tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61215539227682857792024-11-01T06:31:59.644-05:00Fishing, information about fishing, pictures of fishing and fish, and me fishing. Basically it's place for me to post information about my fishing experiences in northern Illinois and the fun I have with DuPageAngler.com and the guys and gals that fish with us.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11206312244341296169noreply@blogger.comBlogger123125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6121553922768285779.post-46136986439995949752017-05-21T18:07:00.001-05:002017-05-25T14:38:00.772-05:00

I had the ring for about a month before I figured out how I was going to propose.  It sat in its little black fuzzy box in a nondescript corner of the garage I knew Lupia would never find it in. I had some things to do before I popped the question.  I had to ask Lupita's mama for her daughter's hand, I had to make sure I had the correct size ring, I had to be sure Lupita got her

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11206312244341296169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6121553922768285779.post-24676961284771577032017-05-01T21:56:00.000-05:002017-05-01T21:56:00.414-05:00

Dave and I have been friends over 30 years (I think)...We both fished as kids and rediscovered our love of the pastime as adults.  I haven't fished much since my divorce and the shuffling around of my life and my belongings.  Neither has Dave.  We were talking one evening and we both decided we needed to get out and fish.  Didn't care where but we both needed to feel the

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11206312244341296169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6121553922768285779.post-76843679386281755502017-01-09T06:07:00.000-06:002017-01-09T20:42:41.183-06:00

Plans to fish happen organically for me.  A Facebook chat with fishing friends centered around the desire to fish a body of water back in my old stomping grounds.  I explained in the chat how to get sleds and gear to the water easily since I'd fished this lake before.  In our circles knowing key pieces of info often means you're going fishing. So plans were made quickly in the

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11206312244341296169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6121553922768285779.post-86379492982805256022017-01-01T14:55:00.001-06:002017-03-08T16:23:42.962-06:00

To say the year and a half since I last penned a blog has been full of events would be an understatement.  I've had a great year and a half that sadly hasn't included very much fishing.  It HAS included me moving to Palatine, IL with my wonderful Lupita.  We've added a sweet pit-bull we call Otis to the household and settled into the beginning of our life together.  I've

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11206312244341296169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6121553922768285779.post-44952207293910808632015-07-23T20:04:00.000-05:002015-07-23T20:06:04.472-05:00

Just a quickie post.  I was on my way home from work when I stopped to do a little fishing in a pond I have ice fished.  Since I've drilled it full of holes and measured depth several years in a row I knew the area I was throwing my lure in was 3-4 feet, sometimes shallower than that.  I had a 3/4oz Bass Pro Shops XPS Lazer-Eye EGG  crankbait tied on from

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11206312244341296169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6121553922768285779.post-47500089245148581302015-04-04T23:31:00.000-05:002015-04-04T23:31:04.667-05:00

You may have guessed by my lack of posts from the ice this year that I didn't do a lot of fishing.  I did do a fair bit of fishing just not a whole lot of catching.  I made the decision to spare everyone my mental wanderings of the days I didn't catch anything much to blog about. There were lots of those days. This ice season the fish seemed more spread out.  Far less concentrated

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11206312244341296169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6121553922768285779.post-30798893185970151752015-02-01T19:53:00.002-06:002015-02-01T19:53:20.421-06:00

My friend and fellow DuPage Angler Dan "Pondboy" Byrne was born in January.  Every January on or near the anniversary of his birth he takes the day off work and goes ice fishing all day long.  I've had the pleasure of taking off work along with Dan and joining him for his day-long ice fishing extravaganza the last two years and this year I made it three. I was joined in my ice fishing

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11206312244341296169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6121553922768285779.post-824687236125879882015-01-27T00:37:00.000-06:002015-01-27T00:37:04.593-06:00

There are stories passed down between fishermen when they meet as acquaintances.  Most involve tales of how big the fish were or the quantity caught the last time the angler was fishing. Once there is trust established by this conversation the "sharing of the spots" sometimes occurs. I was fishing the ice on a lake I fished a lot last year.  I had things figured out so I could find

