Chicago fishing: Variety of weather, variety of fish

Dale..A great start to spring fishing retention ponds in Shorewood….Bill

Got a little action today.

Hey Dale,

Here’s a recap of this past weeks fishing.

A week ago I was drilling through two feet of ice to finally breaking out the long rods in 80 degree temps. The winds were not easy to deal with yesterday, but the North shorelines were the focus. The bite was not as good as I had hoped for the late afternoon window, but still managed to hook into a few using a custom lipless crank by BPF Lures.

The nice weather the first half of the weekend allowed for some quality family time. Dave Strobel with his grand kids catching some nice bluegill.

. . .

TTYL

Ken “Husker” O’Malley

Husker Outdoors
Waterwerks fishing team

Hi Dale,

Only one outing this week-chasing bass before the big winds hit. A couple of warm days had them in very close to shore. In fact, I spooked more than a few out of water that was not much deeper than my shins. All the fish I caught were taken at the edge of the first drop off, within a rod length of shore, on a small marabou leech pattern. The image is the last fish of the day, using the rising full moon for light.

Hi Dale

With a week of warm windy summerlike conditions and cold windy winter conditions the bite went from heating up to cooling down but still productive for prespawn largemouth bass. I was catching nice bass from shore with a red arucu shad. The warm air was mixing with the cool water surface blowing like an air conditioner. The persistent wind makes casting into the breeze difficult. As things cooled and the snow hit on Sunday I wanted to expand on lures so I tried another early spring bait the meps in line spinner and it produced in the cold water. I actually saw the fish rise on the bait open and eat the bait . That visual and the freezing Temps sent me home for the ncaa selection show. Earlier in the week before the change I saw an angler catching a bluegill so they are starting to go !

On the music front I have made my travel plans for Las Vegas for the show on June 7th with Gozortenplat and Ray White. Looking forward to some time by the pool. I’ll need to check on angling opportunities in the area.

Tight lines and good health!

Rob

Mother Nature is still throwing some cold and winter weather at us.

. . .

Some of the channels off the river and Chain O Lakes are producing crappies. Only the one with a couple feet of water or more are holding fish.

Think Spring!

Got this beauty on the Fox River Saturday in the Wind. 26.5 inches with a 15.5 inch girth 7.9 pounds. Only bite of the 3 hour trip. 3 feet of water. Released

Hey Dale,

Hope the new year is treating you well.

. . .

On Saturday I fished the Fox River in Kane County with Len Cajic. River levels are fairly low and wadeable in some spots. Small paddletails and ned rigs didn’t produce for me, but hair jigs did the trick for a handful of fish holding tight to structure. Len also got a few smallmouth to bite on shallow crankbaits. Mid-March and some fish are hitting moving baits.

Happy Fishing

Mother Nature is still throwing some cold and winter weather at us.

I am having customers fish the Dams on the Fox River in Algonquin and McHenry with some success. Jig and an extra large Fathead minnow is getting the best results. They are catching walleye, smallmouth and white bass.

Some of the channels off the river and Chain O Lakes are producing crappies. Only the one with a couple feet of water or more are holding fish.

Think Spring!

Hi Dale –

first time on the river this year, fishing with my youngest son Chase during his spring break from college. We caught a 1/2 dozen smallmouth on ned rigs, Rapala mooch minnows and crainkbaits. Water temps at 49 to 51 and water clarity was good. A good day! Catch and release

Hey Dale, hope all is well.

So I decided to try a new spot on the Kankakee River today. And boy Did it pay off. Ended up with 20 nice fish on the day. All caught on ned w/ z man fire craw TRD , and Ozark rig with z man Billy goat same color. Once I found them it was on. Average fish was 14-16inch with one @ 18 just under 2 lbs. All in all great early spring day. With fighting the wind and current in the YAK FYI the river temp on my Garmin was 54deg. It’s gonna be that time real soon.

Tight lines all. Hitting the big pond next Saturday for Coho on a charter. Hopefully we do well.

I caught it at cal park off shore it took almost a half hour to get it in its at 33 “

Hey Dale,

Hope the new year is treating you well.

With temps hitting the mid to upper 70’s last Friday, I headed out to the lakefront targeting smallmouth…..The strong south winds gusting up to 45mph made it challenging for sure. After about 5 hours with no bites on ned rigs or crankbaits, I was fortunate enough to find a healthy 15-16 incher on a green pumpkin goby ned rig right up against a breakwall. That first hookset of the year felt pretty good.

With the weather patterns up and down fishing has been the same but for the most part Coho on powerlines doing well. Yesterday seemed to be great, lots of limits caught. Mostly using large minnows and night crawlers. A few Northerns and Brown Trout in the mix as well. No rod and reel reports yet.
Perch still being caught down by the slip and out south by boats in a little deeper water. A few caught here on powerlines by guys fishing for Coho.

Have a great week.

Hey dale good morning ! We just left lasalle brutal out here ! I came out with my father in law that’s here on vacation from Mexico and he got his first hybrid !!

The big question has been…is there safe ice? Seems reasonable to ask after we saw temps hit 60 degrees last Friday (3/14). That, and the rain Fri night/Saturday (3/15) did make the top layer rather punky (porous). Some landings got mushy (if snow from previous week piled there).

While some anglers continue to press their luck by driving trucks, that’s one method we can no longer recommend here. Measurements of 16-28” seem fine, however, the top layer of ice has been compromised due to rain and warmth. Walking (bring creepers) and ATV travel still good. With forecast for next two weeks showing highs of 34-44 degrees yet lows of 14-23 degrees, our fishable ice should last through this week and the next! And that’s good because…

Yellow Perch: Excellent – Limits of Perch in the 9-11” range with some pushing 13” over the past weekend. Mud flats of 14-24’ using Halis, Flash Champs, Bull spoons & Pinheads tipped with spikes or wigglers. Tip-downs with medium fatheads or large rosies working great for larger Perch.

Crappie: Excellent – Still great action on basin fish of 18’, to as deep as 30’. Most fish found 4-8’ off bottom. Tikka Flash, Jointed Pinheads and Rattlin Kastmasters tipped with waxies or tip-downs using Crappie minnows or small rosies. Weed bite in 8-12’ standing narrow leaf cabbage using small #3 tungsten jigs or #8 rockers to deliver plastics (white, pink, silver). On shallower lakes, Crappies and Gills found taking plastics just at ice bottom levels.

Bluegill: Very Good to Excellent – Gills taking waxies and butterworms with gusto in 4-8’. Sometimes just under the ice! Small plastics with red, brown being tops, but purple, black and well, very little else not being rejected.

During early ice, 3” of new “black” ice is safe to walk. This time of year, the top layer of “white” ice (porous, crumbly) gives way to “green” ice. This ice can be 10-12” thick, but does not support the weight new black ice does. Be cautious! Carry rope, floatation devices (cushion, vest), ice picks and creepers just to be safe!

Kurt Justice

Kurt’s Island Sports Shop
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Perch action for boaters fishing straight out from Gary light in 53 to 59ft of water has been very good when the wind allows you out there. Xl- fatheads and glow perch fly rigs best.

Trollers fishing from Cal park, East Chicago, portage and Michigan city all doing well using rattling killer fish and Brad’s thinfish fish top 10ft of water.

Coho fishing off shore has been hit or miss still but some fish being caught off of portage Riverwalk and the port of Indiana using squid, skein and shrimp.

Crappie at lake George in Hobart fishing around the bridges and below the dam using minnows.

Tons of rattling killer fish in stock for the coho.

The walleye action has been great with the water temperature in the upper 30’s. Jigs or river rigs with shiners, in 5-7 feet of water working very good.