Chicago fishing: Updates on access; and catching coho, bass and crappie

Hey dale we went up to Lasalle today and walked all the way to veterans point we did amazing ! We got over 20 , 17+ of course a lot of catch and release ! We did get kicked out by DNR due to report that all state parks are close due to Corona virus All on bladebait

Hi Dale, I’d planned on going to Braidwood Sunday but changed my mind when it didn’t warm up and the wind kept blowing. Of course, the DNR closures made it a moot point. It’s a hard decision to understand: once one leaves the parking area at Braidwood, LaSalle, Heidecke, etc., it’s unusual to see many other people. Let’s see if they find a way to keep the money from the turkey hunts that may not take place on public land. Thank God Wisconsin is so nearby. Instead of going to Braidwood, I fished close to home. I tried a good-sized forest preserve lake with no success. Maybe a smaller pond would warm up more quickly, so I continued at another nearby body of water dragging a marabou leech low and slow to see if any bass had woken up. Again, without success. But there was a sporadic hatch of something. At first I thought it was an aquatic beetle, but I got a closer look at one eventually and think it was a black fly. I never saw more than one on the water at the same time-this was no blanket hatch-but the fish noticed it. There would be a yellow swirl under the adult struggling in the surface film and then no more fly. I assumed it was bluegills from all the yellow. I switched to a small soft hackly fly- it vaguely imitates a lot of hatching aquatic insects-and got into fish right away. It turned out to be crappies with a yellow coloration that I’ve never seen before. Pete

Haven’t made it out on the river since the last report but hoping I can get a float in tomorrow. I did catch my new personal best yesterday at 6.54lbs in a subdivision pond on a Megabass dark sleeper; the pictures don’t do it justice. I’ll let you know if I get out on the river tomorrow.

Hey Dale, I was able to get out for a few hours today before the inevitable lockdown. The goal was to test out some fly patterns I’ve been working on and also hopefully get a few pre-spawn largemouth. I knew it was going to be an interesting session after I missed a huge blow-up on the third blind cast. This particular water has very spooky fish so I moved and began covering water again. This bass are spooky, but also very aggressive so something I figure-eight close to the bank before starting a new cast. Sure enough, another big seafoam chrome flash and a boil over that flipped the fly around on the eight. Another missed opportunity, but some good field work. I kept working that area and the next fish hit the fly so hard that they both popped up two feet into the air. My time was running out, but anpther move to a different swim proved successful. I saw some nervous water about sixty feet out. Started to false cast and haul and landed it on the edge of a generous strike zone. I worked the fly slowly and let it dip and pop and glide from side to side. I notice a shadow trailing and it’s growing. I strip the line hard and let the fly Jack knife and skip to a stop. The shadow hovers below and sips the fly from the subsurface.

6lb largemouth. used a rapala shadow rap. she was on a shallow flat that the sun had been beating all day. with wind blowing Big females are moving up shallow now!

Hey Dale, Here is a recap of this past week’s fishing. Area lakes- cold front that passed through late in the week slowed the bite. Slowly retrieving a white grub on a 1/4 oz jig caught a few bass. The passing sandhill cranes kept the day entertaining. TTYL — Ken Husker O’Malley Husker Outdoors Waterwerks fishing team

He was bout 9 10 inches max

Dale Got this 5lb. 5oz bass out of Newton lake Sunday just in time before the IDNR closure of lakes. Water temps where 48 degrees on the whole lake. Plant is under maintenance so no pumping going on. Dustin Perkins Crestwood IL

Currently our only change is implementing a self-service for boaters/fishers to get permits and sign the waivers at our boat launch because Dickson Mounds Museum is closed.

This is probably too late but I was able to get out for a bit this afternoon. Water is around 450cfs fairly clear and about 46 degrees. I only managed 5 today. FIrst one was mid-river on a small swimbait, second on a Jackhammer Chatterbait in a backwater area and the other three all came on a 1.5 craw colored squarebill. THe bigger fish all came on the squarebill right in front of small creek mouths. Best one went 18.75 and 3.4lbs. Couldn’t really get a good pattern going but I’ll take it before the rain comes. Frank

Fishing Report – 03/16/2020 Mike Norris The ice is dangerously thin or completely gone on all the lakes in south central Wisconsin, so anglers are concentrating on the area’s rivers where walleyes and northern pike seasons remain open. If river fishing isn’t your thing this is a good time to start checking out bays and marina’s off the main lakes for early season bluegills and crappies. Lake Puckaway – The ice is all but gone and boaters are working the Fox River at the west end of the lake for walleye. Try locating deeper holes upriver and drifting downstream while dragging a 1/8-ounce jig tipped with half a nightcrawler. Walleyes must be 15 inches long to keep with a daily bag limit of five. . . . Contact Mike Norris, Wacky Worm Guide Service, at 630-842-8199 for Big Green Lake and other south-central Wisconsin guided fishing trips.

