Fishing in Kalamazoo

This weekend Claire and I were in Kalamazoo, Michigan helping my little sister move. Obviously I wanted to take the opportunity to do some fishing. I woke up at 5am EST (4am my time) on Sunday morning, headed to the nearest supplier of coffee (Starbucks wasn't open yet, McDonalds still did the trick) and made my way north to a small trout stream I'd read about on the Internet. I figured I could try for some stream trout for a while, then hit the Kalamazoo river since I'd be fishing very close to it.

There was supposed to be a street going to the stream, a street where I could park and not have to traverse any private property. Turns out this street was a dirt road, and it was closed. I spent about twenty minutes trying to find a way to get to the stream. Finally I found another part of it, farther upstream from the Kalamazoo, but it was clearly private property. The stream was about ten feet wide, and it most certainly ran through a series of backyards.

Well, I thought, I wouldn't be catching any trout this morning. I made yet another u-turn in the deserted country backroads and headed toward downtown Kalamazoo. Every now and then I'd stop and take a look at the map, trying to figure out some river access that wasn't private property. At one point I pulled into a seemingly abandoned industrial complex of some kind. There was river access, but it was behind very tall barbed wire fences.

I drove to a city park on the river, and when I got there I realized I'd actually fished there before. Last year, I happened to be in town and tried fishing from the bridge. Back then I didn't have a clue about river fishing (I still only have a clue, not much else) and was, as expected, skunked. This time I had waders, quickly made my way into the water.

A few years ago there was a major oil spill on the Kalamazoo, but cleaning efforts have been mostly concluded, except for a few stretches. There was no sign of the oil spill where I was; the river looked like a normal river. A lot more urban than I expected; reminded me of the Desplaines River in Chicago with its high banks that made me think of erosion. I was surprised by the depth and sandy bottom of the river. I was also surprised by the lack of current breaks in the form of rocks; there were some downed trees, and there was a bridge, and that was it. No boulders, at least as far as I could see.

I got some hits, then pulled out a monstrous 9" rock bass on a tube that immediately self-released from my hands. It was good to catch a fish- there's always a lot of (self-inflicted) pressure to catch at least one fish. After that I can relax a little.

Casting everywhere, I decided that if I were a smallmouth bass, I'd probably prefer an area with a rocky bottom and more current. The only place that existed was around the bridge, so I headed in that direction. I worked the downstream sides of the columns but no takers. Under the bridge there was a little riffle, and when I cast to it I was rewarded with my first Kalamazoo River smallie.

Pretty fish

Not a trophy, but a good solid fish with nice colors. I worked that area for another half hour, and when I decided to leave and find another spot, at least 10 tube jigs stayed behind, attached to various underwater obstructions. I couldn't retrieve them when I went to check out the spot, but I did notice a bunch of boulders; it appeared the smallies were hiding behind them. I also found a submerged stereo. I wondered if there were times fish gathered behind it, using it to hide from the current.

the "wet" knob on the reverb must have been turned up all the way (music nerd joke)

 

 

I got into my car and brought up Maps on my phone. I wanted to find a place with more current breaks, more variation in water depth. The river was mostly straight near me, but there was one big curve in the river. I know from the internet and some experience that in river bends the inside bend will be shallow, the outside deeper. I also have seen that bends like that tend to deposit trees and other current breaks as the current changes, providing more places for fish to hide. I headed to the curve.

It took me a while to figure out where to legally park and how to get down to the water. On one attempt I stumbled upon some homeless people living in a tent under a bridge. I suppose they could have been camping, but it looked like they'd been there for weeks. I wondered what I would do if I suddenly didn't have a place to live; permanently camping by a river seemed like a perfectly reasonable solution. I wondered if they would ask for some fish if I caught any, and if I should give them any. I decided I probably would give them some, even though the water quality wasn't the best. A contaminated fish might be better than no food at all.

After some major bushwacking through a solid wall of foliage, I stumbled down into the river and saw exactly what I was looking for. Lots of rocks, boulders, downed trees, bridge columns, deep water, shallow water; Maybe it was luck or maybe it was me, but either way I found a great spot. My good choice was confirmed as a good choice when I caught another smallie hanging out in a bunch of riffles.

Kzoo river smallie #2

 I lost some more tubes, got a few hits, and really enjoyed the experience. I was fishing in downtown Kalamazoo, a half mile from the Union where I'd played more than a hundred gigs... But I'd never seen this spot, nor had I fished it. I wonder what other hidden jewels I miss as I drive over bridges.

