I’ve brought up the subject of the best fisherman to hail from Illinois in the past and have never been able to come up with a definitive answer.
Let’s take a look at the pro side of things. Most of the best musky tournament anglers are from Minnesota and Missouri. On the walleye side, Antioch’s Mike Gofron was the best of the best a few years back, but we lack in numbers of great walleye professionals.
How about Illinois as a home to great bass fishermen? There are a couple of guys fishing the top tier of the FLW circuit but without much success. Chris Groh from Spring Grove has been doing battle on the Bassmaster Elite circuit for the past couple of years but hasn’t come up a winner as of yet. No, Illinois just isn’t able to produce top bass fishermen.
Hold on a second. I’m going to take that back, I may have to stretch the definition of what a home-state fisherman is, but I have a name for you to consider.
Edwin Evers may be the best professional bass fisherman on the water today. He’s one of the most successful anglers of all time and is one of only five fishermen in history to win over $3 million catching bass in his career.
Evers was the winner of the 2019 Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour Stage Two event at Lake Conroe in Texas and the first-ever Bass Pro Tour Points Champion. That is correct, he is the Angler of the Year for 2019.
A week ago, Evers won the Redcrest Championship for Major League Fishing. It is their Super Bowl and paid Evers $300,000 for his victory.
Major League Fishing counts all legally caught fish toward an angler’s daily total. At one point, Evers caught 22 largemouth bass on 22 consecutive casts. Amazing. On the Bassmaster circuit, they count the biggest five bass of the day for an angler’s total. In 2016, Evers won the Bassmaster Classic, the largest event in the world of fishing.
Evers has proven that he is able to catch the most fish in a tournament and he has proven that he can catch the five biggest fish in a tournament. I’d say that anyone can make the claim that in bass fishing, Evers is the “GOAT.” The greatest of all time. It’s hard to argue against that opinion.
So, what does that have to do with Illinois, you ask? Evers' bio says that he resides in Talala, Oklahoma. He does, but a little-known fact is that Evers spent time as an Illinois resident. His dad was transferred on his job from Texas to Minooka.
Evers spent his high school years in Minooka, which is located along the Illinois River down by Starved Rock. He went to work part-time for Sam Rosefsky at Bedford Sales, a well-known Ranger dealer. In addition to pushing a broom and other chores, Evers got to be tutored in bass fishing by Rosefsky, a very good angler. Evers still credits Rosefsky for helping him in his bass fishing education.
“I am still proud to be a part of Illinois and the time that I spent there gave me some of the great memories of my life," Evers said. "I made a lot of great friends there that I still have to this day.”
Evers didn’t stay in Illinois for long and ended up in Oklahoma. That said, his period of time as an Illinois resident qualifies him, in my mind, as the best bass fisherman to ever come from Illinois. That’s my story and I am sticking to it!
How about a big round of applause for a hometown hero – Edwin Evers!
FISHING REPORT
Northern Illinois: Dave Kranz from Dave's Bait, Tackle and Taxidermy in Crystal Lake reports: "The dams at McHenry, Algonquin and Carpentersville are at late summer pool levels. The catfish bite is still good. Cut bait will work well. Use an egg sinker with a split-shot sinker 15 inches from the hook. Smallmouth bass below the dams will hit a small sucker drifted through the slack water.
"McHenry County Conservation has Lake Atwood in the Hollows. Catfish, bass and bluegill will all hit night crawlers.
"Crystal Lakes has Vulcan Lake at the Three Oaks Recreation Area. I recommend renting a boat with the ground water table being so high. This makes bank fishing almost impossible. Use a dropshot or a Defender jig tipped with a craw trailer for great results.
"For more info on Northern Illinois fishing, call 815-455-2040 for an updated report.”
Fox Chain O' Lakes: Chris Taurisano of T-Bone Guide Service (www.tboneguideservice.com – 630-330-9090) sends word, "Fishing has improved right along with the weather lately. Musky fishing has been good in the shallows. Crappies are starting to school up and more fish are being caught. Bluegills are shallow and active. A few more walleyes are being caught on jig-and-crawler combos."
Lake Michigan: The Lake Michigan Fishing Report is provided by Captain Caleb Weiner of Migrator Charters. "It's hard to believe September is already here. After a beautiful Labor Day of fishing with a limit of lake trout and five kings, we are looking forward to fall fishing. Fishing has been the best from 160 to 220 feet the last week, with big numbers of lake trout along with a mixed bag of cohoes, kings and rainbows. The best rods have been a Magnum RV Moonshine Wonderbread on a 400 copper and Moonshine Green Jeans on a 300 copper. Those two have been doing the heavy lifting for a mixed bag of fish while a big white Hotspot with a Spin 'N Glo on the bottom takes lake trout. The big kings have gone home to the harbors and Flicker shades and Moonshine casting spoons have been putting a hurt on them. The water will continue to cool off and hopefully the fall fishing will continue to be great! Give us a call at 224-234-3704 or check us out at www.migratorcharters.com. "
NEWS AND NOTES
FISHING CLUB: All are welcome to attend the Lake Geneva Fishing Club's next meeting on Wednesday with refreshments beginning at 5:30 p.m. and the meeting at 6 p.m. at the Poplar Creek Bowl (enter via the Banquet Entrance) at 2354 West Higgins Rd. in the Barrington Square Mall Shopping Center in Hoffman Estates. Non-members are assessed a $10 charge per meeting. The club offers a chance to learn about Geneva Lake through club outings and by fishing with members that have fished the lake for many years. The September speaker is Andrew Ragas of Northwoods Bass Fishing Adventures and his topic will be, "Multi-species fishing in Vilas County Wisconsin."
• Steve Sarley writes about the outdoors for Shaw Media. Write to him at sarfishing@yahoo.com. Steve does a weekly podcast about fishing called “WeFishASA.” You can find it at www.wefishasa.com.