Fox and DuPage Rivers – Fishing Prospects

Today’s fishing prospects start out brought to you by Lightnin’ Hopkins and his song Last Night, which is playing in the background . . . you should fall down on your knees and pray.

Tuesday found me with the need to drive along one side of the Fox River almost to Aurora. Across the river in a couple of spots. Across 5 of the creeks in this area that flow into the Fox and finally winding up just south of Plano at the mouth of Big Rock Creek. As I pulled up to a stop sign that T’s at the creek the bald eagle comes drifting down the little creek valley.

Makes my day.

The ice that was covering the river and it’s creeks is now an afterthought. The recent thaw and rains has washed all of it away. Nothing along the edges, no sheet ice floating downstream, a beautiful sight to see. This years ice age is over, at least for the rivers. I don’t recall too many years past where lingering arctic blasts have occurred this late.

Of course, we now have slightly elevated water levels. Runoff and rain has to go somewhere. I made the mistake of briefly watching the local news on Monday. I gave up on local news around 6 years ago and it’s rare that I see any of it. It’s local, but not much news. The doom and gloom of the day was rivers at flood stage. I checked the real time stream gauge, it didn’t make it past the 4,000 cfs mark. That’s not flooding, that’s elevated. I wandered down the hill to the river. These people are idiots, the river is fine.

This next section is brought to you by Koko Taylor, with Keb Mo, hammering out the song The Man Next Door . . . hey baby, baby, baby, tell me how you want you’re rolling done.

The river is also on it’s way down already. The next couple of days will see temperatures in the 40’s. There is plenty of open shoreline to go wander, the Fox is known for that. Bike paths, forest preserves and foot paths are everywhere. The water is still going to be cold so finding those areas that have enough still water bordering the current will be important. Geneva comes to mind. Batavia through the Glenwood Forest Preserve, but that won’t be easy. Shoreline trees with undercut banks, perfect, but not easy to fish.

It’s kind of pointless to go down the list of where to go, go somewhere and give it a try. The information for access is out there. If you must wade, know the water where you will be stepping. Current moving at 3,000 cfs can still knock you down and that water will be cold. I might try a stretch of the river or a creek mouth on Wednesday. Fish slow, don’t hurry and you never know.

The creeks are a little high. I was hoping to go try a few spots 9 miles up one creek to see if I’m right about wintering smallies. That may have to wait. With the creeks up it might not be worth it.

This next section is brought to you by Baby Face Leroy Trio doing a decent version of Rollin’ and Tumblin’ . . . I know my baby, she goin’ to jump and shout.

A couple of weeks ago I drove over the DuPage in a couple of spots. It was already ice free then. The gauges show it high, but not awful.

The communities along the DuPage have been doing a pretty good job of buying up the shorelines and turning them into park land. I know at Hassert Boulevard is one relatively new chunk of land. Down in Shorewood a number of homes along the river were torn down and is now a park. I’ve parked at a few bridges the last few years and walked right into the river.

Your options are becoming pretty much limitless. Bollingbrook through Plainfield through Shorewood, it’s really a matter of getting a map and figuring out where to park. I’ve done well walking the shore through Shorewood, so the high water shouldn’t matter. If the plans in my head get put into motion, since I’m starting up my guide service again, guided trips along the DuPage through here won’t be out of the question. I like fly fishing this river, I imagine others would.

I still think the DuPage River should be the river of choice in the next few days. I think the odds of tying into smallies there are pretty good. But I also think I’ll get lazy and stay close to home. I feel like being in the water and I know where I can go to do that on the Fox. Now it’s a matter of Fox creek or Fox River. I imagine that decision will be made as I pull out of my driveway.

We’ll end this with Baby Face Leroy sorry that My Head Can’t Rest No Mo’ . . . when a man ain’t got no money, you knows dem women don’t want dat man aroun’.