The transition from ice fishing to open water led to a large variety of fish—lakers, smallmouth bass, coho, northern pike, largemouth bass, walleye—and leads this sprawling raw-file Midwest Fishing Report.
And apparently, a lot of people were spurred to get out and hit the changing conditions.
Casey Shell emailed the photo at the top. His report in the Lakefront report.
PIER PASSES
Pier passes may be bought at Park Bait, Bridgeport Bait and Tackle and Fishtech in Morton Grove. Pier passes become effective Friday, Nov. 15. The $10 pier passes allow legal access to select piers at Jackson Park, Burnham, DuSable, Diversey, Belmont and Montrose harbors.
CHICAGO PARKING PASSES
Park Bait, Bridgeport Bait and Tackle and Fishtech in Morton Grove are now selling parking passes. Email fishing@chicagoparkdistrict.com with questions. Chicago Park District parking passes ($20 for two months) are for the anglers’ parking lots at DuSable and Burnham harbors.
NAVY PIER ANGLING
North side of Navy Pier is open for anglers. Discounted parking for anglers is $9 daily, beginning at 5 a.m.; must be out by 10 a.m. for the discount. Click here to prepay for the discounted tickets.
LAKEFRONT PARKING
My column from Nov. 30, 2022, on parking the length of the Chicago lakefront is posted at https://chicago.suntimes.com/2022/11/30/23485385/chicago-lakefront-parking-fishing
AREA LAKES
Area lakes are in a transition toward ice out and some south are already to open water.
Juan Macias messaged the photo above on Sunday and this:
Hi Dale, just want to share a picture I take wen make a short trip to fishing busse lake this morning shores are melting and by the dams plenty open water fishing couple hours and was slow, mallards are dancing around smell the spring.!!!
BRAIDWOOD LAKE
Bob Johnson emailed the photo above and this:
Hey Dale – long winter is over with opening day on Braidwood lake this weekend.
I backed out of Saturday’s official opener opting to go on Sunday instead due to winds. Fishing Sunday was as good as I could’ve hoped for catching several Largemouth with my 5 largest weighing up at 19.8lb, 2 Bass at 5.6 and 5.2 along with a 4.1 then a couple in the 2lb class. Caught most fish on crainkbaits and swim baits. A 3/8 ounce jig with trailer worked well too. Water temps were at 64 and 65. Found most bass sitting on drop offs from 3 to 10’.
Unbelievable day! Catch and release
Rob Abouchar emailed the photo above and below and this:
Hi Dale
It was a great start to the season on Pulaski day at Braidwood cooling lake. I had Leyden High school assistant Athletic director, coach Tim Murphy out for the outing and said we were after the elusive 5 pound Braidwood largemouth. The water was 59 degrees on the far cool side and 62 in the mid lake area. The winds were gusty but not too bad for Braidwood. My trolling motor was on the fritz so we were forced to use the outboard motor to make controlled drifts and the minn Kota talon to hold the boat in place when needed. We both caught some beautiful pre spawn bass. A couple of the fish were in the 5lb class as they were big and fat! Coach Murphy was getting them on a white spinner bait. I was having success with the Rapala og 5 balsa square bill crankbait. Most of the fish came in 1 to 5 feet of water on natural shoreline. The real big fish hit along rip rap. When it first jumped I yelled that could be the fiver!
On the music front it’s a little bit of a break before resuming rehearsals with Gozortenplat for shows in May and June here and in Las Vegas respectively. I’m thinking this is a good time to get back into the studio for some more original songs. Also possible guest appearance with indika reggae band at two brothers roundhouse in April.
Tight lines and good health!
Rob
Click here for my column preview.
Open daily 6 a.m. to sunset.
CHAIN O’LAKES AREA
Fishing is transitioning from ice fishing toward open water. Some have been making it work off piers.
Before the transition, Gary Bloom messaged the photo above of mixed bounty from Lake Catherine, including a walleye, caught ice fishing.
CHICAGO RIVER
Andy Hansen messaged the photo above and this:
Hey, Dale
With ice fishing done (for me at least) we hit some open water on the river. Crappie were cooperating nicely. This one was 12.5”, smallest of the dozen or so was 10”. Spring is close!