I was almost out of tubes, so I thought I'd try another approach. I definitely use tubes and jigs too much for smallies; I've never caught one on anything else. I pulled out a gold and red spinner I made (with a paperclip for the wire shaft) and clipped it to my line. When I was testing its action in the water not two feet away from me, I saw and felt fish come up and nip at it! Awesome! I'd been standing still for a few minutes, and it appeared fish were using me as a current break. I had heard of that happening, but never experienced it myself.

So I cast out my spinner, downstream into the current break I was creating, and sure enough connected with a fish. Another rock bass. My first river fish on a homemade spinner! I made it extra heavy to dive deeper in heavy current. This seemed to be the perfect place to use it.

I made that spinner! First fish caught in my own wake

It took about 5 minutes to remove the treble hooks, but after a few minutes holding the fish in the slack water behind me, he came to and swam away just fine. As I was doing so some guys came upstream in a boat, giving me dirty looks. I wondered if I was in "their" spot. I asked them how they were doing, but they didn't seem interested in talking to me.

I caught another rock bass behind me, but couldn't coax anymore smallies. Nobody asked me for fish, nor did I see anybody in the tent. Maybe they were still asleep; it was early after all.

When the time came I made the reverse bushwhacking trip through the thick trees; it seemed clear to me not too many people fished this spot. At least not wading. I wondered if wading in the Kzoo was a bad idea after the oil spill; but I didn't see even the slightest indication of any topwater oil slicks or contaminated rocks or plants. I know that doesn't always mean it's clean, but I felt fairly protected by my waders. Except for the small leak they seem to have developed. I guess I'll find out...

Although I didn't do any trout fishing like I'd hoped, it was a good outing with some nice fish. 2 smallies, 3 rock bass. One of those guys was a GIANT! Not the best trip, but certainly not the worst. It's very encouraging to know that, at least in some circumstances, I can explore a new body of water and successfully find fish.

Adventures in Canoeing on the Rogue River

The Rogue River, through Rockford to its
mouth at the Grand River (our journey)

This post is tremendously overdue.

Although many details have faded due to the time elapsed (it's been almost two weeks since our trip to Michigan!) I feel obligated to record at least part of the story. As I mentioned recently, things have been pretty crazy. I left my job at Columbia College Chicago, started a new one at ChartCapture, and have spent most of my free time fishing. The idea of sitting back down at the computer has not been appealing to me, so I haven't done it! I sit here now, fueled by a big ol' cup of coffee, hoping to get this little story out there and get my personal fishing records all caught up.

I've mentioned my fishing mentors various times here; Mark, Rob, and Luke. They are the trio who introduced me to fishing, got me hooked, and have provided lots of hints and tips along the way. Almost every time Claire and I head back to Michigan for a birthday, holiday, gig, or whatever, I end up fishing with at least one of these guys.

The last trip to Michigan was no different- at 5am (4am my time) I was at Rob's house, trying to down enough coffee to make sense of things, ready for my first time in a canoe.

Turns out, three people in a canoe may not be ideal. Although I've spent a lot of time in kayaks (in the past two years) I'd never been in a canoe until then. It was hard for me to judge whether canoes are just incredibly unstable, or our canoe shouldn't have really had three big dudes in it. Rob, Mark, and I arrived at the Rogue river before sunrise and started casting. Our quarry was trout, and on one of his first casts Rob landed what turned out to be the nicest fish of the day, a 14" brown. Somehow, the only picture I got of it was right before we ate it a few hours later. It was delicious.

EDIT: I found the "before" picture...

What a nice fish right there

What a great fish: great fight, super pretty colors, very tasty

We hopped in the canoe, paddling downstream with the hopes of covering a lot of water. Almost immediately it was clear it was going to be an adventure; even the smallest set of rapids gave us grief, the canoe pounding the rocks, throwing us off balance, teetering closer and closer to the water. One of our first direct hits jolted the canoe, almost tossing us out into the river. Mark was in front "watching for rocks" (each rock would be announced milliseconds before we slammed into it! it made for exciting canoeing) Rob was in back "steering" (who knows where we were going) and I was in the middle doing my best not to rock the boat. Most of the time I crouched down in the canoe, my knuckles white as snow as I clutched the side, expecting a cold river-water ejection any moment.

