A crisp morning on the Fox

The last text I received from Dave Saturday night mentioned the fact the temperature would hit a low of 50 degrees overnight.  It still felt like 50 degrees at 6:00 AM when I pulled into Dave's driveway.

We loaded up the car and headed off to the Fox for some much needed walking in the water.  Our first steps were greeted by smallmouth bass jumping across the river from us. Busting the surface after bugs or minnows or whatever they were interested in.

Dave was drifting crawlers and I was minnow man today.  When a fish busted the surface near me by luck I shot a quick cast to the perfect spot.  My float went down, my hook sank home.  First fish on the board and a healthy 15 inches to boot.

Dave quickly picked up a few channel cats on his worms but didn't feel they were photo worthy so they were released without their photo op.

This 4-5 pounder got the full paparazzi treatment without the TMZ questions.

More cats and a 12" smallie were caught but it was chilly.  The air was still cold and the sunshine at that hour of the morning didn't warm us enough to make us want to stay in the water.

After dropping off Dave I still had over a dozen minnows and some worms left over.  What could I do to get rid of my extra live bait?

Off to the Naperville Riverwalk to fish the DuPage River West Branch.  I scored a few rock bass and this nice smallmouth bass in front of the small groups of people out walking the Riverwalk this crisp morning.

I changed spots and that was when I missed my white whale.  I drifted a minnow down at about a foot and a half when my float went down.  I waited and then pulled to set the circle hook.  It felt heavy, It looked big!  I saw the side of the fish as I pulled it from the weeds by my minnow. It opened it's mouth, let my minnow go, and rolled back under the grasses mid-river.

I threw almost every minnow and crawler I had at the area that fish was in.  That or another fish kept grabbing my minnow or the worm by the body and ripped it off the hook.  I did catch another good sized rock bass but the bait thief didn't stop.

Don't start calling me Ishmael or anything but I spent an hour casting at that one section of river trying to get my hook in that fish.  Color me obsessed; I can live with that.

A chill to the car window and a nip to the air on this early September morning.  Fish were caught and released while the stresses of the work week and a very well fed bait thief drift down the river.

9/9/2012 USGS Fox River 10.87 ft 269 cfs @ Montgomery Gauge

9/9/2012 USGS DuPage River West Branch 7.64 ft 76 cfs @ Warrenville Gauge

What to do with leftover bait

Before I started buying live bait I never had this problem.  After a great day wading yesterday my dilemma was fueled by necessity.  We needed to insure Dan and I had enough bait so I stocked up.  Today I had a dozen nightcrawlers and a dozen leaches to dispose of.  Time to drift the DuPage in comfort.  I grabbed my 6' ultralight, rigged it to float bait, and the leftover bait and headed to the Riverwalk.

I got a few small smallmouth, five nice smallmouth but the last only got a picture in the water.  You see I touched the fish and was about to lip it when she gave her head a quick shake and snapped my line.  Her energy was spent since I couldn't horse a fish on an ultralight so I played her until she was tired.  She flipped around and sat there in the water pointed back at the center of the river.  I reached in and gave her a little push to wake her up and off she flicked into a deeper part of the river.


In hindsight the line could have weakened while I was messing around taking this picture of her.

With all my bait gone I left the spot on the Riverwalk happy.  I used up all my bait so none was wasted and I got in some fun smallmouth bass fishing.

Fishing with an Audience

I met Pondboy in downtown Naperville.  I'm getting my ultralight out of my hatchback when my phone rings.

Hey, I'm here and I'm already up one gill and two rock bass.

Darn, and I still need to tie on a hook and rig a shallow float rig with a spring float.  I guess he won't beat me by that many....ok, so Dan is now up by one bluegill and three rock bass.

Tonight when all was said and done we caught five species using the same river float technique I detailed in a past post.  Smallmouth bass (my first of 2012), bluegill, Rock bass, Warmouth, and Sucker; five species all caught on half a worm drifted shallow below a balsa or other quality float.

Today would be another day I went fishing somewhere straight from the train after work.  You can see I'm wearing a blue collared shirt but you can't see the grey slacks or black loafers.  I called this fishing with an audience because we were drifting the West Branch of the DuPage River on the Naperville Riverwalk.

There were plenty of people that walked by and then stopped to watch us catch a fish.  Some kids got to experience a live fish for the first time and one was brave enough to touch the side of the bluegill I held in my hand for him to see up close.

A few people lightheartedly joked that I was overdressed for fishing; I'd agree.  Another couple that was enjoying a nice walk kept walking by when Dan or I would catch a fish.  They'd say "See, we're your lucky charms.  When we walk by you catch a fish." This prompted Dan to attempt to negotiate putting them on retainer to always be around when we're fishing.

I can't say I'd want this much attention all the time when I'm fishing but it tonight it was fun to Fish with an Audience.