Drift Fishing Small-mouth and Catfish using Raven Tackle with DuPage Angler

I got a chance to go fishing with Marty Rogers founder of DupageAngler.com. I was excited because he is always crazy busy and fishing with him is always full of laughter.

We met way before sunlight and headed out west to a small creek that was finally not running high from all the spring rain. Our plan was to wade and drift fish for catfish and smallmouth using Raven floats, live bait and long rods. For more information on how we drift fish click HERE. The one thing I can say about Raven Tackle as it has dialed in our technique and our catch numbers has sky-rocketed.

We had the holy trinity of live bait crawlers, leeches, and minnows. For some reason the minnows just were not getting hit but the leeches were. Usually it is the other way around and in a hurry we will pass on the leeches.

This creek is very dynamic and spring rains design a new creek each year. Most years holes that are filled in by flooding are replaced by some new ones. This year there was only one new hole but many old holes were gone for good. We got on fish but had to fish twice as far as we usually do. This broke my heart a bit as three of my favorite holes were either half the size or non existent.

Marty and I fished and laughed and caught a ton of fish most small and not picture worthy, but great just the same. It definitely was a fun angling adventure.

High Water Spring Smallies

Just after our onslaught of spring rain hit I managed to get in the Dupage River near Naperville before the water got to high. The water was up 2 feet and dirty. When the water is up please practice safe wading. A Couple fish is not worth your life.

The fish as the water goes up spread out as there is more place to swim and feed. I fished for 2 hours I was using Raven products in my standard drift rig. I managed to catch two small mouth. I aligned myself with a stone wall there was a 1-2 foot ribbon of slower current right along the wall and this is were I caught my smallies and several panfish.

The key to high water smallies whether you can wade or not, is slack water and slow sections. You may not have a banner day, but you might catch a few fish in these slack areas. Just keep a look out for calmer sections that you allow to control and maintain a proper presentation.

A fellow DuPageAngler.com member Woz and a life long friend hit the fox in high conditions and manage to do very well. Here is his story.

With a little free time late this afternoon, I decided to take a quick trip to the Fox. Not wanting to waste the little time I had, decided on North Aurora. I figured with water levels up, I could hit the small dam by the police station, and if that doesn't pay out, pick apart the rocks by the main dam. After arriving, I realized the river was higher, and flowing faster than I had anticipated. The eddy's usually created along the rocks on the east side were non existent. Just a fast, steady flow. I didn't bother with the main river.

Walked over to the smaller dam, a saw some promise. Started out throwing a small x-rap in the seams, but nothing. Switched over to the trusty craw papi, and started flipping into any current break I could find. Behind boulders  stumps, and along cement walls. Almost right away, I felt a tug. Set the hook, and landed a nice 15" smallie. I repeated the presentation on any structure I could find. In a little less than an hour, landed six smallies. All were in the 14"-17" range.

Dupage Guide Service Bites Through The Frost

I woke up and my house was 60 degrees. Chilled I ran downstairs to turn up the heat and got in a warm shower as fast as I could. When I stepped outside, Wow holy sh-t its like winter out here!! I went back in for another layer, grabbed a couple pairs of gloves, some hand warmers, and I was on my way to meet a fellow DA member who wanted to learn to drift fish a piece of the west branch; I worried. The temperature dropped 20 degrees over night, would there be any bite at all? Chunsum Choi pulled up five minutes early! Two things you should never be late for, church and fishing. We talked for a few minutes getting to know each other better and guessing what the morning may have in store. Clouds of misty coldness came from our breath like chimney stacks. We started as soon as it was light enough to see the float in the low morning glow. A hit! Aw crap missed it. Normally this would not shake me but in this cold I quickly became nervous if there would be another. Chunsum was a fast study and started plugging away hard, taking apart the holes like they were made of Legos. Then wham,fish on! YES!!! This would repeat itself several times as the day went on! Every hole he pounded to find the feeding fish or just hit them in the nose with it!!! I believe he ended up with about ten fish and four species, the lions share Bronze-backs. We had a great time and I cannot wait for our next adventure. On the way home I glance at the temp, 60 degree's. What? A 25 degree rise in 4 hours, Wow.

If you are new, experienced, or want to teach your kids, I offer a wide variety of opportunities so please feel free to contact me and we can hopefully have a similar experience and tight lines.

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fisherbyrne@gmail.com