u/TWags1515

Kid’s got a home game today, so while the tailgate brisket’s finishing up I scooted down to the river for 45 minutes and found a couple hungry bellies.

The first was extra awesome … I’m throwing a big, wobbly crank and I plopped one right into the corner of a wall in 3 feet of water. As I glanced to click my bail, she exploded as if I was fishing top-water. Worked perfect because I couldn’t get too jumpy on the hook-set!

Have a great Saturday 🎣

The combination of a swollen river and front edge of the fall bite has for the last week produced bigger fish in the Fox River (IL) stretch in Chicago’s western burbs. Bigger square-bill cranks are currently getting it done. The fish pictured were taken (and released) in the last three days. Tight lines, ladies and gents.

Found a brief break between heavy showers and kickoff and met this black beauty along a concrete wall in the swollen Fox. Cool-looking fish — not the calico bronze found on a lot of the mid- to bigger sizes, but a charcoal/black head and on down the dorsal. Scrappy one to go along with two more in the 14” range in ~ an hour. In these high, fast conditions, I’ve found they like laying alongside things — walls, submerged boulders/limbs/logs, etc. — and attack as breakfast gets swept past. (Bears better clean this mess up …)

In, I dunno, 45 years of casting, I’ve never doubled-up until this morning when two smallies met at a square-billed crank in a light Fox River current. The strike felt normal but the “fight” was odd. I knew it was something alive and it kept getting heavier on the way in. But it wasn’t swimming normal. Something foul-hooked? Turtle? Nope — two meaty smallies, including a 17-incher. It’s one of the million reasons why we do it — ya just don’t know what type of adventure you’re in for. Enjoy the day and 🐻⬇️

Tailgating recipes are naturally popping up everywhere and I decided to give this one a shot using Costco dogs and the following process:

Score the hotdogs lengthwise, 4x per dog (I used 10 dogs) … apply your favorite binder (I used mustard) … apply your favorite BBQ rub (I used Malcom Reed’s THE BBQ Rub); slice the dogs crosswise to 1-1 1/2”; get some rub on those bare ends (!); transfer to a wire rack, and cook indirect at 325 for an hour. I used pecan wood for added flavor. I’ve seen some cook the whole dog and then cut, but I like to do it before to get max rub coverage.

After an hour, transfer to a foil pan with a handful of brown sugar, 3/4 stick of butter (sliced), and generous squirts of honey and BBQ sauce (I used Blues Hog OG). Cover with foil and let it ride for 20 minutes. Remove foil, stir and let cook another 10-15 to tack up. They’re either ready now or one extra step, courtesy of Capt. Ron, is to char for a minute or two over direct heat, which I did here. (A wire rack is ideal for this step.)

Fun little build and a flavor-packed bite.

The humidity’s gone for a minute, which makes for much more refreshing mornings on the Fox where ya just never know what’s going to be out to eat. Channel cat strikes can rip the rod from your grip and this one clobbered a white square-bill crank to go along with a couple dink smallies. Enjoy the nice day.

After weeks of little more than dinks in low water, I made a move to a bigger bait today (square bill crank vs. Rebel Craw) and the results were instant. Couldn’t get out til late morning, but I found a few deeper holes amid shaded concrete and banked 10-12 smallies — no tanks but several were 15+. Borderline heater, which I take as a good sign as we steer towards fall. Tight lines if you can sneak out this weekend 🎣

Conditions were stunningly perfect for the Rebel Craw: Pre-dawn, under a bridge, rocky wonderland in 3 feet of water, and a soft current running toward me. I zinged a cast through the cobwebs and the hooks scraped along the wall before gently plopping. There was slow, heavy movement on first twitch. Solid hook-set. Didn’t think smallie for long due to nothing voracious and no acrobatics. These were heavy tugs against current and for a minute I was hoping musky, but more realistically thinking channel or flathead. I knew it wasn’t foul-hooked, too. But then I saw the gold and the grill marks. Didn’t measure but she weighed just under 8 lbs. Suckers and carp are eating the Craw. Night is day and down is up, etc. etc. 😂 Tight lines this weekend, everybody 🎣

Thought for a minute I hooked into the bucket-list 5-pound smallie I’m after, but no.

This joker slammed the Rebel Craw that I was running alongside a submerged log in lazy current. He swam it halfway across the river, peeling drag, before I gained some control. Fun rush, not gonna complain.