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11206312244341296169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6121553922768285779.post-85154420969824210632015-01-22T16:13:00.001-06:002015-01-22T16:13:33.709-06:00

ICE!!!  We finally have ice!!! Living in northern Illinois I often watch ice reports from North Dakota and Minnesota.  Those are the first states I see ice reports from.  I start to get excited when Wisconsin and Iowa have ice thick enough to fish.  I wait semi-patiently while weather gets cold, skim-ice starts to appear on ponds and lakes, my fellow ice anglers and I turn

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11206312244341296169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6121553922768285779.post-1324439333852309742014-11-28T16:50:00.000-06:002014-11-28T16:50:26.678-06:00

Alan and I arrived at Emiquon by mid-afternoon on Saturday.  It was the Labor Day weekend. Our goal was simple. We wanted to catch bass.  We heard from several of Alan's tournament friends and DuPage Angler's own Soonerbass this body of water off the Illinois river has some fantastic bass fishing. That was enough to get three kayak anglers to drive two plus hours to fish what you can

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11206312244341296169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6121553922768285779.post-45380035871460250982014-08-17T15:42:00.002-05:002014-08-17T15:42:47.795-05:00

Why didn't anybody tell me how electrifying, how adrenaline pumping, how downright addicting frog fishing is?  To be fair I have watched videos and seen the blowups where the bass just wants to wallop the frog into oblivion and it sure did look exciting but it's another thing entirely when it happens right when you think your frog lure should be in just the right

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11206312244341296169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6121553922768285779.post-3298165363266976182014-07-16T15:04:00.000-05:002014-07-16T15:04:26.016-05:00

Early Sunday morning I load my kayak on my car, load my gear in my car and head to a parking lot in Aurora, IL to meet 14 who share my sickness; needus bassthumbis!  Actually, the parking lot was a meeting point to all check in for this month's DuPage Angler Challenge. Roughly each month of the late spring and summer DuPageAngler.com organizes tournament style challenges.  This

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11206312244341296169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6121553922768285779.post-46595813436973818412014-07-06T13:21:00.002-05:002014-07-06T13:21:50.868-05:00

The 4th of July, Independence Day.  The day most Americans celebrate by cooking out, drinking a beer, and enjoying the company of friends. This year I had the pleasure of celebrating the fourth with my girlfriend Lupita, and my good friends Dave and Monique. When Dave arrived and brought in his contributions to the day's cookout I noticed a container of nightcrawlers in his cooler.  

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11206312244341296169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6121553922768285779.post-20153506675855627422014-06-26T13:34:00.002-05:002014-06-27T18:40:36.930-05:00

Five of us arrived at different times this evening.  Several came after work. I picked up my fellow DuPage Angler Alan AKA Fluke after he had arrived home and we headed with our kayaks to new water. We were fishing the Fox Valley Park District's Lake Jericho in search of Kayak Wars sized bass. We were on the water shortly after six PM.  The sun cast a golden hue across

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11206312244341296169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6121553922768285779.post-64528173598899505942014-06-12T22:52:00.000-05:002015-07-23T20:05:38.629-05:00

Just a quickie post.  I stopped at a DuPage County Forest Preserve on my way to pick up kibble for my dogs.  I just took my casting rod, tied on a chartreuse square-bill crank bait, grabbed a pair of pliers, and walked to the water.  I was only going to throw the crank around for 20 minutes then go buy dog food. I saw a decent bass jump so I cast to it.  Three

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11206312244341296169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6121553922768285779.post-34645317718976898332014-05-26T12:21:00.000-05:002014-05-26T12:23:30.171-05:00

It's been too long since I last updated this blog.  It's not that I haven't been out fishing, it's that I haven't been catching much to speak of since ice out.  That changed Saturday for my friends Dave, Monique, and me.  Small pond bass finally got out of their spawn-induced slump and we had figured out what they wanted and how to catch them. The first pond we stopped at

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11206312244341296169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6121553922768285779.post-70536508054858600352014-03-08T19:06:00.000-06:002014-03-08T19:06:17.074-06:00

