We went from hot dry weather to nice temperatures but more rain than we know what to do with. Local heavy rains around the Galesburg area had many smaller streams flooding and the Mississippi River is flooding.
Galesburg’s Lincoln Park was flooded as water rushed into Lake Storey. The Spoon River was close to coming out of its banks Friday when I crossed it but the National Weather Service prediction was for it to stay below flood stage as of Friday evening.
So where do you go fishing the next few days while the local waters recede? The Illinois River at Peoria and above is pretty much at normal levels but downstream around the Beardstown area there will be some minor flooding. So, if you were go fishing from Peoria and Chillicothe north you should find some good fishing. Closer to home the catfish always get to biting where water enters lakes and ponds when heavy rains flush worms and bugs into them and that includes Lake Storey.
If you’re looking for bass you’ll probably find them further down the lake where the water begins to clear up some. The same is true for bluegills and crappie.
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The dove hunting season opened last weekend on Sept. 1. Many of the local doves had moved south out of the area with the chilly wet days we had the week before. That didn’t mean there weren’t any doves around and some hunters did well.
Hunters that had access to corn fields that had been chopped for silage did well as did some of the local sunflower plots but after opening day hunting success slowed down quite a bit. Birds will migrate down into our area as season progresses.
The cool change in the weather did spark activity with
