12-08-04 - I've been neglecting my "home waters"!!!
Waters Fished: Root River
Fish Caught: 0/0
Outing Date: 12-08-04
Weather: Cloudy
Air Temp: 40's
Water Temp: Didn't take it, around 40F or so...
Water Level: 250 CFS
Water Color: muddy, visibility less than 6"
Fish Species: Steelhead, Brown Trout
Pattern Fished: Spawn
Pattern Color: Pink and White Mesh
Fishing Quality: tough
OK, so I've been hearing that the local fishin'
has been quite alright, but heck it seems that I've been off our
rivers for almost a month! I had a few spare hours this afternoon
while driving between Lake Como and Chicago; what better opportunity
to make a slight detour and get in some time on the water!
Recent rains have the Root's flows up, way up.
In fact later on in the evening it looks like they'll hit 300 CFS
or so. Well, with all that water, lots of debris in the form of
twigs and leaves were floating through the otherwise chocolate milk
waters. Since I had some spawn left from PA, I figured this would
be a prime time to break out the centerpin
and drift some spawn (GASP - I'm goin' straight to hell 'eh?).
I figured I'd start in Island Park; about 3:45 PM when I was finally
on the water.
Despite covering most of Island, it wasn't till
late in the day that I actually even had confirmation that fish
were in. While drifting at a bend and looking downstream, a huge
silver fish erupted from the water, reaching SEVERAL FEET into a
low-earth-orbit before succumbing to gravity. My last 15 minutes
or so were spent drifting that spot while chatting with Dennis (the
creel survey guy) about what was hot, what was not.
Suffice it to say that there are definitely both
steelhead and browns in the river, browns being more prevalent right
now. Also suffice it to say that I'll be back out a few times in
hopes of better fishing in the days to come!
MP

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