Customer at Henry’s said they got 30 coho around Hyde park a few days ago

We are open and up and running until otherwise notified. Taking the precautions that are necessary washing and cleaning . Coho very good. Large minnows and crawlers. It’s back and forth on the minnows and crawlers about a 50/50. Of course power liners are doing better because they have more hooks but the rod and reel guys in the harbor have been doing okay also. Our guy Phil had a 10 lb Northern in the harbor the other day. There’s also some nice Browns and a few steelhead have started to be caught.

After losing a couple of inches of ice to the warmth of the previous weekend, then to Thursday’s rain, colder temps have locked up the remaining ice well (16-20 on average). This gives ice anglers reason to keep those jig poles and tip-downs out for a couple more weeks. Crappies: Good-Very Good – Deep basin Crappies on glow jigs/spoons (pimples, Kastmasters, Cavier drops) with waxies or minnow heads over 18-24’ mud flats. Tip-downs with rosie reds also producing well. On the local flowages, which have seen water levels drop 3 ½’ since the first of March, river channels are key. Jigs that glow and tip-downs with rosies also key. For anglers working cabbage beds in bays, #8:#10 rockers tipped with white, pink, yellow or chartreus plastic. On warm days, with melt, start under ice with presentation. Tip-downs with Crappie minnows also producing very well when bite is ON! Yellow Perch: Good – Best #’s over mud flats of 18-28’ using Hali, Venom on Flasch Champs to get wigglers and red spikes over mud. Lake shiners producing larger fish over sandgrass on large, deep lakes. In weedy lakes, stick to small Bluegill imitation lures (Forage Minnows or K-Rips) tipped with waxies. Bluegills: Good – Best on warmer days with melt. #3 tungsten Fiskas tipped with piece of Beaver Tail or mousee best. Dark colored plastics of red, black, purple, motor oil – though one angler reported a nice catch of eaters on green. With forecasted highs for the next week running low 30’s to low 40’s providing nice ice fishing weather, yet overnights of low teens to low 20’s, safe ice fishing should extend for a couple more weeks. Great activity, outdoors and not overly crowded! Kurt Justice Kurt’s Island Sport Shop Like us on FaceBook

For the groups that made it on lake trolling around Gary light area and around ship canel cal park area did good on coho and few browns thinfish and j9 rapalas in a variety of colors did best but any small crankbaits in a variety of colors took fish Michigan city from light house to draw bridge fish wer had from shore guys skein and squid best but shrimp crawlers and casting spoons took fish too Portage riverwalk up the river to underneath 249 bridge gave coho up not as crazy as it has been but still a lot of fish caught squid on white twister tail and jigs tipped with beemoth or shrimp took fish along with spawn saks and skein fished on near bottom Crappie starting lake George in Hobart and marina dock areas in cedar lake fishing cedar lake We are open 5 to 5 everyday we are staying open virus can’t stop the fisherman Fresh load of musky suckers in stock

Fishing Report – 03/16/2020 Mike Norris . . . Rock River – Walleye fishing is excellent right now in Jefferson County on the Rock River from the mouth of Lake Koshkonong northeast to just above the Hwy 26 bridge. Anglers trolling upstream on the river are doing well catching walleyes on hair fly rigs set up on a three-way rig with a pencil weight. The daily bag limit for walleye on the Rock River is three with a minimum size limit of 18 inches. Contact Mike Norris, Wacky Worm Guide Service, at 630-842-8199 for Big Green Lake and other south-central Wisconsin guided fishing trips.

Water is still cold, around 36-38 degrees. Still lots of short fish (not legal) but bigger ones are coming as the river gets higher and higher. Bigger fish are in the mix with some 28+ fish being caught all over the river. Don’t be surprised to see the river being a zoo due to the walleye run but don’t let it intimidate you. Fishing is great! There’s a report.

Fishing Report – 03/16/2020 Mike Norris . . . Wisconsin Dells – There are plenty of walleyes to be caught in the Wisconsin River below the dam at the Wisconsin Dells, but you’ll have to sort through several small ones. The river is high so anchor in eddies below the dam and cast 3/8 oz jig and plastic combos upriver and work the jig back downstream with short lifts and pauses. Try finding eddies one to three miles downstream from the dam if you’d like to avoid the crowds. The daily limit on this stretch of the Wisconsin River is one walleye and sauger from 15 inches but less than 20 inches and only one fish over 28 inches. . . . Contact Mike Norris, Wacky Worm Guide Service, at 630-842-8199 for Big Green Lake and other south-central Wisconsin guided fishing trips.

Made a trip to Winneconne . River is open, lake Winneconne 80 percent open. Flooding in upper wolf, not sure if from ice dams, they had low snow and rain this winter.

With rain and melting snow, water levels are up over 3 feet since ice out. Good news, the walleye are also coming up. Most fish are taken early mornings and late afternoon on sand bars, or current break areas. Jig and minnow, or river rigs working best. Water temp is in the mid 30’s, and will only get better as it warms up.