Changeable times in Chicago fishing: Midwest Fishing Report

Hey Dale, Our spring like temps are not helping out the ice on area lakes. Some shorelines have 1 to 1 1/2 inches of ice. Main pad is locked up but ice does not look good to travel on. Areas that have current have some open water. I recommend staying of the ice until we get some colder temps.TTYL — Ken Husker O’Malley Huskeroutdoors Waterworks fishing team

– BANNER MARSH – Will CLOSE TO BOAT FISHING on Oct. 12th with last day to boat fish being Oct. 11th AND BANK FISHING ONLY ALLOWED AFTER 1PM but NO FISHING ALLOWED in EAST POINT ACCESS AREA, which is CLOSED TO ALL FISHING to provide a GOOSE REFUGE AREA during season till Feb. 1st– DOUBLE T STATE FISH and WILDLIFE AREA – . . . remains Closed till Feb. 1st– EMIQUON PRESERVE – No boating, fishing or ice skating access before 12:00 pm during waterfowl season.– EVERGREEN LAKE – the SOUTHERN PART OF LAKE, AROUND DEER ISLAND and ALL OF SIX-MILE CREEK BAY IS CLOSED TO GAS MOTORS from Oct. 15th through JAN. 1st to allow resting areas for migratory waterfowl. YOU ARE ALLOWED TO STILL RUN A TROLLING MOTOR IN THESE AREAS ONLY.– SNAKEDEN HOLLOW & McMASTER LAKE – closed– SPRING LAKE (South & North) – WILL BE CLOSED TO BOAT FISHING in Waterfowl Hunting Area ON OCT. 15th with Last Day to Boat Fish being Oct. 14th with BANK FISHING ALLOWED ONLY AFTER 1pm– & AREAS THAT REMAIN OPEN TO BOATS ARE NORTH OF MAPLE ISLAND with ramp at north end at the Sky Ranch Road launch and IN PIKE HOLE with carry in boats – and Shore Fishing is allowed in entire lake after 1pm in Hunting areas or at boat ramps all day.– SANGCHRIS LAKE – THE WEST and EAST ARMS OF LAKE and Small AREA NEAR DAM ARE CLOSED DURING WATERFOWL SEASON to boat traffic effective Oct. 12th (last day to boat fish will be Oct. 11th) through Jan. 31, 2016 (during this time fishing boat traffic is permitted in the center hot arm only).– PRAIRIE LAKE in Jim Edgar/ Panther Creek State F&W Area – Lake is CLOSED from Nov. 1st to Jan. 15th to Fishing until after 12:01 PM on Wednesday & Saturday.– ANDERSON LAKE – THIS AREA Will be CLOSED TO BOAT FISHING in Main Lake from Oct. 15th (with last day to boat fish Oct. 14th) through Dec. 20th during waterfowl season with bank fishing Only allowed.– CLINTON LAKE – an easterly area of Clinton Lake (The Waterfowl Refuge Area) between the DeWitt Bridge East (CH14) and the Rt. 48 Bridge will CLOSE be on October 10th and will re-open on MARCH 31st…

Hi Dale, Not much actual information to share, but I did make some casts at a couple of warm water discharges on the Fox, this time north of Aurora. Didn’t handle any fish; didn’t even see any, not even suckers or carp. The only signs of life were ducks and a heron taking advantage of the open water and a muskrat who seemed surprised to see me. I need to sit down and do some serious fly tying for the Spring, before the smallmouths get active again, so if there is a silver lining to the lack of activity at the local warm water spots, it’s that it will provide the impetus to start cranking out some Clouser minnows over the next couple of months. Pete

