Fall trout opener, other fall fishing: Chicago fishing outlook

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).

Chicago River Report I was only out twice last week water temps were coming down 72 to 68 and fish are moving more’ We caught a few Bass 12 to 16 and plenty of Pan fish. I spent Thursday through Sunday at Camp Quest on Clinton Lake with the Arlington Anglers. We had a Great time caught a lot of Fish not a lot of big ones best fish in my boat was a 17 Large Mouth my Brother Bern caught. Trip is always fun I’m looking forward to the Spring trip. Have a Great week I am back on the River a few times this week and water temps are lower should be some good fishing.

Delavan Lake Fishing Report 10.10.16 thru 10.17.16 The exceptionally warm fall has the fall bite delayed a bit. With the cooler water temperatures the fishing is starting to improve. The walleyes I’ve been catching are in 20-25 ft of water. They can be caught on chrome and blue jigging Rapalas or lindy rigging extra large fat head minnows. The best location has been by the concrete point or the Yacht Club. You need to trust your fish finder to locate the schools of fish. As the water continues to cool, the fishing will continue to improve. Crappie fishing has been excellent. The best depth is 12-15 ft of water. The crappies have been by Township Park or by Assembly Park. They are ferociously biting purple or chartreuse plastics. Most of the fish are 3-4 ft down in the water column. The key to the presentation is a slow stop and go retrieve. As the water cools, the northern pike action is improving. The best location has been by the Yacht Club or Belvidere Park. I’ve been catching most of my fish about 1 foot off bottom and the larger suckers have been producing most of the action. Keep moving down the weedlines until you find the actively feeding fish. Largemouth bass fishing has been productive, however, the size has been substantially smaller than recent years. The fish are in 12-15 ft of water. The best location has been by 3 flags or just west of Willow Point. Most of the success has come off of split shot rigged fat head minnows or small lindy rigged suckers. Yellow Perch have been spotty. The best depth has been 5-6 ft of water. The best approach has been small fat head minnows fished about 1 foot above the weeds. The best location has been by Browns Channel or just west of the Yacht Club. Good luck and I hope to see you on the water. For guide parties, call Dave Duwe at 608-883-2050

Lake Geneva Fishing Report 10.10.16 thru 10.17.16 Lake Geneva’s water has been cooling slower than I can remember. The water temperature is still 64-66 degrees. The best bite has been largemouth bass. They are in the medium depth rocks with weeds in 15-18 ft of water. The best location has been by South Shore Club or by Trinkes. They can either be caught while drop shotting 4 inch finesse worms or lindy rigging nightcrawlers. As the water cools, small suckers or fat head minnows will start producing a lot more fish. Yellow Perch action is starting to pick up as the water cools. The best location has been by Belvidere Park or by Knollwood. The best depth is 10-12 ft of water. You want to fish small fat head minnows on Thill slip bobbers 1 foot above the weeds. Bluegill fishing has been very good in 20-24 ft of water. Look for the fish in front of Elgin Club or Gage Marine. You want to fish a small leaf worms and a split shot approximately 6 inches to 1 foot off bottom. Find the active schools with your fish finder and then concentrate your efforts in that location. Smallmouth bass fishing has been hit or miss. The key is finding the pods of bait fish and then you’ll find the schools of smallmouth bass. They are not as concentrated as years past, but they are out there. They can be caught on 4 inch Kalin Grubs or Rapala Husky jerks. Walleyes are being caught at night in 15-17 ft of water. The best location has been by Trinkes or off the weedline in Williams Bay. The best time to fish for them is at night when there is a slight chop on the water. You want to use very large Rapalas in chrome and blue or chrome and black. You want to make sure the bait is about 3-4 ft above the weedline. As the water cools, the crappie action is improving. The crappies are suspended 5-8 ft down in 12-15 ft of water. The best approach has been slowly trolling smoke or chartreuse colored twister tails. There have been some 15 inch fish caught in the last few weeks. The best location is by South Shore Club or Covenant Harbor. Good luck and I hope to see you on the water. For guide parties, please call Dave Duwe at 608-883-2050

FALL HOURS FOR EVERGREEN LAKE BAIT SHOP & BOAT RENTAL: BAIT SHOP: 8:00 A.M. – 4:00 P.M. DAILY BOAT RENTAL: 8:00 A.M. – 4:00 P.M. SAT. & SUN. ONLY Thank you. Michael J. Steffa – Director McLean County Dept. of Parks & Rec.

