IceShanty.com's Ice Fishing Community
Illinois => Ice Fishing Illinois => Topic started by: ratsotail on Dec 26, 2022, 11:07 AM
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Greetings, has anyone ventured out on the ice (local ponds or lakes) in the central Illinois region yet. I'm thinking about heading to Ramsey State Park, near Vandalia on Tuesday or Wednesday before the warm up hits. Any reports in the region are appreciated. I'm expecting to find 3-4" of ice based on the number of days below freezing.
Tight Lines,
Jeff
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Made it out today in west-central IL. 4-7" on the 3-acre pond I fished.
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Planning on heading out tomorrow in the Blo/No area. Will report back. Wanted to get out today, but between work and weather, think I'll take my chances tomorrow afternoon.
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Fished some ponds yesterday around Macomb, 4”-8” of ice. Caught a ton of small bass! Also had my daughter with me for her first time on the ice! She loved watching the Garmin, I didn’t even get to use it.
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Had 6-7.5" on the pond I fished today in Iroquois County.
Lot of little bass today here, too... had one nice one on, but jig popped out right under the ice trying to get it in the hole. Probably the most largemouths I've ever had hit in a sitting on that pond, but they were all little 6-8 inchers aside from the one I lost.
Warmup coming in tomorrow, so the ice will be shot before long... gonna hit the same pond tomorrow after work before it all goes to mush and the edges rot.
(https://i.postimg.cc/2L11mWGc/IMG-20221227-074025.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/2L11mWGc)
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first trip yesterday, 5-6 inches of ice on a small pond, kept a dozen nice gills.
they slammed demons, ice flies and slenders for a while, then shut off around 2 pm
headed out soon to a different pond that i was told had 5-7 inches of ice
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9-1130am was the sweet spot for me yesterday. I fished from about 7:30am-1230pm, but it was fairly slow early and they were tapering off when I packed it in for the day.
I haven't gotten on to a good afternoon bite yet this season... hoping today breaks that trend.
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wind shifted and increased yesterday when bite died. lots of lookers but they wouldnt hit even when i downsized to small jig w/waxie or small plastic.
headed out, should be good bite today with warming trend, but wind already 15, gonna have to anchor down the shack good
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Good luck! :icefish:
Wind did the same here. It started off very light and out of the west and ended up fairly stiff out of the south. I wound up turning the fish house and anchoring it around 10am.
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Thanks for all the timely reports and I'm glad you guys have some good ice and getting your lines tight. I was able to get out today on Ramsey. We found 4-5" of ice but the wind and heat began eating it pretty fast by mid afternoon! Such as life and ice fishing at this southern latitude! We caught some beautiful gills, one crappie, and a big catfish.
(https://i.postimg.cc/yg0b4q8d/IMG-20221228-154315-2.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/yg0b4q8d)
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It's going quick... what had been 7" of solid clear Tuesday was about 6" with the top inch or so being a sloppy mess with a bunch of puddles.
I"m going to try to get out one last time this afternoon, but I'm doubtful about the edges with this warm wind howling over it for an entire day now. :unsure:
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nice haul ratso
i backed out of going today, ice was still solid 6 coming off yesterday, but just looked too iffy for me today with high of 60 and windy
had a great day yesterday, a lot of nice gills, kept about half of what we caught. slender spoons and demons w/waxies hot lures again.
(https://i.postimg.cc/Cd7H7nQG/gills.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/Cd7H7nQG)
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Real slow for me yesterday afternoon... fished from about 2:30 till dark and managed one decent bass and one gill. Kiddo only had one bite, a nice crappie that he lost in the hole. He's still kinda bad about reeling without setting the hook :-\
Saw a fair number of gills cruising under the holes, just couldn't get them to hit anything. Tried jigs, spoon, waxies, plastics... they just weren't having it.
That wind was a bear, too...
