A great weekend

I am a lucky man. I had a three day weekend, so I spent Saturday floating one of my absolute favorites. On Sunday I spent the day with friends from the SEMO smallmouth alliance for the Castor river stream team cleanup. Monday was a 10 mile float on a great little river.

I needed a big boat for trash hauling for the stream team cleanup so I strapped a solo seat into my 17 foot tandem. It's old, being made in 1983 but I don't think it has been paddled more than 5 times in it's life. It paddled great, although it was a little tricky to paddle the first shut-ins with such a long boat.


One of my absolute favorite floats.








































The stream team cleanup is something that I get a lot of enjoyment out of. The first year that we did the event, we picked up 1700 lbs of trash. The access points were dumping grounds and there was so much trash in the rivers that we completely filled our boats in the first couple of miles. It has gotten progressively better every year. This year we only picked up about 500 lbs of trash. At times, I would walk around a gravel bar and have trouble even finding trash. It is a good feeling to see change happening.

My boat filled with trash.

I think this boat might be a little to big for the creek






The next day I floated with a good friend. The fish were slamming my homemade lures, so I was a very happy man. No monsters, but plenty of 16 inch fish to keep me happy.










I will never get tired of floating these amazing places.

In like a lamb

I haven't gotten to fish much this past month or so. Water temps are nearly 60 degrees and the fish are moving. I have had good days and bad days, and it is surprising that I had much more success in water colder than 45 degrees than I have had at 52-58. I missed about a 10 day window due to work obligations; and average water temperatures increased from 43 to 55 on my favorite lake. Fish have actually started to move to spawning locations and the adjacent deep water after heavy fishing pressure or fronts.

I caught this largemouth shortly before a two and half hour drive to the airport. I then had to endure 6 days in vegas for a conference. That is a LONG time to be in Las Vegas.




I did my first smallmouth fishing trip of the year, which typically have been very productive for me. I try to time my trip to collide with water temperatures rising from the upper 40's into the low to mid 50's. Fishing was slow this trip. Water temps were higher than normal for this time of year and the fish weren't in places where I would have typically had success. Oh well, you win some-you lose some. I did get to fish and hike one of my favorite places on earth.


















I hadn't caught a smallmouth since December 22nd until I lipped this fatty. This spot is normally loaded with them, but it only produced one fish this trip.

Toothy fish

Winter has been mild in southern Illinois, and the fish are biting. I have spent the past two months targeting walleye, rainbow trout and muskies. Water temperatures from 38 to 45 degrees keep the feeding windows short, but they typically set up a predictable pattern for days at a time, and they often stay in predictable locations.


In 10 trips to one particular spot over the last two months, I have caught 3 muskies and 13 walleye. I have caught a walleye per trip from that spot since Jan 1st except for a beautiful Saturday morning when I went fishless, unless you count the foul hooked asian carp. I don't catch many per trip, and often times I will only have one to two bites per trip when fishing for walleye. They have ranged in size from 15-23 inches. Muskies can be incredibly aggressive some days, then disappear for days, but that is nothing new. Rainbow trout are predictable and sometimes easy to catch. Several other species have showed up while fishing for the aforementioned target fish. I hope you are enjoying the outdoors as much as I am this winter.

Looking back on 2011

It seems like every year I learn a little more and become a better fisherman. 2011 was no different. I fished in 5 states, caught countless species of fish including a few that I have not caught before. I improved my personal best for a few species and had some absolutely incredible fishing days. I even ended the year with a great trip to one of my favorite trout streams. Here are some pictures to make all of you readers jealous.

Last trip of the year--maybe.







Boundary waters canoe area.








Largemouth bass





Smallmouth bass






Trout

Winter smallmouth fishing

Large springs are some of the most beautiful places I have ever been. I have always tried to make it to the springs at first light, this gives me the chance to explore the spring outlet in solitude.This particular spring is always green, even in the dead of winter...which makes it feel as if you are on another planet, or in some enchanted forest. I encourage anyone who reads this blog to witness it firsthand. It is hard to describe the beauty of such a wonderful place, so I will let my pictures do the talking for me.










Now for the real reason I visit the area. The fishing! The eleven point is a place that I always enjoy visiting, because the fishing can be downright outstanding. Greer spring pumps an average of 220 million gallons of water into the river, which creates an outstanding rainbow trout fishery in the middle of a great smallmouth stream. I visited the area for a spur of the moment trip in late november. It was a constant drizzle, overcast, with overnight thunderstorms and around 45 degrees. In other words, perfect fall fishing weather. In 5 hours of fishing my first day, I caught 35 smallies and 2 trout. I could have caught many more trout, but I will always choose the brown bass over the pesky non-native trout. The second day of my trip accounted for 48 smallies and 1 trout. These are the highlights.








Notice the color of the water in this photo.





Campsites are usually empty in the winter. I will never complain about that.