Chicago fishing: Lakefront variety and the signs of spring

Hi Dale!

Caught this beauty in Skokie Lagoon. Not the best pics but it was just shy of 20″ and about 4+ pounds. First spring in the kayak and didn’t have a scale or someone to take the pic.

Hey Dale

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While sending this im at a CPD pond doing sum Bday Fishing with really good luck. Tight lines everyone

Crappie and Bass fishing is on fire! Water levels and temperatures are good and getting better. Minnows and plastics are both working for crappie. Bass are hitting plastics , chatter baits, swim jigs and spinner baits. Catfishing is also good use cut bait.

Hi Dale, finally I have some time to go out for fishing I try with leaches and bober for walleye in my favorite spot busse woods and no disappointment as always ending with very nice catches .

Hi Dale

The season is progressing in island with gosling and ducklings taking their first swims. The garden bursting with perennials and unfortunately weeds. Butterflies are back and the grackles tell of the end past season . On the water the temperature was up to 61 degrees on Sunday. There were beds visible in the shallows but no bass were around them. I think the cold fronts and rain pushed the bass back to the flats if they were there at all. Maybe the beds were bluegill or crappie. The lilacs are blooming so the bass should be heading to the beds. Sunday the early morning temps had me shivering in the east to north east wind that seem relentless in Northern Illinois. Bass were still going on the 1/2oz orange slobberknocker with chartreuse kalins grub. A big pike took the slobberknocker so I switched to a 1/2oz jackhammer in orange with the same chartreuse grub and got a few more bites. From shore anglers targeting panfish were getting crappie and bluegill with fathead minnows waxworms and red worms. From the dock perch hit a medium golden roach minnow on plain red hook and gill going on red worms on gapen jig. As the afternoon wore on the wind persisted and the temps reluctantly climbed. The warm and cold fronts battled it out ad showers moved in and out leaving a spectacular Sunday evening sunset and rainbow.

On the music front it was a spectacular performance at Leonard’s Rock and roll Geerage Saturday with midnite mile. You almost have to visit the Geerage to fully grasp the museum like quality of the music performance spot. And it’s off to Madison this Saturday for the first tune-up show with Gozortenplat in preparation for our trip to Las Vegas in June. Time passing quickly like the season!

The fishing on the way home [from turkey hunting] was pretty good, despite some of the small streams being high and stained due to all the rain. The brook trout were willing and hit a small marabou leech aggressively. Nothing especially large-the biggest was around eight inches-but the central Wisconsin backdrop is some of the best scenery in our part of the country. Those small streams clear very quickly regardless of rainfall totals, so they should be pretty prime about now.

Hey Dale

So happy to say the riverwalk is heating up again, my brother got on 5 carp with biggest being 25 lbs, Rock Bass are Spawning, caught a handful yesterday.

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Tight lines everyone

Delavan Lake 5/5/25 through 5/12/25

Fishing season is officially open! Now if we could tell the fish that we’d be all set. Fishing is fairly decent but it would have been nice to see a bit more action this past weekend.

Largemouth bass are in the shallows in 3-4 ft of water. The best location has been in Viewcrest Bay or by Lake Lawn Lodge. The best presentation is casting green pumpkin All Terrain Stiks. My preferred method of hooking them in Texas rigged. With the warm March, the weed growth is a lot thicker than in recent years. Although I wasn’t fishing for bass on Sunday, I did see several nice fish caught. With warmer weather, fishing should improve.

Bluegill fishing is also in the shallows in 3-4 ft of water. The best approach is small ice jigs tipped with leaf worms or wax worms. The channels seem to be producing most of the action. One of the big problems is the overall size, it’s hard to find an 8 inch bluegill this year. With the cool water, the spawn is probably 2-3 weeks away.

Northern Pike can be caught on slip bobbers tipped with suckers or large golden shiners. Work a depth of 6-7 ft of water. Most success is coming in Highlands Bay. What I have been doing is anchoring the boat and casting the baits down wind from the boat. Position the bait about 1 ft above the weeds.

Crappie fishing this week was very slow. I fished almost 2 hours for them on Sunday in many different spots with not so much as a bite. I don’t know if it was the east wind or the front that was moving through, but they didn’t seem interested in what I was presenting. We tried minnows and small plastics with only bluegills coming on the line.

Walleyes are biting during low light conditions. They are biting on crankbaits, chrome/blue Husky Jerks or chrome/blue Smithwick Rogues. You want to fish in 6-8 ft of water. The best location is by the Yacht Club and by the Village Supper club.

