SmallieFishing.com
News and Events
15 Jan 2010 - Great Waters
Tom Helgeson's 2010 Great Waters Fly Fishing Expo is coming to the Western Suburbs of Chicago soon. This year's Chicagoland dates are Fri-Sun, Jan 29 - 31, 2010. This year, the expo will be held at the Pheasant Run Resort in St. Charles, IL. Full details can be found on the "Great Waters Expo" website.
Of all the regular sport fishing shows, this is the one that I make sure to attend every year. My favorite was several years back when they had Lefty Kreh out doing his casting presentation. I spent hours last year sitting and watching fly tying demonstrations and getting to know a few of those demonstrating their skills. And I really enjoyed the Writers Forum each of the last two years. I look forward to seeing some friends that I basically meet in person just this one time each year. I encourage you to check it out. BTW, bring the kids. There are several things that they will find quite interesting.
8 Nov 2008 - Cooling off
Well, it is not just the weather that is cooling off. The hot fishing that we have enjoyed over the last couple of months is cooling quickly. I was only able to get out once this week for just a couple hours and I only got two fish. I have talked to several friends who have reported almost no activity over the last several weeks.
This was truely a strange year for weather here in NE Illinois. We had so much more rain that normal. I hardly got out in the local rivers. More often than not, the water was too high for safe wading. And sometimes the river was too high to fish the shoreline safely. Most of my fishing this year was on ponds and lakes.
All in all, it was a good year for fishing. I did not get out nearly as often this year as I did last year. But that had more to do with health and job issues than anything else. My few clients did very well for themselves. It makes a teacher proud when he hears the fishing reports from when his clients get out on their own and do well.
5 July 2008 - Topwater is Coming Alive
It has been much warmer than normal here in Chicagoland this year. It was a great spring for fishing. It seemed like fly fishing for Smallies was quite a challenge this year, both before and after the spawn.
Perhaps I was too focused on fishing bigger flies for bigger fish. "Bigger is better" was certainly the trick when fishing spinning gear. When I tried fishing smaller flies, the bluegills and crappie were so active, that they would take those flies before I could get the attention of the Smallmouth that I could see prowling the shallows.
Those same #4 deer hair poppers and divers that were ignored for the last few months are now the bait of choice with the flyrod on my local waters. Of course this works best near sunrise or sunset. And cloudy days are more productive than cloudless bright sunny days like today. Guess that's why I am updating the web page today and not out fishing Topwater.
Resources Links
I have added some on-line Resource links in the right side navigation area. This should allow simple access to the on-line licensing sites listed previously as well as links to some of the more helpful forums that I find most useful. I have been a member on the FlyTyingForum.com site (abreviated as "FTF") since 2004. The FTF Network also includes the TalkFlyFishing.com site, the RodBuildingForum.com site and the ClassicFlyTying.com site.
1 April 2008 - Get your 2008 IL Fishing License
April 1rst marks that time of year when those of us in Illinois need to buy our new 2008 fishing license. The 2007 license can be used until April 1rst of 2008. But now that we are into April, Illinois fisherman need to have their 2008 license. So to help you in this task, I offer the following links: