Chicago fishing, Midwest Report: Nearshore salmon/trout, bluegills, smallmouth, largemouth, catfish

Dale Bowman .... Braidwood Today 23 lbs

Different fish, king this time!

Hope you had a teriffic weekend Dale,

-Laurance

The other night when I caught that salmon, I turned and handed it to a guy who had not caught any fish. Tonight he saw me with his wife and they told me thanks for the good meal. Then about 10 minutes later he hooked in to this monster. I helped land it with my net. God puts us in places for a reason.

Hey Dale hope you are well. It’s been awhile for me. My Dad, Mike Markese landed this beauty out of Montrose harbor during the week on his Gray Ghost Rat L Trap, she took off on him about 100yards to the mouth of harbor he was able to get her back to the wall and his buddy Chris from work net it for him. He swears he catches at least 1 every season on his Ghost. I remember waking up in the fall to go to school and him and his buddies in front of house with there fall salmon. Now im 40 and get to enjoy the fall salmon with him and my kids. We have been going together the last 10years every season and had some good ones over the years. Hope to get me some this season. Have a good one!

She weighed in at 18lb and was shared with other Fisherman and Woman at Montrose.

I think the warmer weather may have slowed things down just a bit but from what I can tell and the reports I’m getting there are still plenty of Salmon around, Kings & Coho. As far as I know they are still predominantly hitting on lures and crankbaits, mostly glo in the dark but shiny colors as well during the day. Bait that is starting to be used are spawn sacs, medium or large shiner minnows and night crawlers. . . . Have a great week!

Hi Dale

. . .

In the harbor the fishing was slow. Warm water shut down the salmon and trout and the pike, bass and drum were more active. The limited success by harbor anglers was mostly from boats and kayaks jigging the deeper holes and shore guys about an hour before sunrise in the dark. The best is still to come for shore anglers as the majority of the huge coho are at least two weeks away from entering the harbor.

Capt. Scott Wolfe schooloffishcharters.com 312-933-0552

Hi Dale

I had the Leyden bass fishing club outing to Waukegan harbor with salmon unlimited Saturday morning. It was a great day and fun was had by all. Big thanks to my Cousin Leslie and Gerry Taylor for hosting . It was great running into Chauncy on the docks listening to his stories of his high school education and of perch glory days on lake Michigan . The winds had blown in warm water and the bite was slow but a king was taken during the derby. Lots of stocker fish swimming in the harbor.

The music front is getting going with now two frank zappa tribute shows and a wild hare date pending. The stuff of dreams. Next up a trip to Merrill for fall action this Saturday.

Tight lines and good health

Rob

Salmon in all nwi tributaries use skein, spawn saks and spinners.

2 20’s out of mke last weekend

Same program

Reef runners

Fishing report from racine,

Muddy water and warmer than last week. Fished for 6 hours. One fish casting a crank. Saw maybe 7 jump. A little early still. Water temp 68

Hi dale! I’ve been submitting some photos to you and some reports for the last three or four years now I’ve even been lucky enough to Grace the suntimes with my photos thanks to you and I appreciate that. My friends 13-year-old son caught this fish out of a public Lake in Lake County on a live bluegill the youngster just started fishing he’s a freshman and he’s got many years of great angling ahead to come. His name is Chris and his dad rob took him out today Saturday Sept 17th. Easily a 5lb largie

Hey Dale,

Here is a recap of this past weeks fishing.

Area lakes-the summer patterns continue but that will change with more normal early fall temps later in the week. Bass have been up shallow during evening hours chasing bluegill. Best bait has been a jerk minnow worked along the wind blown shorelines. A few top water bass can be taken at last light on a pop r.

The bluegill action is excellent on money bugs by IJO Plastics. Work the bait under a slip float along the outside weed lines.

. . .

. . .

TTYL

—

Ken Husker O’Malley

Husker Outdoors Waterwerks fishing team

Hi Dale,

. . .

I didn’t do well on the local ponds and lakes this week. All Summer there has been a lot of aquatic vegetation around the edges. There is now a ring of algae around the outside edges of the vegetation, leading to much less accessible water from the shore. All I could do was pick pockets: cast to openings in the vegetation. It was a lot of work for a few bluegills.

. . .

Pete

Crappie Time and salmon.... we’re done with the cats

My 5 year old grandson Jack caught these two fish last Sunday within 15 minutes on Lake Marie. The smile says it all!!!

