Tag Archives: fever

Monster Illinois Deer Bow Kill!

November 15, 2009
My good friend Todd Staley has been renovating an old farm in Fulton County for quite awhile now! He has been working on a nice smallmouth bass pond, some wetlands, food plots, and just been transforming the farm into ideal habitat for ducks, geese, pheasants and deer.

His efforts have just recently paid off! When he was out bow hunting last thursday evening, Todd was able to harvest this monster 12 pointer! The deer gave him a perfect 20 yard shot from his stand and Todd was fortunate to not have seen this deer coming from the standing corn or Buck Fever would have for sure kicked in! Let me just say it is much harder to shoot straight when your heart is literally pounding out of your chest. Its much easier to harvest a buck when you dont have time to think, but just to react.

Here are some more pictures of this buck of a lifetime:

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Fly Fishing the October Caddis Hatch (Finally) And Our Wading Boot Test Continues (Finally!)

November 3, 2009

With only minutes to spare before older (less-better-looking) bro arrives and we head out to see what damage we can do to the trout population (hopefully in the grip of October Caddis fever), I thought I’d resurrect our wading boot test.

You’re looking at a pair of Korkers Guide boots with a studded rubber sole on one foot, and the plain rubber on the other.

Studded rubber on one side, plain "sticky" rubber on the other (courtesy my cell phone camera)

Studded rubber on one side, plain "sticky" rubber on the other (courtesy my cell phone camera)

This, I think, should prove interesting.

Next I plan to do the same with the Simms wading boots, and yes – the Korkers will eventually permit me to compare studded rubber to studded felt (these thing were made for testing).

With any luck, I’ll return (sans dunking) with pictures of big trout and a review of the real difference between studded and un-studded rubber – and some idea as to whether the Korkers studded rubber soles will cut it on the Upper Sacramento.

Naturally, all this is subjective (well, not the big trout part), but if it’s one thing fly fishermen manufacture in abundance, it’s opinions.

See you on the river (finally!!), Tom Chandler.

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Saturday Fishing Trip with Lee

October 15, 2009
Woke up at 4:45 am on Saturday morning and was heading out to the lake by 5 am with my father in-law Lee Esslinger. He was in town from Burlington, Iowa to help us move out of our house and we figured we could sneak in a little fishing trip before everyone else woke up!

So less than an hour from slumbering out of an 80 degree cozy bed and we are out on the water greeted by 36 degree air temperatures and no sunlight peaking over the horizon yet. Now this time of year I would much rather be out fishing in the afternoon as the water temps warm up just a bit, but we only had a small window of opportunity and boy did we make the most of it!!!

Lee put on a fishing clinic! His bait of choice was a white/chartruese Bomber A crankbait, slow retrieved from the bank back to the boat.

Golden Trout


Hybrid Bluegill


3.5 lb rainbow trout


Pesky Smallmouth Bass


I had to get in on the action a bit as well, but Lee caught most of the fish and I enjoyed just driving the boat and taking the pics!
17 ounce male bluegill


golden trout



And Here are some pics of the biggest fish of the morning. It was a 24 inch rainbow trout pushing nearly 6 lbs! These fish arent supposed to live around here, but we have several lakes with sustaining populations of trophy rainbow trout!





We stayed out a little longer than we were supposed to, but still made it back into town by about 9:30 am and spent the rest of the day moving boxes and furniture. Its a shame that so many get buck fever this time of year, because the fishing is phenominal!
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