East, West and Main Branch DuPage Rivers

[smallmouthfisher]

I WENT TO THE SHOW TODAY AND DIDNT SEE YOU GUYS!!! WELL i AM GAME LET ME KNOW SUNDAYS ARE BEST FOR ME AND TUESDAYS AND THURSDAYS.. LOL

[smallmouthfisher]

we can park by the baseball field and walk along the highway since the brush is all dead and its pretty clear..

[sparks63]

Greetings All!

Might as well add some photos of some of the areas being discussed...This is the Bolingbrook Water Treatment Plant located south of Royce Road and just west of Route 53. Ed mentions that is accessible from the Trout Farm. There is now a parking lot right at the Royce Road Bridge with a canoe launch...
Here are views of the East Branch looking north, then south...
Water depth in this area is no more that knee deep with some deeper pools here and there. The bottom consists some larger rocks, gravel etc. Water is quite clear right now...
Here is another view looking north, then south...
Moving downstream from the parking lot is the warm water discharge, it's no more that 100 yards...
As you can see, the Plant is on the west side, here is a view from below the WWD...
And last is a view downstream from below the WWD...
A couple of thoughts about the East Branch: If anyone is going to explore before the snow cover melts off be very careful. There was some flooding back in December which froze and left a lot of ice at the high water level, which now being covered with snow, is slicker than snot. Another thing when wading, you will find a lot of silted in areas which will suck you in to mid thigh, very much like that area near the stone steps at Les Arends. I will get over to the Woodridge Treatment Plant tomorrow and post the pics of that area later.

Tight lines everyone!

Scott

[sparks63]

Here are some pics I took back in November 2009 while fishing the West Branch at Pioneer Park in Naperville. This is a great little area which I am going to spend a lot of time exploring with the kayak. There is a canoe launch here at the Park...
There is a lot of fish-able water between the Knock Knolls Park south all the way north to the River Walk.

It's time to start planning some outings!!

Scott

[AndrewR]

Further down from there, I don't know anything about. My explorations on the west branch of the duper went from downtown Naperville all the way through veterans memorial park, through pioneer park, along Washington st. to Weigand riverfront park, through River Mist, Knock Knolls, and down to the East and West merge. I spent limited time on the East branch, fishing from roughly Dupage river park skipping about up to Royce rd. and Rt. 53, then jumping up to Seven Bridges around Hobson rd.

Coincidentally, the biggest river largemouth and the biggest river smallmouth I have ever caught came from the area near Hobson rd.


If anyone fishes Knock Knolls, I suggest going upstream. Somewhere between the Knoch Knolls park and the River Mist backwaters is (I hope) the remnants of a submerged boulder field upstream from a large pool. Me and a buddy spent 4 weeks when we were kids in High School moving boulders from 5 to 40 lbs from the surrounding area to this spot. It was summer break and we needed to keep cool. We'd sneak beers and cigs from the old man, spend the day fishing, catching crayfish, swing into the river on a rope tied to a tree. We thought the hard bottom upstream from the pool would help make it deeper. I haven't been back there since that summer...........

I have done the exact same thing as well. Senior year of highschool all the way up to sophomore year of college I was able to cover that entire stretch of water.. Starting from the downtown Riverwalk all the way down to where the two flows merge into as one.

Best fishing I've found is upstream of Weigand Park & Washington Rd. bridge up to the cell tower (If you miss this you are blind)

Scott, I have some very fond memories of that park.

Anyways, here's some photos I've amassed since I first started fishing that stretch of water since high school days:
The fishing has progressively gotten worse for me there ever since 2007 when I found a fish kill in May of that year. There was a huge outbreak of Chladaphora, a nasty form of algae.

I'd have to say my best year was 2006. Big fish for that stretch in every outing I made. 2008 and last year I didn't fish as much or even catch anything!

2005....







2006....






Between Knoch Knolls park and Weigand.

















2007....









The fishing just hasnt been the same for me since these last two photos.....


andrew

[Special Ed]

Damn shame about that fish kill. I remember reading your report from that day. It broke my heart, but I know the fish will come back.

Give the time, they will come back.

[Ken G]

Scott and Andrew. Nice additions to the list here. I keep forgetting Scott works for the county. I have a feeling you have a hard drive full of pictures and knowledge I can only dream of. I wish they would have put that path a little closer to the creek. That 20-30 foot walk from the creek to it is going to be a killer.

Ed had mentioned the plant at Royce Road and I didn't know what he was talking about. Now I know. And I thought I knew them all. Went and blew up one of the aerials on Bing. One time I might have known about this. Wish I still had those brain cells.

I may have to go check out that canoe launch at Royce tomorrow. It's barely off my route to and from work. Biggest mistake I made when I shut down my canoe shop was to get rid of my fishing kayak. Old Town Predator 111. I kick myself all the time about that.

Like I said, in two weekends if it's above 35, I may just have to go try this.

I do hate silt though. Maybe more than ice.

You guys do realize this is out in the open for all to see. My decision is to go back to the way I was doing things years ago. If it's public water accessed through public land, it should be no secret. The parks and FP's want people using their facilities. The more people use them, the better chance they can get more when the money is there. If you don't want to participate at this level, that's fine. Just know in advance what's going on. There's always the Registered Users Only section.

Now some of the creeks I fish. That will be going in "I'ma going fishin." Public access or not.

[AndrewR]

Ken, it's like that one saying of yours...

Do you seriously think that anybody is gonna retrace our footsteps word-for-word, and bother to fish these areas?

Yeah Ed, that was a sad day. The ISA didn't even do jack about that one when it came to be an issue. I wasn't even a paying member anymore (quit after 2005) and I was even chastised for posting it up on their boards.

If there's any water I'd like to fish it is in the Plainfield area - in-between Bolingbrook and Shorewood. I'd love to make a float trip out there sometime.

[Ken G]

You know how I feel about spots. Just want to make sure everyone else was aware of this.

Fished through Plainfield a few times many years ago and never went back. Even though I drive over it on 126 quite often. I got pictures somewhere. Maybe start another post.

It's been 2 years since I've updated my Internet Fishing Myths post. Have one in my head. 2 more years of fishing and except for running into a couple of guys from here at the crap plant, I think I've run into a half dozen other anglers. That's in 2 years.

Saw where they were and which direction they were heading. Went the other way and never saw them again. Remember again, these are areas I've talked about for over 12 years. Shown to a couple of hundred. Guys are still out there telling everyone how I've ruined the river. DUH, okay.

On the creeks, I ran into one old guy that has fished it for over 30 years. Sitting dunking worms in a deep pool. Otherwise 14 miles of creeks all to myself. Talked about and shown those to people too.

[Special Ed]

I'm pushing this back up to the top.

I hate those stupid fishing goals for 2012 posts I see everywhere, but I have one.

Fish a verified 20 miles of the Dupage River this year.



1 to 2 miles each trip. Short 1 mile trips after work once a week and an occasional 2 miler on a weekend morning/evening.


Ken, have you lost interest in the Duper?