My DIY rack system for my Large consists of a couple bricks and a Smoky Joe grate. It’s great for ribs, wings and … Costco dogs, which I let run for an hour or so indirect at 275-300. About halfway through I swap the racks for even-ish cooking. These are perfect when pulled around 195-200 internal. Always a hit with the backyard crowd. Happy almost Fall 🔥 🍂

Fun Fox River adventure this morning despite the gloomy weather with stops in Aurora, Batavia and North Aurora (in that weird order). Fish and wildlife at every hole, including a dandy smallie who was hanging in riprap before attacking the Rebel Craw. Fish had some sort of abnormality which didn’t appear to be a growth, boil or even injury. Looked like some weird discoloration. Tight lines this weekend 🎣

Nabbed a couple tanks-in-waiting (+ a channel) this morning on the Fox in St. Charles, south of the dam. When the bigger ones hit the Rebel Craw, it’s usually just a tick after splashdown, a great rush. Both were lying alongside concrete in a few feet of water, which is up a bit after the rain. Oddly, though, there’s hardly any immediately above the dam in Batavia. (Stopped and didn’t even make a cast.) Got a few more nubbers in Aurora on the southern edge of downtown where the levels have perked back up. Tight lines, everyone 🎣

Put a goose egg on the scoreboard tonight and wanted to share a couple snaps of one of my stretches of Fox River in downtown Aurora. Check out the sea wall. The water mark is where it crested during late April when the muskies were out high-water hunting. Constant fluctuation is one of the things I love most about river fishing, but this is extreme.

Shoving off on the annual family vacation to the Rockies tomorrow, and it’s a good time for a reset. Here’s to some rain for our rivers and waterways & tight lines out there 🎣

I echo BC’s post/comment about the trickling Fox, but the Craw continues to tantalize. Had 4 smallies “about the same size” and a nice 16” before 6 a.m. in St. Charles with a couple hookups at stops in Batavia and Aurora on the way back down.

The Fox is absurdly low, yet I’m finding it still plenty productive early in the morn. Tight lines, everybody 🎣

An Independence Day tub on the Fox River was sitting in a pool near rip-rap and whapped the Rebel Craw just after sunrise this morning on a northern stretch in Aurora, IL. Guessing 3 feet of water 3-5 yards off the bank, tucked in a nook. Total ambush. Recent storms really jacked the river level, which gets the bigger ones out to play. Stay safe in and outta the water 🎣 🇺🇸

An Independence Day tub on the Fox was sitting in a pool near rip-rap and whapped the Rebel Craw just after sunrise this morning on a northern stretch in Aurora. Guessing 3 feet of water 3-5 yards off the bank, tucked in a nook. Total ambush. These storms really jacked the river level, which gets the bigger ones out to play. Stay safe in and outta the water 🎣 🇺🇸

Not everybody got the storms last night, but sections of Aurora did and it was enough to goose water levels in the Fox. Wasn’t the case at my start in Batavia above the dam where the water seemed a foot lower than Sunday. Pulled 3 from under a boat launch a bit south and finished at a new-ish spot in Aurora where a couple more smallies grabbed the Rebel Craw, including an acrobatic 18/2.95. The elevated water made for a slightly deeper shoreline which is loaded with coveted structure (fallen trees, boulders, rando slabs of concrete, etc.) — and every fish came off or out from under something.

There seems to be an uptick of Fox-related Qs around here. As a Fox lifer, my biggest piece of broken-record advice is to find all that concrete and debris, especially in lower areas, and get shallow-diving cranks into the middle of it all. It’s often a pleasant result. Tight lines 🎣 Happy Fourth 🇺🇸

Ever have one of those clunky outings when no rhythm gets established? Snags. Poor casts. Line twists ‘n tangles. Treble buried in the tackle pack. One thing after the next. That was me below the Batavia dam at two different spots this morning. Then I went above it. And found submerged trunks and giant rocks — an underwater playground screaming for the Rebel Craw. Found a handful of 16-18” LMB stacked around the sprawling structure as a near give-up turned into a couple hours of freakin’ fun. I’ve fished the Fox for ~ 45 years and doubled my largie total in a morning sesh. I rarely see them in my main stretch (North Aurora south to Montgomery), maybe 1 or 2 a season, all dinks. But up here? My goodness. This was a sweet find. Anyone else chase/catch largies on the Fox? Stay cool and tight lines! 🎣 🦊 🔥

The Rebel Craw was the only item on the before-work breakfast menu — and the smallies had an appetite, including this 17 as Aurora was just waking up on a jewel of a morning.

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!