Perch opener, frog opener, flatheads, bluegill, catfish: Chicago fishing, Midwest Fishing Report

43 tonight.. With Mike B and Luis G

Two 30 Pounders back-to-back is unreal. The river fishing is incredible right now

FROGS (Bullfrogs Only) Methods of Taking and Capture A sport fishing license is required to harvest bullfrogs. Bullfrogs may be taken by hook and line, gig, pitchfork, spear, bow and arrow, hand, or landing net. No person shall harvest bullfrogs or any other reptile or amphibian by commercial fishing devices, including, hoop nets, traps or seines or by the use of firearms, air guns or gas guns or during bowfishing tournaments. All other species of unprotected reptiles and amphibians (excluding common snapping turtles and bullfrogs) may only be taken by hand. This shall not restrict the use of legally taken reptiles or amphibians as bait by sport fishermen. Any captured reptiles or amphibians which are not to be retained in the possession of the captor shall be immediately released at the site of capture, unless taken with a lethal method (such as bow and arrow, gig, spear, pitchfork) which does not permit release with no harm. All such taken common snapping turtles and bullfrogs must be kept and counted in the daily harvest. No culling of such taken species is permitted. No person shall harvest or possess any species of reptile or amphibian listed as endangered or threatened in Illinois (17 Ill. Adm. Code 1010 except as provided by 17 Ill. Adm. Code 1070). Season Bullfrogs may be taken only between June 15 and October 15, both dates inclusive. Daily Harvest and Possession Limits The daily Harvest limit for bullfrogs is 8 with a possession limit of 16. For indigenous amphibian and reptile taxon, which may only be taken by hand, (excluding common snapping turtles and bullfrogs) the possession limit is 8 collectively with no more than 4 per taxa.

Hi Dale . . . Back home Braidwood Lake is still producing for tournament anglers looking for limits. A 14.04lb 5 fish limit was good for second place for Blake Gadd and Mark Stewart at the last Fishers of Men tournament last weekend at Braidwood. I should be returning to Wisconsin Next week to resume guide trips on the Wisconsin River in Merrill Wisconsin. This weekend it is the continuation of the Spring/Summer Dive Bar tour stopping in Libertyville Illinois at Morgans on Saturday night. Libertyville days is on and it should be a Hot time with the Hot Sofa Band. Tight Lines Rob

Delavan Lake 6/09/13 through 6/16/19 Delavan Lake fishing is very good right now. The lake is productive on multiple species. As summer starts to heat up, the lake is getting very busy. Prepare to get to the lake early if you want to get a parking spot as well as a vacant fishing spot. Even though the fishing pressure is high, there are still plenty of good bites to be had. Bluegills are in 12-15 ft of water and are aggressively biting. The bait of choice is leaf worms. I’ve had great success fishing the leaf worms beneath a split shot and straight lining it beneath the boat. The best location has been by the yacht club or by Willow Point. If you aren’t getting bit, make sure you move around because there are active schools available. Largemouth bass are in post-spawn. They are pulling out of the shallows and positioning on the deep weedlines and main lake points with hard bottoms. Look for the fish west of Willow Point, west of the Yacht Club or by the Village Supper Club. The best approach is either a split shot rigged nightcrawlers or a medium diving crankbait in either fire tiger or crappie pattern. I’ve been customizing a pearl crank bait with a black Sharpie, by adding spots. Northern Pike action has been spotty. The fish have been in anywhere 10-20 ft of water. The best method is lindy rigging medium suckers or fishing them beneath a Thill slip bobber. The best location has been by Browns Channel or by the island on the west end. Walleye action has been a good. The fish have been eating medium crank baits or extra large fat head minnows fished on a lindy rig. The best location has been by Belvidere Park or by Assembly park point. Most of the fish are undersized, you need to fish long and hard to fish a few legals. The minimum size limit is 18 inches with a maximum bag of 3. With the warming water temperature, leeches will start to be a bigger player, the bigger the leech, the bigger the fish. If you use smaller bait, you will be hindered by many panfish hitting your bait. Crappie fishing has been good. They are on the weedline in 12-15 ft of water. The best approach is either purple or chartreuse plastic with a 1/32 oz jig head. Look for the fish by Belvidere Park, Browns Channel or just at the buoy line in Viewcrest bay. Good luck and I hope to see you on the water. For guide parties, please call Dave Duwe at 608-883-2050

Hi Dale, I took a look at the Fox over the weekend for a buddy who wanted to provide some casting instruction: I told him to forget it-water was high, discolored and moving too fast to wade safely. While I was there, I fished a tributary north of Aurora, down near the mouth. It was still high and muddy. Better than it’s been in recent weeks, but not one of the better options available. The next day I tried a different tributary to the west and far upstream, near the source. Much better conditions: normal late Spring flows and clarity, which is to say, close to perfect. The smallmouths didn’t cooperate, but a good-sized (just short of two feet long) catfish did. It’s unlikely that anyone is interested in fly fishing for channel cats, but just in case: I’ve had recent success for them using a black Deceiver. I hope you’re enjoying our dry weather and getting out some. Pete