We hit a big rock, the canoe tipped to the verge of flipping; Mark fell backwards onto me and his ultralight rod, snapping either the rod or me, I couldn't tell. Turns out it was the rod. I have to give mad props to these two gentlemen; for the amount of trouble we had getting down the river, I don't think I heard a single profanity escape their lips! Me on the other hand, well... Let's just say there were two streams that morning: the river, and what was coming from my mouth.

As the morning went on, Mark and Rob both caught trout on little tiny spinners. I was amazed such small spinners could even be cast, let alone land 8-10" rainbow trout. Rob graciously let me borrow one of his ity-bity spinners, which I tied on with haste. I proceeded to miss what seemed like hundreds of trout taking swipes at my spinner. Some of them launched clear out of the water, but none of them connected.

It was exciting and frustrating. I varied my retrieves, faster, slower, faster still; and finally somehow managed to hook my first fish of the day. Before a picture could be taken, the little rainbow propelled itself out of my hands and returned to the water. Soon after that I landed my first brown trout that wasn't a tiny 5" juvenile. Rob came over to document the moment for me; he also documented the exact moment the little brown decided it was time to return to the water, as I desperately tried to keep it in my hands.

Check out that pretty little brown!

..and then it released itself

Great! I caught a brown trout, something that is more or less impossible in Illinois (you can catch them in Lake Michigan, but I've never been able to).

We headed downstream, my knuckles burning from gripping the canoe so tightly, Mark's still functioning malformed and broken rod still able to catch fish, Rob trying to disguise his worry every time we heard scraping and breaking sounds come from the bottom of the canoe... It was a great time. Between rapids I shoved beef jerky and trail mix in my mouth. It was good I wasn't paddling; I would have definitely put us all in the water.

Every time we encountered a fishy spot, we hopped out of the canoe and fished it. As the day went on and wives inquired to our location, we realized we didn't know where we were. My phone had no service; Mark and Rob had partial service. We realized we had a long way to go, and decided to push down the river in earnest.

One of the two rainbows I caught that morning

As we headed downstream, I was amazed how the character of the river changed from stretch to stretch. Some places shallow and rocky with fast current, others deeper sand flats, others rocks and gravel and sand with slower current, others just mud. Astounded would be too light a word to describe how I felt about the water clarity; for the most part I could see completely to the bottom through the gin-clear water. It was awesome.

At one point we reached a set of rapids clearly too much for our overloaded boat. I got out to carry some gear through the forest while Mark and Rob- expert canoe-ists- managed the rapids. I filmed their journey with my camera, but upon later viewing it was clear what the camera saw and they experienced were too different things. What shows up as a .mov file on my computer looks like an easy float downstream I'm sure caused their lives to flash before their eyes.

We desperately paddled (by we I mean they, since I was on canoe-clutching duty sitting in the middle) as the clock ticked and the day aged. Rob suggested I cast a bit while we canoed, so I did. We reached an area that looked like smallie territory, and Rob confirmed indeed it was. Smallies and trout, in one river? My mind exploded a little, but it didn't stop me from casting. Every so often Mark or Rob would point out a particular spot, I'd cast there, hopefully not catching my lure on anything. There was one close call with a tube jig: I had to cut the line or else the force of the canoe might have pulled the rod out of my hands!

As we floated down river, I cast to a spot Rob suggested and immediately hooked into a fish- I yelled "Fish!" My fishing partners put the brakes on the boat as I fought with a small monster- a monster I'm much more familiar with than those Michigan trout... I pulled out a very nice Michigan smallmouth bass on my go-to white twister tail.

Check out those colors

That fish was enough to halt our journey; the other two guys jumped out of the canoe and started fishing. Almost right away I connected with another fish, and a few casts later got him to commit. Thanks to Mark for manning the camera!

Big ol' rock bass from the Rogue River

A few minutes later Rob landed a smallie as well, but I'd be remiss if I didn't acknowledge how much bigger mine was. I've learned a lot from my fishing mentors, including how to give each other &$%# for their tiny fish.

Rob and an ok smallie (just kidding, it was great)

Pretty soon it was time to head out. We passed a lot more fishy looking spots that almost certainly held fish, but we were already more than an hour behind schedule. Somebody had underestimated the length of our journey. (I'm talking to you Rob!) Not that I'm complaining, I thought it was great. I could have fished that river all day.

