Good fishing spots not easy to enjoy when poachers take over
Last season I returned to fishing locations to see if the bad seeds had showed up again.
Unfortunately, I wasn't disappointed as I stopped at the two locations - the Fox River and Bluff Lake.
The scenario is always about money (state budget) and the lack of it. It's always about excuses coming from bureaucrats needing to hold on to their patronage jobs and keep the taxpayer-funded benefits.
On the Fox River, whenever water levels slip into the red line stage, many anglers will wait it out or go to area ponds to catch dinner and a semblance of relaxation.
If the declining water levels (from major flooding) show promise, fishing from the various shore hot spots will draw the usual, law-abiding people who only want some legal fishing action without the hassle of jet skis and hot rod boats.
The shore fishing picture for the upper-Fox River could - and most often - manages to provide many of us with some exciting opportunities, such as hooking a giant muskie in the Yorkville area.
Until the next big thaw, there are squads of ice fishermen taking advantage of good ice conditions and scads of white bass and crappie willing to chase a jig and minnow on Bluff Lake (part of the Fox Chain).
Bluff Lake is a passing fancy for some who enjoy fishing, while others do their best to pillage the resource using multiple rods and sometimes small nets to grab fish swimming close by.
Bluff is a body of water that normally has little fishing pressure, except for those poachers and their 55-gallon drums that I am always referring to in this column.
If you go, I suggest you keep a digest on your successes on Bluff Lake because the muskie action will often surprise you. The heavy weed growth on the south end of the lake will often provide great cover for muskies and northern pike.
Armed with some information shared by a guide, it took me a year to learn the nuances of Bluff.
I found a trough around 22-feet down that held walleye and white bass. As the water temperature dropped in late fall, the walleyes headed straight for the bottom and stayed there most of the winter and ice season. That segment of the bottom had slightly warmer water and fish of varied species were able to find food and comfort at that level.
Back on the Fox River, local angler Ken Darga and I have spent countless hours "hunting" smallmouth bass there.
Some of the heavier fish seemed to gravitate to bridge abutments. Unfortunately, some local poachers discovered that spot as well. I watched a gang of four, acting like there was no tomorrow, haul smallies out of the water near a bridge.
And there's not much you and I can do about that because even if we call the state police, they are too slow to react to a fishing complaint.
• Contact Mike Jackson at angler88@comcast.net, catch his radio show 7-9 a.m. Sundays on WGCO 1590-AM (live-streamed at www.1590WCGO.com) and get more content at www.mikejacksonoutdoors.com.