Chicago fishing: Big bounty of spring largemouth and smallmouth bass, and a big walleye from Heidecke

Douglas Wagner with a 27 walleye from Heideke lake fishing with Starved Rock Guide Service Released

Hey Dale, Here is a recap of this past weeks fishing. Area lakes- some bass are on beds whiles others are still staging. Water temps dropped along with clarity from the weekend rains. Majority should be on the beds with the warmup later in the week. Bass have been good on buzzbaits and chatterbaits during early morning hours. Senkos are starting to take good numbers during mid-afternoon hours. Here is the nature pic of the week taken by my daughter Hailey from her apartment balcony. The calm before the storm. TTYL — Ken Husker O’Malley Husker Outdoors Waterwerks fishing team

We getting Slab crappie in the Calumet system ...also in Indiana Cedar Lake and Willow Slough.... excellent... water is 59-60 degrees almost PERFECT

Delavan Lake 5/10/21 – 5/17/21 The weather continues to cause fishermen trouble. This past week it was cold and the very high winds that made fishing difficult. Overall, the fishing has been pretty good considering Mother Nature’s challenges. With a few warm days, the fish should really turn on. However, the forecast is for continued cool temperatures. The best action continues to be the bluegills and crappies. Bluegill fishing has been best in 3-4 feet of water. I’ve been getting all of my fish by the outlet dam, Lake Lawn Harbor and the Viewcrest Channel. I’m still using leaf worms. A few people I’ve spoken with are telling me that hellgrammites are producing larger fish for them. This year I’ve been catching quite a few smaller fish compared to prior years. It’s still relatively easy to catch enough quality fish. Crappie fishing was also good this past week. I caught most of my fish in front of Lake Lawn and in front of Lake Lawn Harbor. The fish are in a pre-spawn pattern. I caught several 13 inchers off of some of the main lake boat docks that I fish consistently all year. Last week, I caught all of my fish on small shiners fished beneath a bobber. I did not boat a fish on the popular plastics. With warming water, the crappies throughout the lake should begin to spawn and become very easy to catch. The best game fish bite has been the largemouth bass, although this bite is just starting. The best success has been around boat docks and shallow water with sand bottoms. The fish have started to spawn. I prefer using spider grubs or white spinner baits. This past week, the best action was when the winds were calm, making sight fishing possible. The best locations were by the condos near the outlet and by Assembly Park piers. Walleye fishing continues to be rather slow. Only a few fish are being caught during the day, with no legals reported. The best action has been at night. The fish have been in 6-8 feet of water. The best approach has been a small jig, 1/16 oz with a large fathead minnow. Some warm stable weather will help this bite tremendously. With the water clarity so high, night fishing is the only way to go. Come on Sun!!! Good luck and I hope to see you on the water. For guide parties call Dave Duwe at 262-728-8063

Hi Dale, my son got another on the Fox River this evening. The small mouth are really starting pick up now with the warming temperature.

Dale, Hmmm, another fishing report. Maybe hell actually did freeze over. In a normal year the Fox River in the spring flows along high, fast and muddy for weeks because of the spring rains. The creeks that feed the Fox normally come down relatively quickly regardless of rain quantity. That’s one of many reasons I’ve always fished the creeks in the spring. Another reason being the fish that take advantage of normal water levels and migrate into the creeks for spawning and easier meals. The smaller scale of the creeks makes these fish much easier to catch. That didn’t happen this year. Up until this past Saturday night we hardly got any rain in the Fox Valley and all flowing water was ridiculously low. Hit two creeks on Saturday, a couple of hours on one and about 15 minutes on the other. As soon as I got to the shore of the first creek, I knew I should put on either a helgie or a small crayfish and drag them along the bottoms of what was left of deeper areas. The creek was really low and clear. Laziness kept me from reaching into my pocket to look for either of those so I left the twister on from the previous week. Managed to catch 3 smallies and 3 rock bass. Biggest smallie 13 inches. Last week I sent you a picture of the biggest fish of the day, this time I’m sending you the smallest, a little smallie. It was smaller than the rock bass, but still impressive I think. The second creek is where I spent only 15 minutes. Pretty devoid of life under the surface of the water and I knew I would have to put in a good half mile of wading to accomplish catching anything that looked like a fish. Wasn’t worth it. Some are saying we got 3 inches of rain in my area Saturday night. Won’t bother checking the river gauges like I used to obsessively do, but if my interest level in creek fishing remains, I might go again next weekend. We’ll see. . . . Ken G

