Midwest Fishing Report: Lakes and rivers around Chicago fishing

Hello everyone! Boy have we missed all of you! I think this is going to be a much better season than the last couple of years. For starters, the water level is definitely higher than last year. And we’re getting colder temps sooner than last year as well. I took the 1st picture 2 days ago, Nov. 24th, of the geese walking on the skim. And the rest are from today. No, the ice is not safe right now. It’s about an inch. The shorelines are wet, and water is flowing near bridge. However, we do have plenty of chili and cheeseburgers in the house! 🙂 Also, we have a brand new tap beer system with Miller Lite, Bud Light and Highlife available in pints or 10 ouncers. And of course, the Illinois licensed video gambling is up and running.Regular bar hours are as follows:Monday open at 1:30pmTue.-Fri. open at 10:30amSat-Sun open at 9:00amWe may open earlier on all days once ice is safe…Still $5 per car to park, and please be safe, buddy up, keep ice clean, and be considerate of our neighbors.Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving holiday. We are all thankful that Wayne is doing well, and celebrated another birthday this month, after recovering from a stroke he had in April. He is home and doing fine, I just wanted to let everyone know in case they hadn’t heard. He’s sitting on his same old barstool, and cracking the whip as usual! 🙂Marcy

(Head): Central Wisconsin gearing up for ice fishing season, and gun deer hunting seasons looks very promising; all in and amidst the lakes and the Wisconsin River in Wisconsin¹s Marathon and Lincoln Counties (near Mosinee and Wausau). With the 2013 gun deer season upon us and water temperatures at freezing the guides at Hooksetters have put their boats away for the year. And a great year it has been! With hundreds of muskies caught, many of them over 50 inches along with thousands of walleyes, panfish and pike we would like to take this time to thank all of the people that trusted us to take them fishing this year. Thank you!!! For you ice fishing enthusiast it won’t be long now. With temperatures in below freezing we may be experiencing ice fishing as soon as next week. Just remember to use caution on first ice and don’t travel alone. Our guides at Hooksetters will be on the ice as soon as safe conditions permit and we will keep you posted on the ice conditions and current hot bites as they develop throughout the winter.

What a difference a week has made. While the devastating storms were taking place last Sunday, I was up in Lake County floating a stretch of river in search of pike at the mercy of a hail storm. Anyway, the water temperature readings I took last weekend were between 51-54 degrees. This weekend I was getting readings at 40-42 degrees. However, the cold water doesn’t seem to bother the dog much. Ice covered rod tips made it hard for Pike fishing this weekend, but still found a pattern and a few fish. Pike were holding in sunny areas of river with the best bite coming at high sun in the early afternoon. Shiney bright stick baits were getting a lot of attention. I also spent sometime looking for crappie using a 1inch gulp minnow on a 1/16th oz gumbal jig. Crappie were few and far between, but was able to run into a few small white bass and green sunfish at a warm water discharge. Marcus Benesch River Grove, Illinois

– ANDERSON LAKE is CLOSED TO BOAT FISHING for the season– BANNER MARSH IS CLOSED TO BOAT FISHING AND AS OF OCT. 31st, BANK FISHING ONLY ALLOWED AFTER 1PM but NO FISHING ALLOWED in EAST POINT ACCESS AREA , which is CLOSED TO ALL FISHING to provide a GOOSE REFUGE AREA during season till Feb. 1st– DOUBLE T STATE FISH and WILDLIFE AREA IS CLOSED TO FISHING for the season and remains Closed till APRIL 1st, 2014– EMIQUON PRESERVE during waterfowl hunting season fishing is allowed only between Noon and sunset.– EVERGREEN LAKE – A SOUTHERN PART OF Lake AROUND DEER ISLAND and ALL OF SIX-MILE CREEK BAY IS CLOSED TO GAS MOTORS from Oct. 15th through JAN. 1st to allow for resting areas for migratory waterfowl. YOU ARE ALLOWED TO STILL RUN A TROLLING MOTOR IN THESE AREAS ONLY. – Also, the ENTIRE lake and park, with the exception of the campground, is CLOSED to general use Nov. 22-24 and Dec. 5-8 for the Deer Management Program.– RICE LAKE is CLOSED to boat fishing till end of Duck & Goose season– SNAKEDEN HOLLOW including McMASTER LAKE IS CLOSED TO FISHING for the Season till Feb. 1st– SPRING LAKE (South & North) IS CLOSED TO BOAT FISHING in Waterfowl Hunting Area with BANK FISHING ALLOWED ONLY AFTER 1pm– And Closed to shore fishing in hunting areas on Oct. 26th.. AREAS THAT REMAIN OPEN TO BOATS ARE NORTH OF MAPLE ISLAND with ramp at north end at the Sky Ranch Road launch and IN PIKE HOLE with carry in boats -On December 25th boat fishing and shore fishing in the waterfowl hunting area will be allowed after 1:00 p.m. through the end of Canada Goose season.– CLINTON LAKE the easterly area of Clinton Lake between the DeWitt (CH14) and the 48 bridges is CLOSED FROM OCT. 10th through MARCH 31st to protect fish and wildlife. It will Re-OPEN April 1st..– POWERTON LAKE IS CLOSED TO BOAT FISHING and CLOSES TO SHORE FISHING and ALL FISHING ON OCT. 26th (Last day for Shore fishing is Oct. 25th) and REOPENS TO SHORE FISHING ONLY ON DEC. 23rd AND NO BOAT FISHING till FEB. 15th– SANGCHRIS LAKE THE WEST and EAST ARMS OF LAKE and Small AREA NEAR DAM Are CLOSED DURING WATERFOWL SEASONto boat traffic through Jan. 31, 2014 (during this time fishing boat traffic is permitted in the center hot arm only).And the Entire lake will be CLOSED Nov. 22-24 and Dec. 5-8th due to firearm deer hunting on adjacent properties.The exception will be for hunting programs with restricted usage during this time period.For more info, contact site office at 217/498-9208 from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Cold water river fishing is here, my thermometer shows the water temps to be in the 30’s which meets my definition of cold water. 40 degree water temps is cool water fishing. The flow rate is a bit above normal flow rates but dropping. Water has some stain, algae still present on the bottom in some stretches. If you dress for the weather and can deal with issues like line guides icing up than you can find beauty as well as solitude out on the river this time of year. As the water drops you can see collars and caps of ice left on the vegetation. Watching the sunlight glistening and shimmering thru them as they sway in the wind is a thing of wonderment. Watching low hanging mists coming off the water and blowing upstream around my hips tends to get me more mystical and in tune with the water than usual The total sense of solitude you feel when you get away from forked stick country brings peace and serenity to my soul. I feel a deepened sense of connection to the gods and goddesses of the natural world out there in that solitude.. Watching snow flakes land on a dry browned leaf and see the individuality of each flake makes you appreciate what ever force created them. No matter how you choose to worship, you have no doubt that you should. Yes there have been fish caught as well. The most productive trip saw three smallmouth in the 18-19 inch class taking magnum flukes in slower flows. Norm

