11-24 river in illinois

[Norm M]

 Well it was intended to be a smallmouth trip but it didn't go quite as planned so I'll post it here instead of the smallmouth section .

I had a lot of time today before dinner so I decided to use it wisely and go fishing. Nothing on the boob tube held any interest , all the chores were caught up and no one in the immediate family has interest in the shopping nonsense .

The river is coming up, better than 3 times it's normal flow rate and still rising . Water temps in the low 40's , no visibility, debris floating down river . Still have algae on the bottom in many stretches, maybe the high, muddy and cooler water will help get rid of some of that before the true cold water period starts .

I decided to travel light, medium light spin rod, matching reel and 10lb nanofil with no leader . One small box that fit in my coat pocket, some jig spinners, handful of 1/8 and 1/4 oz jigs, walleye assassins and sassy grubs . The plan was to hit a series of creek mouths , that went out the window from the start . First spot had someone camped on it with 5 or 6 rods , second spot parking area full likely folks out walking the nature trail building an appetite and third spot the parking area was too muddy to take a chance on getting stuck . I got to the fourth spot and to my surprise not a single car parked, time to fish .

I started with a jig spinner with a size 2 orange Colorado blade, 1/4 oz darter head jig and a walleye assassin rigged upside down. Working back slowly against the current on the creek/river seam got two nice smallmouth 16-17 inch range in the first 1/2 hour. I worked the area upstream on the creekmouth with the same rig , got 3 walleyes in the lower 20 inch range .

I took a little hike to get to the point pool downstream of the creekmouth , figuring there might be some smallmouth staging there with the higher flow . After the 1/4 oz jig didn't produce , I switched to an 1/8 oz darter head , walleye assassin rigged upside down and changed the jig spinner to a size 1 gold Colorado blade. I worked in from the seam to the shore , slow rolling it just above the bottom . No smallmouth but 4 walleye in the mid to upper twenty inch range .

I made another change to a 1/8 oz ballhead jig with a shorter shank , a sassy grub and switched to a jig spinner with a size 1 nickel Colorado blade . As I was working thru the area again slow rolling above the bottom, I got bit on the drop about halfway down . That turned out to be a very fat crappie about 11 inches long . I spent the rest of the time counting down and working the mid depths of the water column. I ended up with 6 more crappie , none as long as the first one but all very fat . Good thing for those crappie that I prefer to eat my fish fresh and I knew my wife was making a turkey dinner with all the trimmings. If not for that dinner would have been fried crappie, corn bread and iced tea.

It turned out to be a good thing I didn't fish the first three spots because I never would have made it to that point pool otherwise . Catching river crappie is not my strong suit so I always appreciate it when it happens .

 

[timinmo]

Sounds great Norm.  Hope your health is doing well.

[Norm M]

 surgery to remove the cancer on my tongue 12-6 then 6-8 weeks to recover . right now outside of the constant pain which I am learning to live with I am doing well . the only good thing that came out of it is that I've shed the excess weight and my knees are grateful .

[Ham]

I really appreciate you working your way thru options of jig design, blade combos, and soft plastic trimmings. Sounds like you crushed it to me.

I hope you have a full and speedy recovery and a wonderful 2017 to put that misery behind you.