Illinois river

[Local Yocal]

Was out in the snow yesterday and absouletly hammered the saugers ,I got 17 fish yesterday biggest was a 4#10 oz. female loaded with eggs. i caught most of them up by the hole in front of the Rock on 1\4 hair jigs tipped with golden roaches and also got a few pullin floaters tipped with bits of night crawlers, Best colors were yella and orange. River started rising at the end of the day Look for total mud and food conditions by the end of next weekend with the forecasted rains for next weeekend.

[tacoburrito]

Hey Local I saw you on saturday up by the rock,you were really hammering them. we caught 10 fish some nice sauger and even a 5lb walleye. our hot jigs were black hair jigs with a piece of crawler. oh well gotta go see ya

[m arbleyes1]

I am also a local. When and where did you lauch? I checked the Starved Rock boat launch in the morning around 9:00 am and no one had launched. I launched my boat around 11:30 am and was the only boat on the river. As I was pulling away from the landing another boat lauched. Both my boat and the other one launched afer mine were fishing down river. I did not see any other boats launched out of Starved Rock on Saturday. We were the last boat off the river as the cold front came in.

[Local Yocal]

Hey Taco was you fishen in that green bass boat/I seen you cleaned up on em purty good! Marble we launched bout of Peru, How far waz you down river and how many did ya catch!

[john mannerino]

Not sure where your talking about. John

[Jeffro]

Local & taco,
Nice catches guys! How deep was the water where you found biters??

Jeff Zurawski
A Proud Lund, Mercury, Prestige, Motorguide, Lowrance, and
BracketPro Owner

Downers Grove, IL

[marbleyes1]

Come on guys. Tell us where you really got them. There was no one up by the Rock that I know of Saturday. I also talked to a guy fishing off the sea wall and he said he didn't see anyone elso up by the Rock. I was fishing below the Utica bridge. What time did you launch out of Peru? My buddy said there were no trailers in the parking lot at 12:30 pm on Sat.

[local yocal]

Jeffro we worked the hole out in front of the rock, It was 13 to 15 foot of water there where we caught the majority of the fish, We also got a few up in the pocket before some clown moved in on us and fired up his motor. Marble eyes there is no way you can see boats working the pocket and hole in front of the rock from the seawall, Whom ever you talked to would have never been able to see us if he was fishing off the Seawall! Maybe we can hook up some time and I could give you a couple of pointers on working the dam area for saugers it sounds like you could use some expert advice. Keep your tip up! The Local

[robert (bracketpro)]

jeffro!very nicely done adding our product to your list,thank you! will we see you at the mwc,springvalley tourney? we will be there on wed morning setting up so stop by and say hi ok? take care and good luck---robert

[eye crosser]

Great catches guys!

I need some help,I'm fishing the MWC an need a hotel.Do you have a Super 8 in the area& do you know the #?

Thanks guy's,I'll be down on the 16th hope to get into a few like those.

[Jack Neuman]

Eyecrosser,
Check out the Masters walleye circuit site there is a list of hotels there.
Jack

[Jeffro]

Robert,
I won't be fishin in the tourney, but will try to make it down Sunday for weigh-in and will look for ya.

Jeff Zurawski
A Proud Lund, Mercury, Prestige, Motorguide, Lowrance, and
BracketPro Owner
Downers Grove, IL

[eye crosser]

Jack

I have been trying to use the IL. links,but they always come come up they can not be retreived. Thats why I posted.

[Sniper]

Would this be the same Jeffro that posts on Gun and Game . com? If so Hello!! if not, Hello!

[marbleyes1]

No thanks. I apologize if I offended you but too many times I've read posts on this board that were either exagerated or written to intentionally mislead the readers here. I just know I did not see any trailers at the Spring Valley or Starved Rock launches (other than my own and another group who launched after me) nor did I see any other boats on the river Saturday.

[Derslayer1]

If your having a problem with your PC loading pages, i can email you the mwc site listings on hotels etc. No Problem...glad to be of assistance.

[Local yocal]

No offense taken Marble I launched at Peru around 7:30 am.and was up at the pocket by ten to 8 thats why you probably never seen us , We fished til 3 and called her quits. My clients could not take the snow after that.

[Mike L]

Jeffro,Did you work for The Lee Quigley Co. about 5 or 6 years ago ? Mike Latimer

[eye crosser]

Derslayer1

I got the packet from MWC today with all the info,thanks alot anyway.

Eat sleep fish,are you a Skeeter guy too?

I'm looking to swap very good info on the river for very good info on Mille Lacs!

[john mannerino]

send your email add,I`m fishing the wat tourney this weekend.John

[Jeffro]

>
> Jeffro,Did you work for The Lee Quigley
>Co. about 5 or 6 years ago ? Mike Latimer


Hey Latimer!
That would be me 'cept i think it was more like 10 or 12 years ago?
Man time flys! You just made me remember what it was like gettin' stoned on thinner fumes w/ Bud and the boys in the cattle cars over at Mercy Hospital...whoooaaa!

