MIDWEST FISHING REPORT
LAKEFRONT PERCH: Arden Katz: Limit at 87th in 45 minutes, but bite so light it took 40 bites, casting a double Mini-Mite with weight on the bottom, then jigging back hard. Bob France: Key at Navy Pier move until you find the active perch. On Sunday, No. 7 and 8 had more action; on Saturday, No. 5. Henry’s: Boaters doing well in the Calumet. Park Bait: Hit and miss; some limits and others nothing at South Side slips Sunday; a few pier fishing at Diversey; a few at Navy Pier. Slez’s: Best for boaters from mouth of Cal to 95th.
NAVY PIER: North side pier open to anglers. Discounted angler parking $9 (if out by 10 a.m.).
PIER PASSES: The $6 pier passes, allowing legal access to select piers at most Chicago harbors, on sale at Henry’s Sports & Bait, Park Bait or Northerly Island Visitors Center. Henry’s and Park Bait, cash only; Northerly Island, creditcard only.
AREA LAKES: Some focus on crappie when weather cooperates. Ken “Husker” O’Malley: Decent bass dragging a jig with a 4-inch chigger craw, worked slowly from deep water to drop.
AREA RIVERS: CHICAGO: Jeffrey Williams: A few largemouth. FOX: Dicky’s: A few small channel catfish on shiners or frozen shad. KANKAKEE: Bob Johnson: Water clear, low in 40s; walleye slow but quality, surprise of active largemouth and some smallmouth, finesse baits (green pumpkin) in slack water just off current.
CHAIN: Triangle: No ice fishing. Water low from winter drawdown, look for walleye around what current there is, such as Route 12 bridge.
DOWNSTATE: SPRING LAKE: Boats may go out of Sky Ranch Road ramp and fish to Maple Island buoy; bank anglers on South Lake Road may fish after 1 p.m. EMIQUON PRESERVE: Fishing during waterfowl season not allowed until noon; permits and liability waivers required.
GREEN LAKE, WIS.: Mike Norris: Fishing slowed with cooler water (below 50); smallmouth moved deeper (25-35); live bait best; for walleye, troll crankbaits after dark. KENOSHA, WIS.: Andy Mikos, small boat report: Sunday, 3-for-4 in the harbor (8- and 10-pound browns, 7-pound steelhead), on shallow and deep diving Shad Raps in purple and natural shad.
LAKEFRONT: Perch at top. Park Bait: Some steelhead at Diversey and Belmont; a few coho and some grotty kings around. Salmon Stop: Good some days for steelhead (including 30-incher) and a few coho on spawn sacs, spoons or stick baits.
N. WIS.: Kurt Justice: High winds Sunday blew out most open ice; locked-up lakes building ice; few anglers out for muskie had good success with suckers or trout on quickstrike rigs; gliders also working, including muskie of 43 and 46 inches on Smity Baits and Phantoms.
NW IND.: Slez’s: Whitefish (waxies, small pieces of skein, bit of crawler on bottom) and lakers (blade baits, spoons) off Michigan City pier; a few steelhead in the tributaries on Voodoo jigs tipped with wax worms or spawn sacs. SHABBONA: Site hours: 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Concessions closed. SW MICH.: Tackle Haven: Few more steelhead in the river; South Haven doing better on whitefish than St. Joseph.
FISH OF THE WEEK
Scott Budzinski caught surprise muskies while fishing for walleye with an 1/8th-ounce Invasion Jig and minnow on 10-pound line Nov. 8 on the Turtle-Flambeau Flowage in northern Wisconsin. The biggest one was 52 inches.
“[It] was my second musky catch-and-release of the day,” Budzinski emailed. “Thirty minutes before this one hit, I released a 42-inch musky.”
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