[SushiFan]

Happy Thanksgiving to all. I'm a first time member of a fishing forum though I have been eagerly looking at the daily fishing reports.

Been here in the northwest chicago 'burbs for 3 years now. All this time, I've been waking up at 2:00 am to drive 3 hours to Moline to get some striped bass action before daybreak. It was only last September that I've heard of the potential of shore fishing for salmon and so naturally, I've now caught the salmon bug and have been more than a frequent visitor to the Gov't Pier, South Rocks area.

From Sept to Oct, I've been out in Gov't Pier sunrise, sunset, midday, midnight and have always been that guy between the ones who caught fish. Fed up with not catching anything, I booked a charter but only to have it cancelled because the waves were too high for that day. By late October, I discovered this website and read through the numerous insightful reports and topics and went to try my luck in South Rocks... where at the very least I saw fish jumping out of the water. Armed with a slip bobber setup, I promised to not quit until I got my first salmon.

Nov 6. 1st salmon caught was a 3lb coho with a live minnow around sunset. There was another one that got unbuttoned which I figured the hook was not sharp enough. Anyways, I had my first salmon and many happy pictures later.. did I realize it was time to quit? Heck no, if anything I promised to return again.

Nov. 7 Was too eager to return and went back the following Sunday. The day was windy and was using raw shrimp. around 9:00 am, saw my bobber go down, set the hook and the fight was on! It turned out to be a nice 26" 6lb king I caught. I know it's not as big as the others but my grin was from chin to chin.

With renewed confidence, went out every weekend I could and in both trips, I caught 2 more a male and a female coho in separate outings. Both again with raw shrimp.

Now, Thanksgiving comes and with nothing better to do, again I head off to South Rocks at around 2:00 pm. With minnows bought from a previous outing and raw shrimp, I braved the cold weather. 10 minutes arriving though, the bobber with the minnow goes down... then up.. then down. I thought, I can't be that lucky to have gotten a bite already... and the bobber's movement was too erratic. So I looked at it some more and then it suddenly went under for a longer time. I set the hook and with the help of another fisherman, I caught a 24" 4lb king. Happy Thanksgiving indeed

And so with 5 fish caught and a lot of experience learned, I look forward to the spring season and hope I can get a nice fat silvery salmon for the picture. But since ice hasn't come yet in, I think I'll brave a couple more outings for a chance at some steelhead action or browns.

Since I think I'm going to be a regular in the Waukegan area, might as well share the fishing reports (good or bad) when I'm out there since this site has helped me with a lot of reports. Thanks to such a great site... and see you out there in Waukegan!

[Any Luc]

Welcome sir.

[AtitAgain07]

Welcome to the site.

Thanks for the tale and good luck in your future outings.

[DOUBLE D]

welcome keep those reports coming, in and remember pics say a whole lot of words!
dd

[whiskerbiscuit]

WELCOME!