. . .

Mimi Boysen

Bloomington Lake Crappie

Hey Dale,

Overall, the Fox River has been outstanding the past week.

Bank fishing mornings & evenings with small artificials in Kane County……bigger bass were much more active along the shorelines than they had been in several weeks.

Caught six over the past week 18 inches plus, including this 21 incher that tied my personal best. Lost a few jumping hook shakers too. God they are fun to catch at that size.

Water temps starting to drop some I think….started hooking into the occasional walleye this week too. Should be a fun next few weeks.

Hi Dale,

I did take a look at the Fox and briefly fished a tributary yesterday. The recent rains finally made a difference: levels were up and there was some color to the water. The trib I fished usually runs very clear and is low this time of year. Not yesterday. It had a nice stain and the fish were less skittish than usual. There were a lot of minnows around and the smallmouth were feeding recklessly. By random chance, I had gone with an exact match of the minnows-a small white deer hair streamer-and the smallmouth seemed to like it. Most were small, but there were a few respectable fish mixed in.

. . .

Pete

Fishing Report – 9/18/2022

Mike Norris

Big Green Lake – Weather has improved in the last week and the surface water temperature on Big Green is back into the mid 70’s. I have switched to live bait rigging for smallmouth bass and am finding them holding tight to outside weed lines, especially where weed lines make inside turns. The best areas are where weeds transition to gravel. Artificial lures are still working, but you need to work lures that will attract their attention. Try casting an umbrella rig parallel to and along weed edges in fourteen feet of water. Anglers need to limit umbrella rigs to three hooks though. Tubes and drop shots are also still in play. Bluegill fishing also remains good.

Fox Lake – The dam at the lower end of the lake is open again following the five inches of more of rain we had a week ago. Opening the dam allows the water to filter through the lake faster and as the visibility within the lake improves, so does the largemouth bass fishing. Try swim baits, bladed jigs, and stick worms along the north shore and in and around the islands. Crappie fishing remains good in the basin of the lake with jig and minnow, or off Kuno Point.

Hi Dale - fished H a couple times since last week and lake has slowed a bit from the warmer weather. Before heat I was getting solid Smallmouth (19 3.6 lb) and a couple walleye in jigs with a crayfish trailer along with dark finesse baits and Rapala crainkbaits after heat I found some action using soft jerk baits and weightless on a 4/0 ewg hook. The colder weather forecasted later this week will get this lake in fall mode again. Talked to another angler before heat front and he slammed the Crappie using jigs in monkey milk colors

I was Salmon fishing but hooked this Northern at about 7 PM. In a perch Flicker Shad.

Caught just south of Belmont Harbor on a flicker shad

I think the warmer weather may have slowed things down just a bit but from what I can tell and the reports I’m getting there are still plenty of Salmon around, Kings & Coho. As far as I know they are still predominantly hitting on lures and crankbaits, mostly glo in the dark but shiny colors as well during the day. Bait that is starting to be used are spawn sacs, medium or large shiner minnows and night crawlers.

There are still some nice sheephead being caught out on the horseshoe on crayfish. Still a few bass for a couple of the guys that are fishing them over at Diversey. Still an unusual amount of Northerns caught by anglers casting for salmon, had one in the shop well over 40 inches.

Have a great week!

Hi Dale

Unfortunately the strong NE winds early last week took their toll on our fishing and it was a slow week. Water was warm down to over 120 feet deep. It turned the fish off. The good news was that each day was improving and Sunday catches were good again.

For boaters, deeper water just off the Waukegan reefs produced the best catches of coho and lake trout with occasional two and three year old kings. Green and white and Aqua spoons like Warrior Froggy and Hey Babe run over 90 feet down and Jimmy fly Mo rigs in white and yellow/orange on the bottom in 150 to 170 feet down produced. Deep holes near shallower hills and reefs need to be targeted.

In the harbor the fishing was slow. Warm water shut down the salmon and trout and the pike, bass and drum were more active. The limited success by harbor anglers was mostly from boats and kayaks jigging the deeper holes and shore guys about an hour before sunrise in the dark. The best is still to come for shore anglers as the majority of the huge coho are at least two weeks away from entering the harbor.

