The Old Man and the Ice

My friend and fellow DuPage Angler Dan "Pondboy" Byrne was born in January.  Every January on or near the anniversary of his birth he takes the day off work and goes ice fishing all day long.  I've had the pleasure of taking off work along with Dan and joining him for his day-long ice fishing extravaganza the last two years and this year I made it three.

I was joined in my ice fishing birthday well-wishing by two other DuPage Anglers; Ted "Soonerbass" Yates and Chunsum "JC1Crappies" Choi.  We met Dan at 6:30 in the morning to start out on our day with the Old Man and the Ice!

By now you've probably guessed who the Old Man is and this Old Man recorded a not at all candid but very cool video of me drilling or more technically "shaving" a hole in 6-8" ice.  I'm partial to the slow motion water that comes up with the auger once the hole is cut.  Isn't cell-phone video cool!

Back to fishing now. I made some holes and the four of us ran around dropping lures and electronics down into the holes to try to find fish and where they were holding.

Chunsum caught first and got a nice gill topside for a picture.  His electronics didn't show any other fish in the area and he soon moved from this hole.

Ted and I got a double.  His largemouth bass and my bluegill bit at the same time and came up for photos.  No evidence of schooling bluegills or fish of any kind evident in either of our holes meant we both moved on like Chunsum had.

Ted's new hole yielded a crappie....and nothing else.  The fish are very spread out and we were working to find a pattern to the bites.  I took this picture of Ted and his crappie then picked up my flasher and rod and headed to one of the first holes I'd drilled.

Ooooo...a mark came in from the bottom to check out the jig and wax worm I'd just dropped down the hole.  This mark was different from the bluegill I'd caught earlier.  It was bigger.  It took my jig and I felt mushy-weight on my rod.  I set the hook.

My rod bent down quickly like it was iron and the hole was a magnet. Big head-shakes, decent runs. I monitored my drag and held on to the rod. Dan asked me if I needed any help.  I asked him to get my flasher's transducer out of the hole.  He did one better. He got down on the ice and watched and waited for a glimpse of the fish and the chance to help land it. 

The big mark was a nice largemouth bass! I love catching all species but I always enjoy catching bass through the ice.  Usually I'm not targeting them so they are a fun diversion from smaller panfish. On top of that they're a hoot to catch on very light tackle!

After releasing this bass the bite stopped.  We made more holes and caught no more fish.  The decision was made to pack up and have lunch. While we ate lunch at a local burger joint it was decided to make the short trip to a pond Dan grew up fishing.  Someplace we could get on schooling fish and find a more consistent bite. 

Ted had to leave us here so Dan, Chunsum, and I went to the pond.  Dan and I figured out where we wanted to set my shelter up and got settled in to start catching fish.  The crappie, bluegill, and bass we'd catch here were smaller than the private pond but more consistent of a bite.  We ended up catching another 20-30 fish before we decided to pack it in and head home. 

We all had a great day fishing.  Tomorrow we would all return to the 9-5 existence but tonight Dan would get to enjoy the rest of his day with his family.  Fish were caught, anniversaries celebrated, and friendships strengthened.  

Happy Birthday Dan!  I look forward to the end of January 2016 when I'll take a day off work and join you and probably other avid ice anglers in the celebration of your birth the only fitting way we can; by drilling holes in the ice and jigging up fish.

LaSalle for Father's Day

Every Father's Day my friend Dan goes wading all day.  I joined him last year and blogged the trip.  

This year we've had too much rain for the rivers where wading is concerned so we came up with plan-b; take my jonboat to LaSalle Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area to fish for bigger blue catfish than we'd caught on our trip with several other DuPage Anglers a few weeks back. 

Please head on over to Pondboy's Angling Adventures to read all about how I spent father's day this year.

Fathers Day Catfish At Lasalle Lake

First Fox River Wade of 2013

I was still excited but very, very groggy.  Summer wading happens at dawn and dawn is happening earlier and earlier every day.  

I picked up Dan (Pondboy) and we hit a drive thru for breakfast and more important for me coffee!  
Down the road we found the Fox River and the next thing I knew I had my breathable chest waders on, and my drift rod set up with Raven equipment up and down the rod.  Raven high vis mono, Raven premium balsa float, silicone float tubing, micro-swivel, fluro leader, Raven split-shot, and all that terminated to a Raven specialist hook.

