The 2021 Fall Trout Fishing Season kicked off Oct. 16 at 59 ponds, lakes, and streams throughout the state. Of these many fishing locations, eight of them were recognized by FishingBooker, the world’s largest online service for finding and booking fishing trips, as top trout fishing spots.

FishingBooker boasts over 20,000 fishing experiences worldwide, ranging from Marlin fishing in the Maldives to trout fishing in Illinois, home to Kickapoo State Recreation Area, which ranks among the top honored fishing sites.

Located near Danville in Vermilion County, Kickapoo is a testament to the versatility of nature. In addition to its breathtaking scenery and trout fishing, Kickapoo offers boating, camping, trails and more. Canoes, bait, and bicycles are available to patrons to indulge in the many park activities.

National Dog Day is a day that celebrates all breeds, pure and mixed, and is meant to remind the public of the number of dogs that need to be rescued.

This national day was created in 2004 by Colleen Paige, an animal behaviorist who wanted to show appreciation for all dogs and to honor those who work in the community to help save lives, keeping us safe and out of harm’s way.

There are many ways to celebrate this holiday with your furry friend. You can take them to the dog park to play with other dogs, buy them a new toy or take them to the dog spa for a day of relaxation. If you aren’t a dog owner, you can still celebrate by volunteering at your local shelter and taking some of the dogs on walks or assisting with cleaning the animal’s cages.

Consider ways you can help animals in our society and remember the importance of dogs in our lives.

Click here to find out how you can help dogs in Illinois.

In honor of President Lincoln’s birthday, here are 16 facts that you probably didn’t know about our 16th president: 

1. Hours before he was assassinated, Lincoln signed legislation creating the U.S. Secret Service. 

2. Lincoln was a wrestler, and a talented one at that. He lost only one match, out of an estimated 300, and he is enshrined in the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.

3. Lincoln read the Bible every day, but he never belonged to an organized church.

4. He supported women’s suffrage in 1836 – more than 80 years before the passage of the 19th Amendment.

5. When Lincoln was nine years old, his mother died after drinking tainted milk from southern Indiana that contained poisonous white snakeroot.

6. Lincoln was scheduled to take part in a duel, but it was called off at the last second.

7. He was the first president to use a telegraph, have a beard, and to be born outside of the 13 original colonies.

8. John Wilkes Booth and Abraham Lincoln were photographed together at Lincoln’s second inauguration.

9. In 1864, someone shot at Lincoln and pierced his hat.

10. John Wilkes Booth’s brother, Edwin Booth, saved the life of Lincoln’s son Robert. The young Lincoln fell off a train platform in New Jersey and Booth’s brother pulled him from the tracks.

11. In his US Senate race against Douglas, Lincoln won the popular vote but lost the election.

12. Ulysses S. Grant was supposed to accompany Lincoln to the show at Ford’s Theater, but he cancelled at the last minute.

13. Lincoln served as a judge on the Illinois Circuit Court.

14. A year after Lincoln died, a drunken assailant killed Lincoln’s dog, Fido.

15. Lincoln loved cats. He even let his cat eat at the White House dinner table.

16. He hated to be called Abe. Instead he preferred people call him Lincoln.

Ancient folklore describes the muskie as a beast among fish, an eel-like creature that slithers along the ocean floor with an aggressive nature that urges fisherman to use caution with this fish. The muskie or muskellunge (Esox masquinongy) has an elongated head and body that makes it an excellent ambush predator.

It hides among seaweed and waits for prey, and its sharp teeth are pefect for pointing holes in anything unfortunate enough to cross its path. An adult muskie is an apex predator; only humans pose a significant threat. Its weight ranges from 30 to 60 pounds or even up to 110 pounds, according to a 1908 fisherman’s myth. It can be found in northern freshwater waterways such as the Great Lakes.

It’s commonly found in large rivers in Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and northern Canada. On July 5, Jim Hack, a financial advisor in Barrington, reeled in a whopping 54-inch muskie from a lake in Lake County, Illinois. He brought it to the Salmon Stop in Waukegan, where it was certified. It weighed 35 pounds, 10 ounces with a length of 54 inches and girth of 22.5 inches. This fish has now gone on record to be the largest muskie caught in Illinois in 2006 but still short of a 2002 muskie caught by Matt Carmean that weighed in at 38 pounds, 8 ounces with a length of 50 ¾ inches. Carmean was fishing for walleye below the Lake Shelbyville Dam.

UPDATE: President Barack Obama cited this report in his speech to the Illinois General Assembly on February 10, saying:

"I just saw a story the other day showing that if you rank all 50 states across categories like education levels and household incomes, and race and religion, the one state that most closely mirrors America as a whole is Illinois, this state."

Illinois’ diversity catapulted it to the top of a new ranking of states best suited to host the country’s earliest presidential primary contests because they best reflect the makeup of the United States.