Nature Corner: Trip to the Kankakee River

Well on Wednesday I took the day off and went fishing down on the ol’ Kankakee. My good pal Joshua Miller (http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmart/) went with me and we also met up with our friend Tom Torluemke (http://www.tomtorluemke.com/). Tom decided to hang out and watch us fall in the water a lot while he soaked up the pastoral surroundings and rendered them in watercolor.

Tom Torluemke painting at the Kankakee

As far as the fish count, we netted a big zero, due mostly to the fact that the river was up about four feet due to flooding. However, we did see a pretty awesome water snake who kept inspecting our bait bucket.

Big ol' shad caught in the cast net

I also added two birds to my life list: a Baltimore Oriole and an Indigo Bunting. I know, aren’t those the coolest birds ever?! So, I got to soak up some nature and relax in the water a bit. Oh, I did also see a giant dead snake which stunk pretty badly, as well as the carcass of a dead carp. And I snagged into a large gar, but he got away. Many turtles were sighted as well. All in all, a great day for wildlife.

emerald shiner minnow, perhaps?