I nose-hooked a minnow, set my float and worked the waist deep water for any structure I might bump my bait into.  I was set up perfectly for what happened next.  My specialized float designed for fast deep current dipped below the surface and slid to the right. I pulled the line tight and the specialist hook attached itself to the top lip of this cute channel catfish.

I caught cute little cats smaller than this in this stretch of river last year.  If I were a betting man I'd wager this might be one of those cats after a year of filling his belly.  I can't wait until he gets to be as big as my largest caught on this stretch. 

Hardly any time passes before Dan's drift picks up a fish.  Another channel cat, this one was a nicer fish than mine and we both beat the skunk.

A problem we encountered directly related to the river depth.  I'm 6' 2" tall, Dan isn't.  There were some spots we'd have to back Dan out of in order to keep water from entering the top of his chest waders.  In another the flow was strong enough to cause him problems.  With one part concern for my friend and another part smart @$$ I walked parallel and upstream from Dan to give him some slack water to make crossing the center of the river channel easier.

Once on the other side we made our way down to a warm water discharge.  We can't wade this stretch of river without trying to catch something in the swirling flow.

Both of us score bronze!  Two nice looking 12" smallmouth bass.  The fun part about smallmouth this size is when you're used to catching largemouth a smallmouth this size feels like a much larger fish.

Eventually we make our way off the river.   Not many more bites led us to another problem; extra bait.  I've written abut what to do with leftover bait before.  Today was different.  Today we fished a little pond for bass.  We didn't catch any bass though.

We caught channel catfish.  Who knew there were beautiful, clean catfish in a little, odd-shaped pond. 

Dan's cat was the bigger of the two caught.  We didn't get rid of much bait but we did get to catch a few pond catfish before our time was done and we had to pack up and go.

I mentioned on the forums of DuPage Angler that I thought I would devote more time to purposely catfishing this year.  I guess today was as good a day as any to start catching Mr. Whiskers.  Today it was accidental.  Next I think I'll try catching catfish on purpose.  They tug well.

I was itching to go wading and I got to.  The river is still too crazy fast to want to step in for a walk but ponds help scratch the fishing itch.  I'm hopeful the rain will level off to a healthy amount for trees, ponds, and crops but at the same time allow the rivers to drop in height and flow.  I love wading rivers.  I got bit by that bug and it's just in me now.  I got my first wade in for 2013.  The first of many to come.

5/26/2013 USGS Fox River 11.68 ft 1580 cfs @ Montgomery Gauge

A Phone Call Is All It Took

I had the best intentions of getting off work and getting my hair cut.  I also needed to run to the grocery store and pick up some plug-in air-fresheners since I had a banana bread go wrong, ooze out, burn, and smoke up my house.  

So I just walk in the door to the grocery store and my phone rings.  It's Dan Byrne from DuPage Angler and Pondboy's DuPage Fishing Guide Service.  

Dan: Whacha doin?

Buying Air Freshener then getting a haircut

Dan: No you aren't.  Let's go walk a lake.

Ummmm....OK.  I'm buying the air freshener however.  You haven't smelled my living room.

A phone call was all it took for me to head over to Dan's then we head to the lake.  We each take rods rigged with Crabby Bass plastics and start near a water feature.  

I still had my Crabby Helgie rigged up from last Sunday so I decided to work that first.

I tossed the Helgie out into some light current generated by the water feature.  The bait sank to the bottom slowly.  I raised my rod tip a bit and reeled four or five turns of my reel handle.  The bait would have lifted off the bottom and glided up like it was trying to swim to the surface before running out of energy and getting  EATEN by a lovely crappie!

The funny thing about this crappie is I don't know how long it was.  We had intended to measure what we caught.  Dan asked me before we got out of the car if I had a tape measure.  I told him I did, and I do.  I just didn't use it.  My bad. 

After playing photographer Dan got to working a Crabby Bass 4"ring worm called The Zipper.  Pretty soon he got a bass to bite.

I rotated around Dan's position and began fan casting my Helgie.  I scored another nice crappie.

Dan rotated past me and began casting.  He was still working The Zipper with great success.  Many bass would eat The Zipper today.  This one was lucky enough to get caught on Dan's PivotHead sunglasses.