We should hook up, do some sauger fishin. I was wonderin if that was your mug shown on Marty Papke's page, holdin a nice stringer of eyes?

Jeff Zurawski
A Proud Lund, Mercury, Prestige, Motorguide, Lowrance, and BracketPro Owner
Downers Grove, IL

[Mike L]

Jeffro, Now that I think about it I guess it was about 10 years ago.I will be picking up my new Skeeter 1775 March 23.Any time you want to do some walleye or sauger fishin you can e-mail me at mike-latimer@attbi.com.

[trapper]

lets settle this little thing with up river or down river on saturday!i thought i was the only nut out there , i launched at sp.valley at 12:00andfished until 3:00 when temp. dropped 15degrees and wind picked up to 20 miles per hour. nobody from sp. valley to la salle. constant snow fall totalling 4 inches in my boat, only 5 sauger. i'm also a local. it's amazing how i got boat back on trailer and up ramp! 4x4 had all it could do to make it up! if you guy's were out and fishing it's nice to know that i'll have company in the psyche ward after my wife commits me.

[Juls_WI]

Go to www.super8.com and you can make your reservations at the super 8 in Peru online. I've never had a problem doing that yet. There is also the Tiki Inn that is just down the road..they have electrical hookups also, and the restaurant is right there too. Good breakfast there...;-)
I don't recommend the Homestead though...it's dirty...cheap, but dirty.

All these hotels are only 10-15 minutes from the launch.

Juls

[JB]

Jack,

We met you up at a launch in Michigan last November, we were the guys you talked to before you launched. Drop me a line, would like to see what you guys are fishing this year.

John Balla
fishjb@attbi.com

[marbleyes1]

I second that! It was real interesting getting up the ramp at Starved Rock. My buddy has an Expedition so he drove and pulled my boat. I left my fingernails in his dashboard on the drive home. He lives in Utica so I left my boat in his garage. Rounded the corner near his house and a car went into the ditch just ahead of us. Boat was a real mess. We also packed up when that wind came up. Everything started freezing instantly. We got 4 below the Utica bridge.

[transplant]

Well guy's & gal's I'm new to Il. looking to get into the boat,I just got it out of storage.I've heard good things about the river,where should I start to pick up a couple of those saugers? Also do you catch any Walleye there?

[King possum]

Below the Utica bridge on both sides, Rt 39 bridge, the Flats, the Clam Beds, Plum Island are all good places to start.

[Rookie's don't pre-fish]

I will be fishing in the Dan Hauser Tornament next weekend. I have only fished for walleye/sauger a handful of times with some very experienced fisherman. Next week my dad will be my partner. Since he has never fished for walleye I'll be expected to provide all the answers. Ouch......... On top of it we won't be able to get in the water until they day of the tournament because of that four letter word called "work".

Other than punting, can anyone give me any tips. I have no illusions of doing well in the tournament but I would like to show my dad a good time. How will the snow melt and rain effect the fish location? Have the saugers started to move up river yet?

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

[Muddy water]

The river is pretty bad now with more water coming.
Its going to take a week or more with no more rain
for it to shape up so you can catch fish. Call cajuns
thursday or friday 667-4222

[Gumby]

If the river is running at high mud and flood go up by the island below the dam. You can fish either side. The island side is fairly calm. Use 1/4 to 3/8 on the island, big minnows or big plastic and go SLOW. On the other side there is an old road bed that starts just down from the entrance to the locking channel. This water really hauls but the fish are there. 3/8 min jigs up to whatever you are comfortable with. Also this is as good a place as any to catch one of those rare big Walleyes. Biggest thing is don't get discouraged, my first year down there we fished 4 days without a bite. Once we figured out that you can't fight the river we started to catch some fish.
Good luck and go slow


Mike Tompkins
#461

[Walleyetom1]

Fished the WAT tournament Sat til 11:00am when we were blown off,4 to 5 footers and building. Sunday was cancelled. Water came up 3 feet overnite friday and another 3 feet while we were out saturday. Add another couple feet saturday night, this morning at 7:00AM there was a foot of water in the pavilion at Barto landing, Spring Valley.The river is HIGH & MIGHTY and muddy and loaded with debris (logs & trees). I'd call to make sure tourney is still on. Union Carpenters and Prairieland "EYES" also have tournaments on 3/16 and 3/17 .

[MOUNTAIN MAN]

Started down to fish by myself since son had a school conflict. Put the boat in as I was leaving to make sure everything worked and it went through two batteries and wouldn't start. Sounds like it was a good thing, I didn't come. New plugs and tune-up I guess(I got it running Friday but it still bogs down). Did they reschedule or did 1st day weight count???? Lawrence