Back to school, so to speak: Chicago fishing, Midwest Fishing Report

Dan Kancewick with a gaggle of Monona gills.

With the rain Monday nite u can exspect a few coho and a few kings to show up outside the ditch won’t be a motherload but a few will show best to fish 35 5 to 45 around #4market aka sunken reef

Hey Dale, Here is a recap of this week’s fishing.Area creeks- smallmouth continue to be excellent. Midwest rigs below riffles are the best places to catch good numbers. A hop and pause retrieve has worked best.TTYL—Ken Husker O’Malley Husker Outdoors Waterworks fishing team

Been fishing the Calumet system all weekend …. nice cats …. bass ..perch and gills are very active …… waiting for salmon and crappie to start.

Chicago River and Lake Michigan Report Out a few times last week fishing has slowed a bit on the river you have to work more for fish and they are scattered more. Water surface temps are in the low to mid – seventies. The Pan fish seem to be moving around more and not staging on wood and walls, Bass are also moving more and seem to be on the smaller side. White Jigs small 4 in worms on a plain hook with split shot or drop shot waeight up about 15 resting on bottom seemed to work well a couple bass came on 1 to 1 ½ crank baits. On a good note down river in a barge turn drop channel that I have fished for Crappie and Gills we got an added and Welcome Surprise. While fishing for Crappie and Gills we started catching Small Bass 6 to 12 and they were strong and healthy which is good for the future of the river. Saturday we spend the day up at North Point with the Trolling gear on the boat. Nick and Mike are being kind enough to help setup and Help me get the boat right for trolling. I’ve trolled for walleye but not much on the big pond so the Help is Welcome for sure. We got out and the learning started and there is a lot to learn (Hats off to you guys that are good at this}. We worked 150 fow of water managed a 10# King and I learned a lot will be back out to do it again this weekend. Have a Great Week catch a Monster. — www.patharrisonoutdoors.com Thanks Pat

Water temps averaging around the 75 degree mark. The river is as ripe as its been all year. Pike are absolutely blast right now. Went out late Sunday and had the time of my life. Pulled in over 20 pike in only a couple short hours. A few really nice ones mixed in. Bucktails and spinnerbaits working best.Marcus BeneschGurnee, Illinois

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Hi Dale, Not much to report-I’ve only been out once recently (I hope to change that soon). Sunday afternoon, I went to a different Fox tributary, this one farther southwest, not far from Silver Springs S.P. I’d scouted it during the late Winter and have wanted to fish it since then. It took until now to get around to it. It was low, clear and surprisingly cool for the middle of August; I’d guess there is a lot of spring flow somewhere upstream. As nice as it looked, I only caught a few small smallmouths and they came from the deepest water I could find. Last year, I didn’t start hitting the Fox tribs hard until September and they fished pretty well then for size and numbers. I won’t give up on this one until I’ve given it a shot in the Autumn. Hope you enjoyed the eclipse and your trip downstate. Pete

Steelhead still strong in trail shrimp spawn spinners is what u want to use

Hey Dale, Here is a recap of this week’s fishing.Kankakee River- wading conditions are near perfect. Smallmouth are very good on Erie darters, lipless cranks, rooster tails, and bandit 200 cranks. As you can see, they are hitting on a wide variety of baits. Focus on areas with current. Limestone flats with large boulders and current seams are the best places to get good numbers.TTYL—Ken Husker O’Malley Husker Outdoors Waterworks fishing team

Hi Dale – Out of Waukegan boats trolled in three distinct areas this weekend. 60 to 90 for staging kings, 130 to 150 targeting lake trout on the bottom, 170 out to 300 feet fishing mostly for steelhead and some little coho. Everyone had spotty success. No big numbers of fish anywhere. We spent the weekend targeting kings. The staging kings are showing up at Waukegan. We were in 60 – 90 feet working hard for them. Lots of lure changes. Quality over quantity. Every trip had at least one king over 18#. Over the weekend we had 3 over 20#, 10 between 12 and 20. a few browns and lakers, one coho and a TON of 2 year old kings. I really hope this is a sign of a good future. Key this weekend was to get you lures way back. 5-10 color leads, baits behind the riggers 100+ feet, slide divers with the lures 60 to 100 behind the diver. Warrior Blueberry muffin was the best overall lure. Magnum glow spoons were good overall. Some of the kings were super dark already. We have our last split/shared trip of the year this weekend (8/27) and we still have a couple of spots open. $110/ per person. We will be targeting kings during the sunset bite. It’s the chance for anglers who can’t get a group of 6 to split a charter or pay for the whole boat themselves to get out on a professional boat with two USCG Master Captains aboard. Capt. Scott R. Wolfe http://www.schooloffishcharters.com