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: — Lincoln Park Lagoon from the Fullerton Avenue Bridge to the southern end of the Lagoon, — Waukegan Harbor (in North Harbor basin only), — Winnetka Power Plant discharge area, — Jackson Harbor (Inner and Outer Harbors)

Well, this is as early of a start to ice fishing as we have had in a while! Saturday and Sunday’s cold blast (-8 to -10 degrees) locked up almost every lake in the Lakeland area. Trout Lake is still open as of 11/26. Musky season runs through Saturday, November 30. Reports of 2-5 of solid ice from all around. Angler’s venturing out on the Flowages and lakes of 1,000 acres. Even the bays of larger lakes such as Lake Tomahawk are seeing anglers. Excellent reports of walleye catches from anglers fishing shallows using suckers and chubs on tip-ups and Jigging Raps in 3-6’ depths. One angler caught a 37 pike using a large shiner on a tip-up. Others reporting great action on tip-ups in shallow weedy bays of 3-7’. Panfish anglers are just starting to show up. Early ice is always a tope time to fish gamefish and it’s here now! Kurt Justice Kurt’s Island Sport Shop www.kurtsislandsports.com

(Head): Musky, walleye, northern and panfish all providing a good bite. Gun deer season is open. All in the Eagle River, Wisconsin area. Water temps in the Eagle River area are in the low 30s. Small amounts of ice are beginning to form in back bays and along shoreline structure. It’s the transition time from open water to ice in Eagle River, BUT, there is still good open water fishing action and anglers are going out. That doesn’t mean that in the coming time things won’t freeze up on smaller lakes, while larger area lakes remain open. Anglers will now have to start to pick and choose which lakes to go out on for open water fishing, depending on whether they can get out onto the water from shore or boat landings. And no, there is no way anyone is going out ice fishing at the moment. All of our guide sources who know the Eagle River inside-and-out will keep us apprised of how things are going and we will pass the information on to you. In the meantime, get your ice fishing tackle in good shape, and be ready. Early ice is a primo time to fish in the Eagle River area. Stay tuned. Open water fishing report.sky in the Eagle River area are in two locations: Shallow weed edges in 10 feet of water or less, or main lake break edges in 10-30 feet. Use a regular sized crankbait, jerkbait, glidebait, or 12-17 inch live sucker. Slow retrieve. Do a figure 8 as your bait nears the boat. All day action, with short feeding windows. Good bite. Walleye in the Eagle River area are in 15-30 feet of water off of main lake break edges. Use a jig and a minnow. Walleye are tight to bottom. All day action. Good bite. Northern in the Eagle River area are in 10 feet of water or less in and around old and remaining weeds. Use a Husky Jerk (minnow or walleye pattern) or a northern sucker under a slip bobber. All day action. Good bite. Panfish (crappies, bluegills and perch) in the Eagle River area are on main lake mudflats and adjacent break edges in 15-30 feet of water (the panfish have gone deep). Perch are tight to bottom. Crappies and gills are suspending fairly close to the bottom (start at the bottom and work your way up until you find the proper depth where the fish are locating on that particular day and lake). Use a chunk of crawler, crappie minnow or waxie, on a small jig or under a slip bobber. All day action. The bite is good.

Perch fishing has been good when the weather conditions have been good. Late last week and into this week we have seen favorable conditions and some success out of Burns ditch near the wall at port of Indiana. Conditions are good for whitefish as Michigan anglers have been reporting good success. Steelhead fishing in the stream has been very good with nice catches occurring throughout the tributaries. This weekend should be decent all around for fishing. Red Breasted mergansers in the harbor chasing bait. Might be good fishing in the harbor for walleye as a result.

River steelhead fish has been really decent since the weather stabilized back out. Walleye fisherman are catching a few. Whitefish still being caught from the piers.