Perch variable, ice coming, maybe? Chicago fishing, Midwest Fishing Report

Not bad for my first fish of 2019! Winter has been pretty mild so I have been out and about on the rivers and managed to finally catch a decent smallie. Happy New Year to all and I wish all of you much success in your fishing endeavours. #smallmouth#riverfishing #riversmallies #riverrat #womenwhofish #girlswhofish #northernillinoisfishing

Perch over weekend for groups in boats did good sort sort but a lot of fish mainly 95 th street all the way up around ford plant xl fatheads perch flys best

Hey Dale, Here is a recap of this past week’s fishing.Area Lakes-Its the first week of January and early spring tactics are working for bass. Work outside weedlines with a lipless crankbait on sunny days. A slow retrieves with an occasional pause enticed a reaction strike from bass during midday hours.A Strike King red eye shad was more dependable than a made Codey Parkey field goal!TTYL—Ken Husker O’Malley Husker Outdoors Waterwerks fishing team

Chicago River Report, First off Let me say Happy 2019, may this season bring you great fishing and BIG fish. Last week there wasn’t much time to fish with New Years and Family get gatherings. I did get out on the river last Sunday more for a ride on the river to check out conditions and some of my spots. There were a lot of folks out catching Perch and I was told a guy caught a couple Large Mouth. This week is going to be a busy one too. My Boat Sponsor Store Lake County Water Sports will be displaying a full line of G3 Boats and Pontoons at the Chicago Boat Show at McCormick Place. We are loading in and setting up on Tuesday. The Show starts Thursday and runs through Sunday. If your looking for something to do this weekend stop by check out some Great Boats and Let’s talk fishing. If you book a trip during the show you will receive a 10% discount and an extra hour of fishing my way to start the New Season. . . . Hope these couple tips help put a fish or two on your hooks Good Luck and Good Fishing. Capt. Pat

Timmy Bakes Report Lake DelavanI haven’t heard that much about Lake Delavan since the recent warm up in weather. The silence in fishing reports online is an indicator to me that not many anglers are out fishing. I would suggest continuing to monitor reports and the weather before thinking about venturing out on the inlets of Lake Delavan. It is worth calling Lakeside Bait and Tackle (262) 725-7007 for an up to date report. Ice conditions change from day to day and no one will have better information than them, they’re located across from the launch!

Timmy Bakes Report Des Plaines River I fished a tributary of the Des Plaines River on the unusually warm Saturday morning hoping to run into a few northern but walked away from my 3 hours of fishing without even a sniff of a fish. The area I was fishing is highly pressured and can be a typically a tough bite but when fish show up, it is very rewarding and the fish are often times very large. I saw three other anglers that morning targeting the same few fish in the same few community holes that I was. No complaints here, it was just nice to be out. One friend of mine was also on the DPR that Saturday fishing a different stretch of the river, he had the same results as me. Don’t let our reports discourage you, there are fish out there and they are biting, Saturday just wasn’t our day.

