I just got back from Siloam Springs State Park near Mt. Sterling, IL and figured I'd give a review of hunting, fishing and camping opportunities at this park. Four years ago my buddy and I were looking for a new place to turkey hunt and we wanted to get away from the Chicago area and after doing a some research we ended up at the Siloam Springs State Park Buckhorn Unit just West of Mt. Sterling, Il because Jim Edgar Panther Creek State Park is very difficult to pull tags for. Anyway after four seasons at this State Park we've had some luck and 1 of us have bagged a bird 2 out of the 4 seasons. The way turkey season works in IL is that you can't hunt beyond 13:00 so you can either do one of a few things; go to the bar for the rest of the day/night but we're old and we don't bounce back fast and we need to be at our blinds at 05:30 the next day, hang at the room and watch TV or go fishing at local farm ponds at this Buckhorn Unit or fish the bigger lake (only 55 acres) on Crabapple lake at the main park location. Crabapple lake is trolling motor only lake but it does have a boat launch and cheap boat rental (~$16 all day) that'll hold 3 people and you can rent the boat all night for $20. If you're into RV camping the main location has sites and I believe also has tent camping as well. DNR officers are active at these sites and have checked us on several occasions over the years, which is nice to see and they have issued fines to bucket heads not following the rules. DON'T GO SPEEDING, through the main park as they do run speed traps on occasion.
BTW, our state has many fine places to turkey and deer hunt if you just check out the harvest reports from the DNR, this park was in the upper half of places to hunt. Hunting my buddies and I have found requires many hours and miles of scouting each site and figuring out your plan A's, B's and C's and making adjustments as needed.
Hunting Report:
Dave got small hen yesterday at 7:05 am. It's his 1st time hunting of any kind and the 2nd round put through his Mossberg… Not a bad start to hunting. Yesterday was our last day and I did some mid morning hunting/scouting the previous days as I hunted separately from them so I could at least spot some birds and this new location paid off.
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Rob got this bird 2 years ago about 250 yards from where Dave got his bird but no birds were moving on to his field from the valleys and hills this year though we could hear gobblers not far away.
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Fishing at the Farm Ponds aka "dink fest" report:
We'll its dink fishing but we've caught 238 bass in about 19.5 hours of fishing over the years. We had a bet this year that last one to catch 10 fish has to buy the 1st round to keep it somewhat interesting and we'd end up with around 40 bass in 1 hour on the three of our dink fest tourneys.
Typical pond dinks along with a nice easy reference for you aerial photo fishing spies trying to find this location.
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Fishing on Crabapple lake Report:
We've fished about 22 hours over the years at this lake and have only landed 42 fish and I'd say only 3 of them were 18" or better. My buddies aren't hardcore fishermen and so we hit the usual easy bank targets to keep the action fast with plastics. If you read up on this lake form the DNR the bass surveys said "…lake has always maintained a strong largemouth bass population comprised of smaller bass under 2 pounds. However, in the spring under turbid conditions, when the larger adults are in the pre-spawn condition, several large adults in the 6 to 8 pound range are caught." Additionally the reputation I've read about this lake from tournament anglers is that this is not an easy lake. This lake is somewhat noted for having somewhat decent crappie fishing and does hold some trout since its spring feed.
One of the smallest dinks on the lakes but you'll catch bigger dinks, 12" is more typical. I don't know why so many state DNRs (IL & MI) stock the smaller Kentucky bass even in the farm ponds we fished at the Buckhorn Unit.
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One of the semi decent bass caught on the chatter, this one was in the fall.
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I have yet to fill a turkey tag… but I'm still happy with my consolation prize from last spring. BTW, I caught this baby in the exact conditions the DNR mentioned above in the spring on a jig. So now you know where Betsey lives but please be nice and let her go if you're lucky to catch her or one of her sisters and the dinks from the farm ponds… don't be a jacka**.
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I'm honestly trying to use other lures but the wacky worms do most of the catching… Yeah, yeah, yeah that's a really messed up Texas rig I had setup.