When all was said and done, we had traveled more than 7 miles on the Rogue River, caught a bunch of fish, almost died about twenty times, one of us got a leech on his leg (hint: it wasn't me), and we created some real nice memories. They will stay with us for a long time, maybe even longer than the deep gouges on the canoe.

First Burnham Bass

SPOILER ALERT: I caught a bass! It was a hog!

Sprung awake at 4am, quickly made some coffee, got dressed (in that order- priorities!), and checked on my crockpot tamales. They weren't ready yet, so I grabbed something else to eat, put together my gear, put on my headlamp, and hopped on the bike in the darkness. Made it to the station just before the train arrived. Soon I was in the city- which was still dark- and I headed to a bus stop that would take me to Burnham.

on my way to the bus stop at 5:30am

Not wanting to waste any precious fishing time, while I waited for the bus I assembled my rod and tied on a chartreuse spinnerbait. Why not start with something that isn't a tube jig? Hopped on the bus, and a few short minutes later I was at 11th and Columbus, a short walk from the water.

It was hot! I checked the weather, and my phone told me it was 92% humidity. Holy crap.

I began casting, and noticed some fish close to the wall. They were bigger than bluegill or rockbass- they looked like largemouths to me. Awesome! I'd never caught one there. They were clearly not interested in my spinner- whether I jigged it, burned it, or slowly start-and-stop retrieved it, they just watched it go by. I switched to a texas rigged worm, which got me a nice bass last night. Nothing. Switched to a tube. Nothing.

A guy walked past, and asked if I caught anything. I said no, and then he said "Hey look at that, there's a coho right there!" I ran over to where he was - directly over the pipe - and saw a magnificent-looking fish. It looked big, silver and blue colored, and majestic. It was definitely not a carp, or a bass, or anything else I'd ever seen. It was awesome! I'd been doing lots of research on salmon, and it was amazing to finally see one.

He gave me some tips on catching cohos- he suggested big heavy spoons, cranks, and rattle traps, and said I'd have better luck on the other side (north of solidarity drive). The coho was gone, so I packed up my stuff, and headed over, rattle trap tied on. My heart was racing. I figured hooking into a fish like that would probably destroy my little collapsible rod, but I wanted to do it anyway!

Well, no such luck. I set up right at the pipe on the other side, and nobody wanted anything to do with my lure. I did see some more of those same fish, apparently cohos. So awesome looking. I actually had a dream last night I caught one; that's how excited I've been looking at pictures and reading old reports. Big, big, powerful fish.

I tried throwing a few different mepps inline spinners, some cranks... I realized the few spoons I had were in a different box at home. That's what I get for not bring my entire collection of gear with me at all times! I saw some big fish hanging out by the pipe... Some were carp, and I think I saw at least one bass, but there were definitely some fish there I hadn't seen before. Maybe they were salmon....

I tied on a gulp minnow on a red jig, and threw it out. Hey now, I got a fish! Could it be a big 40 pound coho salmon about to give me the fight of my life?

Nope, it was a goby.

only the most talented anglers catch gobies....

Not a tiny one though, and at least I caught a fish. In my book catching a goby is still catching a fish! I wondered what gobies taste like... They're so easy to catch, and nobody wants them in the lake, it seems like the perfect solution would be to catch them all and eat'em! I imagined grilling gobies on skewers, maybe with some peanut sauce on the side. They seem nasty. I bet they taste horrible.

I decided to go back to the pipe, where I knew I could at least catch some rock bass if nothing else was biting. As I walked down the steps, I see two guys fishing. They asked me about the pipe, so I showed them where it was. Actually I wasn't completely sure that's where it was, but after a while we saw water flowing which confirmed my location.

Turns out these were two of CPD's finest, out for some fishin'. Joe and Steve gave me tons of great tips; they fish the area often, apparently usually by McCormick place. They heard about the pipe so they came down to check it out.

Steve had softshell crabs under a bobber, Joe was going through his arsenal of lures, and I threw wacky rigged worms, texas rigged worms, and eventually resorted to my 2" green tube jig. Steve's crabs kept getting eaten by tiny rock bass- he caught one that couldn't have been more than 4" long.

At one point, Joe switched to a 4-5" green tube jig, and saw a bunch of bass right in front of the pipe. They were there, but not interested! I was about 20' to the left of him, doing some tube jigging near some weeds. It's validating to know other serious fishermen use tubes. And then...

