Had half hour to kill last night so i fished the DesPlaines in search of eyes. It was a beautiful night with full moon just wish i had some more time. Water temp has dropped like a rock, it is time to switch out to my neoprenes. I was freezing my balls off in the half hour in the water.

Since i didnt have much time i already had a rogue tied on so grabbed my camera, rod, and pliers and head down to the river. Started fan casting into swift current ticking bottom on the slow retrieve and this guy hit. Nice little 17" sauger, first of the year. Called it a night and packed it up.

Nice little sauger Matt!! It's definitely about that time!!!

I think it is pretty amazing that the Des Plaines holds such high numbers of sauger and walleye. Don't they need clean, highly oxygenated water most of the time? I assume these fish are coming up the Illinois into the DesPlaines? Five years ago, I almost NEVER heard of, or saw a walleye or sauger, being taken from the DesPlaines. Seems pretty much business as usual now. I mean, just ten years ago, all you would catch in the DesPlaines was carp, bullhead, catfish, and some sunfish. Now, it pretty much holds everything.

Just curious, but what section of the DesPlaines were you fishing?