Chicago fishing: Hints of lakefront perch, no hints of ice, yet

Dale hope all is well haven’t emailed you in a while been little busy at work, anyhow spent few hours Saturday out at monee reservoir caught a couple nice bass . . . found some nice bluegills out in Beecher after watching the bears fall to Green Bay once again! All in all good weekend..

tight lines all

Dale...Got this 12" jumbo today from a Plainfield retention pond on live minnows.....Bill.....

I’m putting out all the ice tackle in anticipation of a good ice season. A few things you should pay attention to are current areas do not freeze like stationary waters. Lakes west of the Fox River freeze better just because they are farther from Lake Michigan. Crystal Lake, Wonder Lake,McCollum Lake and others all get better ice than closer to Lake Michigan. Always be careful and safe! Call me for ice reports or check Dave’s Bait and Tackle facebook page for ice reports when it gets here!

Hey Dale,

The bluegill bite has been exceptional.

This weekend was the start of scouting for first ice. I hit a lake that I haven’t fished all season. The bite started out very slow as I searched for active gills. I finally found them stacked up on the wind blown side along the deep weed line. A few smaller bass were caught as well. A Wackem and Stackem Custom Baits 1/32 jig tipped with bees moth had them hitting on every cast. Took some sorting but found a few nicer ones. Line of choice was the FINS Braids crappie braid in 4lb test. Water temps are slowly dropping but still in the mid 50’s. This weeks forecast will help lower those temps.
Here is the nature pic of the week. Some great moon shots lately.

TTYL

Ken “Husker” O’Malley

Husker Outdoors
Waterwerks fishing team

Hi Dale,

. . .

As far as the pond fishing, I caught a few small bluegills but missed or lost many more than I landed. They were surprisingly active for late November; I just couldn’t get them to stay hooked long enough to land them. I never changed flies the entire weekend; all fish came on a balanced minnow pattern fished under a strike indicator. It results in a slower, more vertical presentation which should be more effective in cooling water.

Pete

Hi Dale

It was a great birthday week capped off by a trip to Busse lake with The Leyden fishing. The weather was great for November and a variety of fish were caught. Bluegill going on waxworms on gapen bugs and black and orange fly. Tim ferris got a beautiful largemouth on a classic silver with blue back rattle trap, Alexander got a long pike in a golden roach minnow, and I landed a nice Busse lake muskie on the Rocco og 5 squarebill. Not sure if it was a stocked fish from the Busse muskie experiment of a few years back or a natural reproduced fish. Other anglers catching a few small crappie on small minnows. The bite on island lake Sunday was non existent as I floated the leftover minnows from Saturday but it was nice to just be there on the dock watching a bobber.

On the music front it was s great gift to see my nephew matthew mckluskey and his kids Adesta and Harrison doing some garage band jamming for my birthday. This Saturday midnite mile at Santa cause in Ivanhoe at crossroads. Next Saturday the conscious rockers at main street in Wauconda. And but also Gozortenplat Dec 13 in Chicago and December 14 in Milwaukee. Glad I’ve caught up on sleep.

Tight lines and good health!

Rob

Few perch being caught at the slips and up and down river for boaters around crowley’s. Nothing crazy yet but this cold front coming will help cool water down more and spark the action.

Hi

. . . Smallmouth on the lake slow but the river action is good.

The Fishing Advisory Committee meeting is this Thursday at 31st Street Harbor community room at 10am hoping to have some more new faces join the discussions.

Have a great week!

Desplaines this morning

Hi Dale,

I got out over the weekend to a couple of different places. I fished a Fox trib on Saturday, trying to cover as much water as possible, making a few casts at several access points. As temperatures drop, I fish slower water than I would during warmer conditions. That is why I mostly got into rock bass this time but hadn’t really seen any through the Summer: I was fishing faster water then looking for cats and smallmouths. I got into some smallmouths on this outing, but they were outnumbered by the rock bass. No carp seen, which is unusual, but there were a few suckers around holding tight to the bottom.

. . .

