DuPage Fishing Guide Service: Drift Fishing and Having Fun.

Keith met me in my drive way at o’dark thirty and I was immediately impressed when he pulled out a light weight custom steelhead rod from Xcalibur Rods. It was a little heavy for smallies but it was a beautiful rod.

The plan was to hit the DuPage River. We were at the most beautiful fishing spot I have on the river. The forest was a little spooky in the dark walking down to the river especially since we had just finished throwing wildlife stories around before we got there.

Quite a few of my clients want not only want to wade or smallie fish but they want to learn my bait drifting techniques for multiple species in rivers and streams. In a nutshell I use steelhead fishing concepts and tech to present live baits in at the most natural depth and speed. I mostly use Raven products for this. See this post for more detailed information. http://pondboyfishing.blogspot.com/2012/04/driftin-live-bait-for-dupage-river.html

I thought the trip was going to be easy peasy after Keith scored a couple quick fish. One was a gorgeous 17 inches, DuPage River Gold!! The spot got very slow after that. As the sun came up I just was not seeing the amounts of fish I usually do. Most trips I usually don’t have to change spots. One good stretch usually does it. Four spots total and five fish. Each spot produced fish however 20 fish in one stretch in a couple hours is not unheard of.

Keith’s day was open and so was mine so we decided on a round two and to not only switch rivers, but species as well. We headed to the Fox for carp. I love any opportunity to get a bass fisherman to try carp, the looks on their faces as they are hooked is awesome. I had him grab his steel-head rod which is perfect for fish of this size. We used the same drift rigs just bigger Raven floats. When drifting for carp you are not working seams in current like smallies but the slow, static, murky stuff. The drift needs to be much slower. We used size 4 hooks and good ol'corn. We hooked up right away and landed two awesome carp and some cats as well! We also had a couple fish show us the door.

I met another great fisherman and had a blast. If you would like a Angling Adventure of your own please contact me Daniel Pondboy Byrne at DupageFishingGuide.com

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

A Tale of Two Rivers

I needed to get a look at the rivers after the huge flood of 2013 we had in our area. I managed to get out four times. I got out once to the fox with DA member Sooner Bass and three very short trips to the DuPage, two of those with DA member JcCrappies.

The first trip on May 4^th to the DuPage with Chunsum (JcCrappies) was a surprise. The water was still way up and chocolate milk. We fished only the nook and cranny of slack water we could find. We managed to score some smallies. We also got about a dozen crappies behind a bridge. Two nice fish we caught and one beast lost.

The second trip on May 5^th to the fox was an eye opener. On a tip from DA member Flawlessfishing we hit the Fox on a search for White Bass. We managed to get some whites some smallies and even some yellows. The water here was still very high and un-safe to wade. The real excitement came when Sooner Bass hooked and caught a 33.25 Musky!!!!

Number three was back to the Dupage on May 7^th after work, which the stress relief fishing provides after a hard day is priceless, the water was a foot and a half lower then the previous trip. The water was still muddy but the bite was much better. I had 20 smallies myself and a few panfish. Chunsum did very well also. Though the numbers were up the size was not and only one good fish was caught. But it was a blast!!

On my last trip on May 9^th, I went solo to some new water that in normal levels would be too shallow. I try to make myself fish new water a few times a year. To my surprise in an hour I caught 3 cats and one small mouth.

Another week or so with no major rain and the rivers will be hot and ready. I fished all these trips with my standard drift rig. I happily use Raven steelhead products to dial in this technique.

Anyone can successfully wade and catch fish at rivers, including you.

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.