Fishing Was Good

[wanabeflyer]

Did anyone else fish the LI this weekend?

I did, Saturday afternoon, and it was great. I caught 5 rainbows in about 3 hours.

I was at the gravel pit area, used wooly bugger, san juan worm, and microlite jig.

I talked to another fellow, and he said they were hitting real good in the morning.

By the way, this was my first outing with my waders, boots, and fly rood. First time to catch trout with a fly. It was wonderful.

Can't call me a wanabeflyer anymore.

Morton Hatch

[laker67]

By the way, this was my first outing with my waders, boots, and fly rood. First time to catch trout with a fly. It was wonderful.

Can't call me a wanabeflyer anymore.

Morton Hatch

Congrats and welcome to the life long hobby of fly fishing for trout.

[Phil Lilley]

That's cool.

[OKFlyFisher44]

Glad to hear that you enjoyed it Morton! Next time you go, drop me a line on here and I'll show around...I know where all those trout hide

[wanabeflyer]

OK...44

Sounds great.

I hope they get back to a regular release schedule so we can plan something.

Morton

[DaddyO]

I didn't get to go this weekend, but I did pass along some flies to my brother who went Sunday morning and fished until they turned the generators on around noon. He went to the Gravel pit and went down to the Car Hole. He said he made 30 casts and caught 25 fish. He said that he thought he could've stood there all day and produced those kinds of numbers but he wanted to look at more of the river. Anyway, he went up to the Watts area and caught a few more fish and then went up to the Island off of the Powersite access road and caught a few more fish before the water came up.

Again, the fly of the day for him was the Bob White. He also caught a few fish on a bead head Pink Chenille fly that is tied with black thread and wrapped like a Greenie Weenie without the tail on a #12 Scud hook. I don't have a picture of it, but you can look at one of my earlier posts in the TaneyComo forum "Father and Sons annual trip". The picture of me and my Dad with the Brook Trout has this fly hanging out of the fish's mouth.

[Danoinark]

Your hooked now.

And what a great name for a fly fisherman. Hatch.

Dano

[CaptainT16]

Glad to hear you had a great time with the new fly rod and waders. I was surprised as well went I made it down there on Saturday afternoon to see the water was shut off. I was shaking I was so excited to get down to the water. Got all setup and went directly below the dam and a saw few guys fishing. Everyone said they were catching Sand Bass, so I thought heck, I've always wanted to catch them on my fly rod. I tied on a black unweighted wooly booger and it sure didn't take long. Ended up catching 7-8 rainbows right away and then came the bass. Biggest bass was maybe 1lb, but sure was fun on a fly rod. Ended up going down there right before sunup and fished till 10 on Sunday again right below the dam and caught 15-20 rainbows all on a brown wooly booger. To my surprise I had a big hit and something that didn't want to come up out of the hole. Finally after 2-3 minutes saw a nice rainbow come to the surface. Wish I could've got a pic of him, but he would've gone around 17-18, great looking fish. Wish I could've stayed longer as I really enjoy fishing down there. I always fish right below the dam in the first stretch of water as I always do well, but I need to try and fish the rest of the river as well. Someone will have to show me some new water to fish next time I come down that way.

[mchadpayne]

ok so you have me interested. I am a colorado fly fisher but I think I'm gonna try the lower illinose this weekend. any advice on where to go and where to park, where to fish and what flies are they usually hitting on?

[DaddyO]

ok so you have me interested. I am a colorado fly fisher but I think I'm gonna try the lower illinose this weekend. any advice on where to go and where to park, where to fish and what flies are they usually hitting on?

This is a list of flies that I have used to actually catch fish on the Lower Illinois.

1. Zebra Midge size #16 and smaller, Black and Silver, Black and Copper, Olive and Silver, Red and Silver

2. Pheasant Tail size #12 and smaller

3. Gold Ribbed Hares Ear #12 and smaller

4. Wooly Buggers and MoHair Leeches #10 and smaller, Olive, Black, Brown, etc...

5. Hair and Copper #12-#14, Brown

6. Bob White (See my other forum posts)

7. Small Micro Jigs 1/80th Pink, Olive, Brown

8. Prince Nymphs and Sow Bugs in various sizes.

9. San Juan Worm Pink, Red and Brown.

Locations: I'll start from the Dam and work my way down river.

1. PowerSite Access Road - Drive all the way to the end of the road and park by the fence. Walk down the hill next to the fence. Walk into the river and stand right behind the big rocks and cast up stream and let it drift down to you. Be careful as the rock are slick.

2. Turn around from the Big Rocks and fish the runs that are down river about 100 yards.

3. PowerSite Access Road - Take the first turnoff to the right that drops down into the grassy parking lot. You can fish the area about 200 to 300 yards in front of the island and all the way down past the island as far as you feel like hiking. Be sure to work all of the downed trees.

4. Watts Area - From Gore, you will come to this before the PowerSite Access road. I think the road number is E990 and it is about the only paved road besides the PowerSite Access Road. Drive all the way to the end of the road and it will end in a paved parking lot by the river. You can fish up river and down river from the parking lot.

5. T&M Gravel Pits - You'll just have to become familiar with the area to find this so ask me about it when you find it.

6. MarVal - Park in the designated areas and fish wherever you think looks like it would hold fish.

It's really kind of a small area to fish, but it is a good quick fix considering it's proximity from Tulsa.

Good Luck and Have fun. Maybe we can hook up sometime.