MIDWEST FISHING REPORT
LAKEFRONT PERCH: Arden Katz: Lots at South Side slips. Bite very light, just the feel of weight. Those using heavy line and crappie rigs have tough time. He uses very light line and a sensitive rod with a double Mini-Mite and spikes with a small pencil weight below. Fraser Semple: Mostly small ones last week, then personal-best 14-incher in Cal Harbor. Henry’s: Excellent reports from South Side, and warm times coming. Park Bait: Good perch reports from Navy Pier south. Slez’s: Fair in Cal Park and up the river; moving around and fishing different areas best. Chris Strand: Minnows producing some small perch at Navy Pier. He also saw a mudpuppy caught for the first time.
NAVY PIER: North side open to anglers. Discounted angler parking of $9 if out by 10 a.m.
PIER PASSES: The $6 pier passes, which allow legal access to select piers at most Chicago harbors, are on sale at Henry’s Sports & Bait, Park Bait and the Northerly Island Visitors Center.
AREA LAKES: Most focus on crappie and waiting on ice. Ken ‘‘Husker’’ O’Malley: He caught a quality largemouth on a jig with a 4-inch Chigger Craw. Work bait even slower than slow.
CHAIN: Triangle: Water extremely low (caution when launching) and inbetween (some busting skim ice). Look for crappie in 15 feet during the day on main-lake points. Try main-lake points for walleye, too. Some trying for muskie with large suckers in deep water.
GREEN LAKE, WISCONSIN: Mike Norris: Expect another week or so before smaller lakes have walkable ice. Big Green is best bet for those seeking openwater walleye and smallmouth.
GREEN/STURGEON BAYS, WISCONSIN: Howie’s: Perch ‘‘outstanding’’ around shallow bays. Night bite good for walleye until ice-up; troll near-shore drops. When conditions allow, smallmouth very good in 25 to 40 feet with tubes. KANKAKEE RIVER: Bob Johnson: Fall walleye (bonus white bass) staged on sand bars off islands; try slow-rolling crankbaits, swim baits and jigs fished upriver and brought back in a very slow retrieve. Largemouth on finesse baits in slack water off current. George Peters: Caught a 20-inch smallmouth while trying for walleye Saturday with a jig slow and deep.
LAKEFRONT: Park Bait: Diversey and Belmont still have trout (see FOTW). Salmon Stop: Some steelhead and a few coho around; South Rocks best. MINNESOTA: Mille Lacs: McQuoid’s Inn: Ice setting up in bays. A few shacks out on Monday. Walking out starts this weekend.
NORTHERN WISCONSIN: Kurt Justice: Small lakes and protected bays have 3 or 4 inches of ice (larger lakes not frozen yet). Walleye (evenings in shallow weeds) and pike (tip-ups or jigging Slender Spoons) very good. NORTHWEST INDIANA: Slez’s: Steelhead on Voodoo jig tipped with beemoths in tributaries. Lakers along reef outside Burns Ditch when weather allows.
ST. JOSEPH, MICHIGAN: Tackle Haven: Steelhead coming into river.