Good luck and I hope to see you on the water.

For guide parties, please call Dave Duwe at 608-883-2050

Hey Dale hope all is well with you.

So I finally managed to get out to the Hennepin Hopper Sunday… what a neat place! couldn’t believe the amount of waterfowl and eagles too. Anyhow it was super windy really rough in the kayak had White Caps coming over the bow..I did manage a couple nice fish though almost a 5 lb large mouth on a white chatter bait and about a 30-in Northern on a mepps muskie killer. I did have an impressive follow up on that same lure had to be a 40 plus Muskie. It’s hard to figure eight in the kayak. He followed me all the way back to the boat snapped at it twice before I could get the lure back in front of him . All in All pretty great day. Definitely bringing some top water frogs back with me next time.. You can watch both catches on my YouTube channel @NWIYAKman

Hoping to get out and do some pan fishing this week haven’t done that at all yet this spring…. Tight lines all.

Best Regards

Allen C Shander

My wife Anita got a 21″ lmb at Clinton.

Lake Geneva 5/5/25 through 5/12/25

Bluegill fishing has been all right. Most of the fish are being caught in the bays around the marina piers. Look for the fish in Geneva Bay and Williams Bay. Most of the fish are being caught on slip bobbered red worms or leaf worms. The best depth is 4-5 ft.

Rock bass are starting to show up in the shallows. They are in the 5-6 ft depth range. Fat head minnows or nightcrawler pieces are producing most of the fish. The way to fish for them is a split shot rig, single hook with a 3/0 split shot. With the wind being such that it has, I would drift fish for them.

Perch are also in the shallows, in a 5-6 ft depth range. Look for the fish by Knollwood or Rainbow Point. The fish are being caught on slip bobbered small minnows. Most of the fish have been rather small, you will need to sort quite a few to get a decent amount to keep. Unlike the Rock bass, I would be anchoring near the scattered weeds with sand bottom.

Smallmouth fishing has been very slow. The fish that are being caught have been on slow rolling spider grubs on or near bottom. Some locations where you see active bait fish can be decent if you use hair jigs swimming them back to the boat. The best locations has been by Geneva Inn and Maytag Point.

Largemouth bass fishing has been sporadic. The only active fish that are being caught are in Abbey Harbor or Geneva Bay. This year Trinkes bay was dredged out and the water clarity is very low. The shallow fish I’ve been catching have been on split shot rigged nightcrawlers in 4-5 ft of water. The key to the largemouth at this point, is finding the warmest water on the lake.

Good Luck and I hope to see you on the water.

For guide parties, please call Dave Duwe at 262-728-8063.

Fishing Report – 5/5/2025

Mike Norris

Big Green Lake: Last Saturday’s general fishing season opener was perfect for anglers plying the waters of Green Lake. Smallmouth bass are chowing down on young perch fry grouped in water shallower than 8 feet. They can be caught with jig and plastic combos. Largemouth bass are seeking bluegills to eat in the warmer T-Channels and Beyers Cove. Try casting a chatterbait close to shore and around docks. Water temperature varies from 42 to 46 degrees in the main lake and rises to 56 degrees in the channels and backwaters.

Fox Lake: Largemouth bass are moving towards the shorelines and will soon seek areas to start bedding. Fishing for bass should be excellent with warm weather forecast this week. Look for areas along the bullrushes exposed to the sun where a hard bottom exists. The tips of rocky points should also be good. Try fishing with an unweighted Senko.

Just got back from Little Sturgeon Bay. Smb 3 over 20.5 plus 28.75 walleye.

Hi Dale-

Back to Heidecke Saturday morning with overcast skies early and brisk northeast winds. Fishing was good early morning catching 1/2 dozen Walleye biggest at 20” a few smallmouth and a great fighting striper. Lake temps remain at 63 degrees. Used several techniques getting most bites on swimbaits. Catch and release

Made it out twice last week. 4 and 6 hr charters. Bite was tough on the southern end of the lake when Why Knot Chicago was out. Our customers had to work hard for their fish. Parts of the trip the harbor would have bait and fish and others it would be a ghost town that would make us search just outside the east wall to stay on them. Mag size burnt bread moonshine has been our best big fish bait. Stubby orange and crome dodgers are heating up with mardis gras jimmy peanut flies. Orange j-ll and thin fins.

I hope to get some consistent weather soon. When we’ve had consistent days of constant weather variables, it increases our cooler weight drastically.

