Finding hints of perch and getting itchy for ice fishing lead this sprawling raw-file Midwest Fishing Report.
Sam Eble emailed the photo at the top two weeks ago, then I screwed up and lost track of the email. I enjoyed the photo enough to find it and run it now.
He has a fuller report and another photo in the Lake Michigan Report, which is sort of a summary of the fall salmon season.
CHICAGO PASSES
Park Bait, Bridgeport Bait and Tackle and FishTech in Morton Grove are now selling parking passes. Email fishing@chicagoparkdistrict.com with questions. Chicago Park District parking passes ($20 for two months) are for the anglers’ parking lots at DuSable and Burnham harbors.
NAVY PIER ANGLING
North side of Navy Pier is open for anglers. Discounted parking for anglers is $9 daily, beginning at 5 a.m.; must be out by 10 a.m. for the discount. Click here to prepay for the discounted tickets.
LAKEFRONT PARKING
My column from Nov. 30, 2022, on parking the length of the Chicago lakefront is posted at https://chicago.suntimes.com/2022/11/30/23485385/chicago-lakefront-parking-fishing
PIER PASSES
Pier passes go on sale and become effective Nov. 15. Details to come.
AREA LAKES
Dave Kranz of Dave’s Bait, Tackle and Taxidermy in Crystal Lake and with his You-Tube channel, Dave Kranz Living the wild outdoors, texted:
If you’re thinking about how close we are to the ice season, you are not alone. Get your tackle out now and make sure it’s all ready to go. Most importantly always be safe, don’t take any chances and have fun. Good luck to all those archery hunters this season.
Ken “Husker” O’Malley of Husker Outdoors emailed the photos above and below, and this:
Area lakes-
Post frontal conditions set in with that cold front. Temps changed 30 degrees from just a couple days ago. Felt more like fall again. I found bluegill up shallow early afternoon along the north shorelines. The problem with those fish they were more interested in sunning themselves than offering at my presentation. The active gills were found along the outside weed lines on aWackem and Stackem Custom Baitsa Wackem chow bell. The sensitivity of the FINS Braids crappie braid sealed the deal on those finicky post frontal fish.
. . .
TTYL
Ken “Husker” O’Malley
Husker Outdoors
Waterwerks fishing team
Rob Abouchar messaged the photo above and this:
Hi Dale
In island lake the season is progressing and fish continue to feed up. Bass and catfish are starting to hit medium sized minnows under a slip float. Just as darkness sets in is best time. Got a nice yellow cat with dj Fyre. There are people still fishing panfish along bridge and dam park and getting Gills and perch. The lake level is way down with drought.
. . .
On the music front Gozortenplat is in rehearsals and will be doing some promo with Saturday night live type theme intros. Midnite mile getting ready for Santa cause event at crossroads in Ivanhoe Nov 23. And the conscious rockers reggae band preparing for Nov 30th at main Street outfitters in Wauconda. Should be some really dynamite shows!
Tight Lines and Good Health!
Rob
And my Tuesday is made with the music report.
BRAIDWOOD LAKE
Closed.
CHAIN O’LAKES AREA
Kyle Tepper at Triangle Sports and Marine in Antioch said fishing all over picked up, crappie are more consistent in most channels, minnows or plastic, better on southern lakes; for bluegill, red worms, plastics or hair jigs, numbers north and size south; good perch action north; catfish shallow or schooling deep; white bass following bait pods, especially in northern lakes; perch and walleye underneath those bait pods; otherwise for walleye out deep with Rippin’ Raps, plastics or jigs; sucker fishing building for muskies on northern lakes, otherwise casting plastics or topwaters evenings in 2-20 feet; big pike being caught, too, by anglers targeting other fish.
NOTE: Check updates on water conditions at foxwaterway.com or (847) 587-8540.
NOTE 2: Stratton Lock and Dam is closed.
CHICAGO RIVER
Jeffrey Williams of letsgettemfishing messaged the photo above and this:
So got out on the riverwalk on halloween and it was a bit slow but got in a beautiful 2.66 lb largemouth. Nothing better than catching big fish on a ultralight.
Got that right.
COOLING LAKES
Braidwood, Heidecke and LaSalle are closed.
DOWNSTATE
HENNEPIN-HOPPER: Closed.
POWERTON: Dec. 23 lake reopens for bank fishing.
