Norm M

Mitch Yes stuff like DD22 , Strike King XD 10 , old Poe's . Bandit 300's and the like for the somewhat smaller 10 ft divers . The Strike King 8.0 is another lure in the mix . The bigger and bulkier the better. Sorry, it took this long to reply, I've been fishing, sleeping and working .

The closest I come to the Ned Rig is a Fat Ika on a weighted keeper hook . I can do the same thing with that and it's stuff I have been carrying for many years .

http://www.offthedeepedge.com/2013/11/01/welcome/ Craig fishes for shoalies down there. I know him from when he lived up in Illinois . He is a very good fisherman. He was very active in the Illinois Smallmouth Alliance, still comes up for the annual banquet and is an accomplished fly tier and designer .

I am talking about using crankbaits that the manufacturers claim can hit about 20 feet as well as cranks rated to run 10-12 feet in a river that is on average about 4 to 5 feet deep . I use the extra deep divers because I can retrieve them extremely slow and still maintain bottom contact. A friend of mine likened it to jigging with a crankbait. I retrieve against the current, this also helps keep them down. When the water temps get into the mid to low 30's, I have been known to break out the Garcia 300C with the 3:1 gear ratio. I time making one turn of the reel handle by singing a song to myself when needed. These extra large lures really push water and get noticed. Even when coming from behind the fish in frigid water, they have enough time to feel and react to the lure . I also quartercast them upstream , make a turn or two of the reel handle and let it drift alng below the surface but above the bottom. Smallmouth, walleye and cats have all taken them. Once again , I believe they feel them pushing water with their bulk. They come off the bottom and eat them, so I guess it seems vulnerable and easy to catch and worth expending energy on. Big, fat, dumb, slow , EAT ME . It must be noted that I catch darn few fish doing this but the ones I do catch are quality fish. When fishing water temps in the low 30's many times you are fishing for 1 bite per trip. It's not for everyone but what activity is ?

it's a shame the 3 best teams in baseball play in the same division and had to play in this format. I do think though that it benefitted the Cubs in that beating the Cards and the Pirates they now have the confidence they can beat anyone. If MLB went back to a balanced schedule the NL Central could very well have 3 one hundred win teams . It's going to be very interesting for a while in this division . If the Cubs pick up two quality starters and improve the bullpen in the off season. ahhhhhhh .

If I remember correctly Rizzo had two strikes on him before he beat the shift by going to the left side . That infield hit got things going that inning. Did Matheny not pay attention when playing the Cubs or to the scouting reports ? When Rizzo gets two strikes , he shortens up on the bat and tries to go the opposite way .

take from a life long Cubs fan, It wasn't Bartman . It was Dusty getting out managed by McKeon and blowing that double play . I've been waiting since 1969, I may not sleep tonight , I'm that pumped. Everything is clicking, Maddon doing a great job in every aspect . I think one the best things he has done is teach the kids how to win . Hopefully Molina recovers, greatest catcher I've seen since Bench . If not give him Matheny's job . They are moving on because they don't let the pressure exceed the pleasure. They are loose and confident and playing clutch baseball as a team .

river continues to drop, getting close to normal flow rate, couple feet visibility, temps vary high 50's to low 60's . algae on bottom and flowing in some stretches, more leaves flowing, emergent vegetation still green a lot of bird, animal, bug activity . with the lower levels , fish are spreading out , forage everywhere as are the predators . covering water efficiently , remaining mobile is the best bet . rattlebaits, swimbaits, topwaters, flukes and spinnerbaits have been the best choices , haven't really done much with jig/plastic on the bottom . I've been using a lot of what most folks consider lures that are too large lately . quality fish of multiple species have been responsive, most times the lure gets slammed . for the most part action steady to real fun, couple trips either fish at the start and nothing or nothing and a mercy fish at the end.. this is about the best wading conditions this year, the weather is fine

http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/7/71/1018895/muskie-spots-chicago-fishing-really-usual follow up article yesterday

river dropped some more, few more leaves other wise no change there. Overcast all day it got windier as the day went, cooler as well, started in tee shirt, finished wearing a jacket . herons, hawks active, geese in larger bunches, still have turkey buzzards checking me out . squirrels really frantic today . The IDNR has never reported this river as holding musky, in 5 decades never had a follow, much less caught one. Pike, gar and bowfin from this flow, gar taking over pike niche in most stretches as spawning areas for pike disappear . I have caught musky in other rivers, lakes, reservoirs, and cooling lake so I know the difference twixt pike and musky . Today I hit a spot that had been producing smallmouth but hadn't the last couple times I checked. It's a water willow/slack spot on the side of an island . I decided to check up into the willows so I tied on a 5/16 oz War Eagle Tandem Spin tipped with a 5 inch twister. On the third cast , I got hit, knew it wasn't a smallmouth when I saw some of the fish after the hook set. I got lucky, it took the spinnerbait at the front of the mouth, so with no leader I was able to land it. A quick, not real precise check with a tape indicated 25 to 27 inches, not huge , but no complaints. I talked to Nick at the Trading Post[local bait shop] , he told me he had two reports of similar sized musky from the river in the last year or so. I have no idea if it's freelance stocking or not . The smallmouth action was intense in the three areas it occurred, the rest of the places I fished nothing doing. A dozen smallmouth on rattlebaits in an area where two channels came together, doubt it was much more than 50 casts. Ten smallmouth off a point down from an outside bend on rattlebaits, about 30 casts. 5 smallmouth on a one knock spook in the slack behind an island , very short amount of time but fun while it lasted. Eleven walleyes , all on swimbaits on flats off the channel, below river bends or neckdowns twixt islands produced the best . I tossed a Berkley heavy weight worm on a 5/0 worm hook on top of riffles, let it sink to the bottom of the vertical eddy at the base of the riffle, ended up with three very respectable channel cats . It's not fall yet, but the fish were chewing enough to make it a very nice trip

cooler nights, shorter days, water temps in 60's, leaves changing or falling, so far no frost . shot guns and camo in the woods, folks building duck blinds, it's coming . river is dropping, still more than twice normal flow, stain to the water, algae still on bottom and flowing in water column, waterwillows still green, occasional leave in the water. lots of animal and bird activity . lately the fishing patterns have been real simple, rattlebaits on current seams is the most consistent for smallmouth. rattlebaits at front and back of riffles next best, rattlebaits on slower flows on flats off channels and seams. fishing in low light with jointed minnow baits and swimbaits on flats off channels for walleye . the walleye thing is not complicated, fan cast an area, move and fan cast , move and fan cast. all I am looking for is active walleye and covering a lot of water efficiently as possible to find them . for the smallmouth on the seams it's about 50/50 casting up or downstream. for the upstream side of riffles letting the rattlebait swing across works best. on the downstream side quarter and straight across casts work best . on the slower flows, fan cast . not exactly rocket science but it's been effective

proper depth and speed control in the proper location is always my most important consideration . color is well down the list

I go the opposite way, much larger than the standard size lures

yes, I hooked one on a crankbait . While fighting it the crank popped loose, flew back and hit me in the forehead. Next thing I knew my friend was kneeling next to me, shaking my shoulder and asking if I was okay . There was a welt on my forehead but luckily no hooks in me . At least I got the crankbait back .

Nah, due to health issues, I wear waders all the time .

Recent rains, river rising and getting muddier. With lower clearer water previously , algae on the bottom again becoming a nuisance. Due to circumstances was only able to get in a shorter trip yesterday. I was planning to go downstream from the access area to hit a spot I hadn't fished in about a week . While getting the waders on I noticed a couple herons feeding in the immediate area and birds swooping down eating bugs from a hatch out in front of me, so plan B . It's a riffle cut in the middle by the channel, flats and some deeper "holes" . Cobblestone bottom with some larger rock, waterwillows along shore . Usually some emergent veggies but little if any now due to the long spell of higher water this year. I decided to use a 1/2 oz jig with a 5 inch swimbait , trying to stay about 1/2down in the water column. Hopefully target the larger fish eating the smaller fish eating the bugs. I got three really nice smallmouth but once the birds and bugs quit, the bite died. I tried a few other lures for a bit but no interest. I moved to a creekmouth to fish the seam twixt creek/river and ensuing mudline. I got one decent smallmouth out there on the 1/2oz jig/swimbait. While releasing it I noticed minnows skittering off to my left on a shallow flat. I tossed past the minnows and worked back, got a better sized smallmouth. I went back to the seam , no more fish. I was keeping an eye on the minnow spot and they started skittering again. another cast another nice sized smallmouth. Off to the last spot, a different creekmouth. I get there and see sunfish coming up out of the water in an slack spot off the shore. Same lure, cast past work in, best smallmouth of the day. Work the rest of the area with a variety of lures, no luck. Most of the fish and the larger fish being caught all on account of paying attention to natural cues

river has been really dropping, only a little over twice it's normal flow rate. water is getting clear, haven't had any algae issues , yet . the fish are pretty much any where they want to be , hence using lures that allow significant coverage. one knock sppoks, magnum flukes, 5 to 6 inch swimbaits on 3/8 to 1/2 oz jigs, rattlebaits, crankbaits , buzzbaits and tandem spinnerbaits. going to jig/pig around gnarly cover or in areas I have a lot of confidence in but the fish don't respond to more aggressive techniques. both numbers and size enough to put a smile on my face. cats, walleye, drum, rock bas and gar also being caught . nice to fish lower water again

it all ended well. hopefully you got some fish on both branches .

countershading paint job would make it even better .

https://www.google.com/search?q=rattle+baits&biw=1600&bih=670&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0CB0QsARqFQoTCJKsmfD1gscCFQloPgodKUUN8Q

Paul Quinnett https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=paul+quinnett+fishing+lessons

amen , Mitch

river has been dropping lately, little rise starting yesterday basically I've just been fishing whatever strikes my fancy lately. no discernible method to the madness, just scratching itches. I've been catching some fish, could I catch more doing other things, maybe, but I don't care. rattlebaits at the front and back of riffles , cranks and rattlebaits on current seams, chatterbaits, spinnerbaits and buzzbaits in the water willows . today I went cricking, lite tackle, downsized lures. catch whatever bites, whatever size, it didn't matter. low clear water, simpler times, just kicking back and relaxing . rattlebaits, cranks, spinnerbaits, jig/plastic. smallmouth, rock bass, sunnies , nice mix of numbers/sizes . just a laid back stress relief, tired of high water kinda week

I wade, a 7 ft medium spin rod/reel is all I need , should work fine for what you plan to take.

http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/7/71/772467/fishing-floods-norm-minas-rocks