MIDWEST FISHING REPORT
AREA LAKES: The bluegill bite is on around or in weeds. Ken ‘‘Husker’’ O’Malley: Frog bite excellent in the evenings for largemouth; Texas-rigged worms best in the early morning.
AREA RIVERS: CHICAGO: Jeffrey Williams: Decent panfish (bluegill to 9 inches) from shore. Crappie slow. KANKAKEE: Trading Post: Water clarity and level improved. ‘‘Guys are wading, smallmouth and catfish.’’ A few walleye, too.
BRAIDWOOD: BoRabb Williams: Killed the blue catfish over the weekend. Rob Abouchar: Relayed several reports of some big largemouth by others.
CHAIN O’LAKES: Triangle: Walleye good on Lindy rigs with leeches or crawlers on main-lake points or current areas. Bluegills good on waxies or red worms on ice-fishing jigs. Catfish excellent on stinkbait and crawlers. White bass good; try Mepps rigged with split shot or small jigs tipped with minnows in 12 to 20 feet.
DELAVAN/GENEVA, WISCONSIN: DELAVAN: Arden Katz: Good largemouth in 12 to 15 feet on drop-shots tight to weed lines on points and secondary points. Dave Duwe: ‘‘Fantastic’’ panfish in 23 to 24 feet; look for schools. GENEVA: Duwe: Panfish on drop-offs in 20 to 25 feet. Pike pretty good in 35 to 45 feet. Largemouth in 14 to 18 feet. Trolling spoons for suspended lakers in 70 to 90 feet.
GREEN LAKE AREA, WISCONSIN: BIG GREEN: Mike Norris: Bass slowed; look for areas with both curly and broad-leaf cabbage. Walleye good over deeper vegetation (12 to 15 feet). Bluegills grouping along edge of deeper vegetation. LITTLE GREEN: Bluegills, perch and crappie hitting. Bass slowed. FOX: Bluegills picked up; fish outside edge of vegetation with red worms under float. A 51-inch muskie was caught last week by a guy fishing for bluegills from his dock.
GREEN/STURGEON BAYS, WISCONSIN: Howie’s: Walleye great from Larson’s Reef south to lower bay. Bass fishing great throughout in 12 to 20 feet. Perch good and should stay that way through summer.
LAKEFRONT: Note walleye caught at Burnham (Fish of the Week). Capt. Bob Poteshman: Lakers good at North Point in 100 to 200 feet, with a few steelhead, some coho and the occasional king. Out of Chicago, anywhere from 90 to 200 feet for lakers, some coho and a few steelhead. Some coho inside the R4. Park Bait: A few perch reports; drum up and down. Salmon Stop: Boaters fishing south (90 to 120 feet, even 150) for lakers, kings, coho and steelhead. Capt. Scott Wolfe: Very good laker fishing (big fish and limits) in 170 to 220 feet north of Waukegan.
NORTHERN WISCONSIN: Kurt Justice: Largemouth (wacky worms days on cabbage flats in 8 to 12 feet) and smallmouth (best over gravel/rock humps in 16 to 22 feet) are very good. Crappie and bluegills are very good to good. Water is in the 70s.
NORTHWEST INDIANA: Slez’s: Perch good in 30 to 35 feet from doughnut to Mount Baldy. Steelhead sporadic outside mouth of Ditch in 35 to 45 feet. SHABBONA: Lakeside: Bass good on topwaters. Walleye on leeches off the rock pile and weed lines on east side. Crappie being caught over deep structure.
SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN: Tackle Haven: Some walleye by hospital. On Lake Michigan, lakers but no perch. Rare steelhead off the pier, but a few are at Berrien Springs.