Chicago fishing: All IDNR sites open on Friday and spawning activity builds along with the heat

May 23 @BowmanOutside fishing local ponds in our hood. @Ryan63588308 caught his PB

Cooper Mishka 10 years old caught this nice bass in backyard pond in Downers Grove over Memorial Day weekend.

Hi Dale, Not much new to report. Bass and bluegills-especially bluegills-are going strong on area lakes and ponds, even the bigger bodies of water that are last to warm up. Both species as well as the occasional crappie are willing to hit on the surface. Carp spawning is in full swing too; they’re creating quite a ruckus. . . . Pete

Hey Dale, Here is a recap of this past weeks fishing. Area lakes- with continued record rainfalls over the last week, it’s important to find the clearest water possible. Bass are good on lipless crankbaits and spinnerbaits. Bluegill have starting making beds, so bass will not be far behind. Locate the bluegill and you will find bass. Heidecke- Multi-species can be had on crankbaits. Smallmouth, walleye, and crappies are decent. Try to time your launch and exit times if possible to avoid traffic jams at the launch until the rest of the state run facilities open up this weekend. TTYL — Ken Husker O’Malley Husker Outdoors Waterwerks fishing team

Fishing report downtown still very slow a few scattered stripers Origins park the carp are slamming on the shoreline stacked up everywhere water temperature 59

Yes caught it yesterday with Pete galanis home from tour do to covet 19 all I did was real it in he rigged everything first carp ever caught on purpose

Hey Dale, . . . Heidecke- Multi-species can be had on crankbaits. Smallmouth, walleye, and crappies are decent. Try to time your launch and exit times if possible to avoid traffic jams at the launch until the rest of the state run facilities open up this weekend. TTYL — Ken Husker O’Malley Husker Outdoors Waterwerks fishing team

Delavan Lake 5/25/20 through 6/1/2020 Fishing has been improving by the day on Delavan. The warmer stable weather has helped quite a bit. . Crappie fishing last week was good. The fish are in a pre-spawn stage. They are suspending off the break line in 12-15 ft. of water. The fish can be caught on slip bobbers fishing a small fathead minnow or by slowly retrieving twister tails and cubby jigs. The best colors are chartreuse and yellow. As the water warms, the crappies will slowly move in to shore to spawn. Some of my best locations last week was the Village Supper Club, the Township Park break and by Willow Point. Some of the crappies I caught were over 12 inches. Northern Pike fishing has been excellent. The pike action still remains in the shallow bays in 8-10 ft. of water. The best baits are large fire tiger Rapala’s or small perch colored crank baits. Some of the people I’ve spoken with have had double digit days on fish, however they’ve been on the small side. Look for the fish by Lake Lawn, and Viewcrest Bay. Largemouth bass are starting to make nests and begin spawning. Sight fishermen are having the best success. Look for them in 2-3 ft. of water, associating with hard sand. The tricky part is trying to present a bait without getting the green slime on it. I prefer fishing a Texas rigged tube bait, either chartreuse/pepper or white/pepper. This makes it easier to see when sight fishing. Live bait fishermen are still catching good numbers casting around the north shore docks and wherever the weeds will let them. Bluegill fishing continues to be excellent. The fish are also nearing their time to spawn. The best depth is 3-4 ft. of water. Most of the fish are being taken on leaf worms fished on a small bobber. Hellgrammites will also work if you can find them. Bluegill fishing should remain good in the shallow water for another 10 days or so. After they spawn they start to go into the deeper water. Look for the bluegills by Willow Point or by Lake Lawn. The best Walleye bite has been at night. Most of the fish are coming out of 5 ft of water near the main lake points. Such as, the Yacht Club, Willow Point and the Village Supper Club. The best bait is either a thunder stick or the Rapala husky jerk. I prefer the blue/chrome color bait. The retrieve, I typically use, is a slow reel/pause. The fish haven’t been that active so the harsh jerk is not necessary. In the next couple of weeks, the walleye should start becoming more active and be easily picked up on the weed lines. That is when the day angler will have the most success. Good luck and I hope to see you on the water. For guide parties, please call Dave Duwe at 262-728-8063

Hi Dale, . . . I knew what I was going to find, but I had to look anyway. I went to some Fox tribs late last week and they were unfishable, at least with fly tackle: out of their banks and muddy. And that was before the rain on Saturday. Smallmouth would seem to be off the table for a few days at least. . . . Pete

