Starved Rock 3/21
My friend Ed and I decided to make a run down to the river to see if the sauger and/or whites were biting. Made it to the fishing wall just after 6:00AM and started pitching jigs and plastic (twister tails and paddle tail shads) . There was a lot of surface activity from medium to large fish. Didn't know what they were until I hooked into one and played it to the wall and had it on its side. Turned out to be an Asian carp. Tried to lift the 4-5lber but my hook straightened out. Privateer7 arrives around 6:45 and directs us to a spot further downstream and heads off to catch some shiners. He returns with the live bait and we cover several spots from halfway to the boat launch and eventually to the very east end of the fishing wall. At 10:15 Ed and I had to leave.
Here's the talley between the three of us: 1 bighead carp, 1 buffalo, 1 largemouth, 1 white bass and 6 sauger(14.5-16.5"). Surprised the whites weren't running as the water felt warm. The action was very slow and there was no pattern nor any spot that was better. Only a fish here and there. Others were doing no better and there were plenty of boaters out. Didn't see them picking anything up.
Anyway it was a wonderful morning to spend on the river. Special thanks to privateer7 for supplying the bait and donating his saugers so Ed and I, so we were able to take home 3 apiece. Hopefully he picked up a couple more after we left. By the way, two were females with eggs in the skein and 4 were males. At least Ed caught his first legal sauger, so I count this trip as a success.
