this really sucks before the floods of 2003 pool 19 was awesome it took a long time to get it back and it still is not the same as it was. Now this years flood. I hope it takes the fishing pressure back off I just hope the bass come back. The north end of the pool is where they should al be next year wil no grass left south, per 1993 flood

If there are recripcating lisc. You will only need the Iowa Lisc. Unless you draw a partner going to cold springs the marina in Greymore etc. I strongly suggest you get the wisc lisc.
But you dont necessairly need to have one to weigh fish unless specified by bfl rules

last weekend they were buried in the pads. Right dead in the middle of pad fields. They were feeding on crawfish. MY partner got 3rd with a 14.70 bag in 5 fish. I only got 2 (must have irritated the fish gods) that went 6 lbs. Old school frogs like scum frogs not the big heavy type and flipping baits like paka craws worked well.

Thats all I got
Dusty

I cut my teeth bass fishing this lake and have done some crappie and blue gill fishing on this lake. I have also spent many of days Ice fishing it.

You had one heck of a day from my experience. I have had days where I caught over 200 crappie. but only 20 of them went in the 10 to 12 inch size range. My biggest crappie was 17 inches on a unker lure buzz bait. The fish in the school were so big I thought they were bass from 30 feet away. They were all slabs.

I know the lake like the back of my hand you all want some info drop me a line

Dusty

In our tourney there alot of fish were taken below the bridge in the east channel on the ban where the grass and wing dam meet.

A few were caught on the east channel side of the island that splits the two channels on the north end.

We locked to 9 to win the first day and the second day we didnt lock we got 6th on main channel rock with deep water very close

I cannot give you everything I will be fishing a tournament there in 2 weeks I will let you know what I can Since we will be fishing another tourney there in Mid August.

Right now there should be a huge pad field along the marked channel leading from the boat ramp to the main river. Then straight across on the Iowa side should be some huge eel grass beds and a couple nice rock points that always hold fish

Don’t go far from where you launch you will catch fish in the area

on pool 13 today alot of fish that were weighed in looked spawned out. One was 5.22 and was not fat at all. There were no signs on spawning activity on the fish what so ever. Quite a few more longer fish were caught today and throughout the week with the same charaecteristics. I think some spawned in March, others dumped their eggs in deep water, and this is could be the first wave of fish.

Dusty

Dave

It all depends on what style of tournament it is. Is it 1 day or 4 days. Is it a club tourney for points. Or a one day deal.

If its for points or mutiple days I go for a limit first. Simple reason its not a race its a marathon.

If its a one day money tournament I prefer to swing for the fence. My partner and I do not see eye to eye on this aspect he would rather look respectable and catch a limit then shoot for the fence and blank.

My theory is if being respectable usually cashes the same check as the guy who blanks.

JMO
dusty

If you go to [censored] Sporting Goods they have a Strikeking Kreature bait in the Shaw Grigsby line. It looks alot like a bacon rind but the tail has the little tassels on the end of the tail. I do not believe they are the 3 x

Dusty

Go to Browns hahaha

I am in the same boat our tourney is the 22nd on 13. I wish we could go to Browns bring on the sun

The Sweet Beaver got alot better this year I got bit more on it than a Brush Hog. bass fishing on the river has brought the fish to immunity. I cant hardley get bit on a Salt Craw go back threw the same area with a tube or a beaver and get bit. weird

dusty

I feel the body of the flatmax is to big for most river bass applications. Or I atleast dont normally use that size of crank on the river. Someone prove me worng and I will use it alot more. They work pretty good in lakes

I had a colappseable net yeats ago. I will never own another one. we had a pig on I dropped the net in the water half the bass went in the net the other half out. The net shifted the wrong way the bass came un buttoned and didnt get in the net. I am sure the new designs are much more reliable. I just cannot trust anything that colappses again.

I have ridden and fished out of many different brands of boats. I have found there are pluses and minuses to all brands.
Ranger and other ranger style boats when sitting and looking at the nose has the appearance of nose down design which looses speed but lowers the front deck which allows for easier fishing.

Stratos and similiar style boats ride nose high which allows for higher speeds but more trouble fishing in the wind. You can hit targets flipping easier but have a harder time swining fish into the boat.

Depending who you are and where you live the need for different boats or designs are must. Someone living on the great lakes or big water is better off with a high sided boat for a safety standpoint. etc etc.

My hat is off to warrior and other boat manufactures you cant make all of us happy all of the time, but you can make some of us happy some of the time. Remember opinions are like everyone has one.

its open down here

I have begun experimenting with shakey heads on the river. I use a 3/16 bite me jig head sold at bass pro. This jig has a stout hook and an over sized keeper designed so the angler can adjust its size to the plastic they perfer. For worms so far I use the zoom finesse worm and this year I will try trick worms. Alot of pros maybe using trick worms because you can adjust them to the size you wish. I have yet to catch a keeper but ai have smoked the dinks on this rig. I done a little on the water experiement. I was using a Beaver and catching alot of fish that day. so I alternated between the 2 on this one spot and the shakey caught all but one of the 20 fish. They were dinks. and it worked again the same way in another spot.