More rotating, more fish.  It was great to get on some nice crappie and bass.  I had just cast my light weight presentation directly in front of me when something caused a commotion near shore ten feet to my right.  I reeled in very quickly and flipped the 2" plastic bug called a Helgie right into the area of disturbance.  

My slack line swam for deeper water.  As the fish took the bait deep it pulled in all my slack line.  The circle hook slid right where it's supposed to and the hook found lip.  A drag-peeling fight was on and with 6# test monofilament line I didn't want to horse the fish in.  Boy was I pumped to get my thumb in this bass' mouth.

I checked the weight on my Boga-Grip Scale and she was a tiny bit over four pounds.

See the circle hook right where it's designed to go?  In between the top lip plate and the bottom lip.  Hung perfectly right in the corner of the mouth.  Little bait; Big Bass!

As we lost light I caught a few more crappie then started catching hybrid sunfish, left and right.  Dan had the last fish of the evening and it must have been hungry.  

The purple nub of plastic hanging out of that crappie's mouth is the top inch of a 4" CBL Zipper.

What a way to end a work day.  I'm glad Dan called.  

I'm happy the lakes and ponds are finally warming up.  Crappie spawn before bluegills, then come bass.  Depending on the water temperature something should be spawning and something else should be really hungry before they spawn.  That makes it an exciting time of year to be fishing.

Check out Crabby Bass Lures on the web.  I highly recommend the Crabby Helgie and I hear the Zipper catches fish too.  Pick your color, pick your scent, salt or no, glitter or no you pick and Chuck and Brad make it the way you want it.

Private Pond Gills

Pondboy and I made our plans Saturday.  We decided he would drive, we'd take my ice shelter, then drive to someplace he doesn't get to fish very often but has been fishing since he was of high-school age.

As a kid Pondboy snuck in to this pond a few times but stopped after a nightime top-water fishing trip ended with him on his stomach for a hour.  You see the noise from the lures splashing down added to the noise of bass slamming the topwater in the dark caused one house to turn on their outside lights, then the next, then the spotlight from a squad car ended the trip.  Now you see why he ended up on his belly in the weeds.  He was hiding from the police.

Some time in high school Dan met a girl who was a friend of a friend.  They started talking and Dan found out she lived on this private pond where he'd been sneaking in to fish.  He quickly asked if she thought he could come fish in the pond sometime.  She arranged for it to happen but with one caveat; everyone's property line extends to the water so Dan had to fish within the boundaries of her yard.  That brought up the subject of boats and he received permission to bring his 10' skiff and greatly increase the area he could fish.

Flash forward to Sunday January 27, 2013.  Pondboy is now a Facebook friend with this woman who's parents still live in the same house on the same pond.  A short exchange of messages and she alerted her parents to call the neighbors so they wouldn't call the cops on the two guys walking around on top of the lake.

The weather was on a strange trip for January.  That month had flirted with cold weather and embraced it more than December but tomorrow the cold would yield to a warm front.  Who knows how the ice will react to almost 60 degrees and rain so we were taking every opportunity to find fish on this pond.

I drilled a test hole a few feet from shore; 5.25".  Very safe.  The rest of the pond didn't drop below 4.5" of ice thickness and how do I know that you may ask?  Because I walked all over it drilling holes trying to find fish on the edges of weed beds.  Dan was following me with his new fish finder on a Genz Box.  He wasn't sure of the settings and modes just yet so I could drill 20 holes and circle back around with my flasher and a custom ultra-light ice rod.  I did this after my second set of 20 holes and it paid off.

A cute largemouth was fun to watch rise up off the bottom and get teased into biting my jig.  This picture and a quick release later and I was back to drilling.

We decided to set up the shelter and fish seated so six holes were drilled in a line and the Frabill tent flipped over us as we sat in the comfy seats.  A small adjustment to line up the shelter sled-body with our holes and we got to fishing.

In our first spot, in short order Dan picks up this lovely crappie.  He was relieved the skunk had been broken for him.  Now we could work on catching more.  Where there's one crappie there are more, right?

"Dan," I said after 20 fishless minutes "I think that that was a rogue-crappie"

We chuckled about the thought of one lone crappie swimming around the pond but for the rest of the trip we wouldn't catch another one.  No more crappie.  No more anything on Dan's fish finder and nothing below my holes in my flasher's cone.  Time to move.

