In Illinois, it's always time to go fishing

Apparently there are two serious schools of thought regarding open-all-year and closed-season angling.

Personally, I like the open-all-year version in Illinois because it gives me and thousands of others a chance to keep on catching and releasing walleyes.

Even though walleye is not my favorite table fare, I still keep my hand in the game, so to speak, by locating and catching them, especially in the fall period.

With that said and recorded for posterity, I borrowed a small boat the other day and headed for the upper Fox River, just north of Grass Lake. It felt like old times in that 14-footer, powered by an old, green Johnson 5-hp outboard.

I was looking for a hole in the mud and sand bottom, a location where walleyes sometimes stack up at this time of the year.

It was unusually warm, with lots of sun and barely enough wind to break the surface calm.

I schlepped my Vexilar flasher, the FL-8 version, along this day. This is the one I normally use for ice fishing.

The boat has to be completely stopped in order to get a true reading. And that's because the transducer was held over the gunwale by a cable. The signal shot straight down. The flasher screen didn't give me any indicators.

I kept changing locations, slowly moving from one side of the river to the other. Still no joy.

Then I cruised over a spot where I'd caught fish last year. It was 9 feet deep.

Bingo - I marked a bunch of fish.

Of course, I couldn't tell if the swimmers were walleyes, white suckers, river chubs or aliens from a far-off planet. One way to find out.

I gently slid the anchor overboard and grabbed my 6½-foot Grandt XLH super-sensitive spinning rod.

I'd pre-rigged the rod with an one-eighth ounce chartreuse jig. A fat minnow was hooked on the business end of the jig.

Another boat came slowly by, so I stopped fishing and started fooling with the old outboard. I didn't need any onlookers or company.

After the boat moved around a turn in the river I picked up the rod and fed line so the jig would hit bottom. One crank brought the jig slightly up.

And just as I lifted the rod to start actively jigging, I felt a solid "bump" on the jig. This rod is literally the most sensitive tool I have ever used.

I dropped the rod tip, took up some of the slack (6-pound mono), and set the hook. It was a big female, well over 5 pounds, and after weighing it, I gently slid it back into the water.

Once again I sent the messenger back down to deliver my communication that it was still lunchtime.

It wasn't even a minute that passed when I had another strike.

This was 2-pound male, and it had a small perch in its mouth. Greedy little bugger.

The action went on for another hour or so with five more 'eyes succumbing to my snacktime offerings.

I was glad to be able to borrow the small fishing boat since my rig had been stored for the winter.

Did I learn anything on this brief outing?

You bet. I went with my instincts and prior experiences to locate the fish, and stayed with them until I was ready to call it quits.

Fishing report:

Fox Chain: Once again, excellent crappie fishing on many lakes in the Chain. Walleye action very good on Lake Marie.

Fox River: Smallmouth good at South Elgin; walleyes improved below the Kimball Street bridge.

Lake Michigan: Fresh kings out of Waukegan, while harbor action in Chicago has loads of fish rereturning.

• Contact Mike Jackson at angler88@comcast.net, catch his radio show 7-9 a.m. Sundays on WGCO 1590-AM and get more content at www.mikejacksonoutdoors.com.