Des Plaines River - October 7, 2009

More photos:
http://www.catchphotorelease.com/10072009.htm

Once again I was up before the sun, and outside with the dog uncovering the boat. I could see the stars above which told me there were no clouds, and more importantly that after the 70 mph wind gusts we had overnight, fishing would be tougher than normal.

First fish of the day - White Bass

As I left the driveway, there was a faint glow in the eastern sky and by the time I made it to the boat ramps the sun was above the horizon and I could see a pretty good bank of clouds moving in from the west. No one else was in the parking lot yet. The wind had calmed to around 15 mph out of the WNW and was forecast to diminish even more.

A little Largmouth Bass

As I headed up to my first usual spot I noticed more barges and tugs flying around the river than birds and other creatures. The creatures were still probably hunkered down from last nights strong winds and I was hoping the fish would not have been as effected by it. I was also thinking how great it would have been to be out there before the winds because the fish would typically be going nuts under those conditions.

Another small fish - Smallmouth Bass

I got to my spot and worked it with crank baits and plastics, and only caught a couple small fish. I didn't spend a lot of time there before running to another spot.

White Bass

I caught a couple of nice White Bass and a lot of small fish before I realized that the fish I was looking for were not going to be easy to find in that spot.

Best fish of the day - White Bass

I moved to another area and caught one more small fish before running back to where I started and catching the best Largemouth of the day - which was still nothing to be bragging about. After a few more casts I ran back to a spot near the ramps where I had caught some fish the last couple of times but there was another boat already on it.

Best Largemouth of the day

I ran a little further and decided to work my way back up to that spot. I caught another little Largemouth and watched as the other boat caught a couple fish about the same size. Before I knew it I was looking at 5 or 6 bass boats in the area. I continued working past the spot I wanted to beat up and only got one more small fish before I decided to hit the road. Besides, the sun had long since come back out and it had warmed enough for me to wash the boat since I neglected to do that the last time I took it out.

Coyote

So for a day that started out fairly windy and in the low 40s, it turned out calm and in the upper 50s. The water temp ranged from 62 to 72 at one of the discharges I went by. The highlight of this trip was a coyote catching my eye on the opposite bank off in the distance. I picked up the camera with the 300mm lens and took a couple shots before he was gone.

Done for the day