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FISHING REPORT: Flat Creek is a hot spot for keepers Fluke are still covering up the inlet areas and reef sites, while high tides had stripers chasing lures around the dawn and dusk hours in the back bays. (Photo: Getty Images/iStockphoto ) Sounds like bluefin tuna fishing amped up a level this week, while the inshore lumps and humps began to attract bonito, false albacore and dolphin. Fluke are still covering up the inlet areas and reef sites, while high tides had stripers chasing lures around the dawn and dusk hours in the back bays. At Sea Isle Bait and Tackle, Sea Isle City, Mike Cunningham spoke about the continuing back bay fluke bite. "Flat Creek, the ICW behind Corson's, and Avalon Point Marina have all been top spots this week to find plenty of shorts with a few keepers. It seems there are more keeper fish in the 5 to 7 pound class hanging at the Townsend's Inlet Reef." Cunningham states that 4-ounce bucktails, fished with a high dropper and a large G

Governor signs hunting, fishing law Southern Illinois seniors age 75 years and older can now fish and hunt for less — and that’s a perk Sen. Gary Forby says is long overdue. Gov. Pat Quinn visited Crab Orchard Lake on Friday to sign a bill into law sponsored by Forby, D-Benton, reducing sport fishing and hunting license fees to $1 for this age group. Already, adults age 65 or older pay $7.25 for resident fishing and $6 for hunting licenses, which is half the normal fee. The fees were cut further for those 75 years and older. The law also completely waives the cost of salmon, inland trout, migratory waterfowl, pheasant and habitat stamps. “When you get to senior citizen age, the money gets tight and you’re just helping them out a little bit to do stuff they like to do but may not want to spend an extra time to do,” Forby said. Forby said hunting and fishing is something every senior should be able to do “regardless if they’re on a fixed income.” The law, House Bill 4329,

Buy Photo Larry Keen of Waunakee admires a largemouth bass he caught while fishing from his kayak in Iron County. (Photo: Patrick Durkin/Press-Gazette Media correspondent )Buy Photo MERCER – Larry Keen has probably caught thousands of largemouth bass from Northwoods lakes over the past 35 years, but the next bass he hooks will be just as fun as the first one he fought decades before. Don't believe it? Then you're not within earshot of Keen's kayak whenever he sets his hook and sends a bass torpedoing into the depths or belly-dancing across the surface. Each hook-up triggers a laugh so appreciative you know there's few things Keen would rather be doing, even if it also requires swatting mosquitoes while defying mist and rain. Keen and I met in band class at James Madison Memorial High School in the early 1970s, but we mostly lost track of each other in the years since, except for reunions and — more recently — on Facebook. As our 40th class reunion approached

Call it trout therapy.  A pleasant summer day, a graphite rod and a stream alive with fish can alleviate plenty of stress.  “This is better than Christmas,” said Patrick Williams, 51, of Columbus. Williams was one of five disabled veterans spread out along a stream bank, enjoying a few hours of tranquillity in the country courtesy of Project Healing Waters. The organization has a simple mission: teach disabled members of the military and disabled veterans to fly-fish. “It’s really relaxing, you know, and I recommend that disabled veterans get into this program,” said Tim Price, a 59-year-old Army veteran who has chronic joint disease and diabetes. “I love it. It’s one of the better things going.” Price, who lives on the East Side, has long enjoyed fishing, but fly-fishing is new to him. If not for Healing Waters, he wouldn’t have been able to leave the city for a fishing expedition at Briarwood, a private hunting and fishing club near Bellefontaine, about 60

MUSKEGON, MI — The waters around the Muskegon area have been getting colder, and the fish have taken notice. Bill Funk, owner and operator of Shoreline Service Bait and Tackle, said water tested Tuesday found to be in the 49-degree range. Large brown trout from this past week caught with Great Lakes Guide Service. (Courtesy of Kyle Buck) Funk said anglers have been seeing some salmon in and around the Muskegon Channel, and he hopes they stick around there for the next month before fall begins. "They go into the channel where it's warmer. The salmon prefer 55 degrees and they will look for that," Funk said. "When the whole world goes crazy like that, they start thinking about fall production and look for those warmer waters." Normally, the surface is 60–70 degrees, forcing those in search of salmon to look in deeper waters. This year that hasn't been the case. Volume-wise a lot of the lake has been in the high 40s and low 50s, Funk sai