“I need to get out of Chicago!”, exclaimed my good friend, Tom Harrison early March. “I need to get out of Cedar Rapids!”, I added. We solved our fishing itch by heading to the Illinois River for a couple days late last week. Tom got his 16-foot Lund Fury out of storage and brought it down to Starved Rock Park where there is a boat ramp to access the water up near the Lock and Dam. The river was high and dirty. We tried pulling “double Raps” up by Plum Island with no success. We moved down river and began jigging with Gulp plastics in the slack water up from the grain terminals. Barge traffic was busy. Tom was able to jig up both a nice sauger and walleye we took pictures of and put back for another day. I went the day without a bite. We parted company late afternoon as the sun started to set: air temp was low 40’s and the water temp was 39 degrees. We met again Friday morning for another day. After launching at the park ramp, we noticed a lot more trash floating down the river: tree limbs, pieces of lumber, and other “junk” kept us on a jig bite. I’m not happy to report we never got a bite all day! Other anglers on the river reported moderate success fishing their favorite spots. I’m guessing the bite will really pick up by the weekend of March 13th as the water warms. For a good day on the water, please contact Mike Hanson at Starved Rock Guide Service: his Facebook page has his contact information. Sunday night I received a Mississippi River fishing report from my young friend, Brandon Hon. Brandon is a true “river rat” who normally fishes out of Guttenberg. He ran up to Genoa, WI on Saturday with little success; went to Guttenberg on Sunday and caught small fish; but stopped at Lynxville on his way home and caught some nice ones pitching blade bates and jigs with flukes. “The bite really picked up right at dusk,” he reported. I’m sharing our pictures from the Illinois River and a couple from Brandon’s catch. Yesterday, the 8th, I did run over to Bellevue, IA, to open up our camper and hitch onto the Ranger tin boat in storage. Unfortunately, the ice flow over the dam rollers heading down river was not safe for me to fish. I noticed a few boats out when I got to town but all were off the water as I headed back to Cedar Rapids late afternoon. Hopefully, the warmer weather now and through Thursday will clear out the ice and make the River safe to fish. Please be safe wherever you are fishing as you find water to satisfy you early Spring fishing itch. Please wear your PFD’s and require others in your boat to do the same. Looking forward to sharing more reports from River fishing this Spring! Be safe. Spike