November Fishing Reports

work and teacher conf – – good luck guys

Z-Man, Where were you? Not battling the crowds I take it. We missed as many as we caught and still did well. Guys were doing very well in the beautiful fall weather. Pics to follow. Mostly sauger and saugeye. Out from 10:30 to 3:30. Best bite early on.

After a little mishap at the launch, i ran up tot he VFW and hit a few spots all the way down. Got about 10 total, with 2 legals before seeing you near the mouth. sounds like I should have started there. did get one more legal a few minutes after you took off. What a day out there! Not too many left this year.
And now for the mishap. Went solo, and when my boat slid off the trailer, tied to the dock, the clamp on my rope broke, and out slid the Yarcraft ….would have sworn my jinx was with me. So I parked the trailer, helplessly watching her drift away slowly, with no boaters in sight. A gentleman launching right after me gave me a lift to retrieve the tub, about 300 feet downriver. and then I went fishing.

Again Ouch

Diesel….i took several looks around to see if Ron was there anywhere. I have to say I disliked seeing my boat float away more than when I saw his drifting off a couple weeks back. I only use the front line when launching solo, otherwiase my boat partner hangs onto the two lines tied to the cleats. That’s the last time I buy a clamp made in China.

Not funny to have your rig float away. I was there once and I hope never to have that feeling again.

Hope to get out this weekend.

Derek

Z-man, sorry to hear about your mishap–bummer. Did you have to work around the Tuffy with the Yammys on the transom? They chose to sit in the middle of the river and chuck lures at boats that passed close enough as if they owned the river. Registration from IL–figures. Oh, the pics–

yup, those guys did the same up river in the stretch just up from the bypass, but no other boats there, so wasn’t a problem. Looks like you got a nice bunch of eaters.

Question for all of you. I’m not catching the quality size of fish as in previous falls, and most of my catch have been sauger. No big eyes yet, actually, nothing over 19 inches in last three outings. Anyone getting any hogs?

Another thing I’ve noticed is that none of the fish I’ve taken home had frogs in the bellies….used to be pretty common.

Theory: maybe the bite of the big girls is yet to come??Let’s hope so. gonna have to keep fishing to find out, I guess….aw shucks!

PS An IL dude helped me retrieve my boat, so I’d better be nice, but I know what you mean about this particular guy. Being from IL myself, I get playfully merciless with the relatives who still live there.

wow nice catch there bob. well the fall sure made up for the spring, i knew all those little ones had to grow sometime.

Like I said. My one 18 incher was starving.

Will have to let you know when I catch another.

NOT A WORD JEFF!!!!!

I’m the owner of the Tuffy you had to work around.I’m sorry if I hindered your,or anyone elses, ability to drift down-stream.It as not my intention.I didn’t realize there was a problem.The crowd had thinned out and I thought all was OK.Next time I will be more considerate.I prefer to pitch jigs then fish vertically.While it might have appeared as such,I did not chuck jigs at passing boats as a move of defense or defience.Hundred of hours logged on the very busy Fox Chain in Il.has taught me boats traffic sometimes wakes up lethargic fish and triggers strikes.Again,sorry if I caused any problems or ruined a beautiful day on the water.It won’t happen again.I’ll pitch my jigs away from the crowd and go with the flow shoud I join the pack.

No big ones for me yet this fall either and mostly sauger as well. I do think the big ones are still coming. Anyway, I watched my boat float away like that one morning when I launched by myself too and I stripped down naked and swam after it. No way was I going to fish in wet closes all day. Of course that was at dawn in July and no one was around. Be a little on the chilly side now but still better than fishing in wet clothes.

osprey99, Thanks for the explanation. It tells me a lot about you and what you were doing. It’s easy to misunderstand each other and I apologize for my attitude. Next time I see you I will hail you and say “Hi”!

With that out of the way, welcome to IDO!

Was it you who helped recover the Yarcraft for Z-man?

Osprey99….ditto BB’s comments. I’m the solo in the YarCraft. No harm, no foul. Welcome to IDO. sounded like your boat partner (son?) was schooling you when we first talked. I hope he realizes htat it’s because of your guiding talent?
The fella that helped me retrieve my tub was Lenny from DeKalb.
Databoy….I thought for just a split second that I was go9ing to have to jump in, but thanks to lenny, who was launching right behind me, that wasn’t necessary. I just shudder at the thought of 44 degree water…makes me shrivel up just thinking about it. In July, you should have done a few laps.