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One of the many typical flipping locations that all look so damn pretty.
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Anyway it's a pretty part of the state with and it's a nice clean and quiet state park if you're ever in the area you might want to check it out. Also I've heard even better things about Lake Pittsfield (Pittsfield, IL) for bass fishing which is somewhat in the area both from the DNR and from other sites but I have no first hand knowledge of this lake.
P.S. Ticks, chiggers and gnats can be bad down in these parts. Deet products won't work on gnats but these products will (the locals put vanilla extract in Absorbine Jr. and it works fairly well) but I would suggest wearing a head net if they get really bad, trust me they can be really nasty, thankfully they weren't this year as the weather was cool.
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BTW, our state has many fine places to turkey and deer hunt if you just check out the harvest reports from the DNR, this park was in the upper half of places to hunt. Hunting my buddies and I have found requires many hours and miles of scouting each site and figuring out your plan A's, B's and C's and making adjustments as needed.
Hunting Report:
Dave got small hen yesterday at 7:05 am. It's his 1st time hunting of any kind and the 2nd round put through his Mossberg… Not a bad start to hunting. Yesterday was our last day and I did some mid morning hunting/scouting the previous days as I hunted separately from them so I could at least spot some birds and this new location paid off.
Rob got this bird 2 years ago about 250 yards from where Dave got his bird but no birds were moving on to his field from the valleys and hills this year though we could hear gobblers not far away.
Fishing at the Farm Ponds aka "dink fest" report:
We'll its dink fishing but we've caught 238 bass in about 19.5 hours of fishing over the years. We had a bet this year that last one to catch 10 fish has to buy the 1st round to keep it somewhat interesting and we'd end up with around 40 bass in 1 hour on the three of our dink fest tourneys.
Typical pond dinks along with a nice easy reference for you aerial photo fishing spies trying to find this location.
Fishing on Crabapple lake Report:
We've fished about 22 hours over the years at this lake and have only landed 42 fish and I'd say only 3 of them were 18" or better. My buddies aren't hardcore fishermen and so we hit the usual easy bank targets to keep the action fast with plastics. If you read up on this lake form the DNR the bass surveys said "…lake has always maintained a strong largemouth bass population comprised of smaller bass under 2 pounds. However, in the spring under turbid conditions, when the larger adults are in the pre-spawn condition, several large adults in the 6 to 8 pound range are caught." Additionally the reputation I've read about this lake from tournament anglers is that this is not an easy lake. This lake is somewhat noted for having somewhat decent crappie fishing and does hold some trout since its spring feed.
One of the smallest dinks on the lakes but you'll catch bigger dinks, 12" is more typical. I don't know why so many state DNRs (IL & MI) stock the smaller Kentucky bass even in the farm ponds we fished at the Buckhorn Unit.
One of the semi decent bass caught on the chatter, this one was in the fall.
I have yet to fill a turkey tag… but I'm still happy with my consolation prize from last spring. BTW, I caught this baby in the exact conditions the DNR mentioned above in the spring on a jig. So now you know where Betsey lives but please be nice and let her go if you're lucky to catch her or one of her sisters and the dinks from the farm ponds… don't be a jacka**.
I'm honestly trying to use other lures but the wacky worms do most of the catching… Yeah, yeah, yeah that's a really messed up Texas rig I had setup.
One of the many typical flipping locations that all look so damn pretty.
Anyway it's a pretty part of the state with and it's a nice clean and quiet state park if you're ever in the area you might want to check it out. Also I've heard even better things about Lake Pittsfield (Pittsfield, IL) for bass fishing which is somewhat in the area both from the DNR and from other sites but I have no first hand knowledge of this lake.
P.S. Ticks, chiggers and gnats can be bad down in these parts. Deet products won't work on gnats but these products will (the locals put vanilla extract in Absorbine Jr. and it works fairly well) but I would suggest wearing a head net if they get really bad, trust me they can be really nasty, thankfully they weren't this year as the weather was cool.