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sat out yesterday, buddies did ok where they went and had good enough ice. but when they went back to where i was wednesday the edges were completely shot.
looks like end of january before we have safe ice again in my neck of the woods
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I went out for about an hour yesterday... ice was just about shot. Lots of open water around the edges, and the sheet was down to about 4" from 6" the day before and over 7" Tuesday. The top inch or so was mush. I think it'll be back to open water by Sunday or Monday.
Never even got a nibble, either. :-\
(https://i.postimg.cc/vgPYhjP6/IMG-20221229-140504.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/vgPYhjP6)
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NE Illinois here. Fished Tuesday on 4-5 inches. Just about gone now.
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The ponds I had been fishing were about half open water a couple days ago. I'm sure there is no ice whatsoever left now.
(https://i.postimg.cc/V5Z0FY41/IMG-20230103-050333.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/V5Z0FY41)
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I went last Saturday the 30th and could fish from a pier through a hole that had been dug by it previously (just had to break it open). But the ice wouldn't have held me if I had been on it. I could hear it cracking the whole time.
I did get a largemouth about 12-13 inches long on a little kastmaster. It was my first decent fish through the ice, so I was pretty happy about that. I had tried a few times in N. IL when I was a kid and only got a few tiny panfish, and once in upstate New York but only got one yellow perch among the group of us.
Looks like some ice is starting to cover again on some of the lakes after the cold snap yesterday and today but I doubt it will get thick enough before it melts - with all of the above-freezing highs we are supposed to have for the rest of the winter?
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All wide open water here. It's definitely not looking good for the next week.
Who knows after that? 🤷♂️ Long term forecasts are generally about as reliable as a tire patched with bubble gum.
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long range "guess" i saw had single digit lows last week of january into early feb, so maybe ....
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long range "guess" i saw had single digit lows last week of january into early feb, so maybe ....
Same... I'm not getting too excited until we get to the end of the month and those days are still looking that low.
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Happy New Year to all the (ILLINICE MEN been a long time since I was on this site, I hate this state! Some small ponds were starting to lock up in Grundy Co, and once again,Mutha Nature is just a #@%&#$#”= I’m getting long in the tooth and tired of road trips. I really have to move out of this state, Wis, Minn, or northern Iowa. Iowa actually has the better gun laws of the 3, north east corner of the state, can be on Mississippi back waters or quick ride into Minn,or Wis I don’t know why God made me love ice fishing and live in this state, but I have got to make a change,funny most people want to retire where it’s a warmer climate, the old we get older we get colder bs,they can have it. I got way to much gear to throw in the towel now, I just gotta go further north, I hope those of you that can get on the ice slay em, selective harvest gentleman, it’s more important now than it’s ever been. Stay safe, tight lines! Prayin for cold in Grundy🤞
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Definitely not coming back anytime in the near future around here.
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This weather is quite the let down, so I’m gonna reprogram and hit open water Sun, supposed to be upper 40s maybe even see 50* OY, gotta scratch the itch one way or another. Probably be a day of dink’s but one never does know? Spoke with a gent lake Elizabeth way nothing going there, pretty sure id’e have to get well over the boarder to find safe ice, just not interested in making the haul.
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Forecast is looking better after Thursday, but we'll need a good cold snap for it to do much more than form up some teaser ice.
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End of the month is looking colder! Hopefully it’s gets colder than projected.
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Daytime highs still looking too high here next week, but the lows are a lot better.
(https://i.postimg.cc/N9g7wvVg/IMG-20230119-060041.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/N9g7wvVg)
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Yes, but end of next week is looking better; three days in a row below freezing all day (Wed-Fri). I don't know how long it takes ice to set up for walking on out here, but that sounds promising. I've considered the idea of traveling north that weekend to find ice in northern IL or southern WI (which should have plenty by then), but I'm wondering if there will be some here in the greater Peoria Area. I'm specifically curious about Banner Marsh and Emiquon. Any thoughts?
