[Rambler]

So somewhere on WCF I posted about canoeing the lower Fox & said it was the prettiest stretch of the river.

Here's why I think so. Theses were taken several years ago on a canoe / fishing trip. This is just above Wedron.

 

[Dr. Utssab]

Very cool. Any access by foot?

 

[JB]

Beautiful. Did ya fish it?

 

[jmdog2003]

I'm drooling at my desk. Hard to see in January

 

[Hoffmanpikefisher]

Beautiful, have to fish in the spring.

 

[FishinMatt]

My buddy used to have some land on the river in Sheridan and we would take his canoe and explore. Never saw anyone else fishing and the flathead fishing was great. Maybe things have changed, but back then that general area was beautiful and the fishery was untapped.

 

[Steve]

Maybe things have changed...

It made it to my 2016 list. Its about to change. :mrgreen:

 

[Rambler]

Well, let's see.

Dr: I'm really not sure about foot access - never really tried. But if you look at google maps you can see where it might be possible. It's just south of the Rte. 52 bridge on the West side of the river. It's called 'Lower Fox River Blakes Landing Nature Preserve'. There may be places along the roads where you can park. If you try you should follow the creek bed that runs down the Western appendage. It should bring you out just below where I took the pictures. Actually that creek runs through a really beautiful little canyon - I have pictures of that too somewhere. If I can find them I'll post them.

JB: Of course I've fished it - several times. Smallies mostly. Biggest catch on that particular trip was a BIG cat on an 8 lb line & Panther Martin spinner. Blew my mind - thought I had a Northern on. Another time I saw a guy catch a musky - probably 35 inches. If memory serves he was throwing a Mepps bucktail.

I first canoed that stretch as a Boy Scout. We used to camp just below where I look these shots. There's a bench above the river - actually just below where the creek I mentioned above comes in - where you could pitch several tents. The river has cut the bench way back now so it's hard to picture how big it was back then - like in 1962. There used to be a pump & campground at the top of the bluff there but a gravel company bought the land & it's all gone now.

Anyway, if you fish it, good luck! And thanks for all the comments.

There's also something very, very special that you can see in the area but I'm hesitant to mention it on a public forum since it's very sensitive and very important historically. Guess I'll leave it at that.

 

[Bringmetothepike]

There's also something very, very special that you can see in the area but I'm hesitant to mention it on a public forum since it's very sensitive and very important historically. Guess I'll leave it at that.

you have my attention...

 

[WetWader]

My buddy used to have some land on the river in Sheridan and we would take his canoe and explore. Never saw anyone else fishing and the flathead fishing was great. Maybe things have changed, but back then that general area was beautiful and the fishery was untapped.

If it's the same area I'm thinking of there is a decent size creek that feeds in around there that has a lot of variety of nice fish in it at different times of the year. Smallies, musky, and walleye for starters. Splits off just upstream from the first bridge. Ring a bell?

 

[Rambler]

Wader - hmm..depends on where you put in. You could be thinking of Somonauk Creek that comes down from Lake Holiday. But that's just above Sheridan - where a lot of folks put in for day trips. I've never gone far enough up river to fish Somonauk Creek from the river.

But my pictures are from lower down river - a few miles at most below the US 52 bridge - and just a few miles above Wedron where most folks take out at Ayres Landing. There's a big dam on the river below Wedron and I'm not sure there's a portage around it.

There's another fairly good sized creek - Indian Creek - that joins the Fox just above Ayers Landing. In fact one of it's forks drains Shabbona Lake and it has very good smallie fishing.

BTW - the reason the Fox has a "gorge" in that area is because that's where it enters the LaSalle Anticline. This is made of St. Peter's Sandstone and is the same strata you see exposed at Starved Rock and Matthisssen State Parks. It was crushed by the glaciers during the ice age & is currently bouncing back (at literally glacial speed) from being freed from all the weight. As it rises up the rivers cut down into it. Maybe millions of years from now it will look like the Grand Canyon. That would be cool.

All puts me in mind of the first stanza of our state song, "By thy rivers gently flowing Illinois, Illinois"...

 

[JustinCarf]

That looks like a fantastic stretch. Beautiful!

 

[WetWader]

Wader - hmm..depends on where you put in. You could be thinking of Somonauk Creek that comes down from Lake Holiday. But that's just above Sheridan - where a lot of folks put in for day trips. I've never gone far enough up river to fish Somonauk Creek from the river.

I could be wrong but i think it's silver creek. There is a boy scout retreat on the other side of the bridge i think and a little gravel area to park where the road T's.

 

[RonG]

There's also something very, very special that you can see in the area but I'm hesitant to mention it on a public forum since it's very sensitive... Guess I'll leave it at that.

Can I guess? Is it something coyote might see sun bathing on a boat dock? :sarcasm:

 

[polishfly]

I forsee one (or many) yak-camp trips spring-fall 2016...float from island to island for a weekend, fish, camp, fire, beer.

 

[Rambler]

Wader - no clue. The only Silver Creek I know runs into the DPR in Maywood. Well, there's another I know in MI but that's another story.

Ron - nope. This is actually historically significant. I've seen plenty of bathing beauties - I was a Chicago Lifeguard back in the day - but can't remember any dating from the 1700s thank god.

 

[FishinMatt]

Wader, think you mean big rock creek in plano. Growing up in plano I fished that area a ton. I have caught quite a few musky and smallies from that stretch and walleyes were awesome when i could find them. Always heard the inflows from shabbona and lake holiday were good with all the fish that got washed over the dam. When the creeks got blown out they got a one way ticket to the river.

 

[Rory_B_Bellows]

Nice photos, Rambler. I hopped over here on your suggestion from the Fox River board.

 

[Rambler]

I think it is Big Rock Creek Wader's thinking of. I started doing some research on it & I think I'll have to check it out next Summer. Seems like the best bet is to launch from Silver Springs State Park & go across the river. Doesn't look like there's much access at the mouth otherwise. There's a county forest preserve further north and I saw something on line about a dam removal project to improve wildlife habitat so it looks worth checking out.

And Rory - glad you like the shots.

 

[Rambler]

As promised here are a couple of pictures of the small creek that flows into the Fox in this area.

And just for kicks, here's a shot of one of the falls at Matthiessen. It's too bad they had to put that gate across the creek above the falls - it tends to detract from the scenery. But idiots used to fool around up there & a few fell over the edge. Darwin's theory at it's best.