BAM! Fish on!

I saw a flash, and I knew it was a bass, and I knew it was a big'un! This was awesome- I hadn't even seen bass here before, let alone hooked into any. Even if he threw the hook- like the one at Busse last sunday- it was still a first for me.

After a very quick fight (I was terrified of losing the fish!) out of the water came the fish, thankfully still attached to my line. A VERY nice largemouth! My first Burnham bass, which I am counting as part of Lake Michigan... so let's just say it's my first Lake Michigan bass.

17" of Burnham Harbor / Lake Michigan largemouth bass
caught on a 2" tube!!

Joe and Steve came over to look- Joe estimated the fish to be about 17" and 2 pounds. I'll take his word for it, that sounded right to me. Amazing! No fish, and then this HOG of a largemouth. Beautiful coloring, a big fat belly, and giant dark eyes.

We noticed some stuff on its belly, Joe guessed it was some kind of parasites. You can kind of see it in the picture.

After Joe was nice enough to snap some pictures for me, I (as carefully as I could from the wall) dropped the fish back into the deep, extremely thankful for its interest in my lure. That's when I realized Joe was using basically the same lure, with no luck. I'll just chalk that up to fickle fish changing their mind about what they want... But either way I was beside myself, so happy to catch such a sweet fish here- 10 minutes from my work.

We continued fishing. Steve's bait kept getting stolen, and Joe cycled through a variety of different lures. At one point he put on some crab as well. The guys gave me tons of tips and suggestions about salmon, baitcasting setups, the best lures, all kinds of stuff. Although I have gotten a wealth of information from the internet and message boards, I especially like talking to other fishermen in person- when they're nice enough to share their secrets. These guys didn't seem to mind I was such a newbie, and were happy to offer their suggestions.

The more they told me, the more I lusted after salmon. I need to use a bigger, stronger rod and reel, and get some more spoons... But I can't even imagine catching a fish like that in downtown chicago. I've heard stories of long fights ending in broken rods or snapped leaders... It's all so epic! These BIG missiles of fish, these predating eating machines, who come in looking for tributaries but settle for battling fishermen.

I stopped daydreaming and came back to reality... I wasn't going to catch a coho or a king today- it was hot, I'm sure the water was hot, and I had to head out anyway. I bid my new fishing buddies farewell, they said I'd see them there again once salmon season started in earnest.

A great morning out on the water, some great new friends, and a big ass fish to use as my facebook profile picture. Fishing is awesome.

Journey to the Edge of Chicago

the edge of Chicago

Decided to go check out Northerly Island at lunch. I've heard of some big fish caught on the south side as well as the lake side. I'd really like to catch some trout or salmon this fall, and apparently this is one of the places to do it. Discovered that I can get on the #130 bus from very close to work, that takes me all the way to the planetarium. The other end of the #130 route is Union station, which is super convenient: a straight shot from Union to Burnham Harbor. Awesome!

Anyway, I walked along the west edge of Northerly until there was no more path, just rocks. I fished a little bit- some bites, but nothing major. Didn't land anything except a solitary goby. I threw my amazing magical green tube jig, jig with white mr. twister, and some other various lures. I also had cooked salad shrimp - strange, I know - but hey, it catches fish! Sometimes.

some geese I saw

No non-gobies were interested, and I couldn't blame them.. It was the hottest part of the day, barely a cloud in the sky, and the most boat traffic I've ever seen! But you'd think fish who hang out there would be used to it. The air show jets were practicing again, creating extremely loud booming and explosion sounds as they flew around.. I have it on good authority that's what shut off the bite on the river yesterday.

I wanted to walk to the east side, the lake side, but couldn't quite figure out how to do it. I climbed the wall and hiked through the grass, brambles, and flowers until I got to a bike path. When I turned around to see where I came from, I saw a sign that said "Restoring prairie, please stay on the path." I felt really bad! I didn't think the peninsula was developed at all, but clearly they're trying to make it into a nice nature-preserve type area. I noticed a lot of bicyclists and people walking, enjoying the very nature-y area with the very urban-y backdrop of downtown Chicago.

there's the path

I followed the bike path, but according to google maps it never actually went to the shore. When I squinted, I could kind of see a little tiny foot path in the satellite photos that went all the way to the rocky shore... So I walked north until my blue dot in Maps was due west of the path, then I walked due east. Sure enough, extremely hidden in the tall prairie grass, was a path not a foot wide. It's funny that I couldn't find it with my eyes, but it was clearly visible by satellite. There were some rocks on either side of it, delineating the path. Awesome!

