Got out on Monday after work to the same stretch below Orchard Road. The weather gods were wrong about the deluge and the river had barely come up at all. It had already started dropping like a rock. I didn't feel like dealing with the current and fished almost a half mile of the south shore. With the slightly higher water this shore has enough depth and shoreline structure to create some nice current breaks.



Seven smallies were caught in this short time. Two 16 inch and two 14 inch with the rest being hard fighting dinks.

Started out quickly with a dink.



I've been telling guys for years that when the carp are feeding in the slack water always cast into the middle of them. Carp stir things up, bait fish come in to feed on what is floating around and the smallies chase the bait fish. I would cast into a pod of carp scattering them when the lure hit the water. Each time I thought I had snagged a carp and each time I was wrong.

They kept getting bigger, then ended with two more dinks.











Had one hard hit and hard pull that made the fight of the 16 inchers seem like child's play. Got to see a big smallie roll then run out into the faster water. The jig shot back like a bullet and stung me in the neck. I briefly had this vision of having a hook stuck in my neck just a little too close to a jugular. Luckily it was just a sting.

There was still a bug hatch but not quite as big as the last few days. The birds had finally shown up for the feast and a flock of around 30 of them darted high above the river following the swarms down the river in the wind. Fewer caddis this time, but there was a fine mist of small bugs swarming over all the slack areas. I wondered how many I had ingested in the 3 trips I made along here in the past week.

The sun was setting right about 8 o'clock. I love these later days. More fishing time after work.

Great looking fish and love the sunset shot! Last two years I spent about 75% of my time on the dupage; I need to get myself back out on the fox and do some exploring. Didnt fish it much last year and when I did it was mostly the same spot across from the park in downtown oswego. Love that spot though; always get a couple.

If you fish the Dupe that much, Dale Bowman might be interested in timely, honest and reliable reports. He has nothing on the Dupe for his Wednesday fishing reports.

Let me know if you're interested and I'll see what Dale wants.

SAM, that goes for you too.

I'll see what else he wants and run it past everyone to see how it may fit where others are fishing.

Ken I would definitely be interested; let me know what if anything he is looking for. Im usually out around 3 days a week from bolingbrook to the minooka area.

Put this up on Andrews site, thought I would add it here. Been experimenting with this by taking extreme close ups of my daughters eye with different things in the background reflection.
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With these close ups, I'm going to try to get a reflection of me in the eye or on the skin of the fish. I think I've figured out how to do it. Gives me something else to do while out on the water, I guess.

You can start to see it in the close up on this one. The tree, the sky with some clouds and the distorted shape to the right of it's eye is me.



I need a life.