Lake Geneva 5/10/21 - 5/17/21 The main lakes water temperature is still hovering around 49 degrees. Unfortunately fishing on Lake Geneva is tough but should be improving if we get some nice weather that sticks around for a while. The bass have not yet begun to spawn. This bite is very predictable once the water starts to warm. With the very cold water, the fish are hard to pattern. If you find the bait fish, you will find the small mouth bass. Most of the fish are suspended 8-10 ft down in 20 ft of water. Some of the best locations are by Knollwood and the Yacht Club. Most of the success has been by casting small jerk baits or slowly reeling Kalin Grubs. Crappie fishing has been relatively good. The best location has been off of the Bible Camp or by Gage Marine. The best depth has been 8-10 feet of water. Use small shiners fished with slip bobbers for the most action. Warming water temperatures will make this action more consistent. Bluegill fishing has been relatively good in Geneva Bay off the north shore. The fish, however, have been relatively small. Leaf worms or red worms have been producing most of the fish. Abbey harbor has also been producing fish. With the cool water temperatures, rock bass have not been concentrating in the shallow water. They are suspending off the break lines. With warming water these fish should move into the 10-12 feet depth, hopefully within the next few weeks. Walleye has been really good at night. Cast the shallows with Rapalas or other stick baits. Look for the fish by Maytag Point, Fontana Beach, and Williams Bay beach. The cold water hasn’t affected the bite. Good luck and I hope to see you on the water, for guide parties call Dave Duwe at 608-883-2050

Fishing Report 5-10-2021 Mike Norris Big Green Lake – Water temperature is 49 degrees and smallmouth bass have transitioned from their deep wintering zones and are spreading out onto adjacent flats in 12 – 16 ft of water. This calls for a more horizontal presentation and covering water with jerkbaits, bladed jigs, and umbrella rigs comes into play now. I am also catching largemouth bass in back channels and shallow bays. Though I am not pursuing them, I am seeing big bluegills lurking deep beneath the piers. Fox Lake – The up and down fluctuations in the daily air temperatures have slowed the movement of largemouth bass onto their spawning areas. Bigger bass have become harder to catch, and the number of smaller bass caught per angling hour is also down. Northern pike remain active but good patterns for panfish are almost non-existent. A few anglers are catching walleye in shallow water on swim jigs and chatterbaits. Beaver Dam Lake – Crappies are spawning, and fishing is good right now on mid-lake structure. Anglers trolling with crankbaits for walleye are also catching crappies. Water temperature was near 60 last week but has fallen back to 56 degrees. To book me for a guide trip reach out to me via my Facebook page at mike.norris.7773 or email me through my website at www.comecatchsmallmouth.com

Also a pair of 23 walleye with Matt Schmit

6.5 lber. Size 15 boot for comparison

smallmouth are really pumped for Justin Fields/ Red DT-10’s.

wow burnam was on fire today for the smallmouths between me and my brother we caught 7 with biggest being 4 lbs 7 oz all using a small silver jighead with a gulp minnow

Ron nicholson from st charles,59 years old, 22lbs on boga grip, 35.5 long his is dedicating this fish to his son that passed away Easton Nicholson Today by the Wreck off Montrose on the Confusion C4

Hi Dale fishing has been pretty slow there’s been a few Coho out on the end of that horseshoe and that is about all I’ve heard.

All good, boats anywhere from 30 to 100 feet, south. Pier good as well, mainly coho, bait and spoons.

