Chicago fishing: Coho, perch, other summer patterns, Kankakee Derby

“Bullfrogs may be taken only by hook and line, gig, pitchfork, spear, bow and line, or bow and arrow and arrow, hand, or landing net.June 15 through October 15, both dates inclusiveDaily Harvest Limit is 8; possession limit is 16A sport fishing license is required to harvest reptiles and amphibians”

“Frog hunting season runs from June 15, 2024 – April 30, 2025, and hunters can harvest the American bullfrog and green frog. The bag limit is 25 frogs per day with a possession limit of 50 frogs, and any combination of bullfrogs or green frogs maybe be used to reach these bag and harvest limits.”

Hey Dale got a big Bass on a senko, my biggest this year, take care and enjoy you weekend,Rico Cantu

Heavy rain, winds and lightning have definitely affected the water levels and color. Water temperatures have remained warm for June through. . . . Bass are in the slop or on the weed edges.

Hey Dale,

Here is a recap from this weeks fishing.

. . .

Area Lakes- It was a perfect morning to chase down some gills. The sky was overcast, light winds, and even a few sprinkles of rain. The focus was the outside weedlines using a Wackem and Stackem Custom Baits stinger paired with a Wiggleyourworm_fishing jig. The color choice was white and pink with black swirl. The bite was steady all morning until the sun broke through those clouds and the therm-o-stat was turned up to high. A love to fish mornings during heat waves due to light winds, lower temps, and even more importantly, less bugs!

. . .

TTYL

Ken “Husker” O’Malley
Husker Outdoors
Waterwerks fishing team

Hi Dale,

Nothing earth shattering here, no pictures, just an FYI, bluegill are still good at the Lemont quarries. Plenty o’ hand slabs, taking red worms and faux wax worms (Berkeley Gulp!). But they prefer fresh red worms.

Who wouldn’t…

Tight lines,

Jay

Hi Dale

The lilies ate leaping as the poppies fade in the garden in island lake. On the water the very good bite for largemouth continued till the flood rains hit and gave us 6 inches after rain. Bass were going on Texas rigged senkos and wacky rigged senkos in baby Bass color. I also had some blow ups in the duckweed and slop. Minnows producing small Bass and yellow bellie bullhead. Gills are going on the feed as spawn is ending. Red trout worms are best on small ice jig.

On the music front the first show at montrose beach was a a great success and we got it in before the monsoons hit. This Friday at Morgan’s with midnite mile in Libertyville. And only a few weeks till we git veggies with gozortenplat

Tight lines and good health! Rob

Fun day out on the river Largies biting good on jigs with craws, also caught 3 tag Bass on the south Branch

Riverwalk update Managed 2 smallies and a crappie on a drop shot with a large fathead minnow, bites are their but u have to really get their attention

Lake Geneva Fishing Report 6/24/24– 7/1/24

With the Fourth of July holiday approaching quickly, the fishing is starting to improve in both numbers and size. One of the keys for this time of year is to arrive early for optimal fishing and parking at the boat launches.

Rock bass have been biting very well in 12-15 ft of water. Most of the fish I’ve been catching are in scattered weeds and sand pockets. The best location is by Knollwood, Elgin Club and Black Point. The best approach is split shot rigged nightcrawlers fished on bottom.

Northern Pike fishing is starting to improve with the warming water. The fish are associating to the weed line in 18-22 ft of water. The best location has been by Williams Bay, Geneva Bay or the boat launch in Fontana. In the next week or so, the thermocline should be forming which will push the fish down as deep as 35 ft of water. Use lindy rigged medium suckers or chubs for the most action. I use a 1/0 hook and ¾ walking sinker and a 24 inch leader for the lindy rig. The bite is very subtle, it will just feel like a little extra weight. At that point, give them line and set the hook.

Walleye action has been very good at night. You want to choose the nights where there is some wind. They bite better with a good chop on the lake. Smithwick Perfect 10’s and large Rapala’s have been working well. Troll the bait about 60-70 feet behind your planer boards. The best location has been by Trinkes Bay or in Williams Bay.