(https://i.postimg.cc/JDKGTTBd/Havana-Weather-Forecase-20230119-to-0128.png) (https://postimg.cc/JDKGTTBd)
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NE Illinois here. Colder temps (sort of) forecast for tomorrow (Friday) thru Sunday, but then climbing again. I doubt much ice fishing going on here for awhile.
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dont know if you guys have seen this, but it explains how long it takes to build ice...
https://www.outdoorcanada.ca/how-fast-does-your-lake-make-ice/ (https://www.outdoorcanada.ca/how-fast-does-your-lake-make-ice/)
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The fdd formula is fairly accurate up to about 5", after that it's not so great. Small ponds also tend to make and shed ice faster than it calculates.
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but it gives you a base to go by and 5 inches is enough for me.
all i fish is small ponds/lakes so i use fdd to give me an idea when to start checking
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I use it a fair bit too. Most of the ponds I fish are under 3 acres.
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checking the accuweather long range forecast and using fdd, we could have safe ice here around the first of february
got only two days of ice fishing the week after christmas, then had some good sauger fishing when the rivers opened up, but looking forward to another run of ice fishing
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I went out 5 days on that Xmas ice, but the bite was only good one of them here. There were a couple day I was watching fish swim around, but they wouldn't touch anything.
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That's fascinating and makes great sense. So based on the weather I posted and the article you sent - there should be about roughly 2 more inches of ice by Friday, which I think will be two inches total because I don't think there's any out there now - or at least not much - I haven't checked recently and haven't seen any reports recently either. Thank you, thus is super helpful!
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Does that formula apply for melt rate? Or is there a different one but similar? Like what if there's 5 or 6 inches and then there's one day with a high of 34 and a low of 32 or 30? Can you use this to predict ice lost?
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Melt is a lot harder to predict than freeze.
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Not getting my hopes super high, but next week's forecast keeps looking better and better the past few days. If this holds, I'll probably be fishing again by the end of next week.
(https://i.postimg.cc/G4T85Xqj/IMG-20230125-073414.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/G4T85Xqj)
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oh yeah, theres gonna be ice fishing again, forecast i just looked at has 10 days with single digit lows starting sunday including a few below zero.
could be a tough bite for a while, though, with the super high pressure that comes with an arctic blast
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I'll be more optimistic if we get to Sunday/Monday and the forecast still looks as good as it does now :icefish:
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An optimist, oh yeah, I remember now an optimist is a pessimist ( WITH ENTHUSIASM) outstanding we need a whole boat load of that, and we do really. I’m just glad I’m looking at single digits starting Sunday, Yes THANK YOU Mother Nature, God,Siberian express, global warming or what ever the flavor of the month is I’m just happy and looking forward to it. Went out last week in really cold temps ice cold open water but it felt good to cast 2 hr one bump it was a good bump I’m bettin a cat but I have caught a lot of bass in this pond! Just really want the cold. I’ve had to shovel 4 times this winter and haven’t punched one hole, it still sucks in Grundy😩
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Some of the smaller ponds and lakes have thin layer of ice over them around the Morton area. Hopefully next weekend is a go!!!
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Gonna burn a vacation day Wednesday! Maybe another Thursday. If I go for the trifecta on Friday, I could have 5 straight days of fishing! Hmmmm.... ;D
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Forecast isn't looking great here beyond Friday now... thinking maybe fishable Thursday-Saturday. Probably be shot again quick... forecast early next week is 40s and rain :-\
(https://i.postimg.cc/PLYncbFc/IMG-20230130-054619.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/PLYncbFc)
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Hoping to get out somewhere this weekend too.
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Few small ponds are skinned today. I didn't have the chisel with me to poke around. I actually wasn't expecting them to be completely frozen today. :blink:
(https://i.postimg.cc/2L4mjccV/IMG-20230130-135938.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/2L4mjccV)
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Emiquon by public boat ramp was 1.75" yesterday afternoon. By ditch pull-off south end of Thompson Lake this morning was 2-2.5".