Lake Geneva 5/25/2020 through 6/1/2020 With the warmer weather, fishing has improved dramatically. The holiday weekend was completely crazy! Boats everywhere. The smallmouth bass are starting to spawn. They are located anywhere between 8 and 12 ft. of water on the spawning flats, such as Maytag point, Elgin Club and Knollwood. Some of the best success last week, was by sight fishermen fishing either tube baits (white is best) or smoke colored spider jigs. Light line with spinning gear seemed to be the best approach. The bass should be spawning for the next week or so. The fish are really tight to their nests and won’t chase a live bait presentation dragged near them. This will change in the next few days. Leeches or nightcrawlers are the best live bait. Rock Bass are literally everywhere. The best depth is 9-12 ft. of water. I’ve been catching most of them on the sandy flats. This is the best time to take a kid fishing, if you want to catch a lot of fish. Some of the rock bass I caught last week were over a pound. Rock bass fishing will remain constant for the next month. The best bait to use is nightcrawlers fished behind a small split shot, or a small pinkie jigs retrieved slowly back to the boat. Bluegills are starting to show up in the shallows. The best locations have been the shallow weeds in Geneva Bay and Trinkies. Bobbers with small leaf worms seem to be producing most of the action. The best depth is 5-6 ft. of water. For shore fishermen, there has been good success off the piers in Williams Bay and the piers in Geneva. Bluegill fishing should improve greatly as it gets closer to the time for them to spawn. Largemouth bass fishing has been above average. Most of the fish are now shallow getting ready to spawn. The best depth is 3-4 ft. around boat docks with a nice sand bottom. A good location last week was in the Abbey Harbor flipping around the piers and boats and in Geneva Bay flipping docks as well. Anything you prefer to flip seems to work fine, for live bait fishermen nightcrawlers are always a good bet. Good luck and I hope to see you on the water. For guide parties, please call Dave Duwe at 262-728-8063.

Fishing Report 05/23/2020 Mike Norris We finally got warm weather here in south central Wisconsin and it paid off for anglers on the Memorial Day weekend. Shallower lakes in the area warmed to around 63 degrees but the deeper lakes remain in the low 50’s. Beaver Dam – Crankbait trollers are doing well catching walleye on Beaver Dam Lake while other anglers are locating pods of suspended crappie with their electronics and catching them on small jigs tipped with minnows or wax warms under a float. Fox Lake – The lack of sunlight this spring has slowed the weed growth on this lake so search around with your electronics and look for any emerging weed growth you can find. Stick baits are starting to come into play for largemouth bass here but casting bladed jigs in and around emerging weed beds remains the best way to cover water and catch numbers of largemouth bass and northern pike. Walleye anglers are reporting success casting minnow imitating lures around emerging weedbeds. Big Green – A few smallmouth bass are showing up in rocky shoreline areas, but the main movement of both largemouth and smallmouth bass from deep water is still one to two weeks away. I’m sticking with the shallower lakes for now. Lake Puckaway – Post spawn walleyes are filtering back down the Fox River to Lake Puckaway. Troll shallow running crankbaits on planer boards along the north shore to catch walleyes. Look for bluegill to start showing up in the cane beds. Fishing in south-central Wisconsin is heating up and now is a time to book a guided trip. For more information about my guide service phone me at 630-842-8199 or contact me through my website at www.comecatchsmallmouth.com.

Hi Dale This week felt fantastic to us as we finally got the decks bloody on Manipulator. We did a couple of shake-down trips. Charters start this week. 60 to 80 feet of water was consistently the best depth with mostly lake trout. Laker limits were the norm with a few kings and coho in the mix. Aqua was the go to color this week. Downriggers running Warrior UV Hey Babe in XL and Standard sizes and wire divers with 11 Green/Glow ProTroll paddle and Smokin Fish Hey Babe Fly were the workhorses. I would continue to encourage trollers to run rigs targeting chinook because there are a decent number around. You will continue to get lakers and coho on those rigs. A few boats went exploring the deeper waters without much success. Shallower water is extremely murky due to the winds. There may be large number of coho there. Catching them in that water is very difficult. Based on the weather pattern this coming week I do not expect fishing to change much with that same area being good and a good chance to catch a limit of lake trout, a trophy king and a few coho. Capt. Scott Wolfe School Of Fish Charters www.schooloffishcharters.com 630-341-0550

The warm weather is here and water temps are on the rise. Smallmouth and all species are active. The next several weeks will produce good fishing. I have open dates throughout the summer.

Coho kings lake trout 55 to 60 ft of water from the ditch trolling east towards Michigan city pockets of fish here and there best baits mag spoons orange dodgers and Flys and spindoctors and Flys Lake trout straight out of ditch in 70 to 80 steady near bottom Gong area out of east Chicago giving lots of lakers up Willow slough good for boat fisherman crickets red wigglers best baits Gills are doing ther thing in bedding time Slezs bait shop is on summer hours now 5 am to 7 pm everyday

We are up in fremont boat traffic was the worst ever.....caught 35 in the a.m. and 30 at dusk......bobbers...with minnows worked best in the shallows....all fish where down river past Chicos

The local gas station was out of minnows and ice cream it was that crowded everyone came out of the woodwork....lol

The white bass spawn is for the most part over. Water temp hit 70 degrees yesterday. Should have a good week or so catching males, rigs in deep water channels. A few walleye taken on crawlers, and gills are making beds. Northern action will pick up as the gills move shallow. Catfish have been very good, with channels up to 20 pounds. It’s a great time to fish.