will bike down to the hot water outlet . Anybody know where a good bait shop is around Baldwin or New Athens with minnows???

Go to or call Kevin at Old School (his # is on the home page) he has minnows I believe. A-1 is open too.

Just swing by and pick Bob up he will have some minnows. LOL

We where knockin them freakin dead!!!!! I was bumbin cauz we didn't get any catfish bait. I was thinkin we would have to drive to Freeburg to get sum and I rrrreeeeaaaaallllly didn't want to walk alllll the way down to the hot water outlet without any. But my bropther-in-law(who bitched the whole day about the choppy waves and the spray) said lets stop and see how they where hitin on lures. So once we got out there we started fishin and gettin bites we walked alllll the way doun to the hot water outlet. The water down about half way past the porto-shiiter was real yellow so we went back to the clear water almost to the shiiter and was pulling them out one right after the other, I was havin real good luck with a algia #2 and for some silly reason I changed out to yellow spinners. After that I didn't get a bite till I switched to one with a silver spinner. After that I started catchin striped bass , large mouths and even catfish, I even snagged a 2 inch shad. The waves where big and the spray was gettin us soaked but it was worth it.

Sounds like it was worth the trip.

I used to fish Baldwin all the time, especially in the winter, my buddies and I had one of our best days from the bank on the day they extended the closing hours from 4pm to 6pm, that year it was on feb. 15th, we were catching hybrid stripers on almost every cast that weighed about 5-6 lbs, all between 3:30 & 5:30 pm, and I caught a bonus largemouth that weighed just over 5 lbs on a Zara Spook, the limit was 3 stripers over 17" but with four of us thats 12 fish averaging 6 lbs each plus the largemouth, approx. stringer weight was over 70lbs! those were the days, the year was probably '84 or '85, I'll bet I have a photo of that stringer somewhere. we ran all the way down levy after they opened, racing two guys on bikes that got there a little later to get the end spot, and fought to keep it all day knowing what was gonna happen after 3:30.

as we went down to the hot water these guys in a boat passed us and I told my brother-in-law they where going to beat us to the spot.. The wind was just kickin up and they got right in the middle of the hot water outlet. I told my bro-in-law they would probly tie off and fish from the shore but they never did. As soon as the wind kicked up they headed right back to the boat dock. Maybe the didn't want their boat to get a beating against the riprap.The water was real yellow down there anyway and was most likely only good for catfishin.

Sounds like agreat day. I need to get down there real soon.