4 DAY WEEKEND: 31, 1, 2, 3.

Took off work Friday and Monday so that I could have a 4 day weekend to do some smallie chasing.

The main reason for the 4 day was to celebrate the wife and I's 29th wedding aniversary, but being the great little girl she is, she let me go out every day and we kept our celebration simple. We plan to whoop it up on our 30th in 2016.

FRIDAY: FLY FISHING WITH JIM.

I met up with Jim and we waded our way to a little Kishwaukee River trib that has shown us some successful days. This day not so much. The bite was real tough and it took awhile to hook into the first of the day. Jim was the first to find some action....

The creek seemed to be flowing with a somewhat heavy stain, which may have been the reasoning behind the tough bite.

Even with the bite being tough, a day spent on this little gem is worth every second.

It's nice to know that a couple guys, in todays world, can put forth a little effort and fish a stream that has gone untouched for probably over a year.

The creek is full of large rocks and boulders that offer nice seats to take a load off to relax and enjoy the view........

We ended the day wading our way back down the Kish where I picked up a 13.5 inch smallmouth on the fly.

SATURDAY: VISITING THE SOUTH WITH JIM

I woke up early Saturday morning and saw Jim on Facebook, so I asked where he was fishing and if he wouldn't mind if I joined him? He agreed to take me out for the day and show me his little piece of the Kish south branch. We met around 7am and stepped foot in water around 7:30am.

We made our way down stream, and while I was bouncing a tube on the bottom, I saw the back

of a huge smallmouth break the surface as it slurped in a some kind of bug. "Okay" I thought to myself. I tied on a topwater lure and tossed it out. Twitch, twitch, puase, reel. Twitch, twitch, pause, reel. Just as I was about to lift the lure from the water a cast again......SPLASH!!!! FISH ON!

(This NEVER happens. To see a big fish break the surface, change lures, and actually catch that fish....NEVER happens. It must be my lucky day)

The fish took the lure close, and made a run to the bottom of the deep pool that I was fishing in.

I don't remember the exact size that Jim taped the fish at but it was either 17 inches or 17.5 inches, but this fish was FAT, and this fish was strong.

We each got into fish, me with my Power Rangers spin gear and Jim with his fly rod. I lost another nice fish and even a couple m

ore smaller one's. The bite turned off around 10:30am., and this would hold true for the entire 4 day weekend.

I enjoyed the day on Jim's streatch and look forward to returning soon. I think Jim enjoyed sharing his little piece of heaven with me, as he was moving through the water, and speaking with excitment in his voice, like he was a 7 year old boy standing in front of his class during "Show & Tell".

It was a fun day. Thanks, Jim!

SUNDAY: NEMESIS

Waded up the south in Winnebago Co The bite was lite, but I did pick up a few on topwater during the morning hours. After the bite died down, I focused on bouncing a tube on the bottom of deep pools. This worked, but I kind of grew bored with this slow type of fishing, and was getting hot standing under the full sun, so I tied on a topwater and made my way back down stream to a bridge to seek some shade. While under the bridge, enjoying the coolness, I tied a tube back on a tossed it down stream to a submerged tree and got whollopped right off the bat. The fish shook free and left me standing in disbelief. I could have sworn I had a good hook set. I cast back out and again I

got whollopped. FISH ON!!! "Feels like a nice one." Again the fish shakes free. "Really?" I reel in and tie on a new hook, and put on a new tube. I cast back towards the tree and AGAIN I get whollopped! And yes, you guessed it.....Again, the beast gets free. I have been beat.

Biggest fish of the day went 15 inches, but I screwed up the pic. While attempting a second pic, the fish shook free of my grasp and swam away laughing. I did get a pic of this 13.5 incher.....

MONDAY:

Just to keep it short..... It was a Monday. I didn't have to go into work, I fished. It was a good day.

It was a fun 4 day weekend and the one thing that I can say about the whole adventure is that the smallmouth that were all caught seem to be very, very, strong. Must be from swiming in high waters since May 2nd.