Flipping back the tent let out all the warmth we had trapped in the shelter.  Quickly we put on gloves and started flashing and fish finding in holes to try to find fish.  Then we tried to find weed edges as no fish seemed to be near any of our holes.

We parked in our second and final spot.  I used my ION electric auger to drill three, eight inch holes with an inch of ice between them for my long custom rods and three more just like them a foot closer to the shelter for Dan's standard size ice rods.

We noticed the temperature drop and got the shelter and Mr. Heater situated to make our time on the ice comfortable.  It was at that point the freezing "Wintery Mix" started to fall.  It was at that point another thing started to happen; we started marking fish.

Big, beautiful Brim began biting!  (I couldn't resist the alliteration)  To make things even better the only thing the big bluegills would bite was the tantalizing tail of the Little Atom Nuggies we each were jigging with.

The one fish we decided to measure was 8.25".  That's a nice bluegill!!!

All Little Atom, all afternoon.  Quality gills kept combing the weedline we were sitting above and Nuggies were what was for dinner!

We didn't want to go but both Dan and I had to be home for different reasons so it made sense to end the day.  Aside from the one bass which was caught on waxworms everything else we caught wanted Little Atom Nuggies!  The Nuggies saved the day for us, turning a slow day on the ice to a fun time jigging for bluegills.  Litlle Atom bluegills from a private pond.

The Evening Crappie Bite

The ice has been beaten back by rain and 50 degree temperatures this week.  There is still hope that winter will want to act like winter and freeze hard for a month.  So let's all think cold thoughts and I'll post about my fun on the ice last weekend.

After helping my friend Dan (Pondboy) Byrne guide a fellow DuPage Angler member and his boys to a successful day ice fishing I was all set up to catch a few myself.  Dan and I said our goodbyes and I stayed to wait for the evening crappie bite.  

All morning fishing with the boys we were marking fish on bottom and some mid-column.  The bottom fish are usually bluegills and sometimes bass and the camera on my Vexilar and Dan's Fish TV showed crappie on the bottom too.  The mid-column fish are most always exclusively crappie.

I was set up and out of the wind in my Frabill Trekker Max shelter.  A small propane bottle powered a recent purchase, a Mr. Heater Buddy kept the air in the shelter warm and comfortable. 

My Vexilar FL-20 flasher was showing bottom and the occasional sonar return from the middle of the water column.  I set a what is known as a dead-stick rod mid-water column and began setting up my flasher to display my tungsten ice jig as a faint but noticeable green line on the circular display.

Of course I could go on and on about how to read the flasher but this video gives the basics.

On my custom made light power ice rod I tied a Fiskas Woflram Tungsten jig tipped with three or four spikes.  Opening my spinning reel's bail let the jig drop down toward the bottom.  My flasher showed the green line dropping down to a few feet from the bottom when I closed reel's bail to stop the jig's decent.

Twitch-twitch-bounce.  Twitch-twitch-twitch. 

I dropped the tip of my rod to lower the jig deeper.

Twitch-twitch-bounce.  <a sonar signal shows a fish breaking off the bottom>

Twitch-twitch-twitch. Twitch-twitch-twitch.Twitch-twitch-TAP....SET up straight and high.  Feel the wiggle and end up with a fish.

A quick photo and release later my jig was back down in the strike zone.


Twitch-twitch-TWITCH.  Twitch-twitch-TAP....SET

I am loving this flasher.  It means I can use only one rod with a float and a minnow while jiggling for other fish.  Speaking of my float isn't that it below the surface of the ice?

Why yes it was.  I quickly tightened my line and pulled lightly to set the hook into a pretty little crappie.  Come to think of it the sun was just starting to go down.  Maybe I should jig up higher for crappie.

Wait, is my float down?

Just jig.  Can't watch the flasher and the float.  Too many crappies on the way through.

I'm glad I stayed out on the ice.  I got a full day in using my flasher and camera, got to use my shelter and my new best "buddy" heater.  I know I can jig for fish on the bottom or mid-column and as long as I can see my jig and mark exactly what's below me it's amazing how much I can "see" with my flasher.

