Hello from Shelbyville Illinois

I’m down in Shelbyville for a couple days checking things out. I’m looking for a place to put my camper and have a base camp. I haven’t found much in the way of campgrounds that impress me. I sure like farther south down around Rend, but its a quite a bit farther for me.

Anyway, I went to the Kaskaskia river, below Shelbyville this afternoon. I didn’t fish, but talked to quite a few fishermen. Walleyes have been slow thus far. The clarity of the Kaskaskia really impresses me.

Tomorrow, I’m heading to a bait shop in Sullivan that I heard carries most if not all the B’N’M fishing poles. I want to check those out.

I like this area, but I believe I will end up farther south, in the end.

I wish I was fishing, but Pam and I are enjoying planning for our future. The crappie lakes in southern IL are really incredible. I was hoping the Kaskaskia walleyes would be an added draw for me, but I don’t think so…

Take a cookie or two along Jeff…can’t hurt.

Good idea Brian!

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I was hoping the Kaskaskia walleyes would be an added draw for me, but I don’t think so…

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a lot of big walleyes get caught below the dam but i think the better wally fishing may in the river at the head of the lake.

we were down there years ago catfishing the kaskaskia just above the lake in the spring and a couple guys were walking the bank/river and catching some nice wallys pitching jigs and shad bodies.

ya might want to give that a look. and i have heard of a decent summer lake bite.

btw, a friend’s brother lives close to the lake and they catch a lot of nice crappies there.

Jeff,

You should look into the Carbondale area. Crab Orchard has a camp ground and a very good population of crappie and bass. I lived in Carbondale for 10 years and there are several lakes with in 30 minutes if you get tired of fishing Crab.

Lakes in the area are, Little Grassy, Devils Kitchen, Lake of Egypt, Kincaid, Cedar Lake, and Rend. Smithland Pool is a good spot to launch and fish the Ohio River.

Get to know Fred Washburn in Carterville. He is a local fishing expert who now owns Cottonmouth Lures and will sell you a few out of his garage in Carterville.

I may have to check out above the lake later today.

My first choice is the Carbonadale area, but Carbondale is 5 hours from my current home. We absolutely love that area. Last summer, I saw a mess of crappies from Little Grassy that were incredible.

Thanks for the info guys. I greatly appreciate it. Now, I’m off to look at B’N’M.

Have you stopped here yet?
http://sullivanmarina.com/

HRG

I stay in Galatia every year with some family, and fish Rend, Crab Orchard and Egypt, For crappie Crab has always been good to me. Good Luck and have fun. Its about a 5 1/2 to 6 hr drive for me too but its always worth it.

Picked myself up an 8′ B’N’M jig pole. I went to Bo Woods to check things out. Man do they have some steep, long ramps down here.

That Sullivan campground is pretty nice, but not many trees. It’s expensive, but there were alot of nice campers in there. Some of the other places didn’t seem like a good fit for me.

What a nice relaxing trip. I need to do this more. Pam is at a meeting today, so I’m bumming alone.

Raining pretty hard down here. One other thing I’ve been doing down here is buying up all the T12 fixtures I can find. T8 are so expensive and they don’t make T12 anymore. We start thousands of veggies and flowers every year. My quest continues…