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I've got my gear with me to have a poke around after work and do some fishing if the ice is ready. It was 3° here earlier this morning, so the little ponds I'll be spotting will be picking up ice fast.
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building quicker than i thought, was gonna wait til thursday to check around here but might have to spud some spots tomorrow afternoon
btw, i am done with long range weather forecasts. went from below zero to almost 50 in a week. lol. hope i can get a couple days fishing before it goes to hell again
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I think small water will probably be walkable today through Saturday, maybe Sunday here. It's still only 9° and sunny with a light breeze, so ponds should be making ice fast.
Bite is likely to be slow in the dead middle of a cold snap today, though. I went out 5 or 6 days during the one in December and only had a decent bite going one day. Guessing tomorrow-Saturday will be better fishing.
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Been a few years since posting here. From Fulton and Peoria co areas checked over weekend had 2inches While visiting. Now in Vermilion co had 1-1.5 today few more cold nights be 4 in for the weekend.
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Found 3" of pond ice yesterday, so I sat over a shallow flat and ended up pulling 10 in about 90 minutes. Dink festival, but the bite was fairly steady.
This ice definitely won't be sticking around long, so I'll probably be hitting it every day through Saturday.
(https://i.postimg.cc/KRzS7nKX/IMG-20230201-060301.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/KRzS7nKX)
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Things are looking up I have a few smaller ponds here, they’ve been locked up a couple days now. Gonna go spud em tomorrow see what’s up. I’ve wussed out in my later years if it’s not 3” to 4” I’ll wait. One more day should do it for me I’ll let the younger guys fish the 2” those days are over for me. Picks, float bibs, don’t care not up for a winters dip. Gonna be mid 20s tomorrow and 5* for the high Friday. Big warm up and rain by Wed, next week, gives me about 4 or 5 days to hit it finally in Grundy hallelujah
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3.5" today... bite was slower than yesterday.
(https://i.postimg.cc/xkknQ81g/IMG-20230201-161823.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/xkknQ81g)
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Fished western IL farm pond today. 3.75" of ice everywhere we fished.
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Checked Emiquon this morning - 3.5 inches on western edge of south Thompson Lake (just below the main ditch by the pulloff). Probably thicker tomorrow.
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Fished same pond, starting @ 2pm today. Had 4", but was already honeycombed from the sun today. By 5pm, one of my holes was getting pretty saggy. I expect we will add an inch tonight with the cold and wind.
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Ice got really mushy here yesterday too, and had lost about half an inch from Wednesday. The fish house was sitting in a puddle by the time I packed it in at 4pm.
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Ditto on the mushy ice, I had water LMAO sled kept sliding away from me, didn’t use my little shack it was gorgeous out. Slow bite but satisfying, had to pack in earlier than I wanted, do to some people letting there dogs on the ice. A lot more people out in joying the park then I anticipated but I had a great couple hrs before the morning went south keeping my fingers crossed ice holds on at least another day, kids will have school, every body else will be back to work I’ll have the whole pond to myself Monday if it held up stay safe.
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I went a few hours Saturday. The ice was getting pretty soft by the time I quit midday. Couldn't buy a bite... caught one gill. Fish were there, just wouldn't hit anything.
I didn't even look at ice yesterday, it only got down to 36° overnight Saturday, and it was 49 afternoon yesterday, so I'm sure it's toast.
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Not sure if this is central..
(https://i.postimg.cc/cgqm4D3m/05-E5170-B-E74-C-4530-ADF1-A3-C175-AA2-D37.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/cgqm4D3m)
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It is. That's about dead straight across the state from me. I'm right on the Indiana line, and that's right over by the Mississippi.
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Went Saturday afternoon. Started with 4. 5" of ice. Ice was very saggy by the end of the trip. Did not bother trying sunday.
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I'm very sad to hear of the couple who died near Durham. My grandparent's farm was about a mile from there, and I grew up fishing several ponds in the area.
Though I did not know the Chaneys, I pray for peace in the lives of their family left behind.
