This may sound ridiculous but am 60 yrs old and have never caught a smally so I am looking for some tips as to where here in Illinois I can go. I have always lived in Fulton Co. and can’t find any here. Any help readers might give me would be appreciated.
Thank you for your reply. I’ve tried Spoon River with no luck, so maybe the Mackinaw. I f you anyone knows of public access please let me kow. Don’t want to pay trespassing fines…LOL
This may sound ridiculous but am 60 yrs old and have never caught a smally so I am looking for some tips as to where here in Illinois I can go. I have always lived in Fulton Co. and can’t find any here. Any help readers might give me would be appreciated.
definitely powerton. fish the feeder canal. my husband got a sweet 20” smallie there in april of last year. i hadnt ever caught one or even seen one until that day either.
Hopefully John Graham (Stream Stalker) will read this, he could get you set up in a hurry, or even take you as a guide. Smallmouth are awesome fishing, have a friend that takes me to WI. to fish for them on Lake Michigan or the Green Bay side. You catch two or three smallmouth that are 4 to5 lbs apiece in a row, I have to let my arm rest a few minutes before I start fishing again.
DNR has also stocked smallies at Site M Jim Edgar St. Park in Cass County. But the fishing report from Dan Stephenson only puts them at 9.2 ” as of this year
Fish the Mack out at the Mackinaw fish and Wildlife area. Public property. Located just off of Rt. 9 between bloomington and Pekin. Have fun….............
as alwaysl….....................hail to the smallie
river51…..I am normally a large-mouth guy myself but kept reading John’s blog’s and had to go check out what all the fuss was about. I hooked up with him last year and had a great time! Not only did we use all his equipment but learned a lot as far as what to look for in the streams, bait selection and technique. Was well worth it and looking forward to it again this year. Would highly recommend giving him a call for your first time out.
I will be at Elmwood this weekend. But, don’t think I am going to give away all my secret areas. I will provide you with some good info though. I save all my secret areas for my guiding clients. It is kinda a perk for my guiding clients. They book me for a trip and I show them some of the best smallies waters in the state.
I fish the Chicago River in the downtown area from the locks all the way back to the North branch and catch some nice small mouth.The Chicago lake front is becoming a very good small mouth fishery but you have to plan on losing some baits to the rocks and Zebra mussels. It really is a charge to catch fish in the river while people are walking over the bridges to get to work thay stop and clap when they see you catch a fish. I have also caught crappie and blugil down river by the Ashland ave. bridge and barge turnaround.
You know, I have always wanted to fish the Chicago River downtown. I always thought it would be cool to float down the river in my kayak or canoe and catch a few smallies among the millions of people. Maybe we could trade a trip sometime.
