Where’d everybody go?
That’s right, it’s after September 1st, the time of year when 90 percent of anglers give up for the year.
Summer is over, the fish won’t be biting.
So they think.
Since I’ve only run into three or four other anglers out on the river and another three on the creeks in well over 60 trips, I guess it will be getting even more empty.
Not sure that’s possible, unless all the wildlife goes away too.
Dan "The Impractical Fishermen"
17 Sep 2013That is my favorite part about September the pleasure boaters and most of the fishermen without class or sense of respect seem to disappear. Don’t ruin this for me. 😀
Ken G
17 Sep 2013I don’t think it’ll get ruined Dan. The river seems to get emptier with each passing year. I’m holding off on hitting the creeks till the colors start to change. My favorite time of year to get lost up them whether the fish are hitting or not.
Jim McClellan
17 Sep 2013That’s one advantage to living in Florida — it seldom gets too cold to fish. There’s somewhere to go year-round, if you’re willing to change tactics. During hunting season, we sometimes spend the mornings and evenings in the woods and fish trotlines at night.
Ken G
17 Sep 2013We probably won’t wind up in Florida Jim, but we do plan on heading south some day. Even if it just extends the fishing season a couple of months, I’d be happy with that. I would like to try boar hunting some day, but I have a feeling the boar would wind up hunting me down. Friends used to go down your way to do that every year. You can’t beat a good boar sausage.
bob
17 Sep 2013I was at Geneva twice on two very ice evenings. I fished the dam on downstream for about a mile. On one night there was a guy fly fishing with small surface flies (a black buggy, ant-like thing). He was it. On the second evening, there was me. And me alone. I waded all over the place fishing every prime spot I could get to (spinning gear, not fly rod either time for me).
I had shoreline audiences each time. They would cheer and gives me thumbs up when I caught a fish. Some would give me waves just because, I guess, I was fishing. One nice lady sitting on a bench by the river gave me great legs and creamy thighs up to the panty line. I shall be forever grateful and honor “Her Thighness” as the Goddess she is.
If this isolation exists in Geneva, I can imagine what lesser urbanized spots elsewhere on the river must be like. And on the Kankakee, it is even more sparse.
Truly, kidding and gratefulness aside, what is it about fishing these two marvelous rivers, in this area of the State that generates such little interest in fishermen? Fly and spinning? True, there are days when the fish simply don’t come to hand in numbers, but that is true everywhere. I shall forever scratch my head on that one.
Ken G
17 Sep 2013It didn’t used to be that way not too long ago Bob. I showed enough people all these stretches and talked about them enough. All the guys our age are gone and the young ones don’t seem all that interested. I hear the dams further north still bet crowded, but I won’t go look.
A total of 6-7 anglers in over 60 trips down my way and I’ve been going at the prime morning times. No one seems all that interested in putting in the effort. Probably also explains why I never get any “Her Thighnesses,” no where for them to sit. Unless they like plopping their butts down in shoreline poison ivy.
Which could be interesting…
Richard Velders
17 Sep 2013Fall is my favorite time on the rivers including the Illinois. Went out of Violet Patch yesterday early with slightly higher CFM and an 11 mph wind out of the north. I’m not quite ready to have my wife sew me into my longies but could have used them on Monday. No one else was out. I wonder why? Worked the bridges and the water treatment with no success. May still have to get more water or become more knowledgable about where the fish are. Dick
Ken G
17 Sep 2013It has been tough fishing Dick and the ones I’ve been catching took a tremendous amount of patience. Every time I think I’m reeling slow, I slow it down even more and that’s when I seem to get the hits. I’ll know this weekend if things are picking up. There’s always a chance of a slow fall. It happened last year, but I blame the drought for that.
Richard Velders
18 Sep 2013I was catching them on the Osage Fork last fall. My buddy asked what kind of a retrieve I was using. I said none. Just let ii lay. Dick
Ken G
18 Sep 2013It’s a can’t lose technique Dick. Fish are as lazy as people. I may not get up to get that bag of M&M’s, but if it magically appears on the table within arms reach of me, I’ll eat the whole bag.