Capt. Scott Wolfe schooloffishcharters.com 312-933-0552

Chrome one was 20.75 and only 36

A little taste of things to come earlier in this past week as surface temps on some bodies of water fell as low as 64 degrees. But as of early this week, temps back up to 70 degrees on most lakes.

Smallmouth Bass: Very Good-Good – Rock/Gravel humps using drop shot rigs for #’s of Bass. Big Bass up shallow hitting top-water baits (Whopper Ploppers, Choppo’s, Torpedos) up in 2-5’ of water. Swimbaits also effective on these big, shallow brutes!

Northern Pike: Very Good-Good – Action also slowed with warmth, spinnerbaits, swimbaits and Husky Jerks for artificial. Chubs, suckers on jigs for live bait.

Musky: Very Good-Fair – Fall off as water warmed, but as cooling, top-water bite got hot on Dr. Evils, Whopper Ploppers and Pacemakers. Top top-water fish of the week, Guide Russ Smith led a client to a 48 top-water Ski on a Smity Flap Tail! Look for this bite to improve this weekend as water temps drop!

Largemouth Bass: Good – Weed bite on Wacky Worms hard to top. Some top-water reports in the late hours on frogs, spiders and chug bugs.

Crappie: Good – Best over deep wood especially along channels in Flowages. Medium fats under floats. On lakes, 10-14’ weed edges using small jig or minnows.

Walleye: Good-Fair – Better when water cools. Deep bite best in 22-28’. 1/8 – 1/4 oz jigs tipped with large fats or 1/2 crawler. When this isn’t working and fish are being seen, drop jigging lures such as Shiver Minnows and Jigging Raps to entice gits. For shallow lakes/Flowages, redtails on a 1/16 oz weedless jig on cloudy/windy days.

Yellow Perch: Good-Fair – Medium fatheads, beavertail, crawlers in 6-10’ weeds.

Bluegill: Good-Fair – Not a lot of angler attention. Still suspending outside weed edges. Small 1/32 oz jigs tipped with worms or beavertails.

Early part of this week has warm weather, spiking water temps up over the 70 degree mark. Forecast for Thursday AM (9/22) calls for lows of 31-33 degrees. This cold snap should actually help anglers as Walleye and Musky should react positive to the falling water temps for the weekend.

Kurt Justice

Kurt’s Island Sport Shop - Like us on Facebook

Salmon in all nwi tributaries use skein, spawn saks and spinners.

Lake George in Hobart starting to give up crappie at a better pace fishing crappie minnows around the bridges

Loomis lake in valpo still giving up decent catches of panfish using crickets and jumbo red wigglers

Hi Dale,

. . .

I hit Shabbona before sunset over the weekend again. There were schools of shad within a short cast of the shoreline. I started casting a white streamer to the edges of a school hoping there would be gamefish tracking the shad. One cast produced a hard strike and I was surprised to land a good-sized shad, in the 2-3 pound range. Anyone who has thrown spoons or spinners around warm water discharges on Lake Michigan for salmon and trout during the Winter has probably caught more shad than they can count. The vast majority will have been foul-hooked; it’s impossible to avoid due to the numbers of fish in a confined area. I’ve landed a handful that actually ate a fly. This was the first time it’s happened somewhere other than a power plant outflow. After the sun had set, things got interesting. I switched to a glow in the dark fly and landed a few bluegills, including a wide-backed slab (maybe he’s survived so long in a heavily fished lake by going completely nocturnal-it works for deer). I also lost something with some weight to it before I could get a look at it. Based on the fight, or lack thereof to be more accurate, it was probably a walleye or big crappie. It would have been nice to get confirmation because the only glow in the dark flies I’ve used up until now have been for salmonids; I’d like to know what else will eat them. The last cast of the night produced a long but skinny walleye. There were a lot of other things going on after sunset: coyotes calling back and forth to each other from the woods on the east shore to another group in the ag fields to the south; a low flying heron surprising both of us when it flew a few feet over my head; a beaver swimming along the face of the dam and continuing on his way after taking a look at me. He must have had something important to do because the more typical response is to swim back and forth in front of me, beating their tails on the water until I leave.

Pete

Water temp is in the mid 60’s. With cooler weather coming in the next few days, the fall fishing should pick up. White bass and crappie are showing up in the lower part of the river near Poygan. Minnows are working best,some on plastics. Crawlers on jigs still taking a few walleye