Better yet I made a few casts while I was drying in the sun and caught a bass. Can’t pass up good structure you know.

Osprey.

Welcome aboard. Thanks for the post. It does say something about your character. This river gets pounded by a lot of people but you will find a bunch of great guys like the ones on this thread.

See you out there. I’ll be in a blue and white Mirrocraft with 40 yammie usually following Z-man around to catch the stragglers he leaves behind.

D

So Osprey99, how did you guys do overall pitching anway? I stick to it pretty hard on Pool 4, but haven’t had real good success on the Rock, and find myself vertical jigging most of the time.

Thanks for the kind words,guys.Tailpiping and crowding other anglers goes against my grain so I was really upset with myself when I learned I was the subject of an unsportsmen-like conduct discussion.
Z-man,half our limit was caught pitchin.It’s my favorite way to fish so that’s what I’m set up to do.All the fish were main channel orientated so vertical is probably a better method.We’ve been unable to establish a shallow water pattern in that stretch of river but we only fish it in the fall.Maybe one exists and we haven’t found it or it’s farther upstream or in the river leaving the lake.
Broadwaybob,what are you fishing out of?

Welcome aboard osprey ,been out in the woods since bow season started,so unless you ran wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy outta bounds in the boat, you wouldnt have seen me. (tho i can see north side of lake from one of my treestands).good luck to those toting a gun the next 9 days,bring on the ice

Osprey, I’m all white (like the good guys in the old westerns). White Alumacraft with white Evinrude/Johnson motors. I’ve done pretty good pitching with plastics in the past throwing into wood and shallows with weedless slo-pokes and dragging the bottom occasionally. Vertical jigging works better though.

I tend to favor Newville in early spring, and have done well pitching there just down from the Hwy 59 bridge. Haven’t put in a lot of time pitching the Rock in the fall,for two reasons…getting lazy, and vertical jigging with plastics produces fish (usually).

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NOT A WORD JEFF!!!!!

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Just working on my technique to bring my production up in my big white boat

May get on the water wednesday. This weekend is toast for me.

D

Saw few IDO anglers out fishing Saturday around 11 a.m., surpised no reports, or maybe still to come, usually that tells me they caught fish, few buddies have been doing well the last few days on jig & plastic or live bait. In Nov the ticket for the rock river are paddle tails & ringworm then live bait when needed have produced better for me, schooled lots of IDO anglers out there only a few have learned

Let a small half rach spike walk this morning still seven days left

More schooling this spring at the Thursday night walleye league can’t wait, big surpise 2011, 2nd three years in a roll just isn’t going to cut in 2011 time to get 1st again, been working on my productivity in my big white boat. love this site

Yes you have Jeff, and thank you.I am also looking forward to thursday night 2011 fishing league. I just put the boat away for the winter, and now have my mind set for ice fishing. I will be shore fishing till ice up.

WeFish
O by the way, a gold metal flake green twister tail with a orange jig head will put a hurting to them eyes.

I hope it was a nuckle ball jig

Too bad we didn’t hook up this fall. I’d also have something to add to your schooling lessons. I don’t have to say it, the fish did “Gulp!” (4″ black shad minnows) Every trip out I out-produced the boats around me, nearly 2 to 1. Not just this year either, it’s been since the stuff came out. Too bad we don’t split the walleye league and have a fall season. It never grows I, only I do. Hopefully Scotty doesn’t mess up my pension and I can retire early. – but that’s another story. Just checking the 10 day forecast and after a blast from the north I’m still hoping to get out next Sunday. You up to it WeFish? Might be even colder than last Saturday.

Your a funny man databoy, may the fishing gods be with you in 2011

Lets Rock Captain Databoy sounds like a plan.I have the secret bait.

WeFish

It’s not looking too promising for a return to the river this year after having to break ice from Kmart to the bridge on Sunday and no temps above freezing. At least we still found a few nice fish, nothing big though. It’s looking like it might be time to hang it up until next year, though a day above freezing and a trip to the other end of the lake might not be too far fetched.