Last hoorah of the year. fished the Upper Dells Friday and today. Friday greeted us with light SE winds, 24* at the ramp, and 40* water temps. Made for a chilly ride. Started out fishing 18 foot ledges in 68fow and was able to scrape up 1 short walleye. Headed out to the mouth of the river and fished 16-18fow. Found a big school of short walleye, all 12-14" Probably threw back 40 fish catching only 2 keepers and picked up a handful of whites as well. Bite died around noon. Today, not so good. A balmy 39* morning and west winds blowing 20 with gusts at 30. Headed back to yesterdays hot spot and couldn't buy a bite. Boat control was a pain on the main lake so we headed into the river channel. Had 2 bites doing controlled drifts in 26fow. A big fish that broke off before it showed its face(if I had to guess a big cat or drum) and a keeper walleye that got unbuttoned at the boat. No other action in 5hrs of fishing. Really put the SI/DI thru their paces as well and I'm getting more impressed with the technology the more I use them.

Last hoorah of the year. fished the Upper Dells Friday and today. Friday greeted us with light SE winds, 24* at the ramp, and 40* water temps. Made for a chilly ride. Started out fishing 18 foot ledges in 68fow and was able to scrape up 1 short walleye. Headed out to the mouth of the river and fished 16-18fow. Found a big school of short walleye, all 12-14" Probably threw back 40 fish catching only 2 keepers and picked up a handful of whites as well. Bite died around noon. Today, not so good. A balmy 39* morning and west winds blowing 20 with gusts at 30. Headed back to yesterdays hot spot and couldn't buy a bite. Boat control was a pain on the main lake so we headed into the river channel. Had 2 bites doing controlled drifts in 26fow. A big fish that broke off before it showed its face(if I had to guess a big cat or drum) and a keeper walleye that got unbuttoned at the boat. No other action in 5hrs of fishing. Really put the SI/DI thru their paces as well and I'm getting more impressed with the technology the more I use them.

 

I wish I had a warm spot to keep my boat and clean it up for winter, this way I would be fishing up until Thanksgiving. All my boat maintenance has to be done outside. Boat won't fit in the garage.

 

Anyway you guys  at least got some fish. Job well done. As long as I fished the lower dells, I never caught a white bass and I fished it for 8 years straight. I caught sauger, walleye, nothern, smallies, buegill, drum, and crappie but never a white bass.

 

"Really put the SI/DI thru their paces as well and I'm getting more impressed with the technology the more I use them." Pardon my ignorance, but what does this mean?

 

BTW what did you catch your fish on?

I wish I had a warm spot to keep my boat and clean it up for winter, this way I would be fishing up until Thanksgiving. All my boat maintenance has to be done outside. Boat won't fit in the garage.

 

Anyway you guys  at least got some fish. Job well done. As long as I fished the lower dells, I never caught a white bass and I fished it for 8 years straight. I caught sauger, walleye, nothern, smallies, buegill, drum, and crappie but never a white bass.

 

"Really put the SI/DI thru their paces as well and I'm getting more impressed with the technology the more I use them." Pardon my ignorance, but what does this mean?

 

BTW what did you catch your fish on?

Fish were all on jigs and 3" Gulp minnows in emerald shiner and smelt colors. We tried bigger baits on Saturday because the 2 walleye I kept had some 4-5" baitfish in their stomachs. The 2 bites we had on Sat. were on a jig with a 5" white fluke and a jig with the Gulp. As far as the electronics, I'm more fascinated with the things I can see and understanding where they are in relation to the boat. Since I fish the Chain a lot, there is not much to see. Big soup bowls with no structure. It's like looking at a barren desert. I ran the "Narrows" at 5mph looking for and finding fish on the ledges. While doing this I'm locating fallen trees on some of the ledges that are not visible from above water as well as fallen trees in the middle of the river channel which I would have never found if I wasn't scouting out the ledges with the Side Imaging. Granted the school we found on Friday was an area that normally has fish and I didn't use the imaging. The bites we had on Saturday were directly the result of the side imaging. I ran over what looked to be 6 or 8 fish, went back upriver and did a controlled drift ending up with the 2 bites on the first pass and zero bites on the next 2 passes. 

 

My boat is stored in a secure outside lot about 5 minutes from the house, so I feel your pain.

I am by Joliet. I travel between 10 and 60 miles daily to fish.