The wind picked up as the sun went down and the snow began to blow all sideways and sticky.  I got packed up and folded up the shelter, stowing gear and other items inside the shelter's sled-body.  I only had one thing to pull up onto the shore and load into my car.  

Looking back on last Saturday I hope that this week will be cold enough and stay cold enough to freeze our ponds and lakes.  I am looking forward to fishing Blackwell if it gets solid this year.

I've had such a good time already that I don't want to give it up yet.  Let us have winter.  Let us have safe ice.  Let us set up our shelters, sit in comfort and wait for that inevitable happening as dusk approaches.  Let us wait on our buckets, boat seats, and some of us on our knees all of us jigging for the evening crappie bite.

First Day of 2013 First Fish

New Years Day   9:00 AM   rrrrrRRRRRING goes my phone.
(fumbling)
Me:  Hel, um  hello?  Dan?
Pondboy:  Ok, there's 3 inches of ice at least in the small pond I scouted and the bay of the larger pond.
Me: Um......I guess since I didn't drink my liver into submission last night and slept through the new year I suppose I should get out of bed and get my ice gear from my storage unit.
Pondboy:  You're reading my mind.
<click>

I'm going ice fishing.   I'M GOING ICE FISHING!!!  

Wait, did he say three inches?!?  I thought I heard three and a half.

Now for those who are starting to ice fish and have no experience please heed the recommendation of the states I cited in my post before last who recommend waiting until you get 4" of solid ice before venturing out to fish.  I'll cover why you should a bit farther down the page.

I meet Pondboy and we grab his auger, fish finder, my flasher and we head over to the larger of the two lakes to test out the ice.  We both climb on alright.  Ok, no problem.  Let's both stand near each other and see if it creaks.  No creak, ok, then JUMP.

GRRRrrrrrroooooooooooaaaannnnnn

Did the ice just make that noise?

Yes, yes it did.

Drill a hole, let's see how thick it is.........3 1/4"..........Ok, it's holding us and we jumped.  Out ten feet more and drill again.  Ice got thicker to a good 3 1/2".  Ok, that's better.  It's not four but it's better. 

I head back to get my car and it's contents: my Frabill Trekker Max ice shelter and all the tackle and rods I'd need to fish like a madman.  (not that I have any idea how a madman would fish mind you)

I meet Pondboy back on the ice with my shelter in tow.  He had already identified a hole with decent activity on the bottom as determined by his fish finder with ice transducer.

I set up sitting on one of my shelter's seats within ice-rod's distance from a hole.  My flasher was telling me the bottom which was moving a minute ago was no longer moving. That meant whatever fish was there in my sonar's cone angle before was gone once I had a rod with a tiny Slender Spoon down the hole.  

I adjusted my flasher's gain to illuminate the spoon on its screen.  This allowed me to let the spoon drop to inches from the bottom then shoot up a few feet on the jig stroke.  This ripping motion stimulates fishes lateral lines which help put them on auto-pilot for finding what they think is food.

It didn't work to bring fish to me but Pondboy's float went down and up came the first fish through the ice of 2013.

A bluegill!  Dan's first fish to 2013 is a tiny bluegill held out to look like the fish in the Frabill commercials.  It made the fish look more impressive but we were just happy one of us caught something.  The pressure was off for Pondboy.  Now I had to work for some bites.

Pondboy got another bluegill before he suggested we leave and head to the smaller pond with the crappie.  I pack up my shelter and slide it into my hatchback for the drive to the next pond.

While setting up on a spot we put Christmas trees on last year the ice made several cracking noises and spooked us both.  I try to ease both our fears by theorizing our weight would be distributed over a greater area when we both sat in my shelter so no more cracking should happen....riiiight?  Actually it was right.  No more cracking or creaking happened once we stopped standing and concentrating our weight in a small area.

Dan and I both catch bluegills here.  They're larger than the first pond but not much more impressive.  Still it's nice to catch something on the first day of the year.

After releasing my bluegill to the waiting ice hole I put a fresh wax worm on my jig and drop it down to the structure watching the dense tungsten Fiskas jig drop on my flasher's screen.

Down to the tree then up, and up some more. This is when I notice some sonar signal rising up from the bottom with my jig.  I tease and jig, jig, jig, lift an inch, jig jig jig, puuuuulllllll.....*wiggle, wiggle, wiggle*

My custom light power 42" ice rod bent with the weight of a fish.  The ultra-light reel gave up drag once then again.