I made my way down the path, which at this point felt a lot like hiking. If you count this experience, this would only be my third time hiking, ever. I like the outdoors now! After about a minute of walking, the grass opened up to piles and piles of rocks, beyond which was the lake. There was a very strange area between the grass and the rocks that seemed very post-apocalyptic to me, with some manholes, dirt, rebar, and lots of what looked like sidewalk chunks.

Chicago after the zombie uprising?

Finally I got to the lake, and it was great! The water was very blue, the sound of the waves was great, and there were what seemed like hundreds of sailboats and motorboats and jetskis and dinghys all over the lake all the way to the horizon. To my far right I could see (I think) Northwest Indiana, and a cloud of brown haze over everything in that direction. That sucks.

I fished a little bit, got no bites. I noticed to my left the penninsula jutted out to a point. The internet has told me a good place to find fish is points, so I decided to move. I followed the path along the shoreline, and got to the point.

The waves here were CRAZY big, and there were very big boulders? sidewalk pieces? strewn about on land and in the water. There were sun-bleached wood beams jutting out the water, I wondered if this used to be a pier. In quick succession I lost 3 lures caught on either rocks, rebar, or who knows what else. I enjoyed the scenery for a minute, and decided to head back toward Burnham, and maybe I could catch that catfish I saw swimming around today... it looked like the same one I caught last week.

thanks for saving me from the skunk,
Mr. Rock Bass

Made my way back to the water on the west side of Northerly (aka the marina) and my catfish friend was nowhere to be found. I did see some small fish swimming around. I always learn a lot fishing when I can see how the fish react to my presentation, even when they're small. It was enlightening; with shrimp the fish would swarm and eat it no matter what, with white twister tails they would only be interested if it was moving. Makes sense! Surprisingly, out of nowhere a rock bass busted in the middle of all the gobies and took my bait.

At this point, I'd been in direct sun for quite a while, and I was sweating profusely. The fish were doing the smart thing, chilling out in the shadows, I should do the same. 

I packed up my stuff and walked back to the #130 bus stop, and headed back. It seemed like I had left civilization for a while, and visited the remnants of some bombed-out and overgrown Chicago... I was glad to be back in town, even though I never really left. I was also glad to have caught at least one somewhat respectable fish! Thanks rock bass, I can always count on you.

the surreal view from Notherly Island

An evening of multi-species firsts

Fish are awesome!

or "The Magic of the Green Tube Jig"

Headed out to the new spot on the Chicago River yesterday evening after work, scarfed some Jimmy John's down on the #124 bus (didn't want to waste time eating when I could be fishing), which was filled with Navy Pier-goers.

Daiwa Peanut Crank in prizm black shad

Got off before they all did, ready to hit the spot. I already rigged a chigger craw per Jeff's suggestion, and took about 30 seconds to piece together my collapsible rod. When I got to the spot, I noticed the same security guard was there - right by the water - so I decided to fish from the other side of the river and wait until he left.

I think I'm getting much better at casting, because I was able to consistently get my lure in what I thought was the strike zone from about 50' (?). Although this was great casting practice, I wasn't getting so much as a nibble. I remembered one of the many fishing mantras I've heard over and over again: "If what you're doing doesn't work, change!" Since I wasn't ready to change my location (the security guard was still chatting it up with some ladies) I tied on a Daiwa Peanut Medium Crankbait in Prizm Black Shad color. I had never caught a fish on a crankbait, but I know there were little fish swimming around, so I'd give it a go.

The spot. Notice the security guard in the upper-right-hand corner. Outside the frame is the "No Fishing" sign

My first cast, the crank landed exactly where I wanted it- I waited for the ripples to stop, and I twitched it a few times (this crank floated on the top until you started retrieving it. Maybe that's how all crankbaits work, but I've barely used them...) On the third twitch, WHAM! Fish on!

This was no tentative bite, this was "Hey gimme that right now I'm hungry! MMmmmmm!" I set the hook, and began the short battle. I pulled up, reeled, pulled up, reeled - Jeremy Wade style - to keep the fish from going down into the rebar that I knew was on the bottom. As it came closer, fighting voraciously, I saw it was a fair-sized fish. Whoohoooo!