Capt AJ

Good morning

Fishing report

Coho slowing but still being caught, powerliners as well as rod and reel. Large minnows, night crawlers, lures etc… Smallmouth still good, they are big and healthy. Steelhead in harbors on hair jigs and wax worms or pieces of shrimp.

Have a great week.

10 1/2 lb coho this morning from Montrose

Hi Dale.

Bad weather with stiff North winds limited our trips for the comfort of the crews. When we got out it was excellent fishing with kings so ting outside the coho in slightly deeper water. Limits coho with a few kings were taken each trip out of Waukegan.

The Jimmy Flys in Rooster, Neon Two Tone, and Blue/Green/Gold on yellowbirds and divers in 20 to 30 feet of water continues to be best for coho. Kings were taken on spoons in 30 to 40 feet trolled on downriggers near the bottom. Yeck Spoons in Yellow Killer patterns took kings for us.

Attached is Capt. Andy Grien of Abbyfishingcharters.com with a nice king from Friday.

Capt Scott Wolfe
312-933-0552

Nice start (if not a bit chilly) to the 2025 opener. Temps in the low to mid 30’s didn’t improve until after 11 AM when clouds broke and the sun shone down. Speaking of which, that’s all we’ve had since then and most of what we are expected to see into next week. Surface temps are climbing with all the 70+ degree days and sun. Should spur bug and minnow hatches, weed growth and plenty of reasons to bring fish to the shallows.

Walleye: Very Good-Good – Fish somewhat scattered, but willing to bite. Nice reports of big Walleyes being caught (and released-thank you), on Rattlin Rouges (27 & 28” by same angler) as well as 26-28” using Rouges, Husky Jerks and Floating #11 Rapalas. For those of us who can’t stay up late, jig and fats, dace and small black chubs in 3-6’ shallows scored best on Flowages and small to mid-sized lakes. On deeper, larger lakes 1/8-1/4 oz jigs with larger chubs, suckers best around spawning reefs and along edges of such. With temps climbing so quickly now, expect most of that to be over soon.

Crappies: Good – Sunny, warm afternoons bring Crappies shallow to warm themselves. Long cast to shallows of 1-3’ using the smallest, yet heaviest (for distance), floats you can find. (Rocket Bobber do well for this) a #8 thin wire hook to lightly tail hook a small Crappie minnow (hook at underside-makes minnow swim up) with a small #B weight or no weight at all is hard to resist.

Northern Pike: Good – Remaining green weeds in shallow dark bottomed bays. Spinnerbaits, chatterbaits reported working well. Stickbaits and shallow cranks as well as a 1/16 oz weedless jig and sucker combo a common standard.

Largemouth Bass: Good – Similar to Pike, dark bottomed warming bays. Dark colored hair jigs, Wacky Worms and Ned rigs. Afternoons best.

Yellow Perch: Good – Larger Perch recovering from spawn feeding in shallows. Big, spent girls of 11-13” on jig and minnow, dace or medium leech around shallow wood and remaining vegetation.

Bluegill: Good – Not targeted much, but on these bright, warm sunny afternoons, filling up the shallows. Leafworms, waxies and small plastics for easy pickins.

With many lake temps in mid-50’s already, start checking out new plant growth that will provide cover for the feed the fish will be looking for. Stable weather forecasted. Bright sun will mean early AM and evenings for Walleye. Panfish and Bass in afternoons. Full moon and what is typically high pressure around the 12^th may hinder daytime fishing, but at this time of year with fish hungry and food just starting to emerge, should be good.

Kurt Justice

Kurt’s Island Sports Shop
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Me too, around 7 on my pocket scale

Calumet Park, and believe it or not I caught it on a red and white Daredevil

Lake was rough over weekend but still gave up fish kings and coho 40 to 55ft from portage to Michigan city.

Crappie going good in most area lakes and ponds in nwi using jigs tipped with waxworms and minnows fishing log jams and brush piles.

Temp. 59.5 degrees. Crappie,bass,Walleye,and Strippers. Plus 1 guy nice size Musky with Chicken Liver on the bottom.

Hey Dale, back in Il. Hit the Vermilion River before the rain. Got 4 Sm. Including this 4 pounder on a Rapala. G. Peters

Walleye biting very well. Started catching on Salmos now. Few more wh. Bass showing up also

The white bass bite has been slow. Water temp Tuesday morning was 59 degrees. Walleye have been doing well, dragging night crawlers on 1/8 oz jigs