bore no scars or marks of previous hookings.

Rich employed a slow retrieve: just enough to get the blade softly vibrating, which is easier to do when bringing it upstream, using the current. He never got hung up or lost the lure. But he did catch so many the front trebles got mangled. We did some on-stream lure repair – cutting off the trebles from one of John’s in-lines spinners and putting them onto Rich's blade – and it was back to catching fish as usual.

For John and I the trick was to cast downstream (10 – 20 feet) and do nothing, other than allow our lures to sit in, essentially, one small spot. We’d move it 6"to a foot, left to right, right to left, lift and drop. Very slow presentation fishing: do nuttin’ with a fly rod. No drifting or stripping or any of that trouty fly fishing b.s. The fish would hit with good takes. All the fish hit as if they thought they were a little larger than they were. "Spunky" is a nice word for them. Bulking up for autumn-winter makes for aggressive behavior, we all guessed. Then again, maybe it was just one of those days.

They spit up nothing that we could see, and I didn't want to kill any to get a stomach contents reading. I could feel there stomachs with my fingers. Felt more like minnows than crayfish in there.

By a wide margin, our best producers were Berkley 2" and 3” Power Grubs (smoke, black glitter) and Producto 3” Spring Grubs (smoke). I am sure Kalin, 3” grubs in smoke (salt/pepper flake would have worked too). I always carry a few of these smoke-colored grubs on our rivers as these really look “minnowy” on a jighead, and no matter how dark the water, fish manage to find them.

If I could only get today’s fly guys to realize how effective these “Petite Plastiques” are with the fly rod, and get over their, late-20th century, ‘lures and the fly rod are heresy” issues. Fish jumping at the end of the rod bring smiles; even to grizzled and chiseled, grown-up faces. I've seen it.

One of the nice things about having three guys fish together, besides the marvelously wicked chatter and conversations (we are definitely politically in-correct, but in polite, civilized and witty ways) is the ability to cover water and try various lures, retrieves and presentations. Sooner or later, if you are observant and not bullheaded about what you "want to use", you will hit upon the fish’s preferences for the day. It feels really gratifying to be able to figure out where the fish are, what they are willing to hit, and, in general, just put the pieces of the puzzle together, as opposed to just casting and hoping for luck.

Once again, hardly anyone out. I saw four other guys. They didn’t do very well, and once we found the fish, we didn’t move. Yes, even I, “Saintly Bob,” can hog a hole on occasion (shame, shame). Other than by the dams, the K3, Fox, Dupage, and Milwaukee are grossly under fished and appreciated for smallmouth; Ken G says it over and over. Him speak truth.

It was a marvelous day, and after four hours we hit Micky D’s, exhausted, red-eyed, fish-sated and happy. I think we looked and smelled a mite "fresh," but such is the happy life of fishermen. Man, is that Sweet Tea gooooood.

[Ken G]

I think I slept in till 9 that morning. Thought of meeting up with you, but the bed felt so good.

The next two days I couldn't sleep at all, so sunrise fishing trips were had.

Still can't sleep, but have to go to work.

Haven't fished the Batavia area in quite some time. Used to practically live there. Glad to see nothing has changed.

Dale Bowman has us pretty well represented on hit blog today. Makes us almost look like we know what we're talking about.

http://blogs.suntimes.com/bowman/2008/0 ... .html#more