The neatest part other than being able to see the bass through the ice was the way it all happened on my flasher's dial.  Just the same way I've watched others use flashers to catch any number of species.

Pretty soon it was time to call it a day.  We'd been out on the ice for the first time on the first day of January, 2013.  While I'm happy to wait for a good four to fish on I was only a bit nervous standing on the ice.  Once in my shelter my mind was eased by the lack of cracking and the catching that followed.

I'm looking forward to what I hope is a long ice season.  I'm geared up and ready and I've proven on its maiden voyage everything works and that means I'm going to enjoy ice fishing that much more.

The Last Wade of 2012

I was up at the normal time of early.  Met Pondboy, loaded his gear into my Subaru and drove to the Fox River.

We waddled like sausages in our neoprene waders. Extra layers underneath to protect us from the numbing-cold water.

We were after Walleye. We were working to catch bigger ones than this but it didn't pan out.

My second cast brought in this cute little eye.  He hit more like a crappie; slowly pulled the float down.  The best thing to do in this case was rely on the circle hook to do what it's supposed to do.  Reel in slack, pull the line tight but don't jerk a hook set and the fish hooks its self.

 Dan got one and had to prove he's hardcore by lipping it.  Actually their baby-teeth wouldn't puncture his glove but it looks cool.

The bite stopped where we were and our toes were getting numb in spite of the chemical heat packs we'd both stuffed down our socks.  Time for another location.

Here we drifted bait as usual but this warm water discharge was wall to wall shad.  Unfortunately shad don't eat conventional bait or we'd have had a lot of fun catching them.  Dan caught first hooking a small largemouth bass.

I countered with a small panfish.

And Dan finishes off our catching for the day by catching a shad the only way you can on a rod and reel; he accidentally snagged it.

It's too bad they don't bite any bait we offer.  They're pretty fish and seem to have a good bit of wiggle to them when hooked.

Packing up and heading back to the car we talked about the weather forecast for the next week and how we'd both rather be in a warm ice shelter given a choice.  Then conversation turned to the DuPage County Forest Preserve District Hardwater Classic that I'm signed up for Saturday January 5, 2013.  We wondered whether we'd have sufficient ice by then to allow it to go on or if the fallback date of Febrauray 9th would be needed.

We talked about our recent DuPage Anlger Ice Fishing Podcast and how we only have 2" of ice and we can't recommend and won't fish on less than 4".  Oh, and Minnesota, Wisconsin, and North Dakota agree with us.

I'd love to be ice fishing but I'm interested in doing it safely.  Hopefully my next posting here will be from the ice next weekend.  

I wish everyone a safe, happy, healthy, and prosperous 2013!

12/29/2012 USGS Fox River 11.42 ft 1050 cfs @ Montgomery Gauge

Cold Wet Eyes and Warm Crappie Surprise

O'dark-30.......
38 degrees Fahrenheit.......
Why do Pondboy (Dan) and I always have to go wading in the dark and cold?

The answer to that question goes back to two places; Dan's childhood river stomping grounds, and my 2012 fishing goals from a post on DuPage Angler.

During the "ice-season that wasn't" last year a post was started on DuPage Angler asking members what their fishing goals were for 2012.  I responded I wanted to get into the Five-Pound Club on the website and I wanted to catch a "toothy-critter".  The Five-Pound Club is simply a forum area dedicated to catches of any fish species weighing greater than five pounds.  The toothy-critter is any of the species of local sport fish that have teeth; IE: Northern Pike, Muskellunge, and Walleye.

I cemented my entry into the Five-Pound Club early in June.  The toothy critters had evaded me.  I was thinking I'd have to work Silver Lake in the DuPage County Blackwell Forest Preserve extra hard on first ice (hoping it happens before Christmas) and bag a walleye or pike through the ice to get my toothy-critter this year.

Now that the what, why, when, and who have been taken care of the where will be known as several locations on the Fox River where Dan knew there could be walleye.

Wading in November isn't for the casual angler.  Some specialized equipment promises to make the task more pleasant and that equipment is a set of neoprene waders.  This material used in wetsuits insulates well  and conforms tightly to your body.  Out of the water this feels like a warm hug.  In the water it holds back the dark, cold of the Fox River and enables you to stand mid-stream and try to catch fish.

