MIDWEST FISHING REPORT
AREA LAKES: Historically warm stretch has people trying for crappie and largemouth. Still some leftover trout on Axehead, Belleau, Busse North, Green, Horsetail and Wolf in Cook County; Grove, Pickerel and Silver in DuPage County; Bird Park Quarry and Rock Creek in Kankakee County; Big Lake at Silver Springs SFWA in Kendall County; Banana and Sand Lake at Illinois Beach SP in Lake County; Spring Grove Hatchery Pond in McHenry County; and Lake Strini and Van Horn Woods in Will County.
AREA RIVERS: DES PLAINES: Pike are the top pursuit of kayakers, according to multiple Facebook reports. ILLINOIS: Illinois Valley Outdoors: Crappie at barge tie-ups on river. Sauger/walleye are good; best around Hennepin. KANKAKEE: Best conditions of the year, but cover all the water.
CHAIN O’LAKES: Triangle: Bluegills are still good shallow. Catfish remain surprisingly strong on crawlers. Some nice walleye (one to 30 inches), mainly on wind-blown points. Muskie are fair on suckers.
DELAVAN/GENEVA, WISCONSIN: Brian Gates, Geneva Lake Bait & Tackle: On Delavan, largemouth (with a few walleye and pike mixed in) are good on small suckers. On Geneva, perch are good in 3 to 9 feet. On Como, some pike and largemouth.
GREEN/STURGEON BAYS, WISCONSIN: Lance LaVine, Howie’s Tackle: When winds allow, smallmouth are good when you find schooling fish on deeper shoreline drops, deeper structure and deeper channel cuts. Walleye good at night.
LAKEFRONT: A few steelhead starting around shoreline but very few Chinook. Park Bait said a good run of pike continues at Montrose. SNAGGING: Fair action. Open sites are at the Lincoln Park lagoon south of Fullerton, the north basin of Waukegan Harbor, the Winnetka Power Plant discharge and the inner and outer harbors at Jackson Park.
NORTHERN WISCONSIN: EAGLE RIVER: Chamber of Commerce: Walleye and perch are good on deep flats in 20 to 30 feet. MINOCQUA: Kurt Justice, Island Sportshop: Muskie are good to very good on suckers. Walleye are good to fair.
NORTHWEST INDIANA: Waiting on perch on Lake Michigan. A few steelhead in the creeks.
SHABBONA: Lakeside: Crappie (in the fish cribs) and muskie are the top bites. Ken ‘‘Husker’’ O’Malley: Focus on drop-offs, dam area and no-motor zone for muskie action.
WOLF RIVER, WISCONSIN: FREMONT: Bill Stoeger: White bass and walleye combo still going.