couple outings up in illinois

[Norm M]

river has come up almost a foot in the last couple days, went from about a foot of visibility to nearly none, a bit above normal flow, water temps up from low to mid 40's . weather out side of wind has been good . starting to see larger concentrations of waterfowl , wild turkey in nice numbers, hawks all over . insect activity , lots of furry type critters getting loosey-goosey .

first trip before the water came up 6 inches or so, water had a about a foot of visibility . I fished a series of slackwater spots with cobble, some larger rock , ledge rock and softer bottoms . water willow stubble patches/islands in softer bottoms . some wood cover here and there . not much algae but some leaves on the bottom .

I fished a KVD 1.5 squarebill crankbait and caught fish at the upstream side of rock piles , rock humps, isolated larger rock and dips/ holes in the cobble . Every fish I caught came on a downstream cast , brought back slow/steady from a river left casting angle . any other casting angle speed or direction[quarter cast , cross cast or upstream cast] was ignored . I fished hard and soft jerk baits, swimbaits, spinnerbaits, rattlebaits and jigs/plastics with no success no matter the angle/direction/ speed/cadence used .

Next trip after the water came up , I went back to the same areas to see what would or would not work . After much experimentation the only two things that worked were a jig/twister swum ticking the tops of the newly covered waterwillow stubble or jig/erie darter on the bottom barely moving in the openings in the waterwillow stubble where it doesn't grow .

First day ended up with 11 smallmouth medium to large in size . Second day ended up with 23 smallmouth medium to pig status . First day noticed some craws in gullets , second day minnows in gullets. all fat healthy fish, evidently eating well . First day definite , no doubt about it hits, had one tail walker . Second day all hits light to barely noticeable . I'm pretty sure I missed at least a half dozen fish because I just didn't feel it and execute a hook set quick enough .