– RICE LAKE – will CLOSE to fishing on Oct. 15th with Last Day to Fish being Oct. 14th and will Re-Open at end of Duck & Goose season..– 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 – THIS LAKE IS CLOSED TO FISHING As of OCT. 1st and 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 – Will CLOSE TO FISHING for the Season on Oct. 10th with Last Day of Fishing on Oct. 9th– 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.– POWERTON LAKE – LAKE WILL CLOSE TO BOAT FISHING ON OCT. 15th (Last day for Boat fishing is Oct. 14th) and CLOSES TO SHORE FISHING and ALL FISHING ON OCT. 22nd (Last day for Shore fishing is Oct. 21st) and REOPENS TO SHORE FISHING ONLY ON DEC. 19th AND NO BOAT FISHING till FEB. 15th– 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…

The river stills fluctuates as the rains come and go . The one thing that has not changed has been the effectiveness of rattlebaits . It’s to the point where I start with a rattlebait and never feel the need to change . One retrieve in particular that has really been producing is a quartercast upstream, letting it drift downstream while following it with the rod and reeling just enough to maintain contact with the lure and keeping it from snagging on the bottom . Numbers and quality smallmouth with some walleye and cats mixed in . peacenorm

Finally the look and feel of fall is here. Trees peaked, cold nights, temperate days. It’s musky time! Musky: Good-Very good. Could be better if not for some high sky days. Water temps have fallen and the sucker bite is on! Surface temps for the weekend were between 55-61 degrees. That has pretty much done in the top-water action, but, amped up the meat bite. Suckers on spinner/quick set rigs (Smity’s) have been best. Action not consistent all day, probably due to weather, but, good windows of 45 minutes to 1 ½ hours with multiple fish. Guide Greg Bohn guided a client to a 52, 40# beast this week (released). Crappies: Good-very good. Best on flowages. Trollers finding slabs 11’ down using Flicker Shads. Traditional drifting methods also work using slip-floats and medium fatheads. Walleyes: Fair-good. Spotty at times, high barometer days tough. Nice fish using redtails along gravel humps of 22-38’. Also on drowned wood on flowages. Pike: Fair-Good. Best on chubs/suckers on weedless jigs in weeds. A few big pike of 32-36 caught this week. Smallmouth Bass: Fair. Very few fish but, those reported have been big including smallies to 20+. Drop shotting has worked best with reluctant biters taking smaller plastics and live chubs. Perch: Fair. Some good catches around drowned wood in 15’ of water. Medium fats best. Drag bait on 1/16 to 1 18 oz. weedless Jack’s or Slo-fall jigs. Half crawlers also worth a shot. Nice perch of 9-12 being reported. With water temps approaching 55 degrees, keep an eye out for turn-over. Nice daytime temps will keep it at bay, but, those 30 degree nights are tough. Kurt Justice Kurt’s Island Sport Shop http://www.kurtsislandsports.com

Fishing Report Muskie: Bigger baits such as double 9’s and 10’s spinnerbaits, crankbaits, bigger jerk baits and top water are still working. Suckers are starting to be used also. Northern Pike: Fish the deep flats with some type of weeds (could be sand grass or coontail) to find northern pike. Use Jig and minnow combos are the bait of choice. Walleye: Finding them on deep mud flats and still on the deep rock humps. Early and late in the day you can find fish on the tops, but they will go deeper in the mid-day. Jig and minnow combos are working well on the mud flats, while crawlers are having success on the rocks. Bass: (Largemouth) Bass are moving out of the shallow weeds as they’re starting to die. If sihing weeds, (Smallmouth) Basic live bait rig is always a go to presentation; also plastics and crankbaits will work well. Panfish: Bluegills are being found on the deepest weed edges where the greenest weeds are. For these fish, slip bobber rigs are the way to go baited up with a good selection of live bait such as waxies, and red worms. Plastics are working under bobbers with a twitch of the rod. Crappies are starting to suspend over some mud flats and small jigs tipped with minnows or small blade baits like cicadas will work. Perch are being caught on mud flats using small minnows.

Hey Dale, Despite the cold front that pushed through, Muskie were still active at Shabbona. Double 10 bucktails produced a few follows, but no hookups. Water temps are 60-61 with visibility at about foot. Water was clearer at southern end of the lake.Leaves have just started to turn. Should be prime in about week and half.Highlight of the day had to be the two eagles that did a flyby over my head. One had a fish in its talons. Very cool.TTYL — Ken Husker O’Malley Huskeroutdoors Waterworks fishing team

Hi Dale. We went back to petenwell dam this weekend. We crushed the good sized white bass over 100 in 2 days blade baits and jig and minnows. Catfish were going bananas also on Lindy rigs and jig and minnows a bonus 30 ski. Weather was perfect. If you never been up there the amount of raptors working the dam is absolutely amazing. There was at least 12 and 3 different types osprey, half eagles, and some giant brown bird not sure what it is. Also hundreds of sandhills in the fresh cut fields. All in all it doesn’t get much better then the Wisconsin river in fall. Enjoy