I think the shakey will become a big wepon for me in the future I just need to fine tune it to where I got confidence in when and where to throw it.

All good replys. What I ment about the superstars tournaments is after the word on the street came out so did alot of other tournaments. Wich put alot of pressure on a non pressured fishery. It didnt help

I am saying that its not the pressure from the one tournament but a cumulative effect that will take its toal in the long run.

10 years ago you could win tournaments on pool 19 with 3 fish. Now 50 boats a day are catching limits its a remarkeable turn around. I am just worried pressure is taking its toal. Last I knew and heard the whole north end of the pool is the dead sea. All the habitat is still there and so is the bait. Just no bass.

In a perfect world the release boat would distribute fish all over the pool not just on the south end.

sorry guys it is a pisser knowing that this big tournament trail will not be back. On the other hand I fish pool 19 alot and used to fish the Illinois River alot. Pool 19 has had its butt caved in. This pool has fished very badly since the flood of 93 and was only made worse by the flood of 97. The past few years fishing has picked up but this year it got alot better. The problem is bass had a northern divisional here stren has been here the bfl is coming and the Illinois Bass Federation thinks its the greatest place in the world.

I am jelous because in October my club has had no competition for fishing locations. Our last tournament will have a BFL regional the week before and an open buddy tournament, Illinois Bass Fed classic and an ABA on the pool above the same weekend we have never had any pressure.

Why I bring this up is the Illinois river was flat out awesome until the SuperStars tournaments came around since those tournaments fishing has been poor. Not from fish kills but from pressure. Granted things like asain carp have made it worse but it was bad long before the carp showed up.

I fish a local members only lake we in the bassclub found out it was a hidden gem 50% of us joined and started having montly tournaments. the lake went from a bad day was 15 bass over 14 inches with 3 fish over 4 in the mix to a good day was 4 14 inch fish. Since then 90% of the people who fished the tournaments have not rejoined. Now a bad day on the lake is 10 fish over 14 inches. But it will only sustain 1 or 2 descent fisherman.

I guess what I am saying is this and im sure some of the old timers will agree. The more national attention your section of the river gets the more pressure it will recieve. With the increased pressure will come less fish caught on a weekly or even a daily bassis.

So be thankful they wrote our section of the river off it just means better fish catches for the rest of us.

I do however feel bad because one day I hope to be a pro and now I have to travel alot further to catch fish on someone elses lake.

I am not trying to down pro tournies just show a brighter side. If they would have waited 3 years pool 19 would rival if not be better then pool 9 and I allready see the pool 19 tournament impact on pool 18 it is fishing pretty tough. Not to mention for some reason the bass in Pool 19 all seem to be in about a 3 mile stretch of the river. In years past they were all over. Got to be release boat syndrome

off my soap box
Dustin Taylor

does the mizmo version have the pruple flake in the green pumpkin??

http://www.isgfishing.com/acatalog/intimidatortubes.htm

there is the link. we too heard that the problem was fixed but the next order that was made they were wrong again. I sure it is a vendor issue

mono is the only way to go for top water and baits you dont want to sink fast. I switch from mono to fluro on crankbaits depending on the depth and presentation. But if your going with trebles on top go mono

sammys are the best straight walking bait on the market today for flat water. I caught big bass for our tourney on pool 10 this year on one and would have had it the first day if the 19 inch fish wouldnt have been sick that decided to eat it. I have a sammy 100 and a 110 the 100 is in chartruce shad and the 110 is a clown color. the 110 is better for choppier water but I have found if there is any chop I opt for a super spook

Let me know how you do I got a tourney there in late september. big worms and buzzbaits work well

There is a river south of the lock on pool 20 I believe it is the Des Moines that you have to have an IA or MO license to acess Illinois license will not work.

to the creeks thing

A license for either state will work. But I believe if you go past a bridge in a tributary you need to have that states license. With that being said you will have the oppertunity to go under more bridges on the IL side then IA.
Just depends on where you find fish

neither does the kind of information I got

did you try the captains cove south of pdc nice clean rooms and quiet

dave
shh my clubs tourney is coming out of burlington the 23rd. I got the pattern from the 2nd my partner didnt see it yee ha but im sure the northern divisional guys wil expose it. I just hope they leave some for seed.

Does anyone fishing the northern divisional know where tey are going to put off limits and release them if they do or find out please pm me.

If ft madison runs out of rooms look at burlington Ia only 15 miles away