Chicago fishing: Fall crappie while ice fishing is not in sight

Hi Dale

In island lake the last of the flowers in the butterfly garden have been picked leaving only some hardy Salvia blooms to fight the impending frost that somehow has not yet hit. The time change is allowing less time in the evening to fish but the autumn sunsets have been nice. Panfish still going on wax worms and red worms. The warm weather had a few boaters out over the weekend before the weather changed. As the rain moved through feeding activity picked up and bass were hitting a variety of baits including , live worms, golden roach minnows under a slip float, and Berkeley slobberknocker bladed jig. The rain raised the lake level a bit and has the water Temps at 50 degrees.

On the music front Gozortenplat has produced our promo videos for the zappa fest shows with Ray White in December. Fans of Saturday night live should like it. Quite fun filming and recording it. Midnite mile getting ready for a set at the Santa cause fundraiser November 23rd at crossroads. This set is chock full of great tunes including traffics Dear Mr. fantasy by request. And there seems to be great interest for the Conscious rockers reggae band show on November 30 at main Street outfitters in Wauconda. The timing might be right for a packed house and a very special evening for all. Music is the best!

Tight lines and good health!
Rob

Area Lakes-

The focus the last couple of days was basin crappie. Yesterday was sunny with winds out of the west. They were bunched up in schools which made them easy to locate. The bait of choice was a Wackem and Stackem Custom Baits chow bell. Today the winds were out of the ESE and overcast. The crappie were on the move and scattered. The bait of choice was the Clam Outdoors Niku twitch fly. The nice thing about this time of the year is you don’t have to hit the water at the crack of dawn. Letting those water temps rise just a bit will trigger a good bite late morning into early afternoon.

Here’s the nature pic of the week. An 8 point buck chasing 2 does on the Kankakee.

TTYL

Ken “Husker” O’Malley

Husker Outdoors
Waterwerks fishing team

I have a few customers chasing muskies using10-11 inch suckers on the chain and lake Geneva.

Fishing is still open, but does not start until 12 noon during waterfowl season. Waterfowl hunting stops at noon.

Hi Dale,

A Fox watershed-only report this week. We got a lot of rain last week and it definitely raised water levels in the area. The Fox was up but dropping and clarity wasn’t too bad. I looked at a nearby tributary too and it had been way up only days earlier: there was a lot of mud where the high water had just been. All that increased flow didn’t do anything to bring fish into the creek though. The only smallmouths I got from the Fox were small. Same story on Sunday. I went much farther downstream, into Grundy County. Winds were howling that day and casting would’ve been difficult, but there are some big islands in that part of the river, so by fishing the lee sides it was easy enough to avoid the wind. Rain the night before had raised levels again, but not to the point that fishing was impossible. Again, not a lot of fish and they were small. But it was better than squandering three hours watching that steaming pile of crap from Soldier Field.

Pete

. . .

Also some panfishing in the channels off the Fox River. Use crappie minnows, wax worms or gulp minnows. Shallow crank baits and Mepps in line spinners are working for smallmouth on the lower Fox River below Algonquin Dam.

I have a few customers chasing muskies using10-11 inch suckers on the chain and lake Geneva.

Fishing Report – 11/11/2024

Mike Norris

Big Green Lake: Last week, rain flushed through Big Green Lake, and the water turned clear. Most fish relocated to deeper water because of the improved water clarity. Water temperature remains at 54 degrees, about three degrees warmer than in past years. But I am starting to see shallow weed growth die off. Most smallmouth bass have relocated to their historic locations for this time of year. I’m finding smallmouth bass along deeper weed edges where the coontail remains green. Look for them around 14 feet down and along the first primary dropoff in 20 - 35 feet of water. Troll slowly while checking your depth finder and look for where the baitfish are present. When you find the bait, the bass will be there. Northern pike action is good right now. Pike are chowing down on bluegills and perch, and the pike I’m catching have full stomachs. Walleyes are active in the early morning and at dusk. Cast or troll crankbaits along the dropoffs in 15 feet of water. Bluegills are holding around the cribs. Catch them jigging vertically with a red worm on a drop shot rig.