12-24First time out in a bit, good thing I was out in the back end of no where with the first couple casts . Pathetic as a politicians campaign promises. Everywhere I went was a mixture of open water and ice , thankfully enough open water to fish . I started out in the back country at a crick that doesn’t get a lot of attention and I like it that way . Most of the slackwater be it shoreline, island , snag or weed related was covered with ice. After getting nothing going upstream with jigs/plastics in the open and faster moving water , I figured a change of tactics was needed. I headed back downstream to where I was parked working the edges of the ice cover over the slack areas. I used a small floating minnow , cast it downstream to hang in the current next to the ice cover . I ended up with 1 decent rock bass from the ice cover along a wood jam . Cool, found open water and figured a way to catch a fish . After going thru that medical crap , it was a good feeling to feel something on the end of my line . I hit another crick, this one has some hold over trout from the fall stocking as well as bass and rock bass . I found a riffle-pool-riffle sequence that had more depth than the rest that I scouted and decided to fish there first . I was casting a size 2 panther martin spinner across and down from the top to the back. I ended up catching an 8 inch trout . I fished three of the other riffle-pools with no fish caught but did have a very small smallmouth flash out and miss the spinner as it passed some wood laying on the bottom . Last stop was the river , found some places where there was slower but not slack flow that was not ice covered . rock bottom , algae on the rocks maybe 3 feet deep. I used a 1/8 oz darter head jig with a jigspinner attached and a dropshot erie darter swimming it off bottom . Finally get the fish I’ve been thinking about while not being able to fish, nice fat smallmouth 15 – 16 inches . Kepp working the area and get another hit, this from the head shake felt like a walleye . Sure enough , walleye just over 19 inches. Man just over the slot , no walleye dinner . Not bad, 4 fish, each of a different species , from three different places in about 4 hours in my first trip back . Back is a little sore , but it’s a good sore, I earned it .12-25The extended forecasts were wrong, the wind today definitely made it colder than yesterday . The fish didn’t care . I stuck with the river today , started out urban and worked back out to the park . First place I stopped, the best known place in town , the whole slack area was covered with ice . I bounced some jigs and banged some cranks in the faster flow , no takers . I went up and hit the wall as no one was sitting up above fishing . I had one hit on a swimbait, bit off by a pike . I put on a metal leader of course , no more bites . I went to go fish a pike spot that I rarely fish due to a promise I made to the guy who showed me the spot . About 35 years , an old grizzled river rat took a liking to a young , long haired river rat and started sharing his stuff . This spot , I promised him , I wouldn’t fish when any of the meat hogs could see me catching fish there . You local guys know where them dudes hang, the ones that pay no mind to any of the size or creel limits . I am proud to say that even though he passed about 30 years ago, I’ve kept my promise to him . Today there was no one out, not even the usual panhandlers or petty crack dealers , so I fished there. When he showed it to me , we used size 9 floating Rapalas , still do . I landed one pike , second got off due to operator error . I moved downstream , fished the flat off the channel . I was using a blade bait I’ve never tried before, the Johnson Thin Fisher . I settled on the middle hole for medium wobble/vibration. Upstream quartercast, count down 3 or 4 and follow it down with the rod tip, picking up slack as it went . I ended up with three eaters but let them go as today was the family holiday meal . I fished some bridge pilings and a creekmouth with everything from cranks to jigs with nothing to show for it . I moved to a spot out in the park , nice sized slack/slow area . Slack was iced over , the slow was open. I switched up and went with a bobber/jig rig . I guess it’s technically not F-N-F because I used a slip float not a fixed float . I used the Thill wobble bobber rated for 1/8 oz , so that is the size ballhead crappie chenille/marabou jig I used . It imparts action to the jig by wind and/or wave action . It did that well enough to entice two smallmouth and two rock bass into eating the jig . I mean the tip of the jig was barely sticking out of the fish’s mouth . No guessing is that a hit, the float went under . Plan to be out again tomorrow 12-26Air temps up in the 50’s sure felt good . It blew in over night and did a number on the ice in the river . River came up as you would expect . Only problem is a lot of that ice is in smaller chunks and floating downstream . So much so that it interfered with fishing . Shoot one time one of those chunks ended up with my lure stuck on it . I fought it in because I wasn’t going to break off unless I had too. After I get it in, a guy standing behind me on the shore wisecracks, well that brings a whole new meaning to ice fishing . I tried the fnf , no go , ice kept interrupting . Too much algae on the bottom, tired soon of picking algae off cranks and jigs , although I would have picked green some more had I caught any fish . I got one smallmouth on a swimbait , retrieved slow and steady just above bottom . I got two walleye on rattlebaits off of a current seampeacenorm

Ice fishing has started in earnest in the Eagle River area. Mixed weather has led to a bit of slush on the lakes, which isn’t completely unusual at this time of year. Most anglers are searching for fish and learning their winter patterns. Read below for a more detailed fishing report. Fishing Report Walleye: Some success has been noted with walleye, mostly in the evenings on the Eagle River Chain. Sucker minnows or golden shiners are the baits of choice under tip-ups. Northern: Action has been pretty good with this fish, especially in the daytime. They’re mostly in deeper grassy weed areas. Larger minnows and large shiners are the ticket. Perch: They are being found in weeds. Most have been fairly small to this point. Larger perch that hang out by mudflats will start appearing soon. Bluegills: They are starting to hit, mostly on waxies.