BANNER MARSH: * THIS AREA Will CLOSE TO BOAT FISHING on Oct. 17th. With the Last Day to Boat Fish being Oct. 16th AND BANK FISHING ONLY ALLOWED AFTER 1PM but NO FISHING ALLOWED in EAST POINT ACCESS AREA, (lakes to the East) which is CLOSED TO ALL FISHING to provide a GOOSE REFUGE AREA during seasonCLINTON LAKE: An easterly area of Clinton Lake (The Waterfowl Refuge Area) between the DeWitt Bridge East (CH14) and the Rt. 48 Bridge . . . remains Closed typically until April 1st.COFFEEN LAKE: During the Central Zone waterfowl season: No fishing north of the railroad tracks (upper pool) until after 1pm daily through Jan. 31stDOUBLE T STATE FISH and WILDLIFE AREA:* THIS LAKE IS CLOSED TO FISHING – . . . till Feb. 1stEMIQUON PRESERVE: No boating, fishing or ice skating access before 12:00 pm during waterfowl hunting season. Oct. 27 – Jan. 31 Lake users should be aware that hunting might occur on the Preserve other times as well.EVERGREEN LAKE: – A SOUTHERN PART OF EVERGREEN LAKE – AROUND DEER ISLAND and ALL OF SIX-MILE CREEK BAY IS CLOSED TO GAS from Oct. 15th through JAN. 1st to allow resting areas for migratory waterfowl. YOU ARE ALLOWED TO STILL RUN A TROLLING MOTOR ONLY IN THESE AREAS.HENNEPIN-HOPPER LAKES: * Lakes are CLOSED for season.. And will be Open spring 2019.McMASTER LAKE at – SNAKEDEN HOLLOW: Lake will CLOSE TO FISHING on Oct 15th . . . Lake will Re-Open on February 1st.NEWTON LAKE: As written in the fishing regs booklet : * The cold arm of Newton Lake shall be CLOSED daily from one-half hour before sunrise until 1:00 pm to all fishing and boat traffic except for legal waterfowl hunters during waterfowl season commencing with regular duck season through the close of the Canada goose and regular duck season. * For here – Regular South Waterfowl Season for 2018: Nov. 10 – Jan. 31PRAIRIE LAKE in Jim Edgar/ Panther Creek State F&W Area: Lake Partial Closures during Waterfowl Season from Nov. 1st to Jan. 15th Lake access is CLOSED until after 12:01 PM on Wednesday & Saturday.POWERTON LAKE: *- Lake Will RE-OPEN to Shore Fishing on Dec. 24th – but – Will Remain CLOSED TO BOAT FISHING Until Feb. 15thRICE LAKE: Will Re-Open at end of Duck & Goose season.SANGCHRIS LAKE: * THE WEST & EAST ARMS OF LAKE and Small AREA NEAR DAM WILL CLOSE DURING WATERFOWL SEASON to boat traffic . . . through Jan. 31, 2018SPRING LAKE (South & North): Last Day of Boat Fishing in Hunting Areas is Oct. 19th As – THIS AREA will CLOSE TO BOAT FISHING in Hunting Area on Oct. 20th — with BANK FISHING ALLOWED ONLY AFTER 1pm– – AREAS THAT REMAIN OPEN TO BOATS ALL DAY ARE NORTH OF MAPLE ISLAND with ramp at north end at the Sky Ranch Road launch and IN PIKE HOLE with carry in boats — and Shore Fishing is allowed in entire lake after 1pm in Hunting areas or at boat ramps all day.

Good morning fellas The Perch fishing has been pretty good so far, but just be aware the ice is not super. Ice thickness varies from 2 inches up to 6 inches pending on where you are at. Sawyer Harbor, Little Sturgeon and Riley’s bay are generally the first bays to freeze up since they are the shallowest. The Pike fishing has been fair…those same 3 shallow bays will produce some good numbers of Pike once we get safe ice cover along with some of the protected marinas in town. Golden shiners under tip ups the best bet The Whitefish fishing is non-existent due to the lack of ice cover over the areas that hold the majority of the Whitefish. Once we do get safe ice cover, go-to spots will enclude…Henderson’s Point, Larsen’s Reef and the shoreline to the north of the Old Stone Quarry. The Walleye bite however will require some time to start back up with ice condition needing to improve greatly to reach the areas the fish reside during the ice season. Sherwood Point, Henderson’s Point, the Potawatomi Park shoreline along with the vast shoreline to the north and south of Sturgeon Bay all good areas to target Walleyes during the ice season. Concentrate your efforts along the primary shoreline drop-offs along those areas once we get safe ice. Sorry it’s not more in depth, we just do not have much ice/safe ice right now in our area. Hope the next report will be more exciting Thanks; Lance LaVine Howie’s Tackle 1309 Green Bay Rd Sturgeon Bay, WI 54235 Ph: 920-746-9916

Some steelhead action in area creeks lots of pressure on then but still fish caught groups that walked way back in woods did well voodoo jigs and butterworms good spawn saks ok also move around cover water for best results