Dale heading home from Monona. 2 man limit of nice gills in 25 fow. The gills wanted the 5 mm Clown Chekai tungsten jig with a 1 inch Gulp minnow. Fish on top/off the sides of the old fish cribs. Main lake water temps were 72-74 degrees.

Earliest reports trickling in show no signs of a super major fish feeding period during the Eclipse Monday (but if you had otherwise, I’d like to know so I can set my calendar for 30 years from now). Warmer temps helped raise surface temps into the low 70’s, bringing about a bit of a bump in action. Northern Pike: Good-Very Good – While some slower presentations than usual for Pike worked best (namely jig and chub combos) casting spinner baits, chatter baits and swim baits accounted for nice Pike this past week up to 38. Bluegill: Good-Very Good – Suspended Gills off coontail edges in 14-18’ of water 6-8’ down. Drift Mini-Mite jigs tipped with a waxie or 1/32 oz jigs and small leeches. The warm weather has brought back a top-water popper/dry fly bite. Largemouth Bass: Good-Very Good – Working plastics – creatures, tubes and Wacky worming best. Some good lipless crank action over weed tops in 8-10’. As with Gills, some anglers picking up evening action on top-water frogs, buzz baits. Smallmouth Bass: Good – Working drop shot rigs over gravel humps over 18-28’. Tossing tubes along coontail edges also producing. Crappie: Good – Small twister tails over cabbage beds as well as medium fats over drowned wood. Yellow Perch: Good – Deeper coontail edges producing nice perch (9-11) on 1/2 crawlers and medium leeches. Musky: Fair-Good – Bucktails and medium sized rubber baits along cabbage flats during the day. Work over sandgrass flats in the evening using large rubber baits (New Savage Burbots hot!) Walleye: Fair – Starting to find some fish over gravel humps on deeper lakes. Flowages hit or miss on shallow weeds one day followed by deep wood the next. Wind is key, the more the shallower. Things can usually get a little tough during late August. Changing weather from cool nights one day to warm humid nights the next Kurt Justice Kurt’s Island Sport Shop www.kurtsislandsports.com Like us on FaceBook

Fishing Report Panfish: There are still perch in the weeds and you can find some moving into the rock piles using a slip bobber tipped with minnows or tossing a 1/8th oz. jig with a small minnow seems to be doing the job. Crappies are in the deeper weeds and around structure. Slip bobber rigs with a hook and minnow or a jig and plastic should do the trick. Bluegills are up in the shallows on the warmer lakes; slip bobber rigs baited with red worms or waxies will catch these. Remember we do have panfish regulations on a few of our lakes in the area. Bass: Largemouth can be found in the shallow weeds and around docks; and they will be caught using top water and spinnerbaits. Smallies are in and around the rocks and can be caught by using small crankbaits and jerkbaits. Northern: These fish will be found in and around weeds, so pitching jig and minnows or small spinnerbaits and spoons will get their attention. Walleye: We are casting 1/8th oz. jigs tipped with live bait. Depending on the depth that you are fishing is when you might need to go heavier with your jig. Muskies: Bucktails and jerkbaits are working, along with top water. These are your go to baits for a while now.

Lake fishing tough over weekend hot water top to bottom most areas guys that did ok had to go way out 180ft plus and it was still not steady just a fish here and there. Perch action is almost non existent not much around and not many trying. One good note crappie bite in burns ditch around old piers and bigger stick ups was solid last week a lot of good ones 10 11 inches a few bigger minnows or white yellow jigs tipped with waxworms best baits

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