Howdy, Ken,

Some friends and I will be doing an over-niter and all-dayer at the Apple River state park on September 6th. We will be in pursuit of the Smallmouth Bass.

I remember seeing your reports from a while back, but it was so long ago now that I no longer remember some of the strategies you used which are needed for fishing this river. Not saying you're old, or elderly... It was just long ago now.

Those of us who will be going on this Apple trip will be noobs to the river and we have questions regarding the fishing gear.

What works best out there?
Is this a river where "stealth fishing" is needed with finesse presentations? If not, would baitcaster and a handful of spinnerbaits and topwaters be good enough?
What baits and applicable methods do you recommend for using on the river?
How tricky or advanced is it for wading and covering long lengths of water?
What's the average size of fish we would expect to catch? Is this a "numbers" river, or a "size" river?

Also, two of my friends just got into the really hard-core fly fishing and they're beginners. Is the Apple a good river for the fly fishing noobs?
Any advice on good flies/patterns for them to use? From what I know, they both carry 6WT's and I'll pass this info on to them (if you have any).

Thanks for the help! We just need the info for this and the rest we'll figure out ourselves!

andrew

Andrew,
Too many questions and not enough time at the moment, but there's still time before you go and I'll answer bits and pieces over time.

Clear, cool, water means light gear and realistic looking/color baits. Helgies, YUM crays for the slower moving water. Twisters for the faster moving stuff. Pretty much same idea with flies.

SLOWSLOWSLOWSLOW I once let a yum cray sit on the bottom for 5 minutes moving it about an inch a minute while 30 or more smallies came to check it out. One finally picked it up. Had him for dinner.

Someone bring a bait bucket. Use little jigs and twisters to catch creek chubs in the shallows, save them for the deep holes where you can't see the bottom. Switch to a big hook, no weight, let that thing swim around and dive to the bottom and hold on.

Gotta go, that's it for now. Ask again and I'll be back when time.

Okay, a few more minutes.

Everyone always goes to the main state park. Do not fish there. I prefer hiking up stream but down stream isn't bad either. There are plenty of bridges up stream to park at and go fishing, but that's another story. If you ever run across barbed wire, just go under it.

I've done an 8 hour wade there, all others were less. Wear sturdy boots with good ankle support and waders. That will make sense when you are there. At the end of the 8 hour wading trip, for the last hour I lost all feeling in my legs from the knees down. Wading 8 hours for me was no big deal then, but this isn't the Fox River or anything like anything else around here.

It's going to hurt.

The state park actually owns and manages other areas of the Apple River. A couple I'm not going to tell you about. But, go check out the hunter fact sheets: http://www.dnr.state.il.us/lands/landmg ... /index.htm

Region 1, Apple River Canyon, the page for the Salem/Thompson Unit will come up. Download the map.

You can park at one bridge and wade down stream to the other and beyond. Then just walk back to your cars on the road. That hike back on the road will be the longest you ever did. Not cause it's far. You're going to be very tired.

I think that's enough for now.

Thanks for the quick info Ken!!!