Lake Geneva 6/06/19 through 6/24/19 Fishing remains fantastic on Lake Geneva. Most of the fish are located between 10 and 15 ft of water. With the warming water temperature the bait of choice has switched from fat head minnows to nightcrawlers. Smallmouth bass remain on the spawning flats in 12-15 ft of water. Look for the fish by Elgin Club, Knollwood and the Military Academy. The best approach has been nightcrawlers fished on a split shot rig or drop shotting 4 inch Houdini worms. The best color is green pumpkin or watermelon seed. Rock bass remain literally everywhere in the 5-16 ft depth range. They can be caught on basically anything you want to throw. I’ve been catching most of my fish on nightcrawlers on a split shot rig or white hair jigs. Largemouth bass are starting to get aggressive in the shallows. They are located in the 4-8 ft depth range. The best approach has been Senkos in green pumpkin or the small mimic shiner crank baits. Look for the fish in Trinkes Bay or by Knollwood. Some of the bass I caught last week were in excess of 18 inches. Bluegill fishing has become very good. The fish are starting to move in to spawn. The best location has been by Colemans Point or in Williams Bay on the break line. The best depth is 12-14 ft of water. You want to either anchor or slowly drift so you can find the active schools of spawning fish. Northern Pike have been a bit slow. There have been a few caught in the weed flats in 8-10 ft of water. Most of the fish are coming off of white spinner baits or slip bobbering larger golden shiners. The best location is in Williams Bay or on the beach in Fontana. Yellow perch are also in the shallows. They can be caught by Belvidere Park in 8-10 ft of water. The best approach is small fat head minnows fished on a Thill slip bobber. The only problem has been that the average size is about 5 inches. You will need to do a lot of sorting to find the bigger fish. Good luck and I hope to see you on the water. For guide parties, please call Dave Duwe at 608-883-2050

Fishing report is there’s just a lot of sheep head on soft shells also when I was casting some spoons in the harbor and he caught two on spoons. I guess those Smallmouth are doing pretty good I haven’t heard anything here but Belmont Diversey Burnham they’re doing pretty well. Also there has been purchased around the guys that have been fishing for those sheephead are getting aggravated because of the perch keep taking their soft shells hopefully they’ll be some around when it opens up on Sunday. Have a good day Starting Saturday will be opening 4 a.m. so our hours will be 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. 7 days a week into the fall Corey may even stay a little bit later if there’s people fishing 🤞🤞🤞🙏🙏🙏 just hoping for some fish to be around

This morning, 150 to 175 feet a bit south, my family from south Carolina with 5 nice chops. No pier reports with pier being closed. Trying to promote Johnson pier

Dear Dale – Waukegan fishing has remained strong overall. Many limit or near limit charters although every now and then the fish turn off and there is a clunker. As is typical of late spring/early summer the bait and fish are beginning to scatter. There are pockets of fish all over the place with some boats trolling in 50 feet and others as deep as 200. Depths shallower than 120 feet have been the most hit and miss. Sometimes a quick limit and sometimes really slow. 140-190 feet has provided more consistent action, but never a quick limit. Once a spot where the boats gets a double or a couple of quick hits is found, the area should be worked for a while. The coho continue to have good average sizes and there are lots of big kings, lakers and steelhead in the mix. This week we didn’t get any big kings, but had some smaller ones. We had lakers to 20# and steelhead to 13# to add to good numbers of coho and lakers. Best bets for lures continue to be Jimmy Fly in TwoTone and Mardi Gras patterns off of trolling boards with 5/8 to 1 ounce weights and dipsey divers 30 to 40 out. The lake trout have been suspended with downriggers 10 to 50 feet off the bottom taking far more than bottom bouncing. Jimmy Fly Mo Rigs (Laker takers) in Spectra, Kaitlin Jenner and Orange Guy took the trout. Production from spoons was down in quantity. However, the spoons continue to take the biggest coho and most of the bonus kings and steelhead. Warrior Lures Magnum Ultraglow Watermelon and Magnum Ultraglow Blueberry muffin were best in low light condition. Warrior Steelhead Candy and Fin Girl patterns were best on sunny and clear days – on the rare occasions when those occurred. Chicago fishing was not nearly as good overall. Catch numbers were down. The saving grace was that there were big fish caught with our partner boat Storm Warning getting Kings up to 21 pounds with some big lakers too. The best bet for trollers out of Chicago is to think big and think kings and trout, not coho. Warrior Magnum spoons, Musselhead Meat rigs, and large Chinook size Jimmy flys or whatever the boats favorite king lures are. It only takes one 20# fish to make it a great trip. Capt. Scott R. Wolfe School of Fish Charters – Manipulator www.schooloffish.com 630-341-0550

No guiding today so I went to one of my favorite spot on the Menominee River and pounded the smallmouth with HC Topwater baits and caught this monster River Smallmouth. The topwater bite has been awesome!!!!. This will be a great year for topwater smallmouth.