Got some big Lakers over the weekend biggest one 20 pounds . . . Mike heresko…stan tisher. Joe.tisher…off of 95th st in boat . . . From the fishing team at minooka

Chicago River Report, First off Let me say Happy 2019, may this season bring you great fishing and BIG fish. . . . Now a bit about the reports some Buddies of mine were out in Waukegan and a bit farther north on the lake front and they were jigging up some nice Trout and a few Salmon. I like to use blade baits Vibrations Tackle Echo Tails tipped with a minnow for my jigging. Drop to the bottom take up slack rip it up 3 or 4 feet and let it down slow with a slight shake so it circles and hold on. Spoons and Cast Masters work well to I like to change out the treble Hook for a good quality single hook and a strong split ring again tipped with a Fat Head minnow hooked trough the the meat in front of the tail and the top tail fin clipped out to knock of their equilibrium. Makes the minnow shake and move a lot more and draws interest. Hope these couple tips help put a fish or two on your hooks Good Luck and Good Fishing. Capt. Pat

After Friday and Saturday’s spring-like temperatures, Mother Nature gave us a reality check Sunday night into Monday in the form of snow. The further east you go from Minocqua received the brunt of the storm. Rain Monday morning should help pack down the snow on lakes making travel by ATV, snowmobile and foot still easy for this time of year. Though caution is still advised with ATV and snowmobiles in some areas around creeks and aerators. We still can’t recommend truck travel as most lakes reporting 8 to 12 of ice. This past week’s weather brought a lot of anglers out on the ice with many reports of excellent fishing. Walleye: Very Good – Tip-up action has been great, from 4 in the evening to 7 at night, and pre-dawn to around 8 in the morning. Suckers seem to be the minnow of choice rigged on a glow or red hook. Jigging has been successful as well, in the 12’ to 18’ depths. Jigging Raps, HpyoGlydes, Flutter Spoons have all been producing well. Northern: Very Good – These fish have been hungry and aggressive the past week. Try working tip-ups along the 8-14’ weed edges. Large shiners and suckers have been taking some good fish, with a few reports of 30, to mid 30, fish being caught. Largemouth Bass: Good – Most of these fish are being reported taking shiners under tip-ups when fishing for Pike. Along with anglers targeting Gills and Crappies using small jigs and a grub. Crappies: Very Good – This past week’s weather has been great for tip-down fishing as holes wouldn’t freeze up on you. 11’ to 13’ of water has been the desired depths with a small fathead or rosie. Jigging has been great too using slow dropping spoons tipped with a waxie or minnow head. Size #4 tungsten jigs tipped with a bright colored plastic has been taking a lot of fish too. Crappies have been biting well throughout the day, but 4 to 7 in the evening has been the hot bites. Yellow Perch: Good – Fish are coming over mud flats using jigging spoons like pimples, Venom Cores and Kastmasters tipped with spikes, wigglers or a minnow head. Fish are coming on weed flats as well, try using large baits to keep the little ones off. Bluegills: Good – Fishing for Gills has been good this week. A lot of fish being caught, but a lot of smaller Gills mixed in. Try using a small tungsten jig with a piece of plastic (red, motor oil or purple seem to be the hot colors), tight to the bottom to get the larger fish. Cabbage weeds in 6’ to 10’ of water is the best bet. Midweek looks to be cool with high in teens and single digits for lows. This should help firm up slushy areas left by the snow and rain. Get out, be safe and good luck fishing! Kurt Justice Kurt’s Island Sport Shop Like us on FaceBook —

Perch over weekend for groups in boats did good sort sort but a lot of fish mainly 95 th street all the way up around ford plant xl fatheads perch flys best Some steelhead action in area creeks lots of pressure on then but still fish caught groups that walked way back in woods did well voodoo jigs and butterworms good spawn saks ok also move around cover water for best resultsLots of people out over weekend good biz few crappie still being took around 248 bridge down from portage marina crappie minnows or jigs with waxworms best bait again move cover area water for best results