Chicago fishing, Midwest Report: Fall trout opener Saturday and nearshore salmon and trout

Dale, I would like to make a submission for your Fish of the Week. My 11 year old son, Joseph Piorek and his 10 year old friend, Drew Ceponis, went fishing to their favorite local pond late Sunday morning. Joseph and Drew fish this pond a few times per week which is located in a park, located in Bloomingdale and connects to Medinah Country Club. They caught a catfish, some large mouth bass and then a huge surprise - a walleye! It just goes to show you that you never know what your going to catch.

Dale Bowman .... there’s nothing like it !!!!.... delicious!

Hey Dale, Mike Forneris caught a Coho Salmon outside the Navy Peir breakwall trolling with a spoon

The chinook salmon still bites!

Hi Dale, I am glad we have such a journalists who is interested in outdoor fishery. It makes fishery a bit more excited to get yourself and your story posted in a big news paper. So thanks. I started fishing from last year after the Covid. It was a great solution for me to help overcome anxiety at that times. Last year I was introduced to Salmon fishing by my now a good friends at Montrose harbor. Unfortunately was not able to catch any fish, but this year it’s already my 3rd Salmon from the shore at Montrose.

Good morning

Salmon still the top of the list. Some dark kings as well as silver ones. Big Coho still too. Still casting but switching more to baits, spawn, larger minnows, crawlers etc...No trout reports. . . .

Have a good week.

Still lots of groups chasing kings and coho in area tributaries. Spawn saks, skein and inline spinners best bet.

Caught my biggest IL casting musky last week exactly one year to the day that I caught my biggest IL fish to date. The best part was it was with my buddy Ray who is the one who put me on that fish last year he is just a great fisherman through and through

Hey Dale,

Some good crappie on the riverwalk downtown yesterday. Jigs & minnows.

Hey Dale, Oct 21st is the last day for boats to be on Spring Lake. Boat fishing will still be allowed from the Sky Ranch ramp up to the narrows throughout waterfowl season. The stoping point in the narrows will be marked with buoy markers. The youth waterfowl hunt is oct 23-24. Bank fishing will be allowed along the south Lake road after 1:00pm during waterfowl season. Thanks. Thad

Also, a quick Fox River report...

Got out for a few hours over the weekend. Water level was very low...Had to work for them, but found a handful of pretty good smallmouth in deeper pools. They were still hitting cranks. Very tough in the shallower areas to find anything of any size at all.

Fishing Report – 10/9/2022

Mike Norris

Big Green Lake – Smallmouth bass fishing continues to be fair with smallmouth bass exceeding found pounds boated this week. The smallmouth bass are relating to pods of young of the year perch which are suspending just off the deep weed edges. We just are not getting numbers of fish though. Swim jigs, umbrella rigs and tube jigs are my lure choices. Cool night time temperatures are still cooling the lake down despite warm days and I am starting to see the signs of the turnover as the surface water temperature falls into the low sixties. Try drop shot rigs with half a red worm threaded on the hook for bluegill and walleye in and around fish cribs in 18 to 25 feet of water.

Fox Lake – Crappies are grouping up and biting in 12 to 14 ft of water. Try drifting around the deep edge of Dead Island and off the tip of Maple Point with a small jig and minnow hung from a bobber. Both largemouth bass and northern pike fishing is slow right now. A few walleye are being caught by anglers trolling crankbaits in the main basin of the lake.

