anouncment on the clinton lake

[cats4uandme]

the clinton lake now is no wake after dark. this is a result of a death due to a speeder driving over a pontoon boat this summer killing an 86 year old man and injuring several others. this is gonna be a pain in the butt. not much there is to do about it. just gonna take longer to get in now. guess i will fish till dawn. :D

[THE FISH WHISPER'ER]

that kinda bites not all of us are drunken moronsbut still don't want to take all night getting any were :mad:

[cats4uandme]

well common case of a few ruining it for all of us. i did hear some conflicting news that the pontoon had no lights working. i heard that the conservation addmitted hooking it up. paul wig told me he seen it in the paper.

[Schoe]

Jeremy, are skips and Shad available at Clinton lake. I have no problem getting Bluegills and are they good cut bait there? I'm thinking of running down that way over the weekend. Schoe

[Rainman4u2]

That's sad to hear Jeremy. Shad are near the discharge if I remember right.

Ray

[THE FISH WHISPER'ER]

im not jerm but we are neibors and good buds , as far as the shad yes they are avalible but the discharge is roped off this time of year starting at the DeWitt bridge maybey they could still be found off of some riprap around a launch when the sun is warming them in the warmer part of the lake (mascootin maybey) but some cut gillies will probley be a god backup
good luck and when were you thinking on going i have been ichting to get out my poor boat hasn't seen watter in 2 months since i had knee surgery

[Schoe]

I will get some live gills Fri. and let you guys know what I have. I will be able to keep them alive in an aerated Cooler. Schoe

[cats4uandme]

hey lonnie. do i get to use you for a refferal? lol. you and richie? where did he go??

[THE FISH WHISPER'ER]

whats that? :confused: frailick has been moving so has been busy also works weekends

[Schoe]

I didn't have a chance to tell Lonnie what happened to the 23 live bluegills I had caught to use Sun. I got them home OK in a cooler with an aerator and the put them in a 100 Gal tub with a bubbler on each end. I figured this would hold them till morning, which I have done many times before, but covered them with a 3/4 piece of plywood which I didn't do this time.

When Ray got there we went out to put them in the transport cooler there were Bluegills all over the patio around the tub with their heads mostly gone but no bodies eaten. There were only two live ones in the tub and 11 on the ground which were fresh enough to keep for cut bait. he must have ate the rest.

My neighbor has a pet Coon named "Messy" that likes fish entrails and whole Gills as well it seems. I wish I would have had a movie camera set up to watch him catching those live Gills in that 100 gal tub, that would have been a circus. Schoe

[THE FISH WHISPER'ER]

thats funny realy funny

[cats4uandme]

a referrel. they have a contest to see how many folks join due to a member spreading the word. hehehe. i think i mentioned it to you.

schoe. that stinks. would have been a good vid. whats coon hides going for this year, lmao. just kidding.

[Redtick]

I coonhunt almost every night now, (Redtick is a type of coondog), and coon hides are not worth much this year.
I may start catfishing in late February.

[Rainman4u2]

Well, it seems that Schoe's livers won again!!!

It would have been funny watching that dang coon get those gills, but....

Ray

[Redtick]

I used to drive up that way to coon hunt around Clinton Lake. The season comes in 5 days earlier up there. The North end was some good coon hunting. It looks like it would be great catfishing and I had a buddy that used to pull some big stripers out of there. It is about a 2 hour drive for me and I can walk to my boat about 50' from my front door, so I probably won't be hauling my boat up there. Of course, Clinton is a hot water lake, so a fellow could catch some cats up there way before the ice would be out around here. I will be watching the Clinton thread, especially around February.

[joesf]

I have never seen the hot water part frozen but I guess it could be if they shut the plant down long enough. They shut down the hot water area during water fowl season for a refuge. You can however fish both bridge banks as long as you don't go beyond the posted signs.

[THE FISH WHISPER'ER]

the DeWitt bridge is pretty good some times it dont freeze and there is a slight current under the DeWitt side where the channel is a lot of rocks snaging can be a problim when bottom fishing from the bank

[Rivercat1]

Ive never fished Clinton lake before, were is the best place to catfish this time of year.

[Rainman4u2]

By the sound of it, off of the bridges if the hot water discharge is going. I believe it's easier to wait until the rope is pulled in spring, then you can sit infront of the discharge if you have a boat. Then again, you might wait for Jeremy and Lonnie to chime in to get the best opinion.

By the way, please try to post your picture, and your location. It helps immensely when it comes time to finally meet a new BOC brother.

Ray

[Rivercat1]

Thanks for the tips rainman4u2 I am planing a trip down there in a week or two. do you know were the closest ramp would be Im am coming from Morton near Peoria. Have a great Holiday.

[cats4uandme]

the dewitt bridge should be ice free and the water pretty warm in fact if the plant is going. the water flow never stops just the temprature depends on the plant being in operation. i have not been buy in a while but guessing by the extra needed elect for furnaces im assuming it is running. also the parnell bridge oppisite the dewitt is the next closest to the hot water. joe is correct. in the winter its closed off between the two mentioned bridges for a wildlife refuge cause the fish stack in there to keep warm. try those bridges.

[THE FISH WHISPER'ER]

the plant is still running as of today butt will be shutting down somtime soon for a refuling outage i normaly work these things but the bum knee is keeping me on the bench this winter so i don't have any more details (sorry)

[SangamonCatKiller]

I honestly have not fished the lake for Flattys yet either but, I do know you can catch all the bluegill you want right there next to the beach where the small boat launch is.

[cats4uandme]

i catch a ton of bluegills right off the ramps. espessily mascoutin and west side. im sure there at everyone too. im itching to go fishing.