My 30 minute skunk-fest ended, I pulled up a good sized bluegill (pumpkinseed? I always confuse them), which was not only my first crankbait catch, but my first Chicago River gill!

A real nice-sized fish, who gave me a great fight

It took me a while to get the treble hook (actually 1 part of it broke off, so there were only 2 hooks in the fish) but once I did, I snapped a quick picture and let my new best friend back into the water. She (I think) was happy to go and quickly darted to the bottom.

Alright! I thought- I found something that worked! I cast to the same spot, and twitched it the same way.... and... nothing. Worked that lure for another 20 minutes, and again, not even a nibble.

A mom and her 4-year-old (?) son came down to watch. The little kid thought my pretend fish was pretty awesome, and it "swims just like a real fish!" It sure does! I think it's pretty awesome too. "There's a lot of trash in there. Fish don't eat trash. Ducks don't eat trash." He was right- it's too bad people are so careless with their McDonald's cups and candy bar wrappers.

The security guard gone, with a chigger craw tied back on, I tiptoed to the other side of the river and threw my lure in. This, mind you, was in front of a very large "NO FISHING" sign. I worked the bait against the wall, bunny-hopping it along; dragged it along the bottom near some falling water (fish love oxygen, right?), and again, nothing.

Around this time I noticed two ladies having a smoke break by the water, giving me some dirty looks. Obviously they didn't like me fishing there, but I'm not sure what they didn't like.. All my gear was in my backpack, on my back, and I wasn't casting anywhere near them. Any monofilament line went right back into my backpack, and I wasn't making a sound. I wasn't smoking, drinking, shouting, or littering.

I noticed the security guard come back around the corner, and started talking to the ladies. They spoke in hushed tones, but then one said loudly "Go get'em!"

I heard the keys on his belt rattle as he walked in my direction, but I kept fishing because I got a few nibbles in the spot, and I thought it would be awesome to pull out a smallie or something right when he came down. He came up about 10' behind me and whispered "Hey"

I turned around, and he recognized me from last week. He explained that he didn't care if I fished there or not, but those ladies were complaining. He told me to go back to the other side, but I could come back to this spot when the ladies left. If the sidewalk I was on was in fact city property as Jeff said it was, then this was all total mierda, but I wanted to keep fishing. So I went to the other side, and continued fishing.

Fish #2

They left about 3 minutes later, I went back to the other side, and the security guard gave me a thumbs up. Ok, cool. I wonder what he would have done if I complained about the ladies' smoking. Seems to me that is a lot more disruptive than a silent, careful, respectful angler wearing a backpack. Not to mention the ~20 people who stopped to talk to me, seemingly sincerely interested that there are fish in the river. I'm guessing some of them will come back and fish sometime!

Back to fishing, I tried some more lures, to no avail. Chigger craw, cranks, minnows on jig (worked last week), and nothing. I decided to bust out my all-time favorite lure, that has caught me more fish than any other, probably because I fish with it so much- my green tube jig.

Of course, immediately, first cast, I got a hit! and reeled in a nice looking rock bass. Cha-ching! I'm in!

It had a very interesting pattern I hadn't seen before, with dark splotches. Kind of pretty. This is rock bass, and not some other species, right? Remember, I'm still super new to all this.

Kept working the tube jig, got LOTS of little hits. Saw a brown colored fish in the water hanging out with a bunch of dink 'gills. Couldn't tell what it was (smallie? smallie? smallie?) Pitched the jig ~4' beyond the fish, and crawfished it over toward the brown fish. WHAM! Fish on!

This guy fought even harder than the previous two fish, and I was very surprised to see a ~10" catfish come out of the water attached to my green tube jig. This was my fourth catfish ever, first one on the river, and first one on an artificial! Whooohoooo!

My new friend, the catfish, fish #3 of the day

Fish #4 - My first Chicago River crappie!

This was kind of weird; usually when I get into some fish, I'll get into some more of the same kind in the same place on the same bait, but not today. Today was multi-species day! And it kept going- a few minutes later I got my first Chicago River crappie... on the same green tube jig.

