Event 4 Sunday May 16th 8 AM
Here is the schedule for Sunday's club event: if you plan on attending, call to reserve a spot before 8:00 AM- E-mail anytime up to Friday night-

Or Sun. call 630-675-6265 and leave a message- tell how many people are fishing with you and need spots There is no cost to club members and also anyone is invited to fish this event as a guest and may fish any 1 event for free.

This is a great family venue, there is a large walking path, playground, basketball courts plenty of fields and even a family health center you should be able to get a daypass there for those you are bringing.

Directions can be found on the Oak Brook Park District web site - Directions Click Here - this is an easy venue to get to with plenty of parking, very short walk to fish, a clean path all the way along, as well as a weather alert system for lightning! They have everything as well as a neat canal fishing pond system.

There will be a demonstration before the fishing begins. Registration is anytime from 7:30 AM to 8:00 AM in the Parking lot. Show up, sign in anytime before 8:00 (if you need to show up late, you will miss the demonstrations, but can fish starting at 9:30 AM- call or e-mail to reserve a spot).

Schedule of events:

7:30 AM Registration/Sign-in
7:45 AM Lake Tips, Equipment, tactics demo
8:00 AM Draw for spot
8:10 AM Setup period- head to spots
9:00 AM Demonstration- peg/location TBA- float fishing John Wilkins, rod/reel, finding depth
9:30 AM Fishing Begins (long whistle)
1:29 PM 1-minute warning whistle short
1:30 PM Long whistle Stop fishing- all lines out of water
1:45 - 2:00 Fish Weigh-in

2:30 Results and discussion by Gazebo near parking lot.

Rules are pretty simple- all fish count total weight wins. There are two divisions so the "regular angler" really has a great chance to win in very first competition/outing.

Central Park Lake Species:

#1 Bluegill
#2 Common Carp
#3 Channel Catfish
#4 Crappie
#5 Bass
#6 Goldfish, Koi ? possible
#7 Bullhead ? possible
#8 Large Shiners ? possible

Recommended Bait:spikes, red worm, corn, night crawler pieces, wax worm

Recommended Lure:
Small Spinner, Small Rapala, twister Jig, plastic worm

Lake Depth- 1 feet on edges in deep side- 1.5 foot deep on shallow side
Center of lake 4.5 - 6 feet. Average depth 5 feet of water can be reached 15 feet off shore from most any spot! The Canal we are fishing is relatively flat and will have very little flow. Flow will not effect presentation unless wind is blowing down venue (with current).

Tips for Canal: water temperatures have warmed- best to work smaller bait, baits with smaller hooks and light line. Fish are increasing in activity- this canal is fed by a system of lakes and two water sources and has fresh water supply year round. The bluegills can be your friend if you catch a lot of them. If you use larger baits, you can prevent gills from stripping your bait for catfish/carp. 2 corns, larger crawler or meat chunk might be in order for cats.. Some fish will be found only 10 feet away from you in decent quantity. If the carp are not in spawn on this lake and the bass cooperate- we are in for some big weights. There are a good number of bass that are 12 - 14 inches but the large group may shut them down. We will see how the carp react to a large army of competitors- competition fishing usually cuts catch rates down some 30 - 60% over an individual outing.

If you compare our club catch rates to the Bassmasters (pros- we are way out in front). I watched a competition on TV today with the top 50 bass anglers in Arkansas where they fished 5 days 40 hours and the top weight was 30 lb. This means the top angler averaged less than 1 lb. an hour. Our club is averaging nearly 2 lb. an hour or twice as good. Keep that in mind when you are fishing- the fishing around here and your methods are doing really well. Compare our top finisher at some 8.5 lb. an hour in event #1 and you see we are nearly 8x more productive than them (and we don't have a boat!)... See you there, this will be a great outing and possibly one of the best fishing outings yet this year. I pre-fished the venue and it does really well. The gills are about the same as Barth pond- smaller hooks will be your key to success! If you are fishing a size 12, 14, 16 - you will do well.

Directions to Central Park Oak Brook Click Here