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That news flash about the couple is just sad, there really is no reason for that to happen. You don’t want to say anything about foolishness, or this or that, it’s just sad, you really can’t emphasize enough on safety and some people don’t wanta hear you harp on it, so enough said from me, it’s great to be alive. Take a second in your endeavors,enjoy the hell out of em but try to take a sec and think! STAY SAFE✌️
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Holy crap, I worked with that guy that died 20 years ago. He was an interestingly cool dude.
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The rain has done in my haunts, ice is all but gone, probably won’t be back any time soon from the looks of the weather reports. Also heard they could have to put some restrictions on BAGO, if they don’t get some really cold days up that way. At least they have ice none here in Grundy, gonna make jerky, that always eases the pain🤣
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In all my years of ice fishing I have never seen a winter like this. I hope this is the last year like it.
By the way 3 people went through this past weekend, 1 on Channel lake and 2 on Antioch lake. The 1 guy on channel is OK not sure about the other 2.
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This is up there for me, but not the worst. There was one back in like 2007-2010, somewhere in there where we never had any local ice. 3-4 season ago there was only ice for a few days.
This season probably rates 3rd worst for me since 2006 when I started ice fishing down here.
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Agree, Ice fishing in Illinois is the worst. I used to to do major hauls, wake up 3:3:30 am hit it and be on the ice by 6 or 7 am Mississippi backwaters savanna area leave by 3 or 4 pm nobody could last longer than 45 min behind the wheel coming home had to keep pulling off to exchange drivers nobody could stay awake 😂🤣 I miss those trips, tons of fish absolute great time.us boys in Illinois gotta work hard to find hard water some years. I got turned on to ice fishing when I was 9yrs old now, if I’m driving 3 or 4 hrs one way then I’m gettin a room no more half the day in travel time. But the Mississippi backwaters do have what I call gills with forhead’s it’s tempting LMAO!!!!
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I lived in northern MN before here, so the seasons are a lot shorter than what I had been used to before.
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NE Illinois here. I think our ice season is done. I got out on Dec 8, that’s it. I needed to go to WI for more fishing.
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I got out 4 or 5 days in late December, and 4 days during that snap the end of last month, but I only got onto a good bite a couple of days.
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I got out 4 or 5 days in late December, and 4 days during that snap the end of last month, but I only got onto a good bite a couple of days.
I got our 4 times in Illinois. Took a trip up to Northern Wisconsin at end of January. 4 day trip ended after 1 day of fishing. Slush was too much to tackle on foot. Had better luck at home. But it's all over now. [size=78%] [/size]
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Yeah, not a speck of ice left around here. Unless we get an absolute freak cold snap, that's all she wrote till next winter.
I'll probably get the cobwebs blown out of the outboard and motorcycle this weekend. The water is way too high to really make any serious fishing attempt on the river here, though. Maybe in a week or two if it doesn't rain or snow much.
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ZCM which river are you talking about Kankakee or Iroquois or Vermilion being high right now just curious ?
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And yeah it’s gonna be open water time with out a doubt ( Go Cubs Go)
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ZCM which river are you talking about Kankakee or Iroquois or Vermilion being high right now just curious ?
Iroquois... it is coming down a lot faster than I figured it would after that rain we had a couple days ago. I had a look on my way home from work today.
I fish the Kankakee a lot too, but mostly over on the Indiana side the past several years.