Awesome! None of these fish are huge, but hey, it's great to catch fish. It's also really cool there is such a variety of fish right here- I know there are also LMB and smallies around here, and I'd been seeing carp jump all evening. To think a few 20 years ago this river was a disgusting trough of toxic waste, it speaks volumes of the river cleanup and awareness that it can support all these fish today.

I caught mussels! (Fish #4 1/2?)

I kept with my favorite lure, and was getting battered by hits. Missed a few hooksets, and got caught up in some branches a few times. One cast I got into a fish, it pulled the jig down, and when I reeled in I got another very interesting catch. I wasn't sure if they were zebra mussels or not, I should look that up so I know if they are nice mussels or bad mussels. I thought of how much I like eating mussels... Don't worry, I didn't eat them.

Anyway, I persisted, and hooked into what seemed like a VERY nice fish. Could it be? Finally? After all this time and effort, could I have finnally hooked a smallie?? Is this the moment I've been daydreaming about?

This fish gave me a GREAT fight- I estimated it was bigger than the bluegill I caught earlier in the evening; it was taking me all over the place, my rod tip bent and pulsing, my drag squealing as I struggled to keep it out of the weeds, rebar, and rocks on the bottom...

I finally get him to the surface, and I was a little confused, to say the least..

Confused because it's very small size, un-rock-bass-like shape, and extreme fight. I didn't think this was a smallie, it's fins and pattern seemed to be wrong for that... It didn't seem like a rock bass, or did it? It was a lot darker than any other rock bass I'd caught.

Here's the fish I caught...

... here's a picture of a "shadow bass"

..and here's a similarly-sized rock bass

And here I was, thinking I was all fancy and good at identifying fish now... and now I was stumped. I took a few pictures, and let the little bugger go. It was time to leave to catch my train, so I could see my wife for a few minutes before we both went to sleep.

All in all a great outing- but it really made me wonder about the green tube jig. Is it that is really that effective, and can catch basically anything that swims? Or could it be that since I've fished with it more than any other lure, I am better at working it in the water than any other lure... Or maybe I just suck at all the other lures I try using...

I'm not sure; I'm going to keep varying up my lures and not automatically start with the green tube jig on my line... I would like to get better at other lure styles, and learn to be a well-rounded all-species angler.

Fishing the Big Lake and the Chicago River

Yesterday morning (~6am-9am) fished the Chicago river from Union Station all the way to the lake, then down to the planetarium. It was nice and sunny, only a few tentative hits. I was throwing 2" tube jigs in grey with red specks and green ones with red specks; also threw white spinnerbait, a mepps black fury, and pink 1/16 oz jigs tipped with gulp 2.5" smelt minnows. Met Ron from the Chicago Park District around the Columbus drive bridge, and he gave me lots of great tips.

Once I got to the lake, I saw some rocks and weeds and threw my trusty 2" green tube jig- and got this little guy:

It was great to beat the skunk! Also caught a lot of gobies on the tube jig, including this big guy (the largest goby I'd caught):

I had to go to work, so that was it for the morning. After work (~5pm) I came back out to the lake and met Jeff Nolan, Sun Times fishing contributor, who gave me a wealth of tips and a good bass spot... So I headed up the coast, back to the river spot he suggested.

The spot looked super fishy, and it indeed was! On my first cast (jighead tipped with gulp smelt) I got a real strong hit and pulled up this fella:

Took a quick picture, threw him back, and quickly recast to the same spot, and immediately got another hit, this time way stronger! I was super excited. I hadn't yet caught ANYTHING in the river, and this was too good to be true! After a short battle I met my first Chicago river bass!

Around that time Jeff (who was on his bike) showed up and gave me some more tips on the spot, and I proceeded to land 2 more LMB, all on the same pink jighead and gulp smelt, bunny-hopped along the bottom per Jeff's suggestion. The fish all seemed healthy and put up pretty good fights. I'm not sure how long each one was, I didn't have a way to measure them... but I sure will next time.

Around the 3rd bass, a security guard came out and told us we couldn't fish there, that the management company of the building owned the sidewalk or something like that. There was a short argument, and I'm glad Jeff was there (apparently he's seen this happen before, and it even made the paper that the can't ban fishing there...!) I had to catch my metra home, so I headed off... But all in all, a GREAT day fishing, made possible by tips from other fisherman. A few short months ago, I couldn't tell the difference between a LMB and a bluegill, but thanks to the generosity of those on windycityfishing.com and fishermen I've met along the way, I think I'm becoming a better fisherman.