Steelhead, bass, salmon, spotty perch around Chicago fishing: Midwest Fishing Report

Packed with Steelheaders..And catching too.

Delavan Lake 6/16/19 through 6/24/19 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 little slow. 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

Smallmouth bass have been very aggressive with moving baits such as chatterbaits, spinnerbaits and crankbaits in both slackwater areas and current edges. Ned rig has also been producing all sizes of smallmouth bass in slack water areas. Flathead catfish have been more aggressive as well and I have seen many caught using all kinds of live bait such as chicken liver, roaches, and cut bait. Freshwater drum I’m also known as sheep head, can also be found in smallmouth bass areas and have been very aggressive in hitting bass baits, even jigs and Ned rigs. The river has come down a little bit and it is at a normal to slightly high level, so please be very careful if you decide to wade because the current is still strong in some areas.

Lake Geneva 6/16/19 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 0-15 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

Good morning fellas Here is a quick update on the fishing Perch fishing has been going quite well. Chaudoir’s Dock, the Sturgeon Bay shipping channel, Sawyer Harbor, Little Sturgeon and Riley’s Bay all good spots to try. Fathead minnows, crawlers and leaf worms the best live baits Salmon fishing is just starting to get rolling here in the county. Boats have been reporting a mix of Kings, Rainbows and Lake Trout. 100 to 150 feet of water has been the best depth and fishing the top 70 feet of the water column. Howie Flies behind flashers have been the best along with an assortment of spoons Walleye fishing has slowed a bit due to the massive amount of Alewives in the bay. With that said, there are still fish getting caught just not the fast and furious action like a few weeks ago. Areas to try include…Chaudoir’s Dock, Larsen’s Reef and Monument Shoals all good options. Flicker Shads, Flicker minnows, Bandits, Deep Husky jerks and crawler harnesses all good options Bass fishing has been going quite well in recent weeks. 8 to 12 feet of water has been the best depths. Look for rock to sand transitions and or channel cuts. Howie Tubes, spy baits, spinner baits, flukes and ned rigs just some of the baits that are working well Thanks; Lance LaVine Howie’s Tackle 1309 Green Bay Rd Sturgeon Bay, WI 54235 Ph: 920-746-9916

Just a few scattered perch reports. Sheep head picking up on lake w live pond crabs.

It’s really spotty some guys are catching a few other guys nothing. Jim went out with his power line he kept four nice ones today had a couple that he threw back. Must be a lot of Sheephead out on the Horseshoe you there’s an awful lot of guys on the end

60 foot of water, a bit south, nice cohos. No perchnreports yet

Hi Dale Waukegan - Fishing was very good most trips. As is typical for this time of year the fish are spread out and the key is hunting for pockets where they are holding. Cohos and kings can be taken anywhere from 50 to 130 feet. North of the harbor to the state line has been better than South. Once an area holding fish due to currents is located the boat should stay there and work it. Cohos seemed to want the larger size 2 to 3 inch flys. The Liz pattens, Green Liz, Blue Liz, Black Liz were best. Those can be purchased through Jimmy Fly, Lake Michigan Angler or Stanley Stinger. Those are probably the most common and popular patterns on the lake. Although the slightly larger flys were preferred, smaller spoons in the Warrior Flutter size and Warrior Flutter XL took the most fish in green patterns, Psycho Perch and Green Dolphin were best. Shallow downriggers 20-35 down, leadcores in 2-5 colors and divers 25-45 out were best. Chicago fishing was more erratic with some great days and some terrible. The best bet is for trollers to go out to 120 plus feet, a long way out. If conditions don’t allow that, there have been kings and coho taken near The Wreck. Fishing should improve over the next two weeks as a traditional summer pattern will emerge and make locating fish easier. We have charter slots available the weekend of June 29 and 30. Have a great week. Capt. Scott Wolfe School of Fish Charters www.schooloffishcharters.com 630-341-0550

Working with a below average June, as far as temperature is concerned, has actually helped some anglers (Walleye, Smallmouth, Pike), but slowed some others (Largemouth, Bluegill). Walleye: Excellent-Very Good – The water’s temps, holding in the low 60’s, seemed to have really helped the weed Walleye bite. Anglers working curly leaf cabbage in depth from 6-14’ catching limits of Walleyes using 1/16 oz weedless jigs tipped with leeches or crawlers. Smallmouth Bass: Very Good – Bedding nearly all finished, but larger lakes still seeing fish up shallow. Tube jigs hot choice to work these shallow fish. X-Raps, 3 swim baits also working well. Northern Pike: Very Good-Good – Swim baits, spinner baits, jointed stick baits have been the ticket. Many Pike being caught by Walleye anglers on jig and minnow combos as well. Largemouth Bass: Good-Very Good – Cool temps have held Largemouth out of the shallows some. On warm afternoons, Bass moving into shallows searching out spawning areas. Creature baits, swim jigs and tubes working. Nice Largemouth in the upper teens to 20 reported this week. Yellow Perch: Good – Weedy flats of 5-8’. Small-medium leeches, thunder bugs, medium fatheads. Musky: Fair-Good – Best towards evening as water warms. 7 twitch baits, jointed shallow cranks best. Bluegill: Fair-Good – Bedding on some lakes, cool nights stretching out spawning process. Thunder bugs, small leeches best. Crappie: Fair-Good – Scattered throughout tall weed beds in 8-14’. Small minnows best. Stable temps this week should help fishing patterns develop. No drastic changes in water temps – slow rise into mid 60’s this week Thanks to you for all of your support, the Walleyes for Tomorrow Dinner Fundraiser is sold out. Should be a great time, see you Thursday. Kurt Justice Kurt’s Island Sport Shop Like us on FaceBook

Salmon and trout fishing good on state line from just west of ditch to Michigan city 60 to 75 ft of water catching fish 15 ft down to the bottom spoons dodger Flys and spindoctors and flys all doing good Steelhead action on Michigan city peir and portage riverwalk hit or miss one day great next day slow back and forth some great action some days shrimp or crawlers on floats or casting orange silver blue and silver Kong wobblers and lil Cleo’s Catfish good at riverwalk in evening and thru night Sonny’s stinkbait now known as triple s best on bottom