multiple trips up in illinois

[Norm M]

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