We spent from sun-up to 8:30 AM working a hole in the river.  This hole is off of a fast current area and stretches for 30 feet or so.  It can be deep at times and today it was between five and six feet deep.  Deep, cold, long hole, fast current....toothy critters....a text book walleye spot.  

We drifted, dissected, switched up the bait, changed the presentation, dragged bait across the hole, up it, down it.  Nada.  No bites, nothing resembling a nibble, and to add insult to injury Dan learned that his patch job to the crotch of his neoprene waders wasn't completely sealed and I learned that my brand new neoprene waders leak in each stocking-foot.

We moved to a nearby bridge to work two pilings.  Drifting minnows and crawlers I got no fishy-love and Dan got three fish but they were all bluegills.  Nice gills mind you but this was not what we were there to catch.  To make matters worse I repeated a performance I made last year at this spot and tripped over a submerged slab of concrete and submerged my forearms and got my jacket and chest-bag pretty wet.  This sucks...two years in a row this spot skunks me and gets me wet and makes me cold.

Dan suggests Plan-B.  You see Dan always thinks two spots ahead of where he is fishing.  This is a quality that makes him a great guide.  We didn't catch at the first location so we changed cold river spots to another spot I could try for my first toothy-critter.

We bumped into JC1Crappies from the DuPage Angler at this spot.  He was spending a little time catching fish off a current stream from shore. (catching and kissing; I guess he loves eyes)  Dan and I waded in 10-15' to allow us more accurate casts and better coverage of the area.

My float goes down!  Could it be toothy?  Naw, just a bluegill.  But it was a nice gill and I was now under no pressure to beat the skunk.  

Dan pulled in a few largemouth bass and bluegill before he found the walleye groove.

Ok, JC1 caught some walleyes and Dan caught some walleyes.  What do I catch?

My float goes down in the slow water near the current stream, I set the hook and feel the wiggle at the other end of my line.  What could it be?

My first ever walleye!  Yeah, it's the size of a king size candy bar but it's better than that because it's my first toothy critter!

Then I couldn't cast without catching one.  Cute little eyes with their firm, unique skin that feels different than the other species I have caught thus far.

Eventually we both had to cry uncle.  We couldn't feel our feet too well and Dan's poor leg was moist with cold Fox River water.  Not the most pleasant thing to be moistened by.  We changed out of our waders, put on warm, dry clothes, and stopped for a bite to eat before heading to Plan-C.

Plan-C involved ultra-light rods, heavy floats, and ice jigs.  We had several dozen more minnows left over from the morning fishing and we wanted to catch another fish that turns on in the cold weather; crappies!

Dan catches the first, then another, then a double.  I get a nice 12" crappie then a double, then another.  Dan sets the hook on one crappie, reels it in, lips it, then picks up his second rod to set the hook then reel in another crappie while he is holding the first one.

So far Dan and I are at around 60 fish for the day thanks in no small part to the big, beautiful crappies in this catch and release lake.  What could cap off the day?  I'll tell you what.

How about a 4.25 lb largemouth bass that ate a minnow on a Yellow Perch-colored Fiskas tungsten ice-jig, I think that caps the day off nicely!  Add to it that I caught it on  Pflueger Ultra-Light rod and reel on 4# test Trilene monofilament.  To the uninitiated, smaller tackle adds a pretty high level of excitement to catching a fish this size.  Your line is lighter so it could snap, the rod is bendy and less able to absorb the shock of  larger fish, and the reel is smaller with smaller drag which this bruiser peeled off my reel for a good long run before I tightened it down a touch to tire it out. 

I dropped Dan off at home, stopping in briefly to say hi to Dan's family and his golden retriever who has a canine-crush on me.  Dogs like me, what can I say?  We chatted a bit more then parted ways.  Neither of us had any idea the day would turn out this well.  Both of us were cautiously optimistic and even hopeful we'd have a good day and catch our quarry.  And we did just that and more.

The day started off with Cold, Wet Eyes alright  but the Surprise wasn't a Crappie.  That's what makes fishing so much fun.  You can try for one species in particular and end up catching something completely different.  I'll take bass this size all year round if I can catch them.

11/18/2012 USGS Fox River 11.24 ft 710 cfs @ Montgomery Gauge