Kayak Cats

EIGHT SUMMER ANGLING ADVENTURES

6-26-13 Kayak fishing with Dupageangler.com member Soonerbass aka Ted Yates:

We fished a suburban pond from out yaks and just crushed the fish! Sooner scored his on top water and I landed over 20 on four-inch Berkley Power worms it was an awesome summer night and a great way to break up the workweek. I landed an 18-inch fish on this trip! More on the trip click HERE

6-30-13 Whacker pond fishing with DA member JcCrappies (aka Chunsum Choi):

We hit three ponds and we had a blast!!! We went through so many whackers we had to stop at the house of Crabby Bass Lures partner Charles S and get some more plastics!! I landed an 18 and a 17-inch fish on this trip!

7-1-13 Kayaking and bassing a local lake solo to start my vacation:

I landed over ten bass with Crabby Bass Whackers and 4 in worms! My big fish for this day was a toad that measured 21 inches!!

7-3-13 Kayaking for summer panfish:

I was able to yak a private lake and got a bunch of 10-inch crappies and 7-inch gills. I used little atom plastics and night crawlers

7-4-13 Kayaking with Dupage Anglers and our kayak wars team:

Sooner Bass, Brim, JcCrappies, and myself all met at a small lake at dawn. The top water bite was non-stop for about an hour. Many bass were caught. Once the sun popped the bite all but shut down leaving us with only a few opportunities with plastics. I had so much fun. I landed 3 big fish on this trip a 17,18, and a 20 incher.

7-5-13 Short DuPage River wading trip fishing with Wacky Bass aka Marty R.:

Wacky and I had a couple hours and got a late start. We fished a stretch of the west branch in Plainfield and were covered in sweat before we even started fishing. We drifted live bait and grubs. We caught about 10 between us, had some fun, and then decided to get out of the heat.

7-6-13 Wading the West Branch with Chunsum (aka JcCrappies) in Shorewood:

We arrived very early and started drifting crawlers and crabby helgies. The Bite was not hot and heavy but persistence paid off. We did not catch many in our tradition holes many of the fish were hugging the shores under trees. I am glad Jc noticed this or we would not of caught at least 12 of our fish. My big fish for the day was 17 inches!

7-7-13 Guide Trip Booked with DuPage Anger Member Mcalla:

Mike want to learn more about wading and with the fox up and running we hit a tributary instead. We fished from 5:30 – 10:30 dodging most of the heat. We used my drifting technique with minnows, leeches, and crawlers. Mike scored big with 25 fish, six species, and several nice fish!! www.dupageguideservice.com

Basappie Bite!!

We had a warm front come in from the south and dump some much need rain. In the early spring and fall I shift my attention from a bass pipe bite after a rain to a crappie pipe bite. The cool thing about a crappie pipe bite is you can usually spend a day at just a pipe or two when the bite is on. Schools of golden freckled goodness pull right into the current breaks giving out ultra light fun by handfuls!!

The warm front seemed to draw the crappies to the end of the current caused by the rain. They were not right in close or in the big numbers I expected. However someone sent a text to the bass and gills that the bite was on today. What resulted was a chex mix of fishing fun.

I used minnows and a ice jig/micro nuggie combo for the lion's share of hits. I did manage a couple fish on a castmaster spoon.

I missed several fish. (bast-rds) 

An older gentleman came up and scared the crap out of me since i was concentrating on the fast action and I jumped like a school girl. He was surprised to see me in his spot he said and asked if he could join me. That is class. He did not just come right up and park next to me. He was cool and he slammed several large gills on a red and white tiny tube jig. The gills were in droves and we scored a few really nice fish. I ended the day with about 8 bass as well. It was a great day to shoot the sh-t in the wind and rain.

An October Banner Day on the Fox River

 After 3 mornings in the 30's I was not expecting much of day. I took a vacation to go Salmon fishing but after a slow night casting and rivers levels very low I changed my plans to the Fox River.

Ted Yates aka Sonnerbass on www.DuPageAngler.com Had the day off as well. When we met at the river it was frigid out and we had the river to ourselves. All the candy ass mamma's boys started showing up at noon once it had warmed up.

The hole I was fishing, I was hoping to find a walleye or two but with this years incredibly low water I believe the flow just is not there to trigger the eyes to move up. The hole is chest deep and trucking in normal conditions. Today 4 foot maybe at the deepest. 

With the hole being so low and slower I did not have to pull out the Lindy rigs. My standard drift rig would do the trick. I was armed with the trio of awesomeness crawlers, leeches, and minnows. The floats I use come in different shapes for different depths and current speeds which can be switched out in seconds. These floats have really been the icing on my drifting cake. I truly believe My numbers have gone up by a quarter since I switched float companies.

It didn't take long maybe 2 drifts before I had the first of 40 cats, Yes 40, I know right? Anyway these fish were a blast. All small 5-18 inches most being around 10 inches. They were stacked up like cord wood in this hole which in the past had only been good for an occasional fork-tail. I just wish I had brought my ultra light or lighter drifting rod instead of my stiffer 7ft falcon walleye rod.

Sooner was scoring fish left and right as well. We also caught 3 baby flatheads between us.

We also scored some white bass 3-4 between us.

To make the day perfect we scored at least 8 smallies between us. Both of us lost two big fish each. Since we did not see them we are going with shad, yeh that's it shad.

It was a perfect day on the Fox River. Despite the low water and chilly temps. Remember just because it gets cold does not mean hang up the rods for the season!!

If anyone is interested in learning my methods first hand, or just want to wade we can  make that happen just contact me at www.dupagefishingguide.com.

PODCAST Yellow Bass & Inland Trout

DuPage Angler Marty Rogers and Daniel Byrne (aka Pond Boy) discuss their DuPage yellow bass and trout fishing experiences on the DuPage Angling Network.DuPage Angler Marty Rogers and Daniel Byrne (aka Pond Boy) discuss their DuPage trout fishing experiences on the DuPage Angling Network.

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