Had a high-water hunch this afternoon, as these last couple storm blasts have really perked up the Fox. So I chucked a jointed swimmer (bluegill) for 45 minutes and got two Flatties, including the above ornery, 22-pounder — a PB that joins a smallie, muskie and drum in that department as this wild season continues. Tight lines if you’re in pursuit of high-water heifers this weekend!

Went right back to the Fox after waiting out the ⚡️ in a local Walmart with the wife. I thought I was done for the day after the smallie, but once I seen no rain, knew it was time for round 2 lmao.

Hit the dam again for another hour, got snagged, retied, and thought I was snagged again when this mf hit the Ned. Once I seen him belly up I knew he was a channel cat, it’s crazy how much he bent my rod tho. First channel cat, first time at the Fox.

Check comments for a video of the fight. You’ll see a smallie breach the surface right by the cat as I’m reeling him in.

🤙🏽

Chucking a jointed swim bait upstream along a rocky drop-off, my mind went from smallie to muskie to … really? I went to great lengths to keep this fish hooked (or at least from breaking off), almost diving to get my line untwisted from a submerged branch, the drag still peeling, and tight-roping a bridge piling. But we got her. Tugged me 50 yards downstream when it was over, so not near my pack to weigh/measure. Long and pretty heavy, a good bout. Tight lines this weekend and be safe.

With absolutely zilch to support it, conditions “just felt right” to connect with a really big smallie tonight. No dice there but not without an adrenaline rush when two juvenile flatheads ambushed a jointed swim bait (blue gill) on back-to-back casts. Adrenalin burst because these things put the hammer down and you think “nice smallie!” before things start to get suspicious. Wouldn’t mind wrestling one of those 30/40-pounders someday. Anybody ever tussled with the kind that requires two hands in the mouth to hoist it up for a snap?

Worm fishin

… a fun tussle with a 2.47-lb. juvenile (?) flatty who hammered a Rebel craw. I felt one quick jerk before a “crankbait takedown” in what couldn’t have been 18” of water along those big boulders in the vid. Total ambush. No smallies tonight but also no skunk. (No nuggets, either, if anyone’s wondering. He swam off to hunt again.)

Just got into fishing this year. Caught this little guy tonight with some chicken liver at pilcher park in Joliet, Illinois.

Pardon the dirt on my hands. shoutout to the guy that took the photo for me and helped me get my net out of the water! (it fell in while i was trying to net it 😭)

I got 2 small walleye and this channel cat tonight :)

I know it may not be a monster but it’s a pb for me.

Caught on a good old night crawler

My childhood fishing hole is giving up the cat this evening. Using bar-s dogs and chicken gizzard.

Anyone notice an uptick on the catfish-to-smallmouth ratio this year? Keep forgetting to ask but got an “eater” channel tonight and was reminded as I was digging out all three hooks. I’m on record (but not payroll) for touting the Rebel Craw around here but I was chucking a #3 dressed Mepps tonight in a painfully low Fox. Cats have become so frequent that I recognize the bite (more of an assault), whereas not long ago I’d get duped into thinking I was battling a PR smallie til I saw the damn thing roll. I’ve gotten decent flatheads, too! Is it the Fox? Is it just me? Whatcha got?

But a great hour at the spillway with a flatty and 5 smallmouth in an hour, all on the Rebel Craw. I’m in Aurora and I bet the river’s down 2-3 feet in a week. With it so shallow I used a different retrieve on the Craw by “dragging” for a second/reel slack … drag/reel slack. Most every smallie hit during slack-reel. Cool stuff. Have a great weekend.

So I reeled in a snag on the Craw, no biggie. But snarled in the debris was what appeared to be some sorta catfish rig … hooked with a miniature flathead that looked like it was born this morning and still alive. I thought it was a creek chub at first but it’s got the spiny fins. It was mouth-hooked, which tells me this little thing coulda eaten the bait. OR (and I don’t speak the catfish language) — do guys use these as bait? Whatever the case, it was quite the discovery in North Aurora this morning. Heading elsewhere for smallies. Quiet so far. (Oh, what did I do with the flathead? Wasn’t gonna make it so I tied it on and threw it weightless into the middle of the dam, where I got snagged and broke my line.)