Largemouth bass have been biting on top water or on a drop shot rig in 12-15 ft of water. The best location has been by Trinkes or in Williams Bay. This bite is best in the first few hours of daylight. For the top water bite, I use small chug bugs in chrome and blue. For the drop shot, I’m using 4 inch Chomper finesse worms.

The bluegill and pumpkinseed bite has been very good. The best locations have been Trinkes and Geneve Bay in 8-12 ft of water. The best approach is either fishing slip bobbers with leaf worms or leaf worms fished on a split shot rig.

Good luck and I hope to see you on the water. For guide parties, please call Dave Duwe at 262-728-8063

Hi Dale,

I only fished the Fox River for a few hours this week, but here’s a photo & report from Len Cajic:

“The Fox River was wadeable earlier in the week. With the recent rain, the water level is high and running fast in most areas of Kane County. With that being said it’s tough wading safely. With the heat and floating weeds fishing can be difficult in some areas. The water is stained/dirty so bright color lures have been key. Fish can be caught tight to structure, around cover, shade pockets, slack water, and current seams. Finesse presentations and topwater lures continue to produce fish. Smallmouth have been hitting crankbaits on a reaction strike or pause.”

Heavy rain, winds and lightning have definitely affected the water levels and color. Water temperatures have remained warm for June through. Catfishing has been very good as they seem to bite better with rising water. Cut Bait, stink bait and crawlers all are working well for channel cats. Flat heads are great fun in the summer but most are caught nite fishing. Use 5-7 inch bluegills.

Delavan Lake Fishing Report 6/24/24 – 7/1/24

Bluegill fishing has been very good on the weed line in 15-17 ft of water. The best locations have been by the Yacht Club and by the Oriental boat house. The best success has been coming off a small single hook with a small split shot to allow the worm to free swim down the water column. This bite should remain steady through the course of the next few weeks.

Largemouth bass fishing has been excellent. There have been two patterns. One is a top water frog bite, the second is a weed line bite in 14-18 ft of water. For the frog bite, the fishing has been the best by Lake Lawn golf course or in the boat launch channel. You want to concentrate in a depth of 3-4 ft. The best success is coming off of black or white frogs. For the weed line bite, look for the fish by Belvidere Park and just west of Willow Point. You can either catch them drop shotting 4 inch green pumpkin finesse worms or lindy rigging nightcrawlers.

Northern pike action is starting to get into its summer pattern. You want to lindy rig medium suckers 2-3 ft off bottom. The best approach is slowly trolling with the electric motor. I’ve been catch most fish from the Yacht Club to Willow Point. This bite should remain consistent for the next few weeks.

Walleye action has slowed slightly. I’m still catching one or two each trip but not the numbers from previous weeks. You want to lindy rig large leeches or nightcrawlers for the best success. The best location has been in 18-20 ft of water near Browns Channel and Assembly Park point.

Some perch are being caught in the 6-8 ft depth range around the piers near Assembly Park. The best approach is slip bobbering hellgrammites about 1 foot above the weeds.

Good luck and I hope to see you on the water. For guide parties, please call Dave Duwe at 262-728-8063

Fishing Report – 6/24/2024

By Mike Norris

Big Green: Fishing is very good for smallmouth bass, walleye, and lake trout right now. We have had consecutive days with cloud cover and rain, and the bass are in the 8 to 12-foot zone, where they feed on crayfish. Ned rigs and drop shot rigs are both producing. Try a jig and leech beneath a float for walleye in pockets of and along the outside edge of weed lines. Vertical jig with a Northland Rattle Spoon in 100 to 120 feet of water for lake trout. Rock Bass are active in and around the cribs. The surface water temperature is 72 degrees.