Tight lines, Andy
Jeffrey Williams of letsgettemfishing messaged the photo above and this:
Got our 1st riverwalk action, crappies are HOT, we went down their on friday(lost count lol) went by myself today(sunday) 14 crappie in total and a nice half pound largie, everything was caught on a dropshot with a fathead minnow, almost every crappie was between 9-12 in
COOLING LAKES
Braidwood is open. LaSalle reopens March 15; Heidecke, April 1.
DES PLAINES RIVER
Dan Kiska messaged the fish above and this on Sunday:
wanted you to see this pike I caught yesterday. good size but messed up lip. 37″ out of the DPR
DOWNSTATE
Eric Stark messaged the photo above and this last week:
Late ice giant out of central il. Tip up on 6inch golden shiners
Farm pond in Carlock
21.5 inch. No scale
POWERTON: Bank and boat fishing is open 8 a.m.-4 p.m.
EMIQUON PRESERVE: Open sunrise to sunset. Remember to renew access permits and liability waivers, they’re available Tuesday to Saturday at Dickson Mounts Museum, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Details at https://www.nature.org/content/dam/tnc/nature/en/documents/2024EmiquonLakeAccessRules.pdf.
HENNEPIN-HOPPER: Reopens May 1.
DuPAGE RIVER
Jimmy Pape messaged the photo above and this:
Caught her on a black and blue bucktail jig I made myself yesterday morning
I laid her next to my spinning rod for a measurement and comparison. 27”-28”. Maybe around 8-9lbs I’d say.
Got one smallmouth as well out there. Same hair jig
GENEVA LAKE, WISCONSIN
Arden Katz texted the photo above and this on Sunday:
Hi Dale I went to Geneva bay today I was fishing in 8 ft of water on wax worms Arden katz
GREEN LAKE AREA, WISCONSIN
Guide Mike Norris (www.comecatchsmallmouth.com) emailed:
Fishing Report – 3/2/2025
By Mike Norris
The 2024-2025 harvest season for catching game fish in Wisconsin’s lakes concluded at midnight last Sunday, and the harvest season will not reopen until the first Saturday in May. In the interim, anglers can still fish for, catch, and release both largemouth and smallmouth bass. Most anglers are shifting to panfish, northern pike, and walleyes on our river systems, where the harvest season remains open all year long.
Lake Puckaway: As part of the Fox River drainage system, Lake Puckaway remains open year-round for harvesting gamefish. Ice fishing with medium shiner minnows or suckers suspended beneath tip-ups is producing both northern pike and walleyes.
Fox Lake: With the harvest season for gamefish over, ice anglers are focusing their attention to on bluegills and crappies. The lake still has fourteen inches or more of ice, but the landings are soft due to the recent warm spell.
HEIDECKE LAKE
Reopens April 1.
KANKAKEE RIVER
Matt Mullady texted the photos above and below and this on Saturday:
Had a very productive day on smallmouth with Butch Bianca yesterday sending you some pics
This was before the rains.
LAKE ERIE
Click here for the Ohio DNR Report.
LAKEFRONT
Jason “Special One” Le texted the photo above on Tuesday and that they caught a brown trout, a coho and a laker on rod and reel on the lakefront.
Casey Shell emailed the photo at the very top and this:
Dale,
Our first Open water trip a 2025 was a success. We launched Sunday out of Burnham harbor. Water temps were 33.5 degrees. We started the morning casting and jigging near the Chicago lighthouse. I was fishing with my dad, and we each caught one on the cast the first hour we were on the water. We were using a half ounce jig with a soft plastic. Afterwards we started trolling. Our setup was running two planer boards with crankbaits and two dipseys with spoons. All the fish that we caught trolling came on the spoons. All the Lakers we caught were between 30 and 34 in. They put up a great fight in this cold water. I’ll have a video of this trip on my YouTube channel, fishcraft.
Casey Shell
Capt. Rich Sleziak at Slez’s Bait in Lake Station, Indiana, texted:
Perch still good at 87th st slip.
LaSALLE LAKE
Reopens March 15.
MADISON LAKES, WISCONSIN
Arden Katz texted the photo above and this:
Hi Dale me and Roger Jackson went to monona bay on Friday we caught our limit of bluegills. 50 on wax worms in 2 hours Arden katz
Click here for the update from D&S Bait, Tackle & Fly Shop .
MAZONIA/STRIP PITS
Ken “Husker” O’Malley of Husker Outdoors emailed the photos above and below, and this:
Hey Dale,
Here’s a recap from this week’s fishing.
