Posts tagged Hoffman Dam

This fish was found in the "bend" area just down from the Hoffman Dam.

With everything being so far behind this spring, I decided to take a break to allow the local waters to warm up. The cold winter appeared to have an end in sight, so I decided to hit the Riverside area of the Des Plaines River for some pike and walleye.

I arrived around 11:00 am. The water was slightly higher than normal and the air temp was in the mid 40’s. There had been a steady weather pattern, finally, so I was hoping the fish would be moving and active.

I started near the “toliet bowl”. I floated roaches under a bobber for a while, hoping for some pike. When that didn’t work, I moved to the bend area and worked a gravel bar with my waders. I was not able to get out to far, as the current was strong and I was not familiar with the local holes.

Around noon, I decided to go to the Riverside area of the bend. I changed to fathead minnows . I put on a small jig (pink) to keep the minnow down in the current.

As the bobber drifted through the slower moving area of the bend, it eventually hit the faster moving main channel of the river. The fish hit as soon as the bobber hit the current break, typical for a pike. He put up little to no fight, so I was able to quickly CPR him. I drifted minnows for another hour or so and called it a day. As usual, the local guys I talked to said I should have been there last week.

Fish Totals:
Matt:  1 Northern Pike