Fishing! My husband and I have been fishing together since we were children. Our love is the Lower Illinois River. We enjoy the Striper chase and Large Blues. We plan on buying property there. Soon. :)
Headed to LIR next weekend. First Striper trip of the year. Does anyone know if you can drop at Gore Landing. I was wondering what everyone else thinks about the Striper fishing this year. How do you think the swollen muddy water will effect the Striper fishing? I would think it should be pretty good.. Any other opinions or has anybody had any luck yet this year? One more question, can you find shad right now?
That big boy was caught just past Gore Landing, way before the 64 bridge. I'm not surprised about this beauty still being in the river! Its just about prime time for the big ones to come out and play. Mid-August through late September is your best chance at a trophy in these waters. Just a few more weeks to go and we will be on the river, for our week long vacation. This is when we've caught our largest Stripers.
By the way, this giant was returned to the river...
I wish I was going this weekend. We have went several times this year already and the Striper fishing is so slow this year. It is very refreshing to see such a beautiful fish caught this year. Good Luck this weekend!
Headed to the LIR this weekend. Sure hope that water is flowing!! For those of you that went this last weekend- has the water cleared much or might I say - has the Arkansas went back where it came from? Thats what I love about the river, always changing, makes it such a challenge.
Plan on doing some fly fishng too....Hope everyone has a great July 4th.
I bet your right, they seem to run it during the week, that leaves us working people that live 2 hours away, out of the mix...Maybe the extreme weather has something to do with the Stripers acting so weird?
The Arkansas was backed up all the way to Gore Landing and when they ran the water- 1 unit for a few hours a day, it was like flushing the toliet. We caught big beautiful shad and they did produce some violent attacks, but we never landed one. You had to fish right in the debris which caught on your line and balloon. The fishing was frustrating, and it was HOT....But we did some scouting and found some new deep holes for next time. As for Catfish- we caught a few Channel cat and 1 Spoonbill (never caught Spoonbill in LIR). We did catch some trout-one pretty nice one.
At Gore Landing the water temp was 76, up stream from Gore Landing and around the corner it was 66 and out by the Arkansas I found 90+ degrees!
If the water is running this weekend (Sat.) we are planning an all day trip, the chase is on!!!
Well we still have the bright sun going on but the water is no longer low. Camp host at Gore Landing said the Arkansas was backed way up into the LIR and the point at the boat launch there was under water... We are going to do some night fishing for Stripers, it seems to work better in these conditions, but who knows. The challenge of this river is the thing that attracks us most. Its always changing so you have to be on top of your game! Makes me excited just talking about it. Are you coming out this weekend?
We've caught Striper before in these water conditions, but its tough! Talked to a Striper Guide down there today and he said they caught a few yesterday evening, when the water was running. I'll let you know how we do when we return Sunday night.
Well, Tenkiller is only 7-inches above normal,the Arkansas is out of its banks, so we all know where the water is.....NOT moving out of the LIR. Looks like they are only runnin water for 3 hours in the evening... Now, I know you Trout fishermen are very happy when this happens, but I need a giant Striper fix..lol Oh well, those big Blues will have to do...
Still excited to be getting on the river this weekend!