Fox Lake: We had a warm spell last week, followed by lots of wind and then a ton of rain. But the largemouth bass bite on Fox Lake remains good. My clients and I were able to catch them wherever we fished. Try Senkos and swim baits around the tips of Brushwood, Elmwood, Lone, and Dead Islands. The main lake shorelines, which were out of the wind, were also productive. Walleyes are good around the island. Try jigs and minnows in 12 feet of water around the island. Crappies are active out in the basin with a split shot and minnow. The surface water temperature is 77 degrees.

Good morning fellas….not sure if its too late, but here is a quick run-down on the fishing here in the county. It will be the same next week I assume unless the Walleyes start biting….

Fishing out on the big lake continues to provide lots of action for our local fishermen along with our visitors to the area. Very good numbers along with some very BIG Kings getting caught right now. (25 to 30 pound Kings have been common as of late) Along with the good numbers of sought-after Kings, there are a bunch of Rainbows, Cohos and Lake Trout around to help fill the box. Flasher and flies have been the leader in the fish catching category, but spoons, Meat Rigs and J-plugs are starting to take their fair share of fish also. 90 to 140 feet has been the best depth and fishing in the top 70 foot of the water column has been the best

The Bass fishing reports have been quite good overall throughout the county. Howie’s Shorty tubes, ned rigs, spinner baits, Spy baits, assorted drop shot plastics and swim baits all must haves right now as our fish are in depths that vary as shallow as 3 feet of water out to that 15 foot range.

Perch fishing has been very good. Little Sturgeon, Riley’s Bay, Sawyer Harbor, Sturgeon Bay ship canal and Chaudoir’s Dock all good areas to target Perch. Crawlers, Leaf worms and fat heads the best live bait along with an assortment of soft plastic casting baits working well for those Alewife chasing fish

Hey Dale,

Here is a recap from this weeks fishing.

Kankakee River- The forecast of mid 90’s and light winds made the decision to keep the boat parked in the garage an easy one yesterday. Time to chase down some smallmouth and wade the Kankakee River. The river is in good wading condition with a slight stain and water temps in the low 80’s. The morning started out overcast, so fish were more scattered throughout. The focus was faster moving water that had slate and larger boulders. As the sun finally broke through, the fish began to get tighter to cover. Other areas of focus was water willows that had current. Bass were caught on a variety of baits that included swim baits, craw imitating plastics, Mepps, jerkbaits, crankbaits, and lipless cranks. As the temps began to rise by late morning/early afternoon, the plastics seemed to be the most consistent bite. There were plenty of craws up shallow, so it was about matching the hatch. Alabama craw was the color they preferred. It was a perfect day to wade the river as we saw a few water snakes, deer, and one very large beaver. Even a bonus walleye was caught.

. . .

TTYL

Ken “Husker” O’Malley
Husker Outdoors
Waterwerks fishing team

It’s no fluke. Skams are in. This was first cast today on the mc rig. Still fishing

I’ve been doing good in the Indiana creeks but thought I’d try the Michigan city rig here at home. Got a nice skamania steelhead at the mouth of diversey

I like when people transplant techniques.

My girlfriends son been out every morning trying and trying. One of the guys fishing noticed his pole was a little heavy for perch so the next day brought down a lighter rod and gave it to him. Fishermen are awesome. Anyway he’d been using soft shells and noticed the guys catching fish using small minnows so came back got minnows and had a nice bucket of perch. These 2 were his personal bests the one was 14 1/2 inches.

I thought you’d enjoy the story.

Then went out that afternoon on Massive Confusion and killed the Coho it was a great day for Joey

Hi Dale

Well these perch have been tricky and making you work for them, but when you do find the school, you will get your limit of nice size perch. Had a charter boat captain tell me last week he marked a huge school in the Montrose Harbor mouth (channel) but they keep moving from there out to the Horseshoe. So as some are getting a limit others are getting skunked. They have also been back and forth on bait. Some days small minnows other days crayfish.

Quite a few Steelhead swimming the harbors with a few being caught. Shrimp, crawlers, large shiners (roaches) and hair jigs with wax worm. No Smallmouth to report most trying for perch at the moment but om sure they are around. Lots of rock bass in the harbors.

