Into the heat of Chicago fishing: Midwest Fishing Report

Perch decent west of burns ditch outside muddline in 20 to 28ft of water and east of doughnut and around dune state park in 20 to 35ft of water the boats that moved around and covered water had good catches

Area lakes- largemouth are good pitching biffle bugs into weed pockets. Heavy line (minimum 30 lbs) is a must to pull bass out of the heavy weeds.

Chicago River Report Last week brought a mixed bag of fish with our up and down weather. Crappie and Gil’s are against wood pilings and walls close to bottom. Found Bass against walls and pilings with a bit more current. Had a client get a Fresh Water Drum about 5 lbs. it took a jig and twister tail. Panfish came on white jig and twister tail tipped with a waxie, Bass hit wacky worm, jigs and small crank baits. The surface temps were up and down 67 degrees for the low 72 for the high storm drains were opened a few time which makes the fishing tougher. I had my Family from Mo. out July 3rd and the kids beat up the pan-fish. The River was busy with folks being off for the Holiday. Seeing more and more boat traffic this year with that comes more awareness not everyone pays attention so you have too. Have a Great Week catch some fish. Capt. Pat — www.patharrisonoutdoors.com Thanks Pat

Lake Geneva Fishing Report 7/9/17 through 7/16/17 The mid summer patterns are in full swing. The bite on Lake Geneva has been very good. The best bites on the lake are Lake Trout and Largemouth bass. After the 4th of July weekend, the boat traffic has dropped off a bit. As consistent with summer patterns on Lake Geneva, the largemouth bass have slid to the outside edge of the weed lines. The best depth has been 16-19 ft of water. The best location has been by Trinkes or by the South shore club. My go-to presentation has been the drop shot rig with a 4 inch Chompers finesse worm. The dropper on my drop shot rig is approximately 1 foot. I prefer to keep the boat positioned in 20 ft of water and use short casts with a lot of movement on the bait. Northern Pike fishing has been improving. The thermocline bite has started. Most of the pike that are being caught are in 22-25 ft of water. The best location has been in Fontana by the boat launch channel or by the weed line at Belvidere Park. Medium suckers fished on a split shot rig have been producing most of the success. As the summer weather warms the water, the fish will continue to move deeper as the thermocline moves deeper. I’ve caught fish as deep as 40 ft in years past. Lake Trout fishing has been fantastic. The main lake basin is where most of the fish are being caught. The best bait has been an orange dodger with either a fly or silver spoon behind it. The best depth has been 108-115 ft of water with the fish being located 80-95 ft down. A good place to start has been by Cedar Point working toward Black Point or the south shore from Black Point to the Yacht Club. Walleye fishing has been good after dark. The best time remains midnight to about 3:00 a.m. Trolling large Rapalas in 12-15 ft of water has been producing most of the success. Trinkes and the flat by Abbey Springs are both good choices. Bluegill action has moved deep. The best depth is 16-18 ft of water. The best location has been by Elgin Club or by Gage Marine. You want to fish leaf worms close to the bottom underneath the boat and slowly back troll. Good luck and I hope to see you on the water for guide parties, please call Dave Duwe at 262-728-8063

Delavan Lake Fishing Report 7/9/17 through 7/16/17 The summer patterns are in full swing on Delavan lake. Over the course of the last week, the fishing has been consistently very good. The best bites on the lake continue to be bluegills, largemouth bass and crappies. Largemouth bass have finally moved out of the shallow weeds and are now positioned on the deep weed lines in 15-19 ft of water. They can be caught using 3 different methods, all showing equal success. The first is the drop shot rig. You want to use 4 inch green pumpkin or root beer colored finesse worms with a 1 foot dropper weight. The second is a lindy rig with a medium sucker fished on a 1/0 hook with a 24 inch leader. The final method is a split shot rigged nightcrawler. The best locations have been west of Browns Channel or west of Willow Point. The bass have been schooled up nicely so when you catch one, there are opportunities to catch more so don’t move on too quickly. Walleye are still showing up regularly. Most of the success is coming off of lindy rigged leeches in 17-19 ft of water. The key to catching multiple walleyes is chartreuse painted hooks. This seems to entice the active fish. The best location has been west of the Yacht Club or in front of Willow Point. The best time to catch them is low light conditions of early morning or late evening. Bluegill fishing has been fantastic in 15-17 ft of water. The best location has been by Del Mar or by Browns Channel. Split shot rigged leaf worms or trout worms have been producing most of the action. Fish the bait 1-2 feet off bottom straight beneath the boat. Crappies have been in the mid weed line in 12-15 ft of water. The best approach is trolling small plastics at .6 mph slowly along the weed line. The best lure has been purple or chartreuse twister tails. The key is to find areas that lack a lot of floating weeds to eliminate a lot of aggravation while trolling. The best location is the west end by the old Boy Scout Camp. Good luck and I hope to see you on the water. For guide parties please call Dave Duwe at 262-728-8063

Evergreen Lake BAIT SHOP and BOAT RENTAL Hours: 6:00 am to 6:00 pm Daily NOTE – During the weekdays staff is not present, please press buzzer on the front of the building for assistance or call the Visitor Center at (309) 434-6770.

Steelhead in trail good shrimp crawlers and spawn saks best flies and spinners taking fish too Pier steelhead hit or miss some days decent some days dead a lot of fish are in the creek now

Long ass day yesterday , passed out from exhaustion before I could post . I went back and revisited a few places on this particular creek that i had not been to for 3 years . I fished one stretch of a creek where the gradient is extremely low , the bottom is soft and emergent veggies all over . With the low flow on this creek the current flow was barely noticible . It looked more like a pond than a crick so that’s how i fished it . I used a beetle spin and let it drop next to every weed clump . If it hung up , I popped it free . Most of the smallmouth bass hit it on the pop free , a couple on the drop . No real size but decent numbers . I moved to another spot on the creek that used to be the rock bass spawning spot for a long stretch of this creek. Complete devastation by sand , could not see any evidence of rocks on the bottom . I caught nothing there on fast or slow presentations . I moved up stream to a stretch that got straightened and looks more like a ditch . The last time I was there it was filling with sand . Well, I hope whoever made the decision to ditch it is happy , there is a beach under the skinny flow of water and not a fish to be seen . I am sure that ditching that stretch up stream of the former rock bass spawning area lead to that spots demise . What a waste of a resource . There is one spot downstream I did not get to because I needed to get home and sleep . I plan on getting to it sometime this week , hopefully the sand has not mucked it over yet . peacenorm

My buddy brought a coworker out with us today and we got this 23 pound brown at the R2 along with 2 other browns(8 and 9 pounds) and a bunch of coho.

Last few days coho slowed drastically .Very early morning before sunrise in 60 feet of water for small coho and few steelhead only.Running from Waukegan harbor to R4 is little bit to far.For bigger fish especially Lakers 180 feet is the best north of the harbor mixed with king’s and bigger coho.Really tough fishing right now .Thanks Ted (diehard angler )BOSKA

Boats 40 to 60, some 70 to 120, all have been straight out of harbor. Nice coho, a few kings and some steeliez.

Salmon fishing mainly coho good in 60 to 80ft of water west out of east Chicago dodger fly and spoons

Shabbona Lakeside is now OPEN for the SEASON Lakeside will be open everyday, 7 days a week, April 11th to September 5th 6 AM to 7 PM September 6th to September 30th 6 AM to 6:30 PM October 1st to October 10th 6:30 AM to 6 PM October 11th to October 31st 7 AM to 5PM