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Yeah I lived in Aroma park a couple years then Watseka for about 9yrs. I spent a lot of yrs on the slough, it’s a further drive now but still doable.hopefully the work there doin will pan out, some good places in and around Watseka to Momence both Kank, and Iroquois, got a place I’d love to hit in Iroquois county but alas it is privet, I always get a a kick out of people that by lake and river property for the VIEW, they don’t fish they don’t ski, they don’t swim, I mean really,waist of resources. If you ask politely they deny you access because some twit ruined it for the rest, it’s pretty simple, leave no foot print. Tight lines.Finn
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Yeah I lived in Aroma park a couple years then Watseka for about 9yrs. I spent a lot of yrs on the slough, it’s a further drive now but still doable.hopefully the work there doin will pan out, some good places in and around Watseka to Momence both Kank, and Iroquois, got a place I’d love to hit in Iroquois county but alas it is privet, I always get a a kick out of people that by lake and river property for the VIEW, they don’t fish they don’t ski, they don’t swim, I mean really,waist of resources. If you ask politely they deny you access because some twit ruined it for the rest, it’s pretty simple, leave no foot print. Tight lines.Finn
I used to fish Aroma area a lot, but the silting has gotten so bad the past few years it is just too much of a pain, unless the water is really high. They're actually supposed to dredge out the stretch by the boat ramp between the bridge and the end of the island this year.
I mostly launch from Watseka or the Newton fairgrounds on the Iroquois... occasionally Rensellaer, but that isn't worth the drive unless the water is up, but not blown out over there.
On the Kankakee I'm usually out between the state line and 55.
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Who knows, I might have already met you I managed and did reel repair out of Franks in Momence, reel repair out of Nicks the trading post, on Kankakee and sometimes lannys in Kankakee lmao probably know a few guys on this site if I saw them,
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I've only fished around Momence a couple times, maybe 5 years back.
Probably before my time at those shops. I've only been seriously fishing the rivers around here about 10 years. I basically only pond fished the first few years after I moved back down here.
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The season is over! It was nice reading the stories of the guys that did get out, my season sucked,got out only a handful of times, I did put a nice little Frankin graph together for ice or open. I miss CHI TOWN ANGLER, hope the guys that are hittin it have a great time, talk with some of you in 9 Months or so. Buy the way anyone happen to know if they rent boats on Evergreen lake, if not I’m sure I can find out thanks. Fin.
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63° here earlier... just got the bike back from the shop this afternoon and took it for a little ride.
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hey fin,
i found this https://www.ifishillinois.org/profiles/waterbody.php?waternum=00305 (https://www.ifishillinois.org/profiles/waterbody.php?waternum=00305) and it says they rent boats at evergreen.
there used to be a bait shop there. been there once about 10 years ago and we caught some saugeyes.
i am waiting for the rivers to settle down so i can get back at chasing walleyes and saugers, but its gonna be a zoo on the illinois with tourneys three straight weekends starting next week.
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Hey thanks for the web hit, I’ll check that out, yeah Friday’s weather is probably gonna put a beat down on all the rivers il,kank,iroq, it’ll be a week minimum to get back to norm. There calling for 55/60* Mon, with more rain! Short term out look is just a little bleak good time to get the gear straight if ya haven’t already. Tight Lines man. Fin
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The Iroquois is still out of the banks this morning from that last rain, and this rain/snow today definitely isn't going to help. 😬
(https://i.postimg.cc/FYvwjZYr/IMG-20230303-051145.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/FYvwjZYr)
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Guessing yesterday was our last gasp of winter... hard to tell exactly how much snow we got yesterday because it was above freezing and kept going back and forth between rain/sleet/snow but there is about 3" on the ground this morning, so I'd guess 4-5" if you include the meltoff as it was snowing.
Supposed to be near 50 today, mid 50s tomorrow, and low 60s Monday, so we're in for a muddy mess.
(https://i.postimg.cc/G8GpdDBC/IMG-20230304-064913.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/G8GpdDBC)
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Didn’t get diddly in Grundy, flakes at least quarter size, melted as fast as they could hit the ground, and even with the below normal temps for the next 10 days, it’s not gonna make ice in my neck of the woods, at least nothing I wanta walk on!! It’s over for me, not looking forward to mowing and yard work. I am looking forward to temps in the 50s low 60s, and gettin on em, that’s for sure!!!
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It was completely melted off by yesterday afternoon here.
The river has gotten really ugly with the meltoff.
(https://i.postimg.cc/xkQtSygy/IMG-20230306-042146.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/xkQtSygy)