Midwest Fishing Report: Lakes and rivers around Chicago fishing

I hit my friends farm pond out near Montgomery yesterday. Despite all the rain and warm up, ice is in good condition with a base of 6 inches. Very sloppy on top though. Bass action was very good. Tip ups were somewhat spotty, but the jig bite was very good. Jigging spoons tipped with fat heads in shallow water of 5 feet produced good numbers of bass. The bass definitely favored the profile of the fat heads over the roaches. Catching 3 and 4 pound bass on ice rods were way more fun anyways. I attached a few pics of the quality bass caught. Husker Outdoors Water Werks Fishing Team

(Head): Great walleye, crappie and bluegill bite; in and amidst the lakes and the Wisconsin River in Wisconsin¹s Marathon and Lincoln Counties (near Mosinee and Wausau). Great walleye fishing on central Wisconsin area lakes with some big walleyes coming through the ice. Most action has been on tip-ups baited with large golden shiners but we are catching a few fish by jigging with Northland Buckshot Spoons. The crappie bite in the central Wisconsin area has been fantastic with limit catches and fish up to and over 12 inches being the norm. Most of the action has been by working water in 12 to 14 feet deep along weed edges. Northland Fireball jigs have been the best at getting our presentation to the fish. Bluegills have been cooperating very well and the bite has been very consistent on central Wisconsin area lakes. A lot of fish in the 7 !/2 inch range up to 9 inch range are being caught but we are also seeing quite a few fish pushing that 10 inch mark. Look for the larger bluegills to be in deeper water (over 10 feet deep) close to the bottom.

– 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.– 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 (reopening for boats on Feb. 15), but reopened to shore fishing.– 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). For more info, contact site office at 217/498-9208 from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

The good news is fishable open water. The bad news is at or near flood stage at reporting stations. Gauge showing 20,000 plus CFS but the ice can screw with that figure. I hit a couple type of spots today that produced.. I was using a hard jerk bait, twitch it down, long pauses, twitch, more long pauses. At an inflow, I got two nice smallmouth at the mud line. I got a real nice pike along the inside edge of a slack water area. At another slack area a pike grabbed the lure toward the middle of the area. It ended up absconding with the lure when it rolled in the water as I got it close.

Good Morning, the Minocqua area fishing report from Kurt’s Island Sports, Finally! A break in the weather so we can get out and fish! With temps in the balmy mid 20s this weekend, anglers got back out on the ice. While not as many participants expected, those that got out were greeted with some good fishing. Perch: Good- Very Good. Best action for big perch on Flowages using large rosie reds or smaller shiners on tip-ups. Fish of 11-13 common No limits here, but quality fish on the natural lakes anglers plying the mud flats of 18-25’ are finding good perch (8-10+) using pimples and Hali jigs tipped with wigglers or red spikes. Bluegills: Good. Action best in bays with good green weeds in 8-12’. Small #12-#10 tungsten jigs tipped with mousses, spikes best. Jigs and plastics (red, purple, black) also effective. Crappies: Good-Fair. Not as many reports. A bit windy for tip-downs. Best slow dropping tungsten jigs tipped with white or silver plastics. Walleyes: Good. Bite best after dark on suckers off weed edges of 12-15’ and also on mid-lake humps of sandgrass in 18-22’ #9 gigging Raps scoring some big fish off these same humps. Fish of 26, 27, 28 ½ and 29 reported using this method since weather broke. Flowages reporting mostly smaller walleyes during the day on shiners. Pike: Good-Very Good. Not great #’s, but nice fish in the low 30 class hitting big weed points jutting out to deeper water. Largemouth Bass: Good. Got active with warm up. Most on tip-ups baited with shiners. Looks as if temps fishable till Friday- a little cool- then back by Saturday/Sunday. Ice thickness averaging only 17-18. Some slush, but almost all drivable. Most all accesses excellent. Kurt Justice Kurt’s Island Sports 715-356-4797

(Head): Walleye, northern and panfish all putting on a good to excellent bite in the Eagle River, Wisconsin area. Ice anglers are continuing to have good luck fishing in the Eagle River area. Ice conditions are good, with ice running from 14-18 and even more in some spots. Not a lot of slush but some. Snow cover is 6-8 inches generally on the lakes, and travel is good. Anglers are starting to use trucks more and more- – including some of our guide sources, BUT, as one guide told us: Know before you go – -in other words if you don’t know the lake you’re going out on, better get some information or help before you go out in a truck. Caution is still strongly advised. Walleye: Walleyes in the Eagle River area are in 30 feet of water or less off of break edges and adjacent weed edges. The walleyes’ are holding in the bottom foot. Use a medium shiner or walleye sucker under a tip up; or try a jigging spoon with a minnow. All day action, with peaks at around sunset. Bite is good to excellent. Northern: Northerns in the Eagle River area are in 10 feet of water orless in and around remaining weeds. Use a medium to large shiner or northern sucker under a tip up. All day action and the bite is good to excellent. Panfish: Crappies, bluegills and perch are on mud flats in 15 feet of water or less. Perch are tight to bottom, and the crappies and gills are suspending at various levels on the water column – -day and lake dependent. Use a flasher to locate the depth that the crappies and gills are at on any given day or lake. It’ll save you digging a lot of useless holes, and put you on the fish. Use a waxie, spike, wiggler or crappie minnow on a small jig or slip bobber. All day action and the bite is good to excellent.

Some Steelhead being caught in the river, water conditions on all rivers are up and clarity is cloudy. Ice conditions are still holding fairly strong but still advise the use of caution and use of a spud when moving to none walked on areas. Panfish bite has been slow, but should improve as conditions change.