This is a bitter sweet post. Today was the last day of drilling holes at the pits for the season. Mid 50’s and more rain in the forecast is taking its toll on the ice. I can’t complain as Mother Nature has been very good to us down South here. Making it almost to March! When was the last time that happened in IL? It’s been awhile. The first light bite for crappie continued to be hot. Working the ledges of the basin adjacent to the flats and drop off has really produced lately. Now it’s time to head North to finish off the season.
Here’s the nature pic of the week. These guys are ready for open water as well.
TTYL
Ken “Husker” O’Malley
Husker Outdoors
Waterwerks fishing team
Both Mazonia units are open to fishing 6 a.m. to sunset. Any ice fishing is at your own risk. At the South Unit, Eagle and Ponderosa remain closed for construction.
NORTHERN WISCONSIN
Gamefish season closed on Sunday.
Kurt Justice at Kurt’s Island Sport Shop in Minocqua emailed:
As the gamefish season has come to a close (3/2) it’s nice to see the panfish action ramping up! That is giving us ice enthusiasts plenty of reasons to hit the ice and enjoy some more of our favorite sport. As a note, the final gamefish weekend was a good one with lots of reports of Walleye and Pike catches. Some years it’s ended with a fizzle, this year a bang. Pike to 37” and Walleye to 28” reported with plenty of numbers, a shortage of big bait (our fault) the only downside.
Bluegill: Very Good – Very nice catches of nice sized Gills (many 8-8 ½” with some up to 9 ¾” reported). Early to mid-morning best for size, but nice fish caught throughout the day. Wax worms, Butter worms and plastics on 3 mm tungsten jigs in 7-10’ cabbage.
Crappie: Very Good – Lots of 10-12” fish caught and bagged this past weekend with reports (and pics) of slabs to 15”. Still a basin bite for the most part on Rattlin Kastmasters, Tikka Flash and Jointed Pinheads tipped with spikes or waxies. Tip-downs doing well baited with rosies or Crappie minnows. Of note, the draw down on the Willow Flowage has made some areas hazardous, use caution. Reports of slower fishing Fri and Sat may be more reason to stay off.
Yellow Perch: Good – Mud flats in that 14-22’ range using #2 Pimples or #25 Halis to deliver wigglers or red spikes. Tip-downs with small minnows also working. Use medium fatheads or large rosies to try and discourage smaller fish.
Other than earlier concern mentioned regarding the Willow, the Hwy J access on the Rainbow is not safe. Lakes on the other hand are in great shape following last week’s warm spell. Ice thickness from 17-30” reported. Snow on Wed (3/5) could be a mess to move around on depending on how much we get. Temps overnights in teens with highs in low 30’s following should amount to continued safe ice for at least a couple of weeks.
Shout out to all the high school teams that participated in the KISS Tournament this past Saturday. Your catches made me envious? Thank you Winneconne, Milton, Wauzaukee, Northland Pines, Rhinelander, Chequamegon and Rosholt, the students and coaches for participating! Great job!
Stop by the shop for lots of end of season discounts, while supplies last
Rods, tackle, augers, shacks, clothing…
All boots are 25% off with the exception of LaCrosse (Ice Kings, Cold Snaps and Hunt Pac only – 50% off)
Kurt Justice
Kurt’s Island Sports Shop
– Like us on FaceBook
NORTHWEST INDIANA
Capt. Rich Sleziak at Slez’s Bait in Lake Station texted:
Perch still good at 87th st slip.
Perch action great for boat fisherman when they can get out fishing in 50 to 58ft of water straight out from Gary lighthouse. Xl fatheads and perch fly rigs best.
Crappie starting under the 249 bridge just down from portage marina. Few spots on the bank but being in a boat to move around the docks best.
Few browns and a coho now and then being caught from portage Riverwalk using squid, golden roaches and skein fishing bobber and bottom
Slez’s Bait is loaded with fresh squid strips and tubs of skein.
RACINE, WISCONSIN
Gary Bloom messaged the photo above and this:
Went to Racine one day.
SHABBONA LAKE
March site hours are 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Boondocks is closed.
SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN
Staff at Tackle Haven in Benton Harbor said boaters can reach the lake on Tuesday, but the few out are in the river catching steelhead and a few walleye.
WISCONSIN DELLS
Guide Mike Norris (www.comecatchsmallmouth.com) emailed:
Wisconsin River: Fishing for walleye is excellent right now beneath the dam at the Wisconsin Dells. Try fishing vertically with a jig and minnow.