I’m back in Chicago. Besides for a few long weekend trips I’ve got scheduled in November I’m finished with the north. While down here in the Chicago area I have little interest with the local scene other than the small river that flows less than 5 minutes away from home. I’ve fished very little since my return, but have gotten opportunities to fish this past week. On this particular small flow, I only fish it after dark.
This time of year, I focus almost entirely on our underutilized walleye fisheries. Nearly every river system in the Northern Illinois region contains small fishable populations of them; Fox, Kankakee, DesPlaines, and some of their tributaries primarily. The reason I fish for walleyes after dark is because I see nobody else is doing it. I’ve learned that certain rivers and small flows are obviously better than others. As the year winds down I feel fished out, but walleyes around Chicagoland offer me with the ideal challenge to keep on fishing and make for a very unique experience. I have zero intentions or interest in fishing the DesPlaines this fall, or any other river, but I have been fishing its tributaries.
This week I got out six times. We’ve been fishing after dark, usually during the hours of 6 to 9 pm. I still work a day job, ya know. I’ve gone on solo outings and fished with fellow small river pal, Tim Bixter.
Because I was gone for much of the year and hadn’t fished the flow since early spring before our epic floods, I had to quickly relearn all of my old spots from years back and find new holes and fish holding areas. During previous autumn seasons I often revisited old, proven spots that would kick out the occasional big walleye once or twice a week but weren’t as consistent. This fall, by accident, I stumbled upon a few areas that have actually been more consistent in kicking out fish, and containing them on a near-nightly basis for us.
I found this one spot by accident in late March, early April. On a random wade for bass I ended up finding a newly formed gravel bar that featured a low gradient current chute, hard bottom, a cluster of deep holes, and a very deep rock shoreline across the bank (thank you spring 2013 epic flood!). On that outing, I caught a pair of random 17 to 19 inch walleyes that had finished spawning. During the eight previous years I’ve fished this place, I never caught a single walleye anywhere near this spot. I thought to myself, “Okay, lets see what this it kicks out in the fall.” This new spot has been revisited all week and the rest is history. We’ve caught a number of walleyes and had multiple fish nights.
I’ve named it THE GLORY HOLE.
What makes a good hole? It’s got to be comprised of everything which includes current, depth, hard bottom, forage, transitions, and ambush points. This glory hole has it all.
Casting an assortment of rattling suspending 3 to 6 inch minnowbaits (Rapalas, Rebels, Matzuos) and Shallow Shad Raps, we’ve been catching nice 17 to 21 inch fish; all males. I believe these are remnants from the large 2007-2008 year class that was stocked and eventually migrated their way into this small flow. During the nighttime hours color makes no difference. But what’s been helping is that our baits are suspending in the low gradient current, big in profile, and are able to be retrieved in ways that the strike zones are maximized. Some nights we’ve been ripping them through the holes and pools and receiving aggressive strikes while other nights we’ve had to entice strikes and weightless pickups with slow retrieves and impatient pauses. We have yet to catch a single fish on plastics but as water temperatures keep cooling down they will eventually be in play.
The most aggressive fish have been coming from the heads of each pool, while the larger less aggressive strikes are coming from the tails of each pool. I theorize that if a big fish shows herself, she’s coming from one of the pool’s tails.
Here are a few catches from this week:
We’ve never caught walleyes like this in number from the small stream before, which could be a positive sign for the future of the fishery. All are healthy, fat, feeding, and getting returned to the flow unharmed. Due to the presence of sewage treatment plants and its urban stench everything we catch is let go to grow. Our goal is not to ruin populations that AREN’T SELF SUSTAINING.
As we now enter the fall prime, I’m confident that big female walleyes will eventually grace us with their presence. It’s been about 6 years since I caught my last big one from anywhere. Where there’s little ones, there’s got to be big ones.
Due to plans and events I have scheduled this week, as well as this weekend’s return to the north, I’ve got to take the remainder of this week off, but will be back at it sometime again next week. It’s fun to get a quick fix each night and not have to drive too far.