Hi fellas, here is a quick update

Perch fishing has been very good as of late and the Perch fishing should just continue to stay good and probably will even get better as our water cools down. Little Sturgeon, Riley’s Bay, Sawyer Harbor along with downtown Sturgeon Bay in and around the shipping channel. Fathead minnows have been the best live

The Northern Pike fishing has been super and that fishing will also continue to get better if that is even possible. The Pike fishing reminds me of the fishing from the early 90’s. Just excellent Pike fishing now. Pretty much every spot that the Perch are the Pike will also be for obvious reasons. Large crank baits, spoons, large paddle tails, spinner baits and sucker minnows all working well right now

The Salmon fishing has been very good out on the big lake when the winds allow it. 100 to 200 feet of water has been the best and a mix of flies and spoons working well. There are also a bunch of Salmon and a few Brown Trout in the channel along with the harbors to the north of Sturgeon Bay

Walleye fishing at night has been getting better as it usually does this time of year. Generally trolling near shore drop offs with suspending crank baits

Thanks;

Lance LaVine

Howie’s Tackle 1309 Green Bay Rd Sturgeon Bay, WI 54235 Ph: 920-746-9916

My boyfriend [Brandon Kelly of Minooka] caught this muskie from shore today at Lake Heidecke!

and it was caught on a very small jig!

We also caught this striper/wiper and it broke the 1st pole.

And walleye

Hi Dale - cold front hit our area and shut down the bite a bit on river but should adjust in time. Water dropped to mid 50s however a few smallmouth were caught using hair jigs and finesse worms. This pretty good size Pike hit a berkley surface lure which woke me up and got my heart pumping. Very exciting strike as you could imagine. Walleye bite is slow but to should improve.

Went wading for the 1st time, its a fun experience but u need to have leg stength especially near areas with mild currents, our total number of Smallies caught was 17 between 3 of us, with my brothers biggest being 2 lbs, all were CPR and all were caught using diving crank baits

Hi Dale, I’m not sure this was on the lakefront list, but I’ll take it.

Same lure, same terrific harbor, but a different toothy grin this time. (On the fish that is... same grin on me.) The salmon bite had slowed down a bit but I’d stuck with it and this Northern Pike made a brief afternoon appearance before going back in the water.

Hope you had a great weekend,

-Laurance

Good morning

Salmon still the top of the list. Some dark kings as well as silver ones. Big Coho still too. Still casting but switching more to baits, spawn, larger minnows, crawlers etc...No trout reports. Still catching Northerns and smallmouth around the harbors.

Have a good week.

4) Snagging for chinook and coho salmon only is permitted from the following Lake Michigan shoreline areas from October 1 through December 31; however, no snagging is allowed at any time within 200 feet of a moored watercraft or as posted: A) Lincoln Park Lagoon from the Fullerton Avenue Bridge to the southern end of the Lagoon. B) Waukegan Harbor (in North Harbor basin only). C) Winnetka Power Plant discharge area. D) Jackson Harbor (Inner and Outer Harbors).

Hey Dale,

Here is a recap of this past weeks fishing.

The fall bite is in full swing. Time to get out and chase down some trophy fish.

. . .

Northern Wisconsin- falls colors are peak right now. There were some brisk mornings including snow on Friday and thick fog over the weekend. That did not deter the bite. Northern pike are good on a #4 Mepps early morning. Look for greens weeds along deeper drop offs for bigger fish.

Smallmouth are good mid to late morning on jigs with a max scent lil general. Work hard bottom areas with larger boulders in 25 fow for better size.

. . .

TTYL

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Ken Husker O’Malley

Husker Outdoors Waterwerks fishing team

Cold came and temps have started falling on lakes all across the Northwoods. Readings as low as 53 to 57 degrees surface temps. Full moon, high pressure and wind slowed what should have been a great weekend. Fishing will only get better over the next two weeks.

Musky: Good – Sucker bite picking up using med-large suckers on bladed Smity rigs. Gliders, Jerks and twitch baits as the cooler water temps put almost an end to the top-water bite. As water cooled, bait fish moved off shorelines, meaning a bit deeper for action (most 8-14’). Slower moving baits than September, but not ultra slow yet. This coming week looks good for suckers!

Walleye: Good-Fair – Working deep 22-34’ gravel/mud edges with redtails or black chubs. Jigging Raps and Shiver Minnows for the aggressive bites. 1/2 crawlers on 3/8 oz jigs over mud for less active fish.