Have a great week!

Hi Dale.

In my 49 year fishing Lake Michigan since I was 5 with my Dad, this is the best June fishing I have ever seen. Old timers used to talk about the June swoon where Lake Michigan was bad between Father’s Day and July 4. No more. Limit catches of big fish are common. We limited out every trip in the last 12 days. Almost every cohort is 5 to 10 pounds with 6-9 most common. We had several kings, and steelhead are showing up with most trips having at least one.

55 to 80 feet of water south of Waukegan has been best. Red Yellow and Chrome Stubbie dodgers and Jimmy fly aqua, Blue/Green or White/LBB slider flies on downriggers 30 to 50, divers 50 to 75 and 5 to 10 color leads were best. Some bigger fish including kings, steelhead and the biggest coho were on spoons. Warrior UltraGlow Watermelon and Fin Girl in the Warrior XL size were the best on 5 to 10 color leadcores.

Weather looks all week again. I thinks things will stay good until these coho decide it’s time to stage for the spawn and cut back across to Michigan. Their eggs are betting bigger and looser so I think it will be 3 weeks at most.

Sundays group is attached when we had a double with a 15 pound king and 14 pound steelhead both ripping line out at the same time.

Capt Scott Wolfe
312-933-0552

Menominee River Fishing Report

Fishing has been sporadic due to unstable weather patterns. After a few days of stable weather the topwater bite on the Menominee River has been on fire. However, add a passing cold front and the topwater bite shuts down. As we move into July the cold fronts are less common and the topwater bite will be consistent.

When the bite is tough, people often get anxious and start fishing faster without meaning to. This is not what you want to do. The more challenging the bite, the slower you should move the bait. However, the opposite is also true. If the fish are crushing it, you can step it up a bit, but go back down if you start getting fewer bites. There is no right or wrong place or time to use a split shot rig.

The split-shot rig is deadly for river smallmouth holding tight to rocks. I use both floating worms and salt impregnated worms depending on the current flow. In slow current I like a Case Lil Pintail floating worm rigged on a Spearpoint 1/0 or 2/0 Offset Worm Hook. If the current is fast I use a Case Jacks worm which is salted and sinks. The Jacks worm has a tapered tail and the pintail worm has a whip tail both of which drives smallmouth wild in current. I placed an oval clam style split shot about 16 inches up the line. The clam style weight is more snag resistant than a regular split shot.

This rig is simple to fish, but you need practice to get a feel for it. Adjust the size of your split shot to the current. Staying connected with the bottom is essential, but you still need the line to be taut so that you can feel the bites. I use the spot-lock on my trolling motor to position my boat downstream from the area I know holds smallmouth. Spot-lock has revolutionized the way I fish mid-river structure. It allows me to hold in the exact position and catch more fish. Make a cast on a 45-degree angle upstream and keep the spool open until the lure hits bottom. You can tell when the sinker hits bottom as the line will go slack. Avoid long cast that will develop too much slack in the line and make your retrieve difficult. Next, take up the line slowly until it is taut, then start moving the lure just a bit at a time, using the rod, and keeping the line taut.

When you reach a rock you will be able to feel the weight. Crawl the bait over the rock by using the rod to lift it, and when it starts to fall, follow it down with the rod so it can fall straight down and not pendulum away from the structure. Once it hits bottom, drag it slowly and use your rod to lift and drop the weight as needed. When the weight moves forward, the bait rises and darts forward with it, and then it begins to drift toward the bottom while the weight is still.

When I want to add some action to the split-shot rig I will nose hook a Lil Pintail worm, floating 4-inch worm or a Case three-inch sinking minnow. Nose hooking allows soft plastics to have horizontal action and to sway back and forth in the current. A Spearpoint 1/0 hook is perfect for nose hooking soft plastics. The V-Grip holds the soft plastic in place keeping the bait horizonal in the water. Once a smallmouth is hooked the V-Grip helps to eliminate lost fish. Strikes can be savage so make sure you have a good grip on your rods.

