dupage river 7/22 Plainfield

[Frank Macikas]

Hit the river from around 730-around 9pm. Tried a new spot today in Plainfield kind of on accident. I was on my way to Electric Park to meet a buddy and he called me to meet him a little further downstream. When I first got there I didnt expect to do well I remember that section to be shallow and over run with grass and algea. I am now glad he made the call; picked up 7 total; 6 in this section and one more up past the bridge on 30. Four of them were nice too from 12" to 14" and 3 dinks. All were taken right at shore on a wacky rigged dinger with the 14" hitting it the second it hit the water just like a topwater hit. Great hour and a half; forgot the camera at work so no pics today.

[Ken G]

I was thinking of hitting the DuPage Saturday morning on the way to pick up my daughter.

I have a feeling this rain has screwed all the rivers. That figures. I should have gone out Thursday.

[Frank Macikas]

I am hoping that with it being this low that the rain wont completely blow it out but after what just came through and 80% chance of storms tomorrow it looks like it may be wishful thinking. On a side note I recently registered at ISA thinking that it would be a good place to share and swap information as I always am trying to learn more and become a better fisherman. I posted this same report there and first recieved a half way angry response about giving away the "spot" then recieved a message asking me to edit the post and remove the part about rte 30. As it is their website and their rules I edited the post but I really dont see the harm in sharing spots. Just because I caught fish there doesnt mean anyone else will. In this post here I was fishing with a friend who was using the EXACT same worm and hook casting to the same areas and he got skunked. The weekend before I was fishing with 2 other friends and we ended up follow about 200 yds downstream from 2 other people who just fished the stretch we did I picked up four my buddy two I think and the two guys who got there first and my other buddy; SKUNKED. Its a differnce in opinions/views I suppose but I dont think I will be posting there again. Like Ive seen you say Ken most guys wont travel very far from the car and most wont pick the spots apart either. Just had to vent............

[Ken G]

You should have mentioned the ISA thing in advance. I could have warned you not to do that.

Let's just say I have a history with them. We'll leave it at that.
I get along better with a few of them now and I've promised to keep my opinions to myself, for the most part. Bill C. is a member and maybe a couple of other guys here. It's worth it if you want get involved with river issues and meet some pretty good people. I wouldn't bother posting fishing reports anymore.

Sharing info isn't there strong point.

100,000 to 150,000 people read the reports you give to Dale. I'm assuming you haven't seen any real increase in other anglers where you fish.

Didn't you read this?

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2

[Frank Macikas]

Ken I did read that when I first came over here and guess thats one of the reasons I like it here; I completely agree. I suppose I just dont like being told I shouldnt share "too much" information about spots especially that I have found on my own through putting in my time. Alot of what I have learned (and still learning) about baits, techiques, knowing where fish hold, and reading current has been through reading posts from guys like Ken, Bill, and Norm from other sites and now here. The other things I have learned I learned from trial and error (alot of it). As far as spots go I started fishing rivers about 5 years ago I think and have put a signifigant amount of time mostly on the Dupage (always been my favorite) finding spots through driving aimlessly, satellite maps, and alot of walking and bushwacking. When I started I didnt have any friends who fished rivers only ponds. I have turned quite a few friends into river addicts and I now keep a full setup with waders in my car to turn as many friends onto river fishing as I can because there is no fishing as fun in my opinion. Wow I guess that irritated me more than I thought....Anyway I guess the point is I'll be keeping my posts to here and one or two other sites; I think there is another one I might be done with after seeing some things there lately too; just keep in touch with a few guys I met over there that are good people.

[Frank Macikas]

Just got another pm from someone else who had a post pulled from one of my reports on another site that was bitching about telling spots; REALLY?? I'm thinking now of an experiment of posting a satelitte pic of this stretch with notes of where I caught the fish where the 2 holes are and where the fish usually hold on the other sites. Then see how many people actually go to that spot to fish. This of course would be out of pure spite and probably add 100x more drama than its worth. Should this really bother me as much as it is?

[Special Ed]

Just got another pm from someone else who had a post pulled from one of my reports on another site that was bitching about telling spots; REALLY?? I'm thinking now of an experiment of posting a satelitte pic of this stretch with notes of where I caught the fish where the 2 holes are and where the fish usually hold on the other sites. Then see how many people actually go to that spot to fish. This of course would be out of pure spite and probably add 100x more drama than its worth. Should this really bother me as much as it is?

"The Nazis" (as they have affectionately become known as) think giving away spots will kill the s.m. fishing in the local rivers.

There is nothing you can do to change this.

Just be glad there are other sites (like Ken's) that know the truth.

Post whatever spots you want here, Ken is all about giving out info.

[Ken G]

I don't refer to them as the fishing nazis anymore, but I guess you can apply that to just about anyone that gives you a hard time about fishing spots. They seem to be everywhere now, almost.

Regarding maps, I've planned detailed map books of the Fox for 10 years and never seem to get around to it. Like this:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=638

Ed Mullady of Kankakee River fame was my inspiration. He's been consistently putting them out for 35 years. Norm should take them over some day. I think he knows even more.

I stopped leaving posts on Chitown well over a year ago because some idiot was giving me a hard time about giving away my Fox spots. After 12 years of doing that, I needed his grief.

On Windycity I put up all the details and have never had anyone complain. I can't imagine Andrew putting up with someone giving you a hard time on his site.

CLF is where I started long, long time ago. I don't think I've left a post there in 7 or 8 years. Same crap.

You learn to pick and choose. Putting up with the complainers does get under your skin, just quit going where the complainers are.

All I know is that after 14 years of leaving step by step directions to my spots, showing them to hundreds more through guiding and fishing classes, 10 years of Dale publishing my summaries, unless I go near the dams I don't see a whole hell of a lot of people out there. Usually none.

Many years ago when I went into bitch mode from guys doing the same thing to me, Dale told me something very simple . . . The hell with the naysayers, you're doing the right thing.

[Frank Macikas]

Im over it now but I was incredibly irritated last night. Thats funny about the nazi comment; today I fished with a guy I met through CLF and he also belongs to ISA and he said the same thing about some of those guys; used that exact phrase. I just had to laugh.

[Ed79]

They ARE fishing nazis... That's really the best way to describe them. Fishing rivers isn't like fishing lakes or ponds. It is completely different. Sure, there are "spots" on rivers, but nothing you could call a "honey hole" like you have on a lake. I'd say 95% of the prime fishing spots in a river, you actually need to be IN the river to fish. How many people that just lurk on fishing sites are going to put in the work that most of us put in to catch fish? How many of those lurkers even have waders to get into the river? How many of them could actually read the water in the "spots" we describe, to know where to cast and how to fish it? How many of them could catch fish in those spots, even if we gave them step by step instructions and the exact baits we used that day? River fishing is a totally different animal. Even in a lake, what works one day, may not work the next day, or for another two months. That is doubly true for rivers, where the fish are constantly moving, where the bottom is constantly changing, and where river conditions can be night and day from one day to the next... The fish follow the food. A spot where you catch ten fish one day, might not yield a single fish the next day. That is just how it works.

My opinion? Fuck them. Post whatever the hell you want and their opinion be damned.