Crappie: Good-Fair – Numbers not high, but quality fish (10-15) working flooded wood in 8-14’. Crappies relating to weeds moving out along coontail edges of 14-18’.

Northern Pike: Good-Fair – Pockets of hot action along wind blown shores. But cooler water pushing small Perch out into 4-8’ weeds.

Yellow Perch: Good-Fair – Following bait out into slightly deeper water. 1/2 crawlers or medium fatheads best.

Unfortunately, no reports from anglers chasing Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass or Bluegills.

Tuesday (10/11) forecasting highs to 71 degrees followed by rain and highs in 40’s for 10/13 through 10/15. Moving away from high pressure will help anglers as the Musky/sucker connection should pick up.

Kurt Justice

Kurt’s Island Sport Shop - Like us on Facebook

Hi Dale! I am back from the late summer hiatus on Lake Michigan in search for smallmouth Donkeys. Went out of East Chicago and the results were a bit depressing. Only got 2 with the biggest just under 4 pounds. Ran into a gentleman and he said it was better the day prior on swimbaits. I did have a surprise in the morning. This coho took my tube jig for a spin. Water temps were 62 and last year the leap was in the 50’s do I think we are a few weeks off! Tight lines

Still lots of groups chasing kings and coho in area tributaries. Spawn saks, skein and inline spinners best bet.

Crappie around the docks and near 249 bridge just down from portage public marina using crappie minnows.

Pine and stone lake in Laporte giving up good numbers of panfish for boat fishermen using beemoth and red wigglers

Hi, Dale. I hope you & yours are getting into the swing of the upcoming fall holidays & season. Here’s what’s been happening in the local fishing world as the temperatures cool off:

Fishing in general is beginning to slow down; most of the Salmon have moved into the rivers. There are still some fish out in 150-250 FOW, with blue & orange spoons working best.

Inland lakes are producing nice-sized & good amounts of Crappie & Bluegills on beemoths & Mini Mites.

Perch are beginning in the slips & locals ponds/lakes but will really pick up when the temperatures consistently cool off for at least a two week period; smaller minnows & redworms are working best at the moment.

Hey Dale,

Here is a recap of this past weeks fishing.

The fall bite is in full swing. Time to get out and chase down some trophy fish.

Shabbona Lake-water temps were 60 in the mornings but on sunny days rising as high as 65 by mid-afternoon. There was a shad hatch so fish have been chasing down schools of shad. Look for surface commotion to locate active bass. Swim baits and flukes are a good choice to entice them away from the schools.

. . .

TTYL

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Ken Husker O’Malley

Husker Outdoors Waterwerks fishing team

Hi Dale

With the holiday monday I had two days to fish the Wisconsin river at Alexander flowage and the weather was spectacular. Beautiful sunny and windy conditions Saturday afternoon and calm warm sunny conditions on Sunday had the fall foliage in full effect. This is my favorite time of year to be on the water. Big smallmouth bass are starting to feed up for the winter and some of the biggest bass of the year can be caught. I was getting hits on ned rig bladed jigs and wacky rigged senko in 1To 5 feet of water near rocks with weed. Pike and muskie are picking up as the water continues to cool. I got some to go on the wacky rig and orange jackhammer bladed jig with an orange kalins grub trailer. There were several boats casting for Muskie and a couple floating suckers. From now till ice up is trophy time.

On the music front the rehearsals for the Zappa shows are getting serious...time to whip it into shape as they say. Also the Conscious rockers will be playing in Bartlett for our Bass players work Anniversary on December 18th. And still trying to firm up date for Wild Hare.

Tight lines and good health!!

Rob

Water temp yesterday was 53.5. The crappie action has slowed a bit but some good catches coming in. White bass are scattered throughout the river from Lk.Poygan to Gills landing. Rigs with minnows working best