It Has To Be The Shirt

My first time out on the Des Plains River this year.  Crazy, right?  Usually, I'd be in the double digits in visits, but that's just not the case this summer.  I'm going to make the most of what time is left, that's for damn sure.  Got out to my favorite, most frequented stretch of water on the DPR in Lake County.  The weather could not have been better.

Kept it simple and light this trip.  1 fly rod and just a few flies.  I was just looking to enjoy the day and not over complicate things.  We had some storms roll through the past few days, but the water levels were surprising low.  

What I was extremely surprised about the day was the amount of fish I seen swimming around.  I have never seen so much activity in the water before.  There were schools of bass, bluegill, and rock bass all over the place.  It was really awesome to see that the fishery is flourishing.

Floating along, enjoying the scenery, and casting near downed trees and debris, I was seeing a lot of action.  The Northern Pike were hungry, but man, do they have the worst accuracy.  Once I finally got a hook up, it turned out to be a fish I had never caught on the river.  A largemouth bass!  It must have been my Troutrageous! shirt that enticed the chunky little bass.

On my paddle back up river, I anchored down, so, I can take a break and listen to a live band that someone had playing in their backyard.  They were jamming all kinds of new and old music, and were pretty damn awesome.  I couldn't see them, because, of all of the forest but I could hear them loud and clear.

Here's the spot I was anchored down at...beautiful.  Crazy to think that this is the Des Plains River.  I may or may not have fallen asleep while laying back on my kayak.

Life is good when I'm in my kayak on the river...napping.

40 minutes later...I continued my paddle back to the launch were I parked.  Made a few more casts and hooked up with this feisty snot rocket.  I think I went 1 for 20 on Northern Pike.

Surprisingly, this was the only litter that I found in the stretch I paddled.  Free double buzz bait in Chartreuse...I'll take it!

-Here's a tip for all of you fishermen-

If your lure is snagged, don't cut the line at the reel.  Aim your rod straight at the lure and pull straight, putting zero bend in your rod.  It'll break off closest to the lure (In theory), and you won't litter or lose a lot of line.  Win for you, and win for any animals that might get tangled up in your mess.  Let's be smarter people!

Winter Pike Float with Urban Assault Fly Fishing - Part 2

My buddy Dave (Urban Assault Fly Fishing) shot me a text message on Friday asking if I wanted to float the DPR on Saturday morning. I was in!

I was about 15 minutes late arriving to the launch, because, I had forgotten my waders at the house, so, I had to do a little back track. All this talk of "Geezers" is starting to get to me (Howard & Mel). It was sunny, and the temperature was in the mid 30's, the weather couldn't have been any better - Who am I kidding! It could have been 80 degrees outside, but with it being mid January, 30 is the new 80.

We floated a section that both of us haven't done before. It was a local part of the river, that I have shore fished extensively. It was really interesting and awesome fish places I couldn't reach from the shore. One of the highlights of the trip was floating under a major expressway in these parts, I-90. There were all kinds of things going on, because, this section was down the street from O'Hare Airport. Planes, trains, and automobiles surrounded us. 

Photo by: Dave

Here is the very same low head dam I posted about in my previous post about racing stick boats. The river seemed to be flowing at normal levels. The banks were icy and muddy. There was a lot of animal activity. We saw a group of 5 female deers, a huge red tailed hawk/owl (Debatable...we couldn't figure out what it was when it flew across river, but it was huge).

Dave was the only one to hook up. He was tossing an articulated double hook fly he tied the night before that had 2 tungsten beads, to help better work the deep pools. Sure enough this pike came from the bottom and took his fly. I had one strike on the day, and that pike was super lazy. It only went after my fly, because, it needed to play its predator role in the Eco system, but I did not hook up with that pike. It gave a half hearted tail flap/wave to me and drifted away.

Dave jamming on the pike guitar...and getting pooped on.      (Check out his knee. HA!)

Looking forward to the next outing!

Sun drunk and stick boats

The 3rd installment of - Bored and going through old photos.

I cannot count how many times Bobba-Dood overstayed our welcome in the sun, and became silly sun drunk fools. We've all been there...am I right?..please tell me I'm not alone. Haha

Our fishing outings use to last all day. 6+ hours of baking in the sun fishing multiple times a week. There were multiple outings where we would reach a that point where we became silly, stupid, and laughed at everything. 1 part sun, 2 parts exhaustion. During those times, the creative side of my mind would get going. I distinctly remember 2 occasions where I just randomly started to make something that resembled a watercraft of sorts, not human size, but something you could put a lego person on. 

On the first occasion we were fishing at Mallard Lake. I made a small watercraft the size of a post card out of sticks, grass, leaves, and vine. Whatever was around. I set it out to sea. It floated. I was proud. I then had the grand idea of trying to sink it with small rocks, pebbles if you will. I didn't want to cheat and use a big ole rock, where would the fun be in that. My accuracy was terrible and eventually just tossed a big ole rock, and defeated my very own Eco friendly battleship.

The 2nd time we were fishing the Des Plains River, and catching a skunk. I decided that we both create stick boats, race them, and see which one will survive falling over the low head dam.

Bobba Dood started making a Mark Twain'esk type stick raft. As you can see in the picture below, it shows he has just started the frame. Unfortunately, I was unable to locate pictures of the final product. I do remember it was no match for my ingenuity.

Here is what my mind is capable of when I'm exhausted, and had too much sun. Pure genius! How can you not say to yourself, "Wow, that's impressive! Is it for sale?!?!"

I was extremely pleased with the outcome of this vessel, that I contemplated changing careers, and devoting all of my time building stick boats, and starting a stick boat river racing league, but I didn't want the fame and fortune that came with that territory. I'm a humble guy. Plus the world wasn't ready for that kind of excitement at the time.

...and there she goes on her maiden voyage. What a beauty. The only fixture that did not survive the fall over the dam, was the sail. She kept on going down river, and didn't miss a beat. She's probably made her way around the world a few times by now. 

I know everyone has a few stories similar to this one. I'd love to hear them, so, please, do tell!!!!