hoglaw

One of the men may have been the one that owns the first mile or so of frontage from the dam down on that bank. You can see his house from the road over the dam if you look downstream into the woods. It's pretty much the coolest spread in the state. I'll give him grief about the helicopter next time I see him.

I don't think you can say that it would be unfair for a female professional angler to get sponsorship money where a male angler of equal skill wouldn't. My girlfriend has an uncle that fishes FLW and BASS, and a couple of close family friends that do as well (she's from Hot Springs, and lots of those guys are pretty close). What I've learned from talking to her uncle (who is a household name among fishing fans) is that for the long haul, marketing is more important than fishing ability. He told me that if you want to get started, you have to win some tournaments. If you want to make it in the long run, you have to have the ability to market yourself. He works equally hard at fishing and networking. He is constantly building relationships with potential and current sponsors. I certainly don't mean to downplay his fishing ability, he's darn good, but he knows what it takes to make a career out of fishing. For those that can't market themselves as well, it's simply unrealistic to believe that your fishing skills are so extraordinarily above the competition's that the sponsors will beat down your door on merits alone. If I were in a business that would benefit from sponsoring anglers, I might well consider sponsoring a female angler for the simple reason that she'll get more face time than competitors of equal skill. I would probably be less likely to contribute the same level of sponsorship if she were fishing on a woman's only tour, as that doesn't get my product the same amount of camera time. Whether there's a women's tour or not doesn't really matter. The sponsorship money will still flow to the people that get in front of the camera.

A canoe is key to the little red. There are a couple of floats you can do that have nearly impassible shoals for the boaters, and you can get to some stretches that are far less pressured than the rest of the river. My favorite part is taking out at cow shoals in November-December and bottoming out my aluminum canoe right in front of the elbow to elbow fly-fishermen at the top of the shoals. Last time I heard one grumble "they should close this stretch off to canoes during November" after I passed.

I don't think the habitat changes in the buffalo are affecting the smallies as badly as you think. First, the river gets a TON of pressure. Much of it comes in the form of catch and keep, as the average drunk is ignorant of the restrictions. I was a lower stretch this summer and started scooping gravel with a hand net. The water was as hot as a bath, and that snot moss was growing everywhere. I still found lots of crawdads and quite a few of these other things. I think they're helgramites maybe? They look like centipedes with serious jaws. Even in the nasty hot water, I landed 30+ fish with some 16+ inchers once I switched to a baitcasting rig and my favorite topwater rig. Anyway, the forage in the buffalo is pretty abundant in my opinion. I think stocking channel cats is a fine idea. It gives the keeping crowd something else to fish for. AGFC has stocked channels in the past and has had limited success believe it or not. There was a big study a few years back where they tagged the stocked cats, and found that quite a few had migrated all the way downstream to the white, and wound up in the delta warm-water stretches. I don't know why the cats leave the buffalo, but it probably has something to do with spawning patterns. Channels move to current and headwaters to spawn, then retreat back to reservoirs. If life is good in the river, and they can find a big still pool, they sometimes stick around. Also, while the channels share much of the same forage base as the smallies, I think they're probably more prone to scavenge and feed on larger sunfish. All in all, I don't think stocking channels will affect the smallmouth population that much, but I'm not a biologist. AGFC won't stock them if they didn't think the smallies would be okay. Personally, I think they need new restrictions. A big slot, or C&R on all smallmouth over 12 inches might be interesting. At least that would get the message out more effectively.

I don't ever keep track of the calendar, but I can say that from running a trotline, it's certainly appears that the catfish follow paterns relating to the moon. Now, I'm sure there were other variables that my observations didn't control for, but it appeared to me that the nights before and after a full moon were always a slam dunk for a seriously hefty line. Not sure about the new moon, but the time before and after the full moon was golden. I suppose in general, I don't believe in solunar calendars. I believe there are certain times of the month that are more productive, but that other variables control the bite throughout the day. I am a huge believer in the barometric pressure. When the pressure drops, it's time to fish. The old adage that when the cows are lying down the fish are biting is an observation of the barometric pressure. The cows tend to lie down when whether starts to come in (don't know if they can sense the pressure change or not). Fish are extremely sensitive to subtle pressure changes, that's how they know their depth at all times. I don't know why dropping pressure fires them up, maybe because it signals a possible storm and tough eating times ahead? Anyway, long story short, I think pressure, wind, available forage, and light have a bigger impact on day feeding than the lunar phase. In general though, the times near the full moon seem to be gorge times for catfish. That's my $.02.

the section above that being the take out at robinson road? Where are you guys planning on taking out this weekend? The old bridge I was talking about?

I'll have to take another look. I tried to find the old bridge, but the way to it from the south was blocked off. There's a way to drop down from the north, but I suspect it's blocked as well. I'm trying to figure out how to float that portion upstream from Kecheloe road because it borders on the national forest most of the way, and would make for a great spring turkey hunt. I've always found floating and calling to be the most effective method of covering ground. On a personal note, I feel like the fishing has declined a bit in the Illinois over the past four or five years. I can't catch the numbers I used to catch, but it's still a good float for a shot at a serious monster or two.

Hey guys, new to the board. I've floated and fished the upper Illinois since I came to Fayetteville for school a decade ago. I'm looking for a takeout that doesn't appear to exist anymore. As you hopefully know, the Illinois flows north from the Savoy area, underneath 412, takes a turn to the west, then goes south under 412 again, then down to the Fisher's Ford and Lake Francis area. I'm looking for a bridge that crosses it as it travels west, between the 412 crossings. I believe it was called Kecheloe road at one point in time, but I can't find it. I played around on Google Earth, and the route I would have taken had a sign on it that said "bridge closed" and it was totally blocked off. Is there another way to the bridge from the north? Any help would be greatly appreciated.