Last November my old lady gave birth to our first child! While the experience has all together been amazing, finding time to slip away to the trout streams has been harder than years past. Living in Illinois can be rough on a trout fisherman; there is not one place I’m aware of with a healthy trout population that’s not totally based on stocking for put and take purpose. Now, having family responsibilities, driving several hours to Wisconsin to fish is not always possible. Luckily, most local ponds, lakes, and rivers in Illinois do sustain good bass or even pike populations, so lately I’ve been turning toward local water for bass and pike to get my fix on the fly. For those of you who enjoy fly fishing but focus only on trout, you’re missing out. Streamer fishing for bass or pike on a warm day can be fast and furious, but there is nothing like watching these fish crash on the surface after the biggest top water fly you can cast! Justin and I fished a local river last week and managed a few nice smallmouth and one little pike on bait fish and leech patterns.