Hi Dale Waukegan boat fishing continues to be very good. The fish are pushing out to deeper water. By the weekend good catches of mixed bags of coho, kings, lakers and steelhead were in 80 to 120 feet. Lake trout were taken in the bottom 10 feet and again preferred spoons like Warrior Psycho Perch and Colville Crusher over traditional Mo Rigs. Kings, coho and steelhead were taken in the top 40 feet mostly on Downriggers and dipsey divers with orange spoons like Warrior Steelhead Candy and Orange Killer. Stubby dodgers with Jimmy Fly green and green/gold patterns were also good. A few coho continued to be taken on traditional 00 dodger and peanut flies on trolling boards. Waukegan harbor saw less success with the fish moving out. Chicago and Wilmette had catches of mostly lake trout with a king or coho here and there. Spoons were most effective in the patterns above and in larger magnum sizes. Our first good king is attached, held by Capt. Mike Fuys, caught on a Warrior Steelhead Candy. Capt. Scott Wolfe schooloffishcharters.com 630-341-0550

Couldn’t shake out o f these cold mornings (mid 20’s to low 30’s) this past week enough to get a good solid bite going. A few afternoons temps rose enough to spark some activity, but overall bites were tough to dig out most days. Northern Pike: Good-Very Good – Pike like the cool. And when they don’t have to compete with Walleyes, they tend to pick up the slack. While most reports came from anglers jigging minnows or leeches for Walleye, casting spinner baits, chatter baits and jerk baits all picked up some decent action depending on the conditions (artificials worked better as temps rose)! Crappies: Good-Fair – Wind and cold has been the biggest hurdle. Anglers finding Crappies staging in bays with tall narrow leaf cabbage in 8-14’ of water. With surface temps hovering in the upper 40’s to just over 50 degrees, these fish just are not ready to move in. Most action on slip-bobbers and small minnows. Small plastics will produce better as water warms. When temps reach the upper 50’s (57-59 degrees) the spawning will start! Walleye: Fair – Cool weather can be blamed for this prolonged, post spawn duldrums. Shallows are not warming up fast enough, nor enough fresh green weed growth to pull bait fish into typical early May zones. It should be coming. There have been signs of Eyes feeding on small Perch, Gills and even leeches, but the better bites have come from a little deeper water of 10-16’ as nightly colds keep the shallows from filling up with life. Largemouth Bass: Fair – Surprisingly a few more anglers targeting than usual. Black Marabou jigs in 1/16 – 1/8 oz worked over dark bottomed bays in the afternoon. Mid-day, chatter baits and swim baits drawing some weed flat action. With slowly rising temps starting this Thursday (5/13), look for action for all species to pick up. Mornings in the 40’s warming to 60’s in the afternoon will put anglers and their quarry in a more active mood. Kurt Justice Kurt’s Island Sport Shop Like us on FaceBook

Good fishing last week for salmon and trout when weather aloud From Gary light to the pink house just west of Michigan city in 40 to 50ft of water was full of bait fish and salmon and trout Dodgers and spindoctors and flys along with spoons took lots of fish Willow slough starting to get full of weeds but boat fisherman moving around are doing really well on bluegills and red ears.

We getting Slab crappie in the Calumet system ...also in Indiana Cedar Lake and Willow Slough.... excellent... water is 59-60 degrees almost PERFECT

Hi, Dale! I’m hoping you’re well & all geared up for the beautiful forecast. Stay safe! Fishing is really starting to get hot from the Chicago lakefront all the way east to the Portage Riverwalk & St. Joseph River; a good number of Coho & Kings are being caught on Skein, Nightcrawlers, & Cut Salmon. Trollers are doing very well on small spoons & dodgers & flies. Inland lakes are steady, & Walleye fishing is slowly getting better, with Wolf Lake being the local hotspot. Nightcrawlers, Leeches, & Crawfish seem to be the baits of choice. The little warmer upcoming weather will do wonders. Catfish & Smallmouth Bass fishing is really good on most rivers, including the Calumet, St. Joseph, & Kankakee, with anglers lucking out using dip & doughbaits, Livers, Shrimp, & Golden Roaches, respectively. Crappie fishing is steadily picking up, but action slowed down slightly with the sudden drop in temperature; the warm weather rise this week will certainly be welcomed. Dowling Park, Lake George, & Wolf Lake have all been doing fairly well, with most anglers finding success using Redworms, Beemoths, & smaller minnows.

Hi Dale just got back from great winter fishing in Florida. Made it out Friday before the monsoon! Did get this nice 19 smaller in the vermillion river at Peru Il. George Peters, Plainfield.

Water temp yesterday afternoon was 55.5 degrees, still a bit cool. Some white bass are near the spawning areas, and picking up some males in deep water. Keeping our fingers crossed the warm weather later this week will fire up the river.