up in illinois 3-26

[Norm M]

river dropping under 7000 cfs, clarity is poor, water temp 50 degrees the only time I checked it. weather fair , mostly sunny but not as warm as promised , likely due to wind .

first place I fished was a creekmouth, very nice seam and foam line where crick meets river. I started with a crankbait cast down stream , shorter and closer, working out further with each cast . I picked up 5 small smallmouth biggest about 14 inches. I checked the surrounding area with crank, rattlebait and jig, no fish .

the other place I fished was a nice sized slow/slack area. cobblestone mixed with larger rock, limestone shelf and soft bottom. decent size waterwillow island at upstream end . I checked the cobblestone flats with crank, rattlebait and jigs, no fish. I worked up the the waterwillow island and started with a spinnerbait over the waterwillow stubble, nada. I switched the the reversed fat ika rigged on a ewg hook and shoved a bit of extra lead into the bottom of the ika. that got me 6 more smallmouth, these were nicer, 15 to 18 inches .