I usually fish with several members of DuPage Angler on any given weekend.  This weekend's fishing was discussed on a Facebook group starting last Monday.  All the active ice anglers have a Facebook group and we talk fishing, ice fishing, more fishing, and probably something about fishing too.  This week we decided by committee that we would be fishing Harrier Lake in

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11206312244341296169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6121553922768285779.post-91227911863035136152014-02-10T20:07:00.001-06:002014-02-10T20:07:31.200-06:00

I was up late Friday night so I didn't want to be up at the crack of dawn to go fishing on Saturday. The weather was supposed to be cold until early afternoon when we could expect warmer temperatures in the 20s and a forecasted 1-4 inches of snow. I packed up slowly and took my time getting to the lake I was planning on fishing today.  Maybe I took a little too much

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11206312244341296169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6121553922768285779.post-68570095593093016092014-02-04T21:07:00.000-06:002014-02-04T21:07:06.521-06:00

I got out on the ice early Saturday morning. Pondboy and I drove separately and DuPage Angler member JC1Crappies beat us to the pond.  JC1 drilled test holes before Pondboy and I arrived and was taunting us with pictures of crappie he was catching in the pre-dawn snow.  Pondboy and I dragged our sleds out onto the ice. The snow we had earlier in the week was four inches deep for

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11206312244341296169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6121553922768285779.post-1951572187815420712014-01-28T21:31:00.000-06:002014-04-15T20:10:45.162-05:00

Today I took a personal day off work.  The intention was to go out ice fishing all day with Pondboy to celebrate his birthday. The weather made us both decide to call off our usual 5 AM start time in favor of not fishing in negative temperatures. 2 PM:  I finished the tasks I needed to accomplish.  What to do....oh, I know you guessed it already.  I got suited

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11206312244341296169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6121553922768285779.post-47425748941292349092014-01-27T13:34:00.002-06:002014-01-28T12:14:23.177-06:00

After my last trip out ice fishing I was happy to be catching fish but I really wanted to catch some bass through the ice. Pondboy's birthday is this week.  He has a tradition of going ice fishing for his birthday.  I've taken days off and fished with him in past years.  This year things moved forward a day to Sunday for the birthday outing. The temperature was around 20 degrees

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11206312244341296169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6121553922768285779.post-85602920778368184902014-01-20T21:48:00.001-06:002014-01-20T21:48:46.952-06:00

I was off work this MLK Day.  I received a tip about an ice fishable pond that was reported to have nice size bass.  I enjoy catching bass and any chance to target a different species is welcome. Not that I mind catching bluegills mind you but today I was seeking bass. I arrived at the pond and it was exactly as it had been described. A non-descript retention pond like many others I've

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11206312244341296169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6121553922768285779.post-72780895251737077082013-12-28T13:58:00.001-06:002013-12-28T13:58:23.360-06:00

December 24th I only had to work a half-day.  I hurried home from work and headed to a lake that is new to those of us in DuPage Angler's ice fishing circles.  I was told to expect decent bluegill there.  I love catching bluegill.  Some fight with way more moxie than they have size. I had a tip where to fish from my friend Pondboy.  I parked, dragged my gear down to the&

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11206312244341296169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6121553922768285779.post-17937613097646108612013-12-26T22:32:00.000-06:002013-12-26T22:32:06.387-06:00

Those of us who ice fish have been blessed with an early start to our favorite season.  The ice started, almost got thick enough, we had a few warm days with rain, then the deep freeze kicked in.   I walked out onto six solid inches of ice pulling my Frabill Trekker Max ice shelter behind me.  I was interested in the great mixed bag of species Harrier holds.  I've been

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11206312244341296169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6121553922768285779.post-32210620699695725662013-11-18T20:48:00.000-06:002013-11-18T20:48:20.220-06:00

I played a round of golf once at a charity tournament I got suckered into donating to.  I recall the entire time as we drove around the water hazards my mind drifted from where my shoulders should be in relation to my feet during a golf swing to where I'd like my feet to be; standing next to the hazard fishing it.  Based on the size of some of the blowups I remember seeing I recall

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11206312244341296169noreply@blogger.com