EMIQUON PRESERVE: Temporary changes come with waterfowl seasons. Randy Smith, Illinois River project manager for The Nature Conservancy, emailed:
Fishing is still open, but does not start until 12 noon during waterfowl season. Waterfowl hunting stops at noon. Access permits and liability waivers are available Tuesday to Saturday at Dickson Mounts Museum, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Details at https://www.nature.org/content/dam/tnc/nature/en/documents/2024EmiquonLakeAccessRules.pdf.
SPRING LAKE: Bank fishing allowed after 1 p.m., through Dec. 24.
GREEN LAKE AREA, WISCONSIN
Guide Mike Norris (www.comecatchsmallmouth.com) texted the photo above and emailed this:
Fishing Report – 11/3/2024
By Mike Norris
Big Green Lake: A cold front moved through last Thursday night and dropped the air temperature by 25 degrees, but the front didn’t cool down the smallmouth bass bite. As of last Saturday, anglers were still enjoying what arguably has been the best bass fishing on Big Green in the last several years. Several anglers reported catching and releasing smallmouth bass over 5 pounds, and I weighed a smallmouth bass for Scott Heilman of Rockford, IL. The 22-inch long behemoth weighed 6 pounds even. Rain moved into the area on Sunday and is forecasted to continue through mid-week. As I mentioned last week, look for mixed areas of sand and weeds and work tube baits, swim jigs, and A-rigs. Live bait rigging is another option. The water temperature is 53 degrees.
Little Green Lake: Muskie action is fair in 12 – 15 feet of water on both live bait rigging suckers and on casting plastics.
Fox Lake: Heavy rains last week raised the water level, and the lake protection district opened the dam. The increased water flow fired up the largemouth bass and northern pike. Work swim baits around the remaining piers and along the tips of the islands for both species.
GREEN/STURGEON BAYS, WISCONSIN
Click here for the Wisconsin DNR weekly report.
HEIDECKE LAKE
Closed.
LAKE ERIE
Click here for the Ohio DNR Report.
LAKEFRONT
Sam Eble emailed the photo above and this in mid-October (and I forgot where I had put it), so think of this as a sort of season wrap-up:
Hey Dale,
Long time reader here and love the work that you do! Caught a couple Salmon at Montrose [in mid-October] with some friends and figured I’d send you some pics in case you needed some content this week.
Both of these were caught on KO wobblers at the horseshoe. Sure is fun catching them when the weather has been as nice as it has. Seen lots of catches inside the harbor this past week as well.
Feel free to use the pics and names if you would like. The smaller fish is myself (Sam Eble) and the bigger fish is Guido Falaschetti.
Appreciate all that you do and hope you have a great weekend!
Thanks,
Sam Eble
A.J. Cwiok messaged the photo at the top and this on Friday:
Last trip on the lake for the season. Made a few casts before pulling the boat out of Waukegan
50 fow
Jason “Special One” Le texted the photos above and below from fishing fall steelhead on the Chicago lakefront.
Stacey Greene at Park Bait at Montrose Harbor texted:
Hi
Steelhead bite is on fire. Hitting on all types of baits. Spawn sacs, night crawlers, shrimp, minnows, lures, hair jigs with wax worms, etc… Still a few salmon around Kings and Coho, lures and spawn. Northerns and Smallmouth in and around the harbors. Had a report over the weekend that a Perch or 2 were caught here at the mouth of the harbor. Water temps in the 50s, so starting to try for Perch is not a bad idea.
We were notified by the Chicago Park District that they will be working on the electric here at Montrose Wednesday Nov.6th from 8am to 6pm so I will be open in the morning till we lose power. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Have a great week!
SALMON SNAGGING: Here are the details from the IDNR:
4) Snagging for Chinook and coho salmon only is permitted from the following Lake Michigan shoreline areas from October 1 through December 31; however, no snagging is allowed at any time within 200 feet of a moored watercraft or as posted: A) Lincoln Park Lagoon from the Fullerton Avenue Bridge to the southern end of the Lagoon. B) Waukegan Harbor (in North Harbor basin only). C) Winnetka Power Plant discharge area. D) Jackson Harbor (Inner and Outer Harbors).
LaSALLE LAKE
Closed.
MADISON LAKES, WISCONSIN
Click here for the update from D&S Bait, Tackle & Fly Shop .
MAZONIA
Closed, except Monster remains open all year.
Hours are 6 a.m. to sunset.
NORTHERN WISCONSIN
Howard Bass emailed the photo above and this:
I dont know why but the crayfish with minnow seems very profound to me at this time.