Beaver Dam Lake: Anglers are catching walleyes at dusk fishing from shore. The best area is along the shoreline at Edgewater Park. Also, try either side of the trench at County Highway G, where the lake funnels down and crosses beneath the road. Casting and slowly retrieving crankbaits are accounting for most of the catches.

Hi Dale,

During a Saturday morning outing to the Kankakee River, an eruption of gunfire reminded us that shooting time started at 9 a.m. in the public hunting areas surrounding the main channel.

We forgot our blaze orange. So, we retreated to the smaller waters of Rock Creek, where my friend pulled this photogenic smallmouth from a deep hole.

. . .

Take care,

Reilly

4.5 pounds

My buddy Butch Bianca

He was with me

2024 Chicago Salmon wrap up:

Started throwing spoons in the middle of August, all the silver fish were coho and steelhead in 76 degree water. Weird.

Didn’t catch my first king until the very last day of August. It was a Jack and a prelude to what was a Jack heavy run all season for me. Numbers wise it was the same as most years but the quality of 3-4 year olds just wasn’t there.

Switched to the bobber middle of September with the same results. Some days 3-4 fish many days one and done. Some days none.

Still my favorite time of year to fish, was great seeing all the familiar faces out there.

I’ll start with letting you all know that the plan so far is to have the shop open through the first weekend of December. If the weather allows I will try like I did last year to stay open longer.

Also for those who are interested and can make it the Chicago Fishing Advisory Committee will be meeting at the 31st street harbor community room at 10 am on Thursday November 21st, hope to see some of you there. The last meeting had a lot of anglers and a lot of great input.

Now for the fishing report. Steelhead still lead the report. Most harbors are active with Steelhead/Rainbow Trout. They are hitting many different baits including spawn sacs, hair jigs with wax worms, night crawlers, shrimp, large minnows, etc… as well as still some artificial lures and crank baits. Some Browns have been swimming around but haven’t heard of many caught. There are a few really old looking (zombie) Kings still being caught. Nice Northerns in the mix as well. No Smallmouth reports. Perch are slowly coming in here and there.

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).

Moving into mid-November and still with such mild temperatures. Daytime highs cresting 50 degrees some days and lows in upper 30’s to low 40’s continue to buoy lake surface temps. Have reports of lakes as low as 44 degrees with large lakes still reading 49-50 degrees.

Fishing pressure light with most anglers targeting Musky, though a few taking advantage of mild weekend to pursue Perch and Walleye.

Musky: Good – Suckers accounting for most catches. Holding rigged suckers in 14-24’ of water while casting gliders and twitch baits worked slowly up across weed edges. Fish will become more sluggish as water temps cool making slow moving lures and suckers more appealing. Takes (bites) can start getting softer and will continue to be so as water chills.

Yellow Perch: - Good – Surprise entry, but a good one as anglers working weeds of 12-14’ finding nice numbers on Crappie minnows. No jumbos but lots of good 9-10”+ eaters.

Northern Pike: Good – Liking the cool water! Pike providing some fun, late season open water action. Target remaining green weeds of 8-14’. Jig and chubs or suckers (4-6”) best. Like their bigger cousins, Pike bites surprisingly light, hence the live bait preference.

Walleye: Fair - Anglers working mud flats of 22-30’ reporting some fish on redtails and Walleye suckers on Lindy style rigs. Best along edges or flats where hard bottom meets.

With high, cold winds from the North mixing things up today (11/11), water temps will most likely slide down. Lows the rest of the week in 30’s with highs of mid-40’s will continue trend.

As a side note, rarely mentioned Whitefish on Trout Lake have been biting as they stage in 30-40’ off potential spawning flats. Swedish Pimples tipped with waxies, minnow heads or Gulp.

Happy Veterans Day! Thank you so much to all who have served.

Kurt Justice

Kurt’s Island Sports Shop
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Few lakers, whitefish and perch being caught off of Michigan city lighthouse pier.

After the last rain we had a few fresh steelhead came up in local nwi tributaries.

Crappie in Lake George in Hobart still good using minnows around the gazebo and around the bridges using minnows.

The walleye bite was good this morning. From the Rat River to Poygan was the best. Vertical jigging with minnows, color didn’t seem to matter. Water temp 45 degrees Tuesday