MIDWEST FISHING REPORT
AREA LAKES: Crappie good. See Fish of the Week or one A.J. Cwiok caught last week in Bolingbrook on a KVD crankbait. Ken ‘‘Husker’’ O’Malley: A few largemouth already bedding over the weekend; best on ChatterBaits or lipless crankbaits ticked over weeds. Bluegills moving shallower; best on plastics under float. Pete Lamar: While fly-fishing a leech pattern, caught largemouth with a few bluegills.
CHAIN: Michael Pierce: 44-inch muskie on fourth cast. Triangle: Catfish good on stinkbait or crawlers. Crappie very good (moving) on fatheads on slipbobber rigs. Try white bass in 8 feet with Mepps spinner. Walleye fair; better on crawlers and minnows on Lindy rigs or floating rigs. Try river or bridge areas. NOTE: Stratton Lock open 8 a.m. to midnight.
CALUMET: BoRabb Williams: ‘‘Killing the crappie.’’
COOLING LAKES: Open daily from 6 a.m. to sunset. BRAIDWOOD: O’Malley: Hot side is 78 to 80 degrees; cool side is 70 to 73 degrees. Bass good on lipless or squarebill crankbaits. Otherwise, pitch plastics toward shore. HEIDECKE: Pete Riedesel: Slow but quality walleye last week.
DELAVAN/GENEVA, WISCONSIN: Dave Duwe: DELAVAN: Bluegill best shallow (3 to 4 feet) on red worms or leaf worms under float. Largemouth prespawn. GENEVA: Cold water kept fish less active. Panfish in 4 to 6 feet. Smallmouth suspended. Largemouth shallow.
EMIQUON: Access permits and liability waivers required (available Tuesday to Saturday at Dickson Mounts Museum).
FOX RIVER: Ken Gortowski: Smallmouth to 18 inches in deeper pools of tributary. River and creeks low. Lamar: Water warmed into mid-60s. Smallmouth and rock bass active.
GREEN LAKE, WISCONSIN: Mike Norris: BIG GREEN: Bigger bluegills under piers, but deep; try float with an ice jig with waxies. PUCKAWAY: Just about anything from the dam in Montello to mouth of Lake Puckaway. GREEN/STURGEON BAYS, WISCINSIN: Howie’s: Smallmouth best from Sturgeon to Little Sturgeon. Shore and boat anglers taking advantage of ‘‘phenomenal’’ walleye, casting or trolling; night best.
LAKEFRONT: Smallmouth going. Quinn Voss (big one, Northerly Island), Jim Hall (5-pounder, Monroe Harbor), Park Bait staff suggested Diversey Harbor. Park Bait: Salmon up-and-down, pretty slow. Capt. Bob Poteshman: ‘‘Crazy coho fishing’’ at North Point slowed Tuesday. Coho in 40 to 60 feet from Waukegan to North Point. Some lakers from 30 to 200 feet. Very few coho from Chicago to Wilmette. Lakers in 35 to 60 feet. Capt. Scott Wolfe: Out of Waukegan, lots of coho, some browns, Chinook, lakers and steelhead, too, trolling Dodgers and flies.
NORTHERN WISCONSIN: Howard Bass: Bass, pike, panfish and walleye hitting jig and minnow until colder weather returned Monday. Kurt Justice: Opening weekend, lakes outperformed flowages. Walleye good to very good in 6 to 8 feet with any new weed growth on 1 1/16th-ounce weedless jig with dace, large fatheads or large leeches. Crappie (3 to 5 feet), pike and largemouth (spinner baits or plastics) good.
NORTHWEST INDIANA: Slez’s: A few big Chinook mixed with coho on spoons and meat rigs from Burns Ditch to Michigan. At Willow Slough, bluegills and crappie on crappie on jigs tipped with beemoth or redworms. At Lake George, decent fishing around bridges and log jams.
ST. JOSEPH MICHIGAN: Tackle Haven: Catching lakers and small coho with a few kings in 100 to 150 feet. Walleye beginning in river.
SHABBONA: Hours: 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. Concessions closed.
WOLF RIVER, WISCONSIN: Bill Stoeger: Water 59 degrees. Some white bass moving shallow. Good walleye.