early june, high water

[Norm Minas]

Missed a few days due to some sort of bug in the guts but let's just say that it has passed.

High water, it's out of it's banks , flowing over 20,000 cfs. no visibility, all sorts of floating debris, scum/debris mats and foam piles in slack areas. I like the mats and foam piles though, generally hold some fish.
It's been spot hopping from one flooded area to another, one slack/slow spot to the next. Some of the spots are tiny, covered in a cast or three some are much more expansive. Intermittent in flows are also significant areas to check under these conditions. Don't ignore tossing a lure into flooded veggies and skin the bark on flooded trees. Man made objects like parking blocks also produced.

As far as lure choice, it's been spinnerbaits, jig/pig and weighted keeper hook/plastics. I had one day where the spinnerbait got absolutely hammered the next it was totally ignored. The day the spinnerbait got ignored the jigs had to be worked ultra slow to get bit. Hopping/pulling a lure on top of the scum/debris mats and dropping it off the edge is a lot a fun. Savage strikes on a short line in cramped quarters will get the ole ticker going. On the foam piles check the edges first, then work inside of them. Fish will hold much shallower with the overhead cover provided by the scum/debris mats and foam piles. I also found on the day the fish wanted a jig low and slow that playing the shade was an advantage even with zero visibility.

Mostly smallmouth and catfish with some rock bass mixed in.

copy of what I sent dale

[Ken G]

We sat outside and watch all the storms passing far to the south. Hardly anything up this way. The Fox Valley Effect was working quite well. Could watch the storms on the radar get near Yorkville then split up and go around us.

[heysambennett]

Same up here Ken. The St. Charles Bubble. Storms sliding north and south.

A few years ago we watched what I expect was a EF0 go just barely north. Weathermen called it a microburst. That's probably splitting hairs. We watched our neighbor's flag and metal pole bend over eastward, then switch back west before it sheared off. We were on the edge. Worse up in SE.

The year after we watched similar storms miss us right to the south. That storm sheared off a bunch of big branches that landed directly in the bed of my truck. A hole-in-one. Made cleanup easy. That one hit St. Charles proper.

Even when they do hit St. Charles my neighborhood is down in the gully. We seem to miss the worst.

Where my parents live in Alabama popular wisdom said they were safe because they live on a mountain. No way a tornado could climb it. Wrong. One whole side of the mountain is bald now.

We get lucky, but I do think there's something to the Fox River Effect. Seen it enough times now to believe it. Dale saw it in action when we took him flatheading. We watched the big red storms crumbled on radar and fished with lightning and thunder far off to the south. When the sky lit up you could see those thunderheads reaching up 20k feet. We even stayed mostly dry.

-SB

[heysambennett]

Oh, by the way - Norm's headed up here this weekend. I think he and Dale are going to hit the Fox, Yorkville maybe. If you could point 'em to some water that'd be cool.

Otherwise I suggested South Elgin, which is always crowded on the weekends. I can point 'em to a few out-of-the-way spots, but they may prefer to fish south. I wouldn't blame 'em.

-SB

[Ken G]

They know how to get in touch with me. I have an adventure planned, I'd include them. Might have to blind fold them though.

The Fox Valley Effect is a term coined by the air traffic controllers out of the airport west of Aurora. Got the name from a guy I guided on the Fox a long time ago. Skilling doesn't call it that, but something to the same affect. This also happens to be the coldest spot in the Chicago area every winter. Figures I'd wind up living here, I hate the cold.

[Norm Minas]

you may want the blind fold for yourself, I plan on just wearing a sequined thong.

[Ken G]

you may want the blind fold for yourself, I plan on just wearing a sequined thong.

Please don't...