FOX RIVER report 4/16/04 - with photos

[Jig'nMinnow]

Chicago Region GF Outing

STATS
--------
Temperature - mid 80's
Water Temps - high 50's
Conditions - Sunny (no clouds)
Number of fishermen - 3
Fish Caught - 5 or 6 total from 9am - 3:15pm (between 3 of us)
Number of Lost Fish - 5-10 from 9am - 3:15pm (between 3 of us)
Locations Fished - Ferson Creek, Geneva Dam area & Blackhawk FP


We started out at Geneva Dam in Geneva, IL. The plan was for Jug and I to meet up with Randy somewhere in the area. When JUG and I started out, some old man wouldn't let us cross the river where there was barely any current. He was fishing off an elevated balcony over the river in 2ft of muck....We wasted a good 10-15mins of time figuring how to get out of the strong current... I was unaware of the current because this was my first time at Geneva since Last September, when the river barely had enough water...Randy didn't meet us till around 9:40

The highlight of Geneva was that Mike caught a fluke Smallmouth, about 10-12" long in the middle of nowhere on a 2.5" Rapala Husky Jerk.


Then we moved on to my favorite spot on the river...

Blackhawk Park, Forest Preserve


We once again, fished structure exactly like this, below.............


At Blackhawk, Randy was using Clouser's on his fly set-up, while Mike and I were working the spinning reels. Mainly using small crankbaits, plastics, spinners, and floating Rapalas.





We did a lot of walking, but found no fish. We did find a terrible surprise....At one of the islands, someone had a party, and garbage was all over the place. It looked as if someone lived there. We also saw a crazy who was standing on a tree, about 20ft above the water.

Here's the Garbage



- it's terrible how today's society is................


After fishing at Blackhawk from 10:30 til 11:30ish, we moved to a small creek area that looked like it would be a hot-spot. It was, and it will be...(don't tell anyone about this place... ever!)

This place is Ferson Creek. A small creek that feeds into the river between St. Charles, and South Elgin, IL. The good thing is, that I think this is a really underrated area, especially where we were. We were here from 1:30 til 3:15.



While fishing this area, Randy was using the Fly rod, and while I was scouting near the bridge, over rt. 31 Randy said he lost a crappie, landed a smallie (12-13") on the Clouser, and lost another one. After telling them of the water that I scouted out, we gave it a shot.



We fished under a bridge, and I immediately lost 2-3 decent Bass off small plastics. Randy and Mike moved upstream the creek, and found a few eddies and deep bends into shore which held water as deep as 4ft. Randy Had a few smallies here (biggest might have been 15") but lost them. Mike and I each landed a Bass each. One smallie, and one Largemouth. Mike's smallie came on a 3" white tube-jig, and mine was off a 2" Rebel Wee-craw.



Here's a general idea of the baits Mike and I used during the day

taken with my new digital camera


While Randy and Mike were working the deeper cuts, I went upstream, and found dozens of carp. Don't know what they were exactly doing. This stream looked really sweet, and might be a kick-### spot in a few weeks.
I hope that we weren't on private property...But I for sure knew that I was.. You need to be in the stream to be clear (state land).... right?

We called it a day after this spot, but Randy continued to fish, and went to North Aurora, and to the "main" Aurora.. I'll let him fill us in.....


TOTALS from 9am - 3pm
----------

Mike - 2 Smallmouth Bass (10-13")
Randy - 1, or 2 Smallmouths & Crappie (i think)
ME - 1 Largemouth (11-12")



JIG

[Wahoo!]

Good job guys and thanks for the report! Looks like you had a lot of fun out there today! Keep up the good work and great pics.