3 fishing trips, 1 blog post: Osage Creek/Illinois River

3 floats, 3 stretches of stream, and a whole lot of bass. These have been the components of fall bass fishing for me so far in 2022. The water has been low but the consistency of the bite has been incredibly high. I have floated two streams so far this fall: Osage Creek and the Illinois River. Osage Creek is the primary tributary of the Illinois River in Arkansas.

For the first float, the put-in was at Snavely Bridge on Osage Creek and the take-out was at Chambers Springs on the Illinois River. This stretch is about 12 miles and 10 of those miles are on Osage Creek.  Here is a video of the fluke in action and two other pictures of a large spotted and smallmouth bass caught on flukes on this trip.

    

Dad and I did this stretch together in a canoe. I honestly wasn’t prepared for how good the fishing was. Looking back, it makes sense. Between the perfect water conditions and nice weather, it is now obvious why I caught so many fish. However, what was shocking was how I caught fish. Prior to that trip, I had no idea how effective a weightless fluke setup could be in the fall. I had heard rumors that it could produce but had yet to experience that for myself.

After countless fish, unbelievable blow ups, and some of the most aggressive strikes I’ve ever had, I was sold on the fluke.

Two weeks later, I floated the next stretch down on the Illinois River. This stretch goes from Chambers Springs Access to the White Water Kayak Park. This trip, as well as the next trip, I was solo kayaking.

Although the nice Spotted Bass was cool to catch on GoPro video, the next trip would yield my best bass caught on GoPro in a LONG time.

My next float was from the White Water Kayak Park (where I ended my previous float) to the Highway 59 Access at Illinois River RV Campground & Floats, Kayaking & Rafting. At this campground, you do have to pay $10 to park but the access there is fantastic.

Just like the previous two trips, my go-to fishing technique was the fluke and just like those other trips, it was extremely effective. It did take slightly longer for the bite to pick up, I would assume because of the cooler water/air temperatures. However, once the bite got going, it didn’t stop. I consistently caught fish throughout the day. That includes the big largemouth which is one of the videos posted. Yet again, I found that smallmouth were less active then they had been when I fished Osage Creek in late September.

Overall, these 3 fishing trips have helped make this a fall to remember! It is now late October so I’m not sure how much longer the fluke will be effective. Very soon, I will predominately be using swim baits and crank baits. The prospect of trying colors and techniques that I have noted work well this time of year to see if they are as effective as they were in previous years is something I am definitely looking forward to! 

Please checkout all attached videos and photos. I am embarrassed about my reaction to awesome bass blowups and fighting fish.  I get a little excited and it shows in the videos.  However, the footage is still cool. I’ve gotta shout out dad for helping make the videos and my girlfriend Gillian for helping me shuttle :). Thanks for reading, now get to fishing!