MWC on the Illinois River

[CKRanger]

There were a lot of nice fish caught in the Tourney this past weekend at Spring Valley. What's the scoop on the hot bite? I didn't fish the tourney but want to get down there on Tuesday. Anyone got any info on the hot areas?

[Bottomfeeder]

Where is Spring Valley??

[River Dweller]

The Flats just above Spring Valley, the Clam Beds and the area just above Hennepin at the high lines are all producing good fish. From what I gather it has turned into a jig bite. Good Luck.

[CKRanger]

Thanks, River Dweller, for the reply. I am familiar with the areas you mentioned but haven't fished the river for the last couple of years. This will give me some good places to start.

[Fishnwiz]

Don't forget to pull some leadcore with asst cranks!! I was down prefishing early last week and took some very nice3-4lb saugers doing just that! Green/silver and RBT seemed to work very well! Jig bite seemed on the slow side......water temp 44-46 degrees may have dropped some the past few days! Also.....a few fish taken on jigging spoons but alot of short hits due to cold water and inactivity of the fish......for me at least! Wiz

[gm]

First off, wait until it gets warmer! It was one freezing weekend literally. THe spray from the water when we were moving was freezing instantly on my clothing and jig fishing was tough when you couldn't feel your hands let alone the jig. Although I didn't get enough big fish to get some money there were plenty of hungry fish. I concentrated between 10 and 17 foot levels and caught a couple of 3.5 pound female saugers and more 13-17 inch males (12 on Sunday alone). Caught more of the smaller ones jiggng and the two bigger ones trolling 3 ways on wire lines with stick plugs like rapalas and thundersticks. Caught all my fish on Sunday between 9:30 AM and 10:30 AM after that no action at all plus when the barges came through I picked up my larger 2 fish. I believe the more sizable fish came from downriver by the clam beds, Sunday saw a lot of 4 pounders being brought in according to the weigh in guys and though the number of fish I heard brought in was down from some previous tournaments the weights were up. Truly a great fishery. Water temp went down from 46.8 on Friday to 39.6 by Sunday afternoon where I was fishing. Have fun and stay warm!!!

[Jelly fish]

Could you please explain how leadcore would be used on the illinois river, are you totally leadcore except for the leader, how much line do you let out to troll, what type of crank baits do you use, do you troll up river or down river and with your outboard or electric motor

[Jellyfish]

When you say 3 way with wire line is this different than leadcore. Is it set up the same way as a wolf river rig, Why would you use wire line over mono or spiderwire?

I'm looking for other ways of fishing the river than just the normal jig and 3 way setup that all the locals use.
Thanks for your help

[Prchjerker]

We were pulling 18 pound leadcore 135 to 140 feet behind the boat up stream at 2.5 on the paddle wheel which is really about a mile an hour.Did awesome on Sat. on the new taildancers sorted through about 30 fish.Sunday was a little slower only managed 7 fish should have left Hennepin and went to the power plant which sounds like the bite was betterup there. Still managed to finish real well.

[gm]

Wire line is just cuts through the water better and gets the line out closer to a 45 degree angle when you are trolling. Works good against the current although you have to watch out for tangling the wire and cutting the eye tip rod guide. A roller should be used instead to prevent this. Definitely helps you feel the bottom better. Basically it is the same as a wolf river rig just with wire as the main line. I used a 18 inch dropper and a 10 and 15 foot trailer to the crank. Sort of like handlining with a rod.

[Jellyfish]

thanks for the info

[Jellyfish]

Thaks for the reply

[Larry]

By going to the wire, how much weight did you have to run to keep a decent angle on the wire? Did you run just on lead or two off this rig? Do you use single or multi_strand wire?

I'm looking for alternatives to the 3-way rig when the conditions get like they were the last few weeks. The handlining looked interesting but I'm not sure I want to hold onto that wire all day long with my bare hands in cold weather!