Fly Fishing Near Chicago..
On a short trip to Chicago with Iza last year to see my Aunty Ita I managed to squeeze in a fishing day. One thing that excites me about fly fishing in a place I know nothing about is figuring it out. The first thing was to find a location. I wanted something near the city to see if decent urban fishing existed. There were quite a few lakes in the vicinity of the city and all held fish. The surrounds of these lakes were built up housing estates. After some research I chose Busse Woods Lake. It’s quite big, made up of a number of interconnected smaller lakes with good scope for casting a fly without hooking a pedestrian. Target species? Whatever eats the fly! I tried a number parts of the lake before deciding on a location to focus on. After a short walk along the shore there was nobody around. The people congregated close to car parks or formed tracks but once I got onto a wild lake edge the people / anglers were only visible in boats. I walked the shore, blind casting looking for structure or anything fishy. I picked up a little bluegill and a couple of small bass as I hunted the margins. Then I spotted a decent swirl. I put on a silicon smelt and sent in a number of casts in the vicinity of the movement. I had a take but no hook up, then a follow, another follow; all from the same fish I’m pretty sure. Finally a solid hook up and I landed a healthy largemouth bass, about a pound in weight. I continued my mission around the lake which was mostly very quiet but I picked up another wee bass and a crappie big enough to fight back. As the sun started to set I was about walk back along the shore but I heard some voices, I pushed on a little and met an old man and his dog. We chatted for ages about life in general, only occasionally mentioning fishing! He put me wise to a much easier way to walk back to the car. All up, a very successful day in my book!
For bookings and information about the 2018-19 NZ season, contact me ronan@sexyloops.com or visit my website http://www.ronansflyfishingmissions.com
Tight Lines,
Ronan..
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- Took a bit of persuasion to make him take..
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- Busse Lake.
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- The first from Busse Lake. A wee bluegill.
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- Nice water. I realised too late that I could have hired a boat.
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- Fish of the day!
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- Back he goes..
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- I walked and searched. It didn’t take long to have the place to myself. People were close to car parks but few ventured far from their car.
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- Possum & Marabou streamer. Worked here too!
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- A new species for me. Crappie.
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- Beautiful little fish..
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- Time to call it a day..
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- The dirty Fox river..
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- Huge potential if it was clean. A lot like the Mataura around Gore. When the smell of sewer teamed up with with brown scum on the water I ended the day early. Carp were present but viz did not allow sight fishing.
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- My aunty Ita lives in Chicago, My cousin Matt in Indiana. Great to meet them on their home turf. We had a superb steak lunch and an intro to a dam good IPA..
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- ..beer of choice while in Chicago!
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