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PostPosted: Mon Oct 19, 2020 9:02 pm • # 1 
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Joined: 03/11/12
Posts: 298
Location: Suburban Chicago
I did this trip about two weeks ago but given the lack of fishing reports I felt like l should post this. Northeast Illinois has been in a drought and the streams are extremely low. Still I thought I would try it. When I arrived the stream was just a trickle.
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There were a few fisherman underneath the bridge working over a pod of recently stocked trout. I headed downstream to find some fishable water.
Unfortunately I didn’t find any.
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Most of the stream looked like the above photo. I began to realize if I wanted to catch any fish I would have to fish the pools beneath the bridge. When I made it back to the bridge there two fisherman working one of the pools. I decided to try the middle pool beneath only to discover that pool was silted in and was only about ankle deep. I went back to the other pool and saw a lot of fish that looked clearly agitated from the two other fisherman. They were casting wooly buggers and still catching a few. I tied on a size 16 Quasimodo pheasant tail with a purple ice dub collar. The fisherman there were kind enough to let me share the pool plus they wanted to see if a nymph would catch anything. Well I got a strike almost right away. In spite of being clearly agitated these fish would still hit a nymph. I caught a few stockers all about the same size as the guy below on my Orvis Clearwater 10’ 3 wt euro nymphing rod although I used an indicator.
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Standing over a bunch of fish trapped in a pool really is not my idea of fishing so I worked my way downstream again. This time I went about a mile downstream to a deep pool that IDNR usually stocks. When I got there I did see a trout porpoise. Figuring there were active trout there I put on a wooly bugger but no strikes except for a few shiners. Tried a few different nymphs, same result.
On the way out I began to realize with fall coming and the leaves turning so I thought I would leave you with a few scenery shots.
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 20, 2020 7:39 am • # 2 
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Joined: 12/29/12
Posts: 1835
Location: Rusagonis, New Brunswick, Canada
Softhackle: Nice report! I'm always interested to hear/see the differing fishing experiences of people in other places.
brent (in New brunswick, canada)


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PostPosted: Tue Oct 20, 2020 10:56 am • # 3 
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Location: Plano, TX
Love the pics!


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PostPosted: Tue Oct 20, 2020 3:09 pm • # 4 
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Joined: 09/09/14
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Location: southern Brazil
It looks like you had a good time in a fishery that's not very well known. I grew up (well, quite some time ago) in Southwestern Michigan, not too far from there, and there was a lot of trout fishing to be had. There was some stocking but also a lot of wild browns due to natural reproduction. Since the stream you fished obviously underwent stocking in the late summer or fall, are there holdover fish to be had in the spring, and how about natural reproduction?


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PostPosted: Tue Oct 20, 2020 5:31 pm • # 5 
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Joined: 03/11/12
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Location: Suburban Chicago
PampasPete wrote:
It looks like you had a good time in a fishery that's not very well known. I grew up (well, quite some time ago) in Southwestern Michigan, not too far from there, and there was a lot of trout fishing to be had. There was some stocking but also a lot of wild browns due to natural reproduction. Since the stream you fished obviously underwent stocking in the late summer or fall, are there holdover fish to be had in the spring, and how about natural reproduction?

This stream has a very good winter holdover for the rainbows but the stream gets too warm in the summer to support a trout population. Although every once in a while I will take a trout smallmouth fishing in the summer. In the summer this stream is fun to fish for pan size smallmouth and rock bass.
My Trout Unlimited Chapter does some stream monitoring on the Coldwater River system by Grand Rapids. I’ve caught some browns out of the tributaries but the Coldwater itself remains a mystery to me.


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PostPosted: Tue Oct 20, 2020 8:50 pm • # 6 
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Location: Southwest Florida
Great pics!


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PostPosted: Mon Oct 26, 2020 9:05 am • # 7 
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Location: Suburban Chicago
strummer wrote:
Great pics!

Thanks!


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