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Plans for 2020

9K views 51 replies 20 participants last post by  ganz1960 
#1 ·
With almost universal open water just ahead it's time to start planning for 2020. Here's my list so far:

- A day of C&R fly fishing at White Pines
- Another visit to Apple River for smallies
- Visit several new rivers & creeks in No. IL. Brandon got me thinking about this & I'm going to try exploring Indian Creek as well as others.
- One more fly fishing / camping trip to MI. I'll combine it with a visit to an old friend in the Lansing area.
- Hit the Kish at least once
- Meet my best friend at least once a month at Skokie Lagoons or Busse. He's been talking about moving to Eau Claire so this could be the last summer we get together regularly.
- Weekly visits to the DPR
- Some fly fishing at Mt. Ranier

More on this later. What are your plans?
 
#3 ·
I'm really focused on that ice out bass bite on some of the still water in the area. Lotta dinks but a ton of bites expected.

Also need to get out for some trout and coho sometime soon here if we ever get a calm day and the right waves. As for the rest of the year, I'll play it by ear.
 
#4 ·
March/April- Braidwood and Lake Michigan; trip to Newton and/or Southern Illinois at the end of March or Easter Weekend
May- Lake Geneva club tournament in early May; Lake Michigan and other local lakes
June- Northern Michigan for a couple weeks for a family vacation.
July- Door Co- fishing and camping
August- Club tournament on Lake Jacksonville or head back up north for a couple days
October/November- Trip either up north in October or Newton in November.

Also plan on fishing my kayak more on some local lakes. I have learned that I rarely do everything I plan at the beginning of the season.
 
#5 ·
I still need to plan my family summer vacation. Big fishing trips will hinge on that.

I will get to Wisconsin Driftless a few times throughout the year to fly fish for trout. A couple trips with my daughter who is learning to fly fish, and a couple trips with my buddies.
I'll spend a long weekend in the Minocqua, WI area over the summer.

My main goal is to head to the Boundary Waters, either my 1st solo, or with the guys, or with the family.

Otherwise, I will spend more time in the canoe at Mazonia and some of the private strip mine lakes, wade the K3 more if the water conditions permit, and explore more of the DuPage. Hopefully I'll shore fish Heidecke more too.
 
#6 ·
joetrain said:
My usual. Fish 2-3 days a week. I'm going to try and learn a new body of water so I'll be spending a bulk of my time there.
Joe - I'm still waiting for you to hit Badin Lake on the west side of the Uwharries. You gotta do it.

Bassin' Ted said:
I have learned that I rarely do everything I plan at the beginning of the season.
Nice detail! And, so true...
 
#7 ·
Rambler said:
joetrain said:
My usual. Fish 2-3 days a week. I'm going to try and learn a new body of water so I'll be spending a bulk of my time there.
Joe - I'm still waiting for you to hit Badin Lake on the west side of the Uwharries. You gotta do it.

^^^^^ I'm on a similar forum down here. Been on a couple of group outings so far. They have an event coming up next month and it might be at Badin. Eventually I'll get there.
~JOE~
 
#8 ·
joetrain said:
^^^^^ I'm on a similar forum down here. Been on a couple of group outings so far. They have an event coming up next month and it might be at Badin. Eventually I'll get there.
Please report! I drove by there on a business trip a few years back & it looks great. Kicked myself in the ass for not having any gear along.
 
#9 ·
Big trips:

March - New Orleans, mostly not a fishing trip but we are staying on the water and will be bringing our salt water travel gear.
July - North Captiva Island Florida. Lots of fishing planned.
July - Northern Michigan. Renting house on a really good trout river.
Dec/Jan - Annual trip to the keys.

Smaller outings and goals:

Hit the spring river runs in SE Michigan: sucker, walleye, white bass, drum, catfish
More river fishing
More top water
More carp fishing
 
#11 ·
WanderOff09 said:
My main goal is to head to the Boundary Waters,
There's a remote possibility I'll go there in the Fall. Depends on my granddaddy daycare schedule which I'm told is about to undergo significant change.
 
#13 ·
polishfly said:
#3 - explore lakes near cabelas
#4 - explore poplar creek down to fox
#3 - don't bother with Beverly. Been there, done that, not worth nothin'
#4 - you might want to see if you can contact Justin Carf (where's he gone?) about this. He knows it well.
 
#14 ·
The Boardman?
Yes, how'd you know? I'm a little surprised you guessed that as it tends to fly under the radar vs. some of the better known rivers. I'm pretty excited as two years ago Goby Jr. and I did a half day trip on the Boardman without really knowing where we were going and caught 20+ small brook trout and lost a big brown. Having a full week right on the river with ability to fish any time of day or night could potentially be very good.
 
