I was able to get out for a float trip with my buddy Bart on Wednesday on one of my favorite lower stretches of the Dupage. Weather was amazing and the fishing was even better!! Water levels are just about perfect and about 4-5 clarity. Smallies are starting to move up on beds and will most likely continue to due to for the next two weeks or so; this as you know is one of my favorite times of the year to fish. I love sight fishing and the patience and technique it takes to catch these spooky fish in super clear water is not nearly as easy as people think; it can be quite the challenge.

I also saw some of the most amazing evidence of just how powerful and destructive moving water can be. In this particular section we were floating there was a 50 yard plus section of shoreline that now has river rock piled literally 5ft deep and around 20-25 ft wide. This was all grass and trees for as long as I remember fishing this area. Just downstream from there – an entire island and several small bends – GONE. The river cut a completely new channel and the island that was there no longer exists. This is by far one of the most incredible things I have seen on this river; I cannot imagine what it looked like at full crest to do something like that. This is exactly why I love fishing rivers; it always is changing, fish are always moving and what works one day might not work the next.

On to the results of the day. We caught at least 30 fish between the two of us. I had three Smallmouth taped at 17+”, at least two more than 16” and the rest were all over 15” all caught on white tubes. Bart had two 17’s, a 16” and several 15’s mostly on a fly (not sure what kind). This plus a handful of rock bass and one small largemouth made for an excellent day! It felt great to be back on the river and am trying to get out more regularly and will try to post reports as I do.

Do you know any put ins and take outs for a drift boat????

John

GreatfulDad wrote:Do you know any put ins and take outs for a drift boat????

John

How much water do you need John? Most stretches have at least a few sections of very shallow water; shallow enough where I scrap the bottom of the yak. From what I remember 111th through 135th has pretty decent depth throughout but I dont fish that section very often at all; mostly above or below it, mainly below.

Nice, what stretch?

amason wrote:Nice, what stretch?

Put in off river rd I think it was the mound rd bridge or the one above it and down to mcevily rd in Minooka

Playing catch up, I went across the 126 bridge the day it crested. No left turns down 126 were allowed cause it was under water. The water was right up to the top edge of the bridge and looking mean as hell.

Amazing fish live through something like that.

Same rebuilding of the creek shores and bed happened on a couple of creeks nearby and I've yet to get to a lot of my other spots. Will be interesting to see what they look like. Haven't been out on the Fox yet. Just this week it got down to the 1500 level finally, and even that can make it dicey wading if you don't know what you're doing. The Fox doesn't get rebuilt as much after events like this. Too much solid rock under all that water and even most of the shores are rock.