Hi Dale I have returned from my Summer vacation to Millelacs Lake in Minnessota. Fishing for giant Smallmouth on the legendary lake never fails to produce great action. Senkos, football heads with craw, tube bait, bass flipping jigs, jerkbaits, jig and leech all were good baits. The largemouth action was surprisingly good and some real beauties came to boatside with wacky rigged and Texas rigged Senkos. The big lake has Big fish and i saw many giant muskie in the 4-5 foot range. I hooked a couple of these beasts but the result was not good. The Northern Pike however were a little easier to get into the net. Some nice pike were hitting the storm 360 swimbait in White. This lake once known as a walleye factory and the birthplace of modern walleye fishing techniques has morphed into a trophy Smallmouth Bass and Muskie fishery. Tim a guide from Prescott Wisconsin who was staying at the resort said the walleye are there as he saw schools swimming in less than 5 feet of water. Yes the walleye are still there too but can not be harvested this Summer. . . . I should be returning to Wisconsin Next week to resume guide trips on the Wisconsin River in Merrill Wisconsin. This weekend it is the continuation of the Spring/Summer Dive Bar tour stopping in Libertyville Illinois at Morgans on Saturday night. Libertyville days is on and it should be a Hot time with the Hot Sofa Band. Tight Lines Rob

Hey Dale, Here is a recap of this past week’s fishing. Northern Wisconsin-smallmouth continue to be good on TRD and jerkbaits. Many are on beds or about to get on them. Largemouth are starting to cruise the shallows as this week’s warm weather finally has water temps on the rise. Temps rose to 65 main lake and 71 in bays. Water levels are some of the highest I have seen in a long time. Senkos pitched it cover has been the best bait. Crappie continue to stage. Isolated wood on a variety of ice plastics has worked best. Northern are good on Mepps worked over emerging weeds.

Remember my daughter. First year of college is under her belt.

Her little brother has been following in her footsteps. TTYL -- Ken Husker O’Malley Husker Outdoors Waterwerks fishing team

What was building into a great week of fishing slowed by Sun/Mon as the area got hit with a couple cooler fronts. Overall though, fishing was very good, and should return again by week’s end. Smallmouth Bass: Very Good-Excellent – Season is ALL catch and release, but lots of great reports as Smallies are bedded up all over with lots of reports of 20+ fish being caught on Chug Bugs, Creatures and Spooks Largemouth Bass: Very Good – While not ready to bed, Largemouth are moving up into shallows to warm themselves and feed up in preparation for spawn. Jig and Creature combos, as well as, smaller swim baits are working well. Twitching shallow stick baits (Rattlin’ Rouges, X-Raps) also effective. Northern Pike: Good – Lots of smaller Pike in shallow weeds. Larger Pike requiring a bit more depth, 6-12’. Use chatter baits, spinner baits and swim baits. Musky: Good – Fish relatively shallow on smaller buck tails, twitch baits. Some surface action starting as water warms. Walleye: Good – A good weed bite finally starting to develop. Jig and minnow, crawler and leeches, in water as shallow as 3’ to as deep as 14’ depending on lake type and clarity. Casting shallow stick baits and 3 swim baits also working. Bluegill: Good – Staging in shallows. Tiny jigs tipped with waxies, or aberdeen hooks baited with thunderbugs under small floats best. Yellow Perch: Good – Feeding heavily on thunderbugs (dragon fly larvae), this could end soon as dragonflies are starting to hatch. Switch over to medium leeches, ½ crawler. Crappie: Good-Fair – Moved out over tall standing cabbage in 8-12’. Cast small spinners or beetle spins to locate, then come back with Crappie minnows Water temps climbed into low 70’s by Saturday (6/8) but fell back into mid-60’s by start of week. Forecast for highs in upper 60’s won’t change that much, but at least stability in temperature (if not weather overall) should help bring about consistent patterns. Want to help support the rebuilding of the Walleye population in the area lakes? The Walleyes for Tomorrow Dinner Fundraiser is set for next week, Thursday June 20th, at the Whitetail Inn in St. Germain. Great food, great door prizes and a great cause. Limited number of tickets for sale ($90.00 each). We have some here at the shop. Stop in or give us a call (715-356-4797) for more details. Kurt Justice Kurt’s Island Sport Shop Like us on FaceBook

Coho action decent last few days in 45 to 60 ft of water in front of pink house just west of Michigan city dodger Flys and regular size spoons best. Fishing the state line straight out of burns ditch good for mix bag best baits spindoctors and flys and spoons Few steelhead been caught fishing Michigan city pier and portage riverwalk shrimp or crawlers under floats or casting spoons best Gills going good at most local lakes and ponds crickets jumbo reds best baits move around for best results

Hi Dale . . . . . . I should be returning to Wisconsin Next week to resume guide trips on the Wisconsin River in Merrill Wisconsin. This weekend it is the continuation of the Spring/Summer Dive Bar tour stopping in Libertyville Illinois at Morgans on Saturday night. Libertyville days is on and it should be a Hot time with the Hot Sofa Band. Tight Lines Rob

Cat are making their spawning run now 6 catfish,and had to tie the cooler top down, couldn’t get any more in