Dang with my son's traveling baseball eating up all my spare time I didn't get to spend a lot of time on the water this year. I did manage to catch a nice 6 lber on one outing, and caught several 3-4 lbers.  The few times we did get out the wife and boy caught several messes of crappie and gills. Now if I could figure out how to get pics off of my phone I would post them here. Going to try and get out a few more times before it is froze over and before duck season finally picks up here.

Dang with my son's traveling baseball eating up all my spare time I didn't get to spend a lot of time on the water this year. I did manage to catch a nice 6 lber on one outing, and caught several 3-4 lbers.  The few times we did get out the wife and boy caught several messes of crappie and gills. Now if I could figure out how to get pics off of my phone I would post them here. Going to try and get out a few more times before it is froze over and before duck season finally picks up here.

Blast from the past.

It's a blast all right, but I wouldn't trade it for anything else. Just wish we had more adult time

^{I think it is official...my season is over.}

^{Cant see me making it out again this year for bass.  looking forward to next year, and hoping it will be a better than this year.} 

^{May even get on a tourney circuit-I have all winter to think about it afterall!!} 

The water is not iced over yet Nice_Bass. So there is still hope!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Does anyone in this in this forum ever fish at Three Oaks Recreational area, in Crystal Lake off Northwest Highway (14). I fish there allot but I want to get more insight on the lake, any insight would be helpful, thanks.

-Will

My son fishes there a few times a year. What did you want to know? I can ask him. He has caught some good fish there, but not large quantities of them.

Looks like my fishing is over for the most part also, unless I take the small boat down to Newton. 

 

Its dog hunting time for me now 

My son fishes there a few times a year. What did you want to know? I can ask him. He has caught some good fish there, but not large quantities of them.

I was just wondering which lures produced the most fish for him?

I will ask him when I see him on Thanksgiving.  My son is mostly a jig fisherman, but I will confirm and get back to you. There is a guy who posts on another site who does a lot of dropshotting on that lake from the rental boats. He does real well for smallmouth.

Check your PM's Pondlvr. I just sent you a search link from a local website that has 88 threads about 3 oaks going back to when they opened it. Let me know if it doesn't work and I'll try something different. 

It appears we may be done fishing until after the new year.  I have and will go to some powerplant lakes, however never if it is below 40 since I am scared of freezing ramps.  Anyone have any insight on freezing ramps?  I would not mind going if colder, but would most likely be alone and it has me worried. 

obviously, need to get rid of a bunch of this snow first...

I have been to Newton when it was in the low 30's, the ramp was fine.

It appears we may be done fishing until after the new year.  I have and will go to some powerplant lakes, however never if it is below 40 since I am scared of freezing ramps.  Anyone have any insight on freezing ramps?  I would not mind going if colder, but would most likely be alone and it has me worried. 

obviously, need to get rid of a bunch of this snow first...

We had a tournament on Egypt last year and the ramp was pretty dicey. The owner of the ramp didnt want to salt it or anything because it was brand new. Honestly when it gets that cold it isnt worth it to me. Id much rather take a trip down south to the ozarks or table rock and fish in 30 degree temps and run into some spotted bass than sit in illinois.

^{Nice_Bass just do like we did on Saturday when we went duck hunting. Take a bag of salt with ya and throw it down the ramp. Just don't bust your arse like my buddy did when we were throwing it out.}

Have a happy and safe Christmas guys

Chicago fishing shows

http://www.sportshows.com/index.html

http://www.chicagosportshow.com/

http://www.tinleyparkfishingshow.com/

Boat show

http://www.chicagoboatshow.com/default.aspx

So we took a stroll on to the ice yesterday. Solid 7 inches............... Great............ On the other hand the old lady and boy both caught their first fish through the ice.

Chicago fishing shows

http://www.sportshows.com/index.html

http://www.chicagosportshow.com/

http://www.tinleyparkfishingshow.com/

Boat show

http://www.chicagoboatshow.com/default.aspx

You going to the Schaumburg show? I'd like to sit in on Mercer/Zona if I can swing it.  I was at the Ike seminar last year.  

 

Last year I didn't see many deals at the shows like they used to. Everything I looked at in interest was still selling at retail pricing.

Probably. I did Rosemont last year because I was boat shopping. Looks like Schaumburg is growing and has a better lineup of speakers. Ike puts on a good seminar. I saw him a few years back at Rosemont. I like Zona. Don't know if I can stomach Mercer. Maybe he's different in person than on the show. He's too animated for me. Reminds me of Fish Fishburne