1998 posts from this time of year

[Ken G]

These two posts are where my records start of what I was doing on the river. There were almost two more years of posts, but this is when I learned not to type them directly into a forum. The forum goes away, so do the posts. I wish I had those two older years. I vaguely remember recording the struggles of trying to figure out how to fish rivers. End of 1996 and through 1997 I just went and threw things in the river. Didn't take it all that seriously. In the spring of 1998 I couldn't catch a fish to save my life. That's when I became determined to figure it out and it became an obsession. By the end of November 1998, I was close to having it figured out. I wasn't doing too bad considering the time of year. I was keeping very detailed records back then. Did that for about 5 years. Now when I catch a fish if it doesn't look like 14 inches, I just toss it back. Proved my point to myself a long time ago.

Weather pattern was similar to now. So now might not be a bad time to still go out.

11/28-29/98 Yorkville/DT Aurora

Saturday at Yorkville late afternoon. Nothing by 5 when coming off river.
Only other angler suggested going back and giving split shot rig a chance.
Sure enough:
1-13" walleye and a bunch of missed hits in less than an hour.

Sunday late afternoon in downtown Aurora. Started out with small jig and minnow to see if anything would take it. Nothing. Switched to split shot rig and fished the same spot:
1-6"
1-7"
1-9"
1-16"
All smallies.
Beautiful dark green coloring with distinct vertical bars even on the little ones. Didn't think I would be catching smallies a day or 2 before December. Looks like one more week of mild weather. Get out towards sunset if you can.

12/5-6/98 North Aurora

Had to get out at the end of the warm spell. I knew with the warm evenings the water temps would be coming up a bit. Went wading Saturday with a friend. Forty minutes into it my friend had foul hooked a big sucker through the dorsal fin and couldn't get it reeled in with the fly rod he always uses. Walked upstream to help release it. Was trying to figure out how to go about unhooking it when I brushed the line, popped if off the fish and embedded it in the tip of the little finger on my right hand. Was going to rip it out and go back to fishing, but hurt like hell and I hadn't had a tetanus shot in 15 years, so off to the hospital

Sunday: Hadn't planned on going, but after Saturdays fiasco, decided to go out at dawn and fish till the cold front came in. Glad I went. Fished from the dam to the Route 56 bridge from one shore to the other.
35 smallies
2 walleyes
1 drum
The water felt relatively warm and the fish were very aggresive. The fly fisherman I was out with on Saturday always takes water temps before he starts, so I'm waiting for a call back to see what it was. The great part was the size of the fish. 10 of the smallies were fat and 14 inches. 15 others were between 12 and 14 inches. The rest smaller. Another guy fishing the dam was doing quite well. At one point he held up a big walleye that had a huge belly on him. When we talked later he estimated the walleye to be at least 22 inches. The fish were hitting hard even after it had been raining for awhile. Was surprised at how some of them were lying in pretty turbulent water.
All were caught on split shot rig with 2 to 3 inch minnows.
All released, of course.
Gonna miss the warmer weather.