Summer fishing: All kinds of options for Chicago fishing

Fish was caught yesterday afternoon [Saturday] from shore in Indiana waters. Shrimp under a float. This was one of 3 my son [Jarett] caught. His friend also caught one too. 4 from shore! In the afternoon too. Surprising. My son caught many steelhead last year and this spring(over 100). This is the largest steelhead he has caught in a couple years. He estimated this fish at 14 pounds.

Hey Dale,The bass bite on area lakes have been very good. Summer bite is on. Top water baits at first light have been producing good action. Walk the dog style baits have been the best. As the morning progresses, working the outside weedlines with a 4 1/4 inch senko have produced very good numbers. TTYL— Ken Husker O’Malley Huskeroutdoors Waterworks fishing team

Delavan Lake Fishing Report 5/29/16 through 6/5/16 Fishing on Delavan Lake has been very good overall, with largemouth bass and bluegills being both active and readily available. Remember during spawning season, the future of our lakes depends on catch and release. Bluegills are in 3-5 ft of water in the sand pockets of the weeds. They are not spawning yet but they are getting ready. With the warmer days, I expect the spawn to start within the next couple of days. They can be caught on leaf worms fished beneath a bobber or wax worms fished on a Lindy ice jig. The best location has been by the island on the west end or around Willow Point. Largemouth bass remain in the shallows. They can be caught on green pumpkin Wacky rigged Senkos or on a nightcrawler fished on a split shot rig if the weeds allow. My best areas are by the golf course or in front of Lake Lawn Lodge. As the water warms and the bass finish spawning, they will start to move out to deeper water. Walleye fishing has been spotty during the day. The best success has been coming at night. Night anglers are having most of their success on jumbo leeches fished right off the weedline in 15-17 ft of water. The best location has been by the Yacht Club or the Oriental boathouse. Northern Pike action has been relatively slow. They only success I’ve had has come in Viewcrest Bay in 9-10 ft of water. I’ve been using Thill slip bobbers with medium suckers. I’ve been anchoring the boat and positioning the bait 1-2 ft above the weed growth. Crappies have been above average. The fish are in the weedlines in 8-10 ft of water. Most of my success has been coming off of small purple or white plastics on a 1/32 oz Arkie jig head. Most of the fish I’ve caught have been off the flat by Browns Channel or Willow Point. The key is that the fish seem to like a slow stop and go retrieve. Good luck and I hope to see you on the water. For guide parties, please call Dave Duwe at 608-883-2050

Lake Geneva Fishing Report 5/29/16 through 6/5/16 Overall the action on Lake Geneva has been hit or miss. I haven’t had success catching the smallmouth bass near their spawning flats yet. The best action has been the bluegills and largemouth bass. Remember that during spawning season, the future of our lakes depend on catch and release. Largemouth bass has been best in Geneva Bay, Trinkes or Abbey Harbor. I’ve been having most success in 3-6 ft of water with scattered weeds. The best presentation has been Wacky rigging green pumpkin Senkos or fishing split shot rigged nightcrawlers. I caught one giant last week that was over 6 lbs. Bluegill action has been very good in the shallow bays. Lake Geneva by the library, Trinkes or in the Abbey Harbor are all producing fish. The basic bobber and worm rig is the best approach. As the water warms a few more degrees, they will start spawning and make them even easier to catch. Rock bass are starting to show up everywhere. The action is fast and furious and in a standard 4 hour trip you can probably catch 60-70 fish. The best depth is 8-10 ft of water. The best success has been by the South Shore Club or by Belvidere Park. The bait choices are small plastics, minnows or nightcrawlers, they aren’t very picky eaters. Smallmouth bass has been slow for me. The success I’ve had has come on small pink and white hair jigs fished approximately 2-3 ft off bottom in 12-15 ft of water. The best location has been by Elgin Club or by Belvidere Park. Northern Pike action has been good in the shallow weedy bays. Williams Bay and Trinkes have been producing most of the action. You want to use Thill Slip bobbers with small suckers. I anchor my boat in 12 ft of water and keep the sucker 4 ft down above the weeds. The pike will be here until the water warms pushing them down to the thermocline. Good luck and I hope to see you on the water. For guide parties, please call Dave Duwe at 608-883-2050

Dale,I really need to get back into the groove when it comes to fishing multiple days a week. The last few weeks I started getting where I need to be. Didn’t help we had such an odd wet winter. Early spring wasn’t so dry either.Now that the river is flowing closer to normal there is much to report. Bass have been done with the spawn for a couple weeks now. Smallmouth are biting in Will County stretches. Gar are in full spawn mode, stuck together in piles up to 20 in heavy current. Northern Pike are still in the usual spring funk, as the water warms, so do they. And the mosquitos aren’t terrible just yet.Marcus BeneschRiver Grove

EXPANDED HOURS BEGINNING MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND! QUESTIONS? CALL THE COMLARA PARK VISITOR CENTER AT (309) 434-6770.