Pete

Fishing Report – 11/18/2024

By Mike Norris

Big Green: I’d be ice fishing this week in the back channels on Big Green five years ago. Not so today with globally rising air temps. At a 52-degree water temperature, Big Green is four degrees above historic norms for this time of the year. As a result, I am seeing more and more anglers out in their boats and casting for bass, northern pike, and walleye during this time. Northern pike was the big story last weekend for anglers trolling with sucker minnows, with fish measuring 40 inches or more being caught and released. Trophy-sized smallmouth bass are staged up in groups, and they can be caught slow rolling swim jigs, casting jerk baits, pulling tubes, and trolling with live bait. Walleyes are best early in the morning or after sunset, with crankbaits trolled over deep weed edges. I should see fewer anglers as a blast of cold weather is forecast for later this week, and outdoorsmen head to the field for deer.

Beaver Dam Lake: For local anglers, catching walleyes while fishing from shore improved last week in both numbers and size. Cast a jig with a white twister tail, or float a jig and minnow under a bobber for the best results. The eastern shore at Edgewater Park and the neckdown where the lake crosses beneath the Highway G bridge are excellent spots to try your luck.

Hi Dale -

Fished the Kankakee Sunday. First time out this fall for the afternoon bite and enjoyed a mixed bag of the best river fish available arguably without a crappie. 1 Northern Pike (small), 1 Walleye 18”, largemouth Bass and Smallmouth Bass mostly small a few decent ones. Again, the bite was scattered for smallmouth but schools are beginning to find their winter holes better late than never. River temp was at 53 and clear, water came up a few inches. Swimbaits, ned rigs.

Dale hope all is well haven’t emailed you in a while been little busy at work, anyhow . . . decided to give the perch a try at the slip on Sunday caught about two dozen in three hours only five keepers in that bunch. . . . All in all good weekend..

tight lines all

Hi

Steelhead still doing good in the harbors. They are hitting a variety of baits live and artificial. A few scattered Brown Trout but few and far in between. The few Kings that are still around are very dark and ready to die. Perch reports are scattered. Nice Crappie and Bluegill at Diversey on jigs with spikes or waxies. Smallmouth on the lake slow but the river action is good.

The Fishing Advisory Committee meeting is this Thursday at 31st Street Harbor community room at 10am hoping to have some more new faces join the discussions.

Have a great week!

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).

Nice week to fish, until weekend biting winds took their toll on the fun. With temps cresting into the 50’s until Saturday, fishing was unusually pleasurable for mid-November. Reading on lakes ranged from a low of 42 degrees to highs of 46 degrees surface. With Tuesday’s forecast of rain and highs in the 50’s, that will be the last we will see of temps hitting 40 degrees for a while, so expect the inevitable.

Musky: Good – Strongest on suckers with lake temps now in 40’s. Still worth casting gliders and twitch baits as well as lighter rubber baits to draw attention. Best activity has been mid-late mornings through mid-afternoons.

Yellow Perch: - Good – Anglers still finding nice eaters along 10-12’ weeds using small minnows. Not jumbos, but nice 9-10” fish.

Northern Pike: Good-Fair – Not many targeting, but some nice Pike to mid-30” range taking suckers meant for Musky.

That’s it for fishing reports for now. A reminder, that the Musky season remains open through the month of December, BUT…you can only fish from shore or a boat for Musky. Ice cannot be a base to fish from for Musky (No tip-up fishing).

While deer season in the Northwoods has not been what it used to be, gotta say seeing some trail cam pics of nice bucks this year. Could be last year’s mild winter helped survivability and antler growth. Signs of rutting good so despite a late gun season opener, hopeful for some good success to our hunters.

Kurt Justice

Kurt’s Island Sports Shop
– Like us on FaceBook

Few perch being caught at the slips and up and down river for boaters around crowley’s. Nothing crazy yet but this cold front coming will help cool water down more and spark the action.

Some steelhead action in salt creek and lil cal using voodoo jigs and waxworms.

Lakers and whitefish here and there off of Michigan city lighthouse pier.

Crappie off the bridges on lake George in Hobart doing decent.

Slez’s Bait Shop will be open 5am till 3pm on Thanksgiving Day.

2,800 advanced growth walleye fingerlings found themselves a new today November 16 at Wolf Lake Memorial Park in Hammond Indiana

The water level is still up after recent rains, and temperatures continue to drop. There’s a good walleye bite near the mouth of the river at Poygan. Jigs or rigs with minnows, and pulling flies working well.