north central illinois stream

[Norm M]

today the river levels went from 2.1 to 2.7 and up about 3,000 cfs due to recent rains . visibility , maybe an inch or two near shore in slack water . water temps started out mid 40's last time I took it about noon was 50.1. sun was shining but I didn't shed the third layer until afternoon .

carp rolling , minnow activity in multiple slack areas, snagged some suckers in pools below riffles. lot of bird and animal activity, seeing more flowering plants starting to bloom . turkey buzzards overhead just about everywhere I went, not sure what that means .

wade fished a multitude of areas, started urban, worked down to wilder areas and finished up semi-urban. creekmouths, flats, slackwater from cover with a cast or three to huge, bluffs, riffles and adjacent pools. everything from silt covered bottoms to cobble to ledge rock to boulders, flooded trees, laydowns, waterwillow stubble and some flooded brush.

crankbaits, rattlebaits, singlespins, jig/pig, weighted keeper/eire darter, swim baits and sluggos to match cover/current conditions/ algae . darn stuff still not blown out in downstream stretches, thru entire water column. in those areas made short cast to highest percentage spot on spot, figured anything after a few turns of the reel or short drift was fouled. actually that worked rather well, really made me concentrate on dissecting the spot .

good day, multiple assortment of smallmouth sizes, many real pigs, chowing down .

fishing during the rain the previous day, real short trip account weather and 30th wedding anniversary, couple pigs on cranks. day before that, real short trip account lots of commitments, one brute on magnum fluke .