If the Creek Don’t Rise

Two years ago this month the river rose to record levels, causing mayhem and personal tragedies for miles up and down its shores. Stay informed about current and predicted future river levels by watching the real-time river gauge data online.

NOAA makes free river level charts available on the weather.gov website. You can see the chart for Ottawa’s gauge here, or you can simply click this new link in the right column of the SYRC home page, below the events calendar. From there, you can click the links to view the upstream (Marseilles) or downstream (below the Starved Rock Lock) gauges.

riverlevels

April 11 Potluck Features Our “New” Shuffleboard Table

The April dinner is Saturday, April 11th. Bring a dish to share with your fellow members. Dinner starts at 6. Then, demonstrate your skill at the shuffleboard table during our friendly tournament. Don’t worry if you don’t have those skills … nobody else does either, but we’ll all have fun trying!

The April member meeting is the following day, Sunday, April 12th, at 10:30.

shuffleboard1

All About that Bass

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources will open the spring trout season on April 4th, just one of the many events listed on the calendar at the IDNR’s website,  ifishillinois.org. Learn about where to buy a license, where the hot spots are, what the rules are, how to register your boat, and much more. 2015 licenses are on sale now.

The Illinois River is rated “excellent” for channel cat, sauger, walleye and bass, according to the site.

Watch a video about identifying juvenile Asian carp. You wouldn’t want to use them as a bait fish and spread them to other lakes and streams.

… and it really is all about that bass …
bass