Central Illinois Crappie Club Holds Open on Clinton Lake

Back in July, Capitol Outdoors attended ICAST in Orlando, Florida.  While there, we were astounded by how vast the fishing industry really is.  Today, we learned even more!  Thirty-six boats attended the first Central Illinois Crappie Club Open on Clinton Lake sponsored by Exelon.  "This is a great turn out" said Greg Humphrey of Bloomington.  "Usually there's 20 or so boats that attend, so seeing this many people out here is great"!

As the sun began to rise over the trees members did live-well checks and prepared their boats for a day out on the water.  The director went over the rules and told anglers they were searching for a maximum of seven,no less than ten inch crappie.

Pat Harrison Outdoor Adventures : Fishing the Chicago River & Lakefront 2016

Pat Harrison Outdoor Adventures : Fishing the Chicago River & Lakefront 2016

The morning started with a cup of coffee and mild Chicago traffic as I made my way down to Richard J. Daley Boat Ramp.  On this day, I'm meeting up with Captain Pat Harrison from Pat Harrison Outdoors - Fishing Adventure. 

Top Fishing Destinations in Illinois: Rend Lake

Top Fishing Destinations in Illinois: Rend Lake

By: Jon Giacalone

Rend Lake is the second largest impoundment in Illinois, and one of the state's best for largemouth bass, crappie and white bass. Good numbers of channel and flathead catfish also provide great action. Encompassing a total of 18,900 acres, along with excellent lake facilities, Rend Lake is one of southern Illinois' premier multi-recreational destinations.

Rend Lake offers good fishing throughout most of the year, including during mild winters. Weeds and natural rock are very limited, but riprap, flooded trees and stumps provide abundant habitat. Generally, riprap is the dominant cover south of Highway 154, while the northern portion of the lake is laced with stumps and downed timber.

6 Tips to Catch more Crappie across Illinois

 Tips and Tactics - Catching Crappie in Illinois

Illinois is well known for their abundance of large crappie. You can find them in lakes such as, Shelbyville and Sangchris to name a few. There's nothing quite like catching crappie on a spring or fall morning. You can see some of our previous Illinois Crappie Fishing adventures in Illinois by checking out our You Tube Channel.

Crappie Fishing is a great way to teach beginners how to fish.

Top Fishing Destinations in Illinois: Heidecke Lake

Top Fishing Destinations in Illinois: Heidecke Lake

By: Jon Giacalone

Located in Grundy County, Heidecke Lake was a power plant cooling lake considered to be one of the best of its kind in the nation for hybrid striped bass. Heidecke Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area is maintained and operated by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR).  The IDNR  provides a variety of recreational opportunities, including fishing, hiking, hunting and picnicking. Fishing is allowed from April 1 through the second Sunday in October. The only water sport permitted is fishing - swimming, wading, water skiing and other water activities are prohibited.

2016 Illinois Fishing Tournament Applications Accepted by IDNR Beginning Nov. 1

2016 Illinois Fishing Tournament Applications Accepted by IDNR Beginning Nov. 1

Waterfowl and Deer hunters are taking to the field while fishing tournament organizers and clubs are starting to think about the 2016 tournament year.  Below is a press release from The Illinois Department of Natural Resources informing clubs and organizers that they can start applying for their 2016 permits.

Remember the Tournament Permitting Process can be done online.  This process was released back in September.   The hope is that this system will "create a quick, easy mechanism for applying for a fishing tournament permit and gathering the anglers’ catch data afterwards."  The permitting process can be found at the I-Fish-Illinois website.  Don't forget in order to apply for 2016 you'll need to submit the catch results for 2015 tournaments.  "Tournament organizers will see the words “post results” in their online tournament listing if they still have 2015 results that need to be entered."

Do you know what fishing line you should be using?

Just a portion of your line selection. 

We were walking in our local sporting goods store needing some fishing line and other tackle. As we took the corner we saw row after row of line and to be honest, we even got a little overwhelmed.

That got us thinking, there are a lot of people out there that don't know the difference between the different types of line, or in some cases what the "pound test" indicates.  There are so many to choose from that it is frustrating for both beginners and professionals.
Before we tell you about the different types of line, we feel the best place to start is to know what type of fishing you are doing.  Once you know this, you will be able to adjust your tackle and strategies to catch more fish.  How? Simply you will have a better understanding of the line and what is happening while you fish.  Capitol Outdoors fishes for primarily two types of fish; panfish (bluegill, perch, crappie, etc), and bass. However, once we arrive at our spot we don't know what the fish are going to be doing so we setup for multiple situations.

Money doesn't grow on trees // Panfishing on a budget

"Panfish, an edible game fish that usually does not outgrow the size of a pan."

Source

Money doesn't grow on trees // Panfishing on a budget

Life seems to always be about what bills are going to get paid and how much money you have in the bank.  With the cost of everything going up I am always looking for ways to cut costs.  One of the areas where we, at Capitol Outdoors, like to search for deals is when it comes to Panfishing.

Small Pond Fishing

Small Pond Fishing

If you're like CO, then during the week you’re planning the next outdoor adventure for the weekend.  CO has already wrote about how the little ponds around your house can be good for quick fishing after work.  If you haven’t you can read it here:  http://www.capitoloutdoorsman.com/search/label/Fishing.  Heather wrote about how you don’t have to spend a lot of money to fish.  http://www.capitoloutdoorswoman.com/2013/05/money-doesnt-grow-on-trees-panfishing.html Now its about the tips and tactics.  If you've been following CO the last few weekends we have been Crappie fishing since the bite is on. If you haven’t you can watch it here.