#16 ·
I plan to continue staying at Airbnbs and hotels during retirement. It will be interesting to see if I do all of this, which is in the tentative planning stages:

February -- finish my stay in Miami catching peacock bass
March/April -- head back to Corpus Christi chasing speckled trout wading and from shore
May -- start my smallmouth tour by hitting the James River near Richmond VA (never fished it)
May -- continue the smallmouth tour at the New River in Radford VA (never fished it)
May -- continue the smallmouth tour at the Tug Fork River in KY (never fished it)
June -- head to Plainfield IL to give the Dupage River a decent try (fished twice with no success)
June -- also head to Tennessee for trout fishing in the smoky mountains (and to visit my mother for her birthday)
July -- continue trying spots and cities on the Dupage River
August -- head to a couple cities on the Fox (August has been good to me on the Fox)
Sept -- unknown at this time
 
#17 ·
ganz1960 said:
I plan to continue staying at Airbnbs and hotels during retirement. It will be interesting to see if I do all of this, which is in the tentative planning stages:

February -- finish my stay in Miami catching peacock bass
March/April -- head back to Corpus Christi chasing speckled trout wading and from shore
May -- start my smallmouth tour by hitting the James River near Richmond VA (never fished it)
May -- continue the smallmouth tour at the New River in Radford VA (never fished it)
May -- continue the smallmouth tour at the Tug Fork River in KY (never fished it)
June -- head to Plainfield IL to give the Dupage River a decent try (fished twice with no success)
June -- also head to Tennessee for trout fishing in the smoky mountains (and to visit my mother for her birthday)
July -- continue trying spots and cities on the Dupage River
August -- head to a couple cities on the Fox (August has been good to me on the Fox)
Sept -- unknown at this time
Plainfield and that general area are very good waters to fish the Duper for smallies. Cut my teeth in wading on the Duper in that area 10-15 years ago. If you need some info, let me know. I'll try to dig up some old stuff I have on locations we fished, entry points, and stretches that were productive.
 
#18 ·
SmalliesNEyes said:
Plainfield and that general area are very good waters to fish the Duper for smallies. Cut my teeth in wading on the Duper in that area 10-15 years ago. If you need some info, let me know. I'll try to dig up some old stuff I have on locations we fished, entry points, and stretches that were productive.
Your help would be awesome! I really appreciate any info you can provide between now and then, either here or by PM. Thanks!

As an aside, wouldn't it be great if I could catch at least one smallmouth this year from each of the James River, New River, Tug Fork River, Dupage River, and Fox River? What a year that would be!
 
#19 ·
Rambler- I was gonna ask the same question but more along the lines of what and where for ice out; first place, first targeted species. For me, spring starts out either with a trip to Ohio (walleye charter) or chasing crappie and as always, stocked trout. I play it by ear in the summer, going where time allows but usually a few trips to Indiana. Also, Georgia has been calling my name. Wanna try crabbing and gigging for flounder, we'll see. Sorry to hear your friend is moving away, hoping you'll still be able to get together often.
 
#21 ·
ganz1960 said:
February -- finish my stay in Miami catching peacock bass
March/April -- head back to Corpus Christi chasing speckled trout wading and from shore
May -- start my smallmouth tour by hitting the James River near Richmond VA (never fished it)
May -- continue the smallmouth tour at the New River in Radford VA (never fished it)
May -- continue the smallmouth tour at the Tug Fork River in KY (never fished it)
June -- head to Plainfield IL to give the Dupage River a decent try (fished twice with no success)
June -- also head to Tennessee for trout fishing in the smoky mountains (and to visit my mother for her birthday)
July -- continue trying spots and cities on the Dupage River
August -- head to a couple cities on the Fox (August has been good to me on the Fox)
Sept -- unknown at this time
Gotta say - those are some impressive plans. Good luck!
 
#22 ·
DasGoby said:
Yes, how'd you know? I'm a little surprised you guessed that as it tends to fly under the radar vs. some of the better known rivers.
The Au Sable, Pere Marquette, Manistee, etc. are more well known but as I read in, Fly Fishing Through the Midlife Crisis the Boardman played a role in the history of American fly fishing. Of course, now I can't remember what it was although I reread the book just a month or so ago.

My memory just ain't at all what it was. Oh well.

My wife & I stayed at a B&B on the Boardman a few years back. In the interest of domestic tranquility I didn't have any fishing gear along. But what a beautiful stream.
 
#24 ·
Shocked Dave hasn't gotten in on posting one of these. Too busy on the Facebook groups these days :moresarcasm:

We just made our home purchase official! We'll be moving to Mundeslime on June 1st (Sellers didn't wanna close til late May on account of their kid still in school). So first and foremost plan is to settle in there.
TONS of water out there to explore. I'll be picking apart every bit of accessible water I can all summer. That should be interesting. At least I have my ol' go to closer than ever to fall back on.

Oh I forgot. The place has a HUGE connected garage so I'm not sure I'f I'm gonna outfit it for fishing gear early or wait til the offseason to worry about it. I'm thinking pegboard to hang bags of soft plastics and a desk type table as a little fishing lab. Man, it'll be nice not having to carry ALL my gear year round.
 
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