Dave Tackett Fishing

06/18/2026

A guy spies on fishermen from his home on a hill over looking the river, with a 10 mile view of the best parts of the big river. If he sees a boat fishing a spot, he watches through his telescope or what ever he uses. When the boat leaves, it becomes that guy's new spot that he hammers every day, sunrise to sunset, taking a break mid day.

After years of doing this, some guys notice the pattern and call him out on his un-sportsman like behavior. That's when he rallies all his bar buddies, claims he was harassed by some fishermen who thought he owned the river. Then his buddies go out in the days ahead to harass that fisherman who dared confront the spy.

This spy has the best fishing right in front of his dock. He doesn't need to go anywhere, just fish close in one of the best sloughs on the river. But he is lazy, he does not want to do any work, he just wants to go sit over fish and spying is a lot easier than looking for fish himself.

He not only spies from his house, he runs around in his boat looking for fisherman to see where they are fishing to see if they return or if they are catching any. He also has a sneak boat, a pontoon to ride around. If he sees a Walleye fisherman, he just sits out in the distance and watches with his scope and no one knows it is a walleye fisherman spying on them.

He has close access to the best bass and walleye spots on the river. He catches a lot of fish. Yet he is greedy and wants it all. No one is allowed to catch fish on his river and if they try, he will wipe the area out. If he can't catch the fish, he will run his motor over them all day to drive the fish out. People start catching fish with prop cuts, faces half cut off big walleye, Bass almost cut in two. Once an area gets this much pressure, it is no long a successful spot for feeding and the fish find other areas. Now the guy is back looking through his telescope for boats to find these new areas for him.

06/10/2026

That trip to Venezuela back in 1998 is on my mind. I may have told this story, but here's a bit more. A wealthy friend who I have fished with asked if I wanted to go. I accepted. 120* he said daily, be ready. My long time stalker talked to him before we left and I dont know what he said but my friend was angry. H elikely told him I was going to whoop ass down there. I know he told him I threw spikes on his driveway because friend accused me of it when we got there. Stalkers wife worked there and there were on strike, and so the spikes happened, but not by me. That's what he does, makes trouble, tells lies.

There was a group of 6 that went. So we go out right after we get there and friend wants to partner with me. The guides and owner told us we had bad news, the Peacock Bass were totally shut off. The last group didn't catch any.

So we start fishing and no fish. I change lures to a jig and get Piranha bites. I just happened to buy 10 jumbo Rapalas. The store had a clearance so I bought them all. I tied one on and right away caught a 14 pounder. We tried another spot and nothing. Then I added a button to my Rapala to give it a twitching action, like a small fish chasing an insect.

I started getting bites, but couldn't get a hook set. Friend was mad and said to take that off, that we all use the same thing down here. Just then a giant Piarha, a fish with huge fangs smashed my lure, but being distracted by friend I missed it.

It was getting late so we had to quit and friend hasn't fished with me since. I understand about using the same lures, but when fish are shut off, its time to experiment. The fish were biting well the whole 10 days on that lure. I had enough for everyone.

06/06/2026

New photos up from this week, Rock River wildlife photos:

A collection of wildlife photography, eagles, and river scenes from the Rock River

05/08/2026

2 Canadian Geese flying by:

05/08/2026

They said sunny at first, clouds moving in later. But it was cloudy early and sunny later. I didn't see much, but you never know, I usually see something to make it worth it. Right at the end of drift a perched eagle in nest area took off, then did a quick dive and I lost him, and he grabbed a fish and I may have caught up with him then. So that was it, the only photos for the day.

05/07/2026

Belted Kingfisher with a prize to take back to the den:

05/07/2026

I am building a new website blog for my photos & cartoons. See in comments:

05/07/2026

Male Wood Duck flying by. The males hang around nest areas to draw attention away from the nest. When the chicks hatch & jump out of the trees, the males will group up & I won't be seeing them, but instead I'll see females with chicks swimming around eating bugs & hiding in logjams. Rock River Photos:

05/03/2026

Some people like to go out fishing and enjoy nature. They listen to the birds, watch the wildlife and fit right in.

Other people like to dominate nature, to show nature who's boss. They cut down trees, start fires, turn hard rock music blaring until peace and quiet are no more. They let their killer dog run loose attacking newly hatched goose and duck chicks, chase all the wild away and not one thought about their surrounds and the ill affect they are having in nature. This includes the eagle's nest 200 yards away, which is causing great stress and could cause the nest to fail, wiping out a whole family of eagles.

To them, nature is about dominating, about being the great hunter on top of the food chain that all wildlife fears. But that's not even enough for them to satisfy their ego, they also have to kill any wildlife around come hunting season, or maybe do a little poaching before season or just let the dog do it just to show nature who is boss. Nature doesn't care about their ego and nature will come to claim them sooner or later.

05/01/2026

It was a little foggy this morning which gave me a delayed sunrise. Woody sitting on a log on a chilly spring morning May 1st: