LaSalle opener, coho, rivers, late ice: Chicago fishing, Midwest Fishing Report

Good coho action with some browns and steelhead mixed in lakefront from cal park to Michigan city Ice blowing out good as of today skein and squid good and twister tails in white and pink tipped with waxworms or squid goodPort of Indiana giving up coho alsoPortage park riverwalk gave up lots of fish over weekend fishing near bottom bestBoats are out some today out of ditch ice blew out small stuff floating around but big stuff gone and going out

Today’s observation ..West wind locked up M.C. the Mouth of the Ditch and N.B. The port is open for now..The ditch and trail have Coho and some browns upstream..Everything’s day to day wind depending..The fish are here in decent #s..Still lots of pack ice around.

Hey Dale, Here is a recap of this past week’s fishing.Area lakes-before the rain on Saturday, ice was 5 inches on wind sheltered bodies of water. There were areas of bad ice, so spudding and drilling holes were absolutely necessary. After the rains, shorelines opened up as well as those areas of bad ice. Hard water fishing out south is officially over. Unfortunately, it seemed like it never really started. On to fishing. Bluegills were very good on small spoons tipped with multiple spikes. Focus on areas of remaining thick green weeds for the most active fish.TTYL—Ken Husker O’Malley Husker Outdoors Waterwerks fishing team

Dale, Unlike previous adventures, this weekends effort provided quite the outdoor thrills for my cronies and me. Bonus ReportThe best ice fishing day I’ve ever had’ – The text reply from a friend of mine after he targeted late ice panfish on a small southern Wisconsin lake over the weekend. Apparently, the bite was just insane – He was targeting a piece of brush located in roughly 8 feet of water and the fish seemed to be jumping out of the hole.

Hi Dale It was a beautiful sunrise on the way to Braidwood on rte 55 but the conditions on shore were pretty extreme; especially the west rip rap. The shore anglers were quickly thinned with the wind cold and seemingly non-existent bite. You could almost feel the inactivity of the fish. I somehow got one fish to react to a crank bait banged in tight to the rocks but it was a good one. The color was again sexy shad. I snagged a shad that matched my crankbait right down to the yellow line down the body. The few anglers still around when I left at 11:30 after almost being blown off a rock into the drink reported little to no action. Somehow there were a handful of boat trailers in the lot despite the red flag. Boaters should respect this lake as I have experienced a bad day there that I survived, and would like to; but never will forget.The picture I sent was from Writers week at the School. Faculty and former students speak about different topics or present pieces they have written. I spoke about how I achieved my musical dream not once but twice. I will include the story and piece for you to read.Bass fishing club today after school today, better weather predicted and Spring break on the horizon.Tight lines rob

Good Morning my laptop is down. I took it to Milwaukee last week and it wouldn’t turn on. It’s about ten years old. So I hope this works. Chicago River Report, Good News as I’m writing this Report Tuesday Morning the River is Open. I hope to get out Thursday to start checking spots. I was out of town last week at the Milwaukee Show with my show booth and doing seminars everyday. Had a Great Time I shared a room with Mike Maladnik one of the top Smallmouth guides in Northern Wisconsin. Saying that we traded a lot of info. There are a few new tools in the arsenal for this season for sure. It looks like ice season may be over in the next few days Please Please be Careful out there. Next weekend is the Chicago Boat Show at Schaumburg. I will have my booth there promoting my sponsors. Grandt Rods will Be there and Lake County Water Sports will have Boats on Display I will be in their displays if not in mine stop by say hi.

Dale, Unlike previous adventures, this weekends effort provided quite the outdoor thrills for my cronies and me. Des Plaines River I spent time fishing a familiar area of the Desplaines River over the weekend with a technique that is completely unfamiliar to me, fly fishing. I’ve never been a ‘fly guy’ as it always came off a little pretentious to me, however, after some convincing from my co-worker at Mystery Tackle Box I decided to join him on a fly pike mission this past weekend. The high winds on Saturday made casting a fly a challenge for a noob like myself but it was still a ton of fun. I haven’t had that much fun getting skunked in a long time.Each year I try to set a new fishing goal as I feel it helps me try things I would normally have not tried. Carp fishing, mastering a specific technique, or targeting a new species type are past examples. This year, I’ve decided to attempt to catch a Des Plaines River Pike on the fly, so stay tuned, it’s going to happen!

Hi Dale, just want to give you a report from the Fox River. It’s brief Fox River water level is a little high and climbing steadily as the snow melts. I have a feeling it will rise quite a bit since we have rain in the forecast all week oh, so I would discourage any wading since it will be much too dangerous. Most of the slack water eddies are now free of ice between the Algonquin and Batavia dams. I don’t have any information about locations farther north or south since I didn’t get a chance to fish those areas. It seems water temperature is still holding steadily because fish are still in their winter pattern and difficult to target, even at warm water discharges. Their pattern will start changing as the temperature warms up shallow areas this week, so I would highly recommend targeting shallower eddies and rocky shorelines for Smallmouth. A white Mr. Twister (curly tail grub) on a black, chartreuse or pink head is always a good bait on the river for smallies. Target the edge of the eddies where the current meets the slack water. Shallow diving crankbaits will also do the trick, but a slower presentation is pretty much mandatory for any bites. That’s about all I have right now Dale, I hope I’m not too late. I meant to get you this before noon, but I got distracted by an appointment that went too long

Good Morning fellas…this is what we have as far as the fishing is concerned Perch fishing closes on March 15th. Overall, Perch fishing was pretty good this season for the conditions that we had on top of the ice. Lots of slush and lots of snow made ice travel very difficult this year so the searching part of the fishing was nearly impossible. But, all in all a very good season for the Perch fishermen Whitefish action continues to stay quite good overall, and we anticipate it to stay good right through the rest of the ice season whenever that may be. Better areas continue to be around the Henderson’s point area, Sherwood Point, Larsen’s Reef along with the vast shoreline and structure to the north of the Old Stone Quarry. One thing that fishermen really have to watch out for and be aware of is the ice breaking that goes on here in the county so ships can get out of the ship yard. And the breaking usually starts right after ice shanties have to be off the ice on March 17th. For the Whitefish, a wide variety of jigs will work, but some of the main ones include….Howie’s Goby Head jig, Rapala Jigs, Jigging shad raps and Storm Wild Eye baits Walleye fishing is starting to get better as it usually does as we push deeper into March. Areas to try include…Henderson’s Point, the Riley’s Bay area, Sherwood Point and the Sawyer Harbor area. Oddball Jigs, Rap jigs, Slab Raps and Euro Tackle’s assortment of jigs. In most cases, tipping your jigs with full minnows or minnow heads is the method of choice Pike action continues to get better and better as it usually does as those fish will feed heavy prior to their spawn also. Look for staging areas around shallow bays and creek mouths to target those Pike as they will follow the Perch into those same spawning grounds Brown Trout action is also going pretty darn good and that too will get better as we warm up and get more run-off flowing into the bays and out in front of the creek mouths. Most ice fishermen will set up tip ups or automatic fishermen throughout the targeted bay they are fishing and spread out there sets to cover all of the water column. Shiners and or spawn generally the bait of choice there. And for the open water fishermen….when you can get your boat out, trolling or casting in front of creek mouths or look for stained warm water pockets Thanks; Lance LaVine Howie’s Tackle 1309 Green Bay Rd Sturgeon Bay, WI 54235 Ph: 920-746-9916

Some good steelhead action around bass pro stretch of salt creek voodoo jigs tipped with butterworms or waxworms

Walleye Walleye Walleye! It is the beginning of that wonderful time of year. The ice is melting. Short rods and augers are being stored away. The long rods and terminal tackle are being organized and boats are coming out of storage. This can only mean one thing, the walleye run is approaching rapidly. Call it fait or luck but the Kankakeee River is in prime shape and everything is coming together for a very good spawn this season. The river has risen and is pretty muddy and will come up a bit more with coming rain this week but don’t panic. Anglers and fish alike can use this to benefit their very different interests. Lets start with the fish. High water moves bait around, usually up shallow out of the current. The muddy water will do a couple things. It will warm up much quicker than the clear water, especially the last hour or so of light. It will also the give the walleye a sense of security to come up shallow to feed throughout the day. If the current is very stong they may actually school up in these non current areas for a few days until it recedes some. For the angler this is also, contrary to popular belief, an advantage. Key in on these shallow little to no current areas. If they are close to a spawning area there will absolutely be fish there. Try a jig and twister tail or swimbait with a downstream presentation. Use the lightest jig you can get away with while still keeping slight bottom contact. Use a larger profile bait that puts out more vibration and thump from the action to really give the fish something that stands out in the dirty water to key in on. Stickbaits may also be productive but fishing them in a shallow part of a very rocky river could get expensive. Now we have the how and where lets cover the why. Walleye spawn in water temps between 42°-52° with optimal temperature being 46°. Current temps on the Kankakeee are around 40° during their peak and 36° as the sun is coming up in the morning. The fish have definitely started moving towards their spawning areas with 2 things in mind. Eat and make little fish. Forcasted temps should have water in the mid to upper 40’s by weeks end. Also on march 20th we have a full moon. Some people don’t buy into the moon phase but it is a proven experience that animal activity , especially bigger fish, increases a couple days before and a couple days after the full moon. Considering all things here we are setting up for a very good spawn for the walleye and a shot for anglers to be very successful as well. If you choose to keep walleye make sure to read the regulations. You are allowed 3 fish daily. One may be over 26″ or you can have 3 under 18″. 18″ -26″ fish are protected slot fish and are year round no keep. Sunday March 17th I will be doing a walleye seminar for the Kankakee River Rats at the Kankakee dam by the fishing peir. Start time is scheduled for 4pm and will run about and hour. All are welcome. We will cover rods, line selcetion, and rigging. As well as live bait under a slip bobber, lures and how to present them. We will finish with picking spots and reading the water. There is no required fee but we will have a donation bucket out . Funds will be used to buy fishing tackle for kids. The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions of hope. John Buchan

Good morningWater got on yesterday bait coming in today will be around getting stuff ready tomorrow and should be ready by Thursday but just to be safe lets say reg hours will start Friday 5am to 6pm then starting April 1st we’ll stay open till 8pmFar as I know by me fishing is slow the ice keeps coming in and out.

Still with the Winter??!! Snow and bitter cold last week kept anglers off the ice. A reprieve on Fri-Sat (3/8-3/9) gave a window of opportunity, though some didn’t take on Saturday with threat of more snow. For those who ventured out (by foot, snowmobile or tracked UTV) fishing wasn’t half bad. Four teams of Highschool ice anglers found very good Bluegill and some Crappies. Other anglers reported similar success in areas they could get to. Bluegill: Good-Very Good – Despite mobility being so hard, anglers found Gills on the mid-sized to larger lakes taking waxies and spikes. Weeds of 7-10’ were key. Nice Gills of 7-9 over the weekend. Crappies: Good – Jigging with small spoons (Lethal Cecils, #2 pimples or #8 rockers tipped with waxies or beaver tail baits best. Minnows working, but putting out set of tip-downs tough. Perch: Fair – Anglers, for the most part, not getting to areas Perch holding (deep mud flats). Those that do, catching nice eaters of 8-10 on Hali jigs tipped with wigglers. Tough to predict what week will bring. Warm up mid-week (40’s for three days) should knock down some snow, but rain could make things messy. With two feet of ice still on lakes covered by two feet plus of snow, temps back in 20’s-30’s next weekend, our ice will remain for a while. Kurt Justice Kurt’s Island Sport Shop Like us on FaceBook —

Good coho action with some browns and steelhead mixed in lakefront from cal park to Michigan city Ice blowing out good as of today skein and squid good and twister tails in white and pink tipped with waxworms or squid goodSome good steelhead action around bass pro stretch of salt creek voodoo jigs tipped with butterworms or waxwormsPort of Indiana giving up coho alsoPortage park riverwalk gave up lots of fish over weekend fishing near bottom bestBoats are out some today out of ditch ice blew out small stuff floating around but big stuff gone ang going out