Walleye and crappie fishing has been great for the last few weeks. Musky fishing has probably been even better for those dedicated to it. Ive had numerous opportunities but my hook setting with fly rod and musky seem to be very shaky for some reason. Ive had big fish(mid 40’s) bend the rod and then break water only to shake the fly loose mid air. Slack line and musky don’t go together well. As is typical, I have even had them snap my 4# test jig and minnow walleye setup boat side before getting a net on them. I definitely would have pics if i was fishing treble hooks and bait caster. Very frustrating creature sometimes.
This week I watched numerous musky, in a short span, get boated next to me while I was walleye fishing. I also watched a crappie fisherman repeatedly have his catch stolen by a musky while bringing them up to the boat. Good times and great unseasonable weather for the northwoods. Lake temps have stayed between 49-54 degrees when they should probably be in the upper 30’s low 40’s this time of year. Thats my friend marc gotanco with his crappie catch a couple weeks back. What a blast those are on lite gear and 25’ of water.
H
Kurt Justice at Kurt’s Island Sport Shop in Minocqua emailed:
Fairly quiet on the Lakeland front. Water temps did not drop as much as I predicted. Most lakes in the 50-52 degrees mark (following snow and upper 20’s on 10/31, I thought we would see more in the 48-50 degree range).
Musky: Good – Could be most of us fishing too deep! Reports from several guides and anglers catching fish in 3-5’ using twitch baits such as Cranes, Slammers and light gliders. Pattern not what we expect for this time of year. Lakes holding their temps and off breaks not seeing signs of bait fish. Typically, I don’t use bobbers when sucker fishing, but to keep suckers out of weeds going that shallow, floats the way to go.
Crappie: Good – After no report last week, finally some anglers talking. Nice catches on medium fatheads over wood or cribs in 8-12’. Floats to hold bait at structure top or cast and swim paddle tails on 1/16 oz jigs.
Northern Pike: Good – Most reports on Pike picked up while Musky fishing using twitch baits in shallow weeds. Also casting jigs on wire leaders with 4-5” chubs and suckers for those targeting Pike.
Walleye: Fair – Few reports. Mostly deeper water with live bait as fish not very aggressive. Seeing lots of fish holding in 35-40’ relating to big schools of bait fish.
Following a small warm up, (60 degrees on 11/4) lows in the 30’s this week with highs in the low 50’s means patterns should remain about the same. With Ciscos staging on lakes that have them, anglers should start to see Musky staging just outside these gravel spawning areas themselves.
Kurt Justice
Kurt’s Island Sports Shop
– Like us on FaceBook
NORTHWEST INDIANA
Capt. Rich Sleziak at Slez’s Bait in Lake Station texted:
Few perch showing up on the Gary light clay flats in that deep 55 to 60ft depth. Not loaded yet but a few have been caught.
Some lake trout and whitefish starting to be caught off of Michigan city lighthouse pier.
Crappie bite going good on lake George in Hobart minnows best bait.
Slez’s Bait still has plenty of musky suckers in stock.
ROOT RIVER, WISCONSIN
Click here for the Wisconsin DNR’s report, usually on Tuesday or Wednesday.
SHABBONA LAKE
Winter site hours through Jan. 31 are 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Boondocks is closed.
SOUTHEAST WISCONSIN LAKEFRONT
Bob France messaged the photo above and this:
Nine trays of King and coho salmon read for smoking!
From Kenosha and Racine.
Click here for the southern Lake Michigan reports from the Wisconsin DNR.
SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN
A.J. Cwiok messaged the photo above and this:
Limit on st joe
Staff at Tackle Haven in Benton Harbor said Jasper Dairy area in the river is best for steelhead.
WISCONSIN RIVER
Rob Abouchar messaged the photo above and this:
Hi Dale
. . .
I hit Merrill Saturday to meet Roy coackley and fish out the season. The bait shop being closed was a harbinger of the season waning. With no suckers we fished crankbaits chatterbaits and other muskie baits. The weather was brisk but beautiful not cold for this time of year. It was Post front chamber of commerce weather. Only duck hunters were out. We were the only boat out. The bite was very slow but we got a few pike and a beautiful specimen of a north woods muskie on the Rapala OG Rocco square bill crankbait a real fish getter. The eagles soared and the sun set on another spectacular season and we gave thanks. Sunday pulled boat home in rain.
. . .
Tight Lines and Good Health!
Rob
WOLF RIVER, WISCONSIN
Guide Bill Stoeger in Fremont texted:
Water level is on the rise, and temp holding in the upper 40’s. The bite has slowed with the changing conditions.