Lance LaVine at Howie’s Tackle in Sturgeon Bay sent this Tuesday:Good Morning folks, here is a quick update as we are slammed cause the fishing is going bonkers! Bass fishing has been excellent throughout the county. Basically from Sturgeon Bay to the north all the way to Sister Bay. 3 to 15 feet has been the best depths and look for bottom transitions in whatever area you are fishing. Tubes, grubs, flukes, drop shotting and senkos all working well right now. Walleye fishing has been going great in recent days. The day bite at least the past two days was excellent especially around the Chaudoir’s Area. Flicker shads and Flicker Minnows along with crawler harnesses working quite well now. The night bite also going good. Basically from Chaudoir’s north past the Old Stone Quarry fishing the primary drop off with Rogues and Husky Jerks On the big Lake, fishing has been very good for a mix Steelhead, Kings, Lake Trout and even a fair number of Coho Salmon. 100 to 250 feet of water has been the best depth and the top 60 foot of water has had the highest concentration of fish. Bright colored spoons and flasher/fly combinations have been the best baits Thanks; Lance LaVine Howie’s Tackle 1309 Green Bay Rd Sturgeon Bay, WI 54235 Ph: 920-746-9916

I read your column in Sundays paper and saw the remarks from Howard Bass . I would like to thank him for those thoughts, I deeply appreciate them . Howard this report is for you to try to express my gratitude . If you are ever out on the river , please come up and introduce yourself . The river has been dropping and clearing lately . What rain we got only had a temporary effect on it . While I can’t wade to every place I want, I have been getting to more of them than at any other time this year . I don’t have the water temps , left the thermometer on and the battery died . It hasn’t been a high enough priority , to me at least, to worry about it . Walleyes have been taking rattlebaits on current seams, flats off channels and by some riffle areas. A slow , steady retrieve as close to the bottom as you can get without snagging has been working for me of late . Channel cats may be the best bet on the river right now . I am getting some on rattlebaits in riffle areas and on current seams. Most of them that I have been getting are on a football head jig { no skirt } tipped with a twin tail grub . Adjust the weight of the jig to match current conditions , you want to be making bottom contact yet have the jig move with the current when you lift it . Neck down areas and riffles have been best for this approach . It’s generally a half dozen or so per outing when I go to the jig . If you really wanted to do better than that I would suggest drifting cut bait or mud leeches under a float with a modified circle hook and enough split shot to weight it properly . I do not fish areas that I know contain smallmouth bass on beds because of my personal beliefs on the matter Not all smallmouth spawn at the same time some go real early , some go real late . It has been my experience that you can almost always find smallmouth that are feeding . I fish aggressive techniques like rattlebaits, swimbaits and crankbaits in faster water . Riffle areas and current seams are two prime examples of the type of water I look for . I also enjoy fishing for suckers this time of year especially redhorse suckers . Since there are some redhorse that are protected by law and I couldn’t tell them apart from the ones that are legal to keep , I just let them all go . It’s really simple to do a crawler and a hook are all you need in some current conditions. In others I tie on a dropper line to the main line and add split shot as needed . You can use a float, split shot, hook and crawler if you like but for me it’s easier and more productive without the float . Up into creeks, at creekmouths, point pools where they are staging and riffle areas are good places to look . On Memorial Day , I spent some time fishing for creek chubs . An ultralight spin rod/reel , some light line, a mini Thill float and and ice fishing jig tipped with some bee moths left over from chasing some pond sunnies . It was a blast, I almost bought more bee moths when I went to the Trading Post in Altorf to get the crawlers for the suckers . The lure of redhorse won out but I’ll be back out fishing for chubs again . Enjoying the simple pleasures in life is a thing to treasure . Fishing just to catch fish, no matter the species, the size or the numbers is something to treasure . Why set expectations that may or may not be meet. If you catch enough to make you happy , isn’t that what really matters . Enjoy the scenery, the sounds and smells of nature, the goings on of wildlife around you, and the company you are in while doing it. In short, immerse yourself in the experience not the accounting . Once again, Thank You Howard Bass .PeaceNorm

Hello and good morning my friend. This is Ted die hard angler ), finally come back fishing after many week .I really hurts my knee while ago boarding my boat in Michigan City.I was out for 8 week’s because of my stupidity, but things happen why we call this excidents .Waukegan area was very hot over this holiday weekend, mostly coho from 90-120′ very early morning on small red and fly,my best when we fish over 260 produce nice catch with mix beg of fish. We come back with 3 nice king’s (one over 18 lbs),very deep (120′ down).I was very happy to see many people fishing over this holiday weekend and enjoying beautiful weather. Thanks for your time and reading this.I hope we can go fishing together someday. TED (die hard angler ) BOSKA.

