Fly Fishing Road Trips
Good People      Good Water       Good Fish

Illinois doesn't have many trout streams.  It has no trout stream that lasts the summer, even though a few fish survive in some streams.  Illinois is at the bottom of the Driftless area.  Driftless is where the ice age glaciers didn't drift down to Southeast Minnesota, East Iowa, Southwest Wisconsin, and Northwest Illinois—leaving limestone springs and canyons of cold water.

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I'm fishing in Apple Cayon and the Apple River.  It is 40 degrees and raining.  I snuck out a 5 am from Chicago as this would be my third and last try at catching a trout this spring.   In many of my stories, I was down to my final cast.  This morning, I switched my rig to drift a sizeable yellow stimulator with a green copper john dropper.  I move back to a spot near the exit to the parking lot.   

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I made several casts with little hope, but I believe every throw could contain a trout.  With all the rain, it was hard to see my fly.  So, I was shocked when I suddenly saw a trout on the line.  I was glad to get it on the shore, as I lost my net sometime during the day.  The rainbow took the dry fly, and in March, crazy!