A sweeping hookset gives you two entire rod lengths to take up the slack line and get that hook into the fish. If you’ve kept your line taut, once you feel or see a bite, sweep that rod out to the side and behind you as fast and as hard as possible. You may have a lot of line out, and you need to get the hook into him, so reel the whole time. Once you’ve got the hook set, keep the pressure on and try not to switch the rod from side to side, giving the line slack. The Spearpoint hook won’t give that hook a chance to fall out or work loose. Since we are dealing with shorter casts and smaller baits I rely on a six-foot-six medium action Grandt rod. I spool my spinning reel with eight-pound mono.

Experiencing some sun (6/24), don’t know what to think! Some warmer temps and a small window of dry is nice, though rain once again peppers the forecast (6/27 -6/28) before getting nice for the last two days of June. Fishing has picked up, even while sitting under the full moon period.

Largemouth Bass: Very Good – Working weeds of 8-14’ using Wacky worms, Ned rigs or creature baits. Top-water action HOT on those warm, muggy evenings using Whopper Ploppers and Jitter bugs.

Smallmouth Bass: Very Good – After getting schooled in my own boat by a “trout fisherman” from Minnesota who’d never used a Ned Rig till I gave him one (10-0 before I conceded and tied one on also), all I can report is Ned Rigs for Smallies! Not finding many rock fish yet, almost all along coontail edges of 12-14’!

Musky: Good-Very Good – Bucktails over weeds using #8 double bladed Mepps Flashabou bucktails (very reliable source) and top-water baits (Pacemakers, Tallywackers, Dr. Evils) over same weeds – more advice, quit talking – pay attention! Relatively cool (67-68 degrees) surface temps and spawning Gills may have something to do with shallow bite.

Walleye: Good – Deep weed edges and big leeches. Got schooled again, same day, this time by wife on slip-bobbers while I jigged, 20 to 2! Be a while before she gets in my boat again ! Work outside coontail edges of 14-18’. Slowly motor till you find a pod hovering over sandgrass away from standing weeds. Drift leeches 1-2’ off bottom below float, have husband net fish so he has no time to jig himself! More advice? Contact Miss Know-it all!

Bluegills: Good – Setting up beds in shallows. Good time to play with popper over beds when able. Small leeches and tiny tubes under floats also effective. Be kind to these vulnerable fish, those big males are needed to protect nest to ensure good year classes. Be judiciously selective.

Northern Pike: Good – Best overall using spinnerbaits (Boonies-back in stock), and chatterbaits over 6-10’ weeds. Jigging chubs if bite slow. Slip-bobbers with suckers or shiners working, but use wire leader.

Yellow Perch: Fair – Wind and rain last week kept anglers from pursuing Perch. Warm weather should spike activity. So far most in shallow (5-8’) weeds. No sign of deeper sandgrass bite, but should occur as waters warm.

Crappies: Fair – Similar reports as Perch due to weather as far as anglers targeting. Look to tall, narrow leaf cabbage, fan casting small beetle spins, Charlie Bees, Road Runners or Crappie Thumpers to find fish – follow up with Crappie minnows or Mini-Mites under floats.

There have been reports of Mayfly hatches, the Willow had a big one, that has shut down some Walleye bites. Sometimes due to wind it’s hard to tell these hatches are occurring (on lee sides of lakes). Expect more as waters warm.

Kurt Justice

Kurt’s Island Sports Shop
– Like us on FaceBook

Perch bite from portage to Michigan city has been good when the wind allows the boats out in 20 to 30ft of water using baby roaches.

Coho action still solid straight out of portage and to the west in 60 to 80ft of water. Stubby dodgers and flys best.

Steelhead in trail creek in Michigan city being caught on spawn saks, shrimp and a few on spinners.

We’ve had just over 5" of rain since Friday noon. The river is on the rise and really dirty, chocolate brown. Not supposed to crest till Friday. Water temp dropped 6 degrees, needless to say, the fishing is slow