Hey Dale, Been a long time since I’ve gotten a report to you and it’s not for the DPR this time!!Headed out Mazonia’s North Unit for a few hours on Memorial Day and was shocked to see it so empty.The water temps were in the upper 70’s in most places and as warm as 81 in some of the shallow backwaters. The gar were all paired up back there and the dogwood seeds filled the water’s surface at an extremely annoying level. I got tired of picking them off my line every other cast so I stuck to the main lake and left the gar to do their business.I grabbed one rig – the frog rig – and focused on the little isolated areas of green surface scum that has managed to grow along certain areas of the shore so far. I was rewarded in a stellar way. Seven bass fell victim to the hidden hooks in my little yellow hollow bodied frog while a couple more were lucky enough to miss.Needless to say, my friend, the best kind of bass fishing has arrived…FROG FISHING!!!

A soggy Memorial weekend put a damper on what could have been a great opener, but, despite the forecast (and unfortunate reality), anglers who dodged the rain in many cases faired pretty well. Northern Pike: Very good. Many being caught by anglers targeting other species (bass, walleye and musky). Big chubs and suckers of 5-7 on slip-bobber rigs and jig combos worked well, but casting swimbaits, chatterbaits and spinnerbaits (Boonies accounted for a lot of pike in the 24-30 class this weekend), caught lots of pike. Depths of 3-8’ with plenty of cabbage best. Smallmouth Bass: Very good. Many fish up on beds. Topwater action best between rain squalls using Pop-R’s and Skitter Pops. Twitch baits such as Shadow Raps, X-Raps and Husky Jerks all producers. Largemouth Bass: Very good. From 1’ to 8’ depths, LMB cruising the warmest shallows taking plastic Lizards, creatures, plastic craws fished on light Carolina rigs. Spinner baits, square billed cranks and pre-rigged plastic worms all helping anglers connect. Walleyes: Good. Overcast and rain is ok for this species. Big leeches and 3-4 chubs and suckers in weed beds of 6-10’ when sun not shinning. Anglers casting Shad Raps (#6, 7, 8) over and along side weed beds/weed edges of 8-14’ doing very well. Fish of the week a 31 monster caught and released by a young fisher gal using a Boonie Bait (spinner bait). Crappies: Fair-Good. The easy stuff is over as the previous weekends warm spell brought the spawn to a fast end. Still, anglers catching post spawn crappies using minnow on floats in 8-12’ depths. Bluegills: Fair. Action will resume once the sun comes out and warms the shallows. Thunderbugs and small leeches best in 2-6’. Perch: Fair. Not a lot of reports. Some anglers working weeds in 5-8’ using Thunderbugs and small leeches catching some nice eaters of 8-9. Much needed moisture, but, unfortunately on a Holiday weekend. Water temps bouncing from 64-69 degrees. Rain threat to end by Thursday. Kurt Justice Kurt’s Island Sport Shop www.kurtsislandsports.com

Fishing Report Muskies: They are finishing up the spawn cycle and will need some recoup time, especially the females. Smaller buck tails like the Mepps Muskie Killer or a 500 series Bucher Tail work well at this time. Small twitch bait like a Husky Jerk or Shallow Raider are also good options. Northern Pike: These fish have already spawned and are cruising the new weed beds in search of prey. A 1/16thor 1/8th ounce jig tipped with a fat head minnow will catch pike. Bass-style spinner baits will do the job also. White or chartreuse with willow leaf blades and spoons like Daredevils or Johnson Silver Minnows that are weedless are also a good choice. Walleye: They are coming out of post spawn and should be in the new weeds that are coming in nicely. A good weedless 1/16th or 1/8th ounce jig helps a lot. A Jacks Jig or a Northland Weed Weasel work well, especially with the plastic weed guards. Bass: Both Smallmouth and Largemouth will be getting ready for spawning. These fish will be easy to spot while preparing their spawning beds. Slip bobbers, split shot, and an Aberdeen hook baited with a minnow or crawler will work fine to get these fish. Small crankbaits with a small square bill fished in the shallows catch a lot of fish at this time also. Largemouth Bass are opened and Smallmouth Bass are only catch and release until June 18 in the northern zone. Panfish: Perch should be hanging out in the weeds and foraging on some young of the year bait fish. Slip bobber set-up is the best technique. The bait of choice will be theirs, so bring along a selection of small leeches, red worms and crappie minnows. Crappies are in the shallows using a slip bobber and crappie minnows will be your best bet. Bluegills are starting to bite on small minnows and red worms.