Raiding the Hennipin Canal

[Illinoisgiller]

After getting soundly whupped by the Iowa Gill population, I and the wife went scouting our local population again. Thurs. found us on the Hennipin and bringing home 30 some smallish gills for a feed.
Friday we went up near the Annawan, IL area of the canal. We worked hard to get a nice mass of gills there. We also got a bunch of nice Green Sunfish
{8 1/2"} and Loraine got one crappie that was decent for the area there also. She also caught the largest female gill that I have seen come from the canal in many years.:cool:
I tried a new twist to the fish cleaning this time out. Rather than have to ice fish and clean them at home, I elected to take my little cleaning bench on the road with me. That way I was able to clean fish twice and come home with fresh fillets.;)
It was an absolutely beautifull day to be outside, even for bank fishing, and I did have the camera..:rolleyes:. Mike

[Timotha7]

:sign0005: Great pics Mike!

An an obviously wonderful day
weather round here in midwest has been nothing short of outstanding
cool and breezy excellent

I am gonna have to get out and get some fishing in!

[Sharon]

Nice looking catches! :sign0005: ( love the new smilies :biggrin: )
Sounds like a perfect day Mike... thanks for sharing.

[Rainman4u2]

Looks like I was to far down stream.....:mad0090: I managed 4 small crappie, and 1 keeper crappie yesterday morning by Lock 31 on the Hennipin.

Ray

[T Bartels]

Lovin' the reports Mike!! Makes me wanna get back out there!!!!!! Keep it up!!:sign0005::animal0019::party0002:These smileys are SWEET!!! lol

[cattracker16]

Sounds like a good time, too bad they weren't biting in iowa, I know the feeling I caught 6 gills for bait last nite and didn't even get a hit on them on the cedar.

[Illinoisgiller]

I and the wife slipped up the canal a ways again this am for a bit. I only got 8 or 9 gills but they were nice thick heavy bodied ones. As I was leaving, a couple guys stopped to fish and they were supprised how nice the gills were that I had.
Since they were so heavy with compliments, and I get a lot, I gave them away. They said they will have them fer supper.:tongue0013:
One of them was in a wheelchair and the other didn't have the right gear, so they will need them.
I did take a couple pictures of the section we were in this time. Mike

[Timotha7]

That is a nice looking fishing hole Mike

Is there actually current of any kind flowing through it at all??

Tim

[Sharon]

another productive day Mike.. congrats! and very generous of you to let those guys have them :happy0030:

[Illinoisgiller]

I tried out my recent fishing rig. Well, I guess it's not all new but I have a bike and trailer just big enough to hold a pail ,tackle, and can even haul my poles in it. Now a 12' BnM long pole sticks out the back a loooong way.:scared0011:When I need gas to go fishing, I just belly up to a big plate of beans.:tongue0013:

I got a bunch of smallish gills and one small crappie this evening.

Sharon! I also got a 2 1/2 or 3 lb. chanell cat on a 1/80 oz. Tidwel's Teal Grizzly Jig. Yea, they do hit jigs:icon_rolleyes:

Timotha, There is a little current through the Hennipen Canal. Siltation is a problem in much of it . A lot of it is just straight through ditch, but fortunately there are also some beautifull areas too.
Somewhat strange situation with the gills in the canal. The areas where the bass and cats are hit hard, the gills are overcrowded and dinks.
I haven't fished the eastern half, but have rode it all on the bike and there are some nice looking areas on the east also. I'll have to eat a lot of beans this summer and ride over there and check it out.:icon_rolleyes: Mike

[Sharon]

Sharon! I also got a 2 1/2 or 3 lb. chanell cat on a 1/80 oz. Tidwel's Teal Grizzly Jig. Yea, they do hit jigs:icon_rolleyes:




:eek: WELL, Imagine that!!!! Good day again I see Mike.. Gonna have to go through my tackle and experiment I guess. :biggrin:

[Illinoisgiller]

Took the bike up the canal a few miles and got another mess of gills. Got a couple crappie and lots of junior bass also. I found that I will have to fillet them on the canal. A couple buckets of water/fish and a splash soaked blanket cushon get REAL heavy for the trip home. The pictures are- My transportation , suspended carp ,gill beds ,and just a canal shot. Mike

[Illinoisgiller]

Knowing that I would not have another chance to go fishing till at least tomorrow, I slipped up the canal again. Took the eletric fillet knife along this time and it was much handier. There are no plug-ins of course so I just plugged it into a current bush. :happy0030:
I ended up with about 4 lbs of fillets ,and hung a lot of smallish bass along with a couple that would have been keepers. I wish I'd have had a Gotstafloat though. The bass kept hitting my float. One had it inside his mouth ,but must not have tasted too good cause he spit it out .(quite literally) Mike

[T Bartels]

Hey Giller, not sure if you have the same cable channels as I do but on Versus (our only outdoor related TV channel) there was a show on this morning where Bill Dance did an entire show on catching BIG Bluegills!! You would have loved it I think!! It should be on tomorrow at Noon or 12:30 if you can find the channel I am talking about!!! Good Luck!!-Taylor

[Rainman4u2]

My fishing from last Friday...(Slow at getting the pics downloaded)

#1. Went back in
#2. Stayed in the basket just in case
#3. One dumb duck(kept getting attacked by the smaller birds whose nests she was over)
#4. Lonely bobber...

Ray

[Schoe]

Sounds like you had fun Ray. Over the 50 years that I have fished the Canal I have yet to catch the Crappie congregated anywhere. Just catching maybe one or two keepers on a trip. Now the Bluegills are a different story even though they weren't bragging size by no means.

Thanks for the report and pictures. Schoe

[Illinoisgiller]

I and the wife fished the Hennipin this afternoon. We were, of course, chasing the gills. The temp. was mid 70s. We caught quite a few, but threw them all back because she already had a mess ready to fry when we got home . The ones we caught were on the small side and the best bite was on a #12 fly hook that I wrapped a body on with fuzzy chartruse knitting yarn.I tied in two sets of legs and trimmed them to 3/8"long. This was the only thing that I could get any aggressive action from.
This is a simple tie that works. Mike

[gofish]

better git ta tyin bunches of em fer clinton giller...silver/flashy and real dark patterns should do well fer the gills an crappie.