Spring? Really, sorta: Chicago fishing

CLINTON LAKE – REMEMBER an easterly area of Clinton Lake between the DeWitt (CH14) and the 48 bridges is CLOSED FROM OCT. 10th through MARCH 31st to protect fish and wildlife.

state park area of river full of icy, slushy crap, up in urban area there is open water . the biggest problem is access , not a whole lot of plowing done . gauge still screwed up due to ice, river looked to be up . I didn’t bother with water temps . With the sloppy conditions I traveled light, rod/reel, box with Carolina rig stuff and pliers in coat pocket, line clippers on lanyard , no waders, wore the redwing boots . I fished current seams and slack areas with a Carolina rig slightly modified for use in current . Where possible I casted as straight up stream as possible on the seams and quarter cast when not . In the slack areas it was pretty much a straight retrieve allowing for some movement by current . The pickups were very light, just the mushy, not quite right feel .two smallmouth on the seams, two in the slack areas , 1 carp in the slack areas . nice outing for this time of year peace norm

After a week of watching the fishing plummet right along with the air temperature (20 below on Valentine’s Day) some fresh reports from Monday (2/15) are going to help add a little better outlook on this week’s report. The sub-zero temps and winds kept most anglers looking for other things to do this past weekend. Those that did go out struggled to keep warm and catch fish. As Monday’s temps rose above zero to start the day (13 degrees at dawn) so did anglers and their catches. Bluegills: Fair-Good. Action was slow most of the week, but, picked up on Monday. Anglers doing best on neutral colored (brown, red, blue) 3mm Tungsten jigs and Tungsten jig/flys tipped with spikes. Some anglers are finding gills as shallow as 6-7’, others working mud for perch picking up nice gills in 20-25’. Northern: Fair-Good. Not a lot of action during the cold snap, but, improved after. Most pike caught on typical tip-up set-ups with big shiners or suckers as bait. One lucky angler caught and released a 36er on a jigging Rapala yesterday as action picked up with the warm weather. Perch: Poor-Good. The best bite is deep over mud flats. Perch probing mud for blood worms and mayfly larvae in 20-25’ of water taking Halis, Pimples, Bro Bugs and #4 Fiska jigs tipped with red spikes or wigglers. Anglers working sand grass flats getting some action on minnows, but, the mud fish just seem to want bugs. Crappies: Poor-Good. Dismal weekend for this species, but, showed improvement on Monday. While a few anglers picked up some crappies in 6-7’ while targeting gills, deeper water proved to be a better bite. Also producing was 10-12’ cabbage areas with dark rockers (#8 or #10) in black, purple, green or red dressed with red, brown, purple or black plastic or live spikes. Tip-down anglers working outside weedy bays in 14-18’ of water on lakes or 18-24’ on flowages did better on rosies. A few anglers reported nice slabs hitting #2 or #3 jigging Rapalas. This is a good sign of some aggressive action to come. Walleye: Poor-Fair. While most anglers reporting bad walleye fishing (most catches 0-1 per outing), a few are having luck after dark on deeper lakes finding bars or humps topping 18-22’ on walleye suckers. Largemouth Bass: Poor. Not surprising with the cold. This weekend with forecast to hit upper 30’s/lower 40’s should improve bite. Not sure if it’s the doldrums of mid-winter, but, fishing has not been good overall this past month. We have just 3 weekends left of the gamefish season. With most ice reports running in the 12-17 range and a forecast of warm weather to come, I can’t foresee having fishable ice into April, leaving a short late ice panfish season (but, I’m wrong more than I’m right…just ask my wife) so it may be imperative to get out and get your ice fishing fix in soon. Kurt Justice Kurt’s Island Sport shop http://www.kurtsislandsports.com

The recent series of snowy days has been a windfall for snowmobilers, snowshoers and cross-country skiers in the Eagle River area. Snowmobile trail conditions are in good condition and drawing lots of riders. However, groomers are still cutting the bumps due to a very icy base. More snow is on the way, although above-freezing temperatures are also a possibility. Get the latest trails report by going online and visiting eagleriver.org/trailconditions/. Cold temperatures have frozen most of the snow on the lakes, so access has been relatively good for ice fishermen, and fish activity has been typical for mid-February. Warmer temperatures later in the week could make for good ice fishing conditions. Fishing Report Northern Pike: They are suspending in about 8 to 14 feet of water. Set tip-ups 1 to 2 feet above the weed tops tipped with a medium to large golden shiner or a sucker minnow. The bite seems to be good all day long until dark. Walleyes: For the best results, set up along the deepest weed edges during the day and then in the evening, look to rock humps that have deeper water around them. Use tip-ups tipped with golden shiners set 1 to 2 feet above the bottom. The bite has just been fair. Jigging spoons tipped with a minnow head or tipped with a couple wax worms. Crappies: They are primarily settling deep in the main lake basins suspended just a few feet off the bottom. Jigging with tungsten jigs tipped with plastic tail, spikes or waxies. Bite has been fair during the daylight hours. Perch: Located along deep rock bars and on the mud flats. Jigging a tungsten live bait combo of wigglers, spikes, and waxies or crappie minnows has been effective. The bite is good to very good during daylight hours. Bluegills: Use small ice jigs tipped with spikes or waxies in shallow weeds of 4 to 8 feet of water.

Hey Dale, I had the day off so I hit Shabbona. Ice is in good shape at 10 inches. Travel was tricky as the fresh snow made the ice very slick pulling the sled. On to fishing. The perch bite was awesome all day long. Not much size to them, but as soon as the bait went down the hole, a perch came up. They were hitting on spikes, waxies, minnows, and gulp. Cribs and brush piles all produced perch. Bluegill were also decent on brush piles in-between all the perch. A few crappie were also caught on minnows. TTYL – Ken Husker O’Malley Huskeroutdoors Waterworks fishing team