Chicago fishing, Midwest Report: Bluegill, crappie, walleye, sauger, steelhead, hoping on perch

8.5 lbs. 28.5 off of Kelly’s Island 50’ water. 2.2 mph 125 back unassisted.

out on Kelly’s Island, lake erie. Yes today Bandit 125’ back , huff daddy custom lure .

My 1st Salmon, caught out of Burnam, 14 lbs on the dot

Man wat a awesome fight

Steelhead still doing pretty well in the harbors on spawn, med to large wax worms.Still some Kings and Coho on lures and some baits.

Lakers and whitefish action on the Michigan city pier usingblade baits and spoons for whitefish best fishing bottom with small peices of skein or little peice of worm

Few steelhead in area creeks must cover a lot of water use voodoo jigs tipped with waxworms or dime size spawn sak on single hook.

Hey Dale,

Here is a recap if the past weeks fishing.

Area lakes-bluegill continue to be the hot bite. Ice jigs under a slip float tipped with wax worms are the best bait worked along the outside weedlines adjacent to deep water.

. . .

TTYL

—

Ken Husker O’Malley

Husker Outdoors Waterwerks fishing team

Hello Dale!

It’s been a while and, between college football games and garage band mosh pits, I hope you and yours are well.

I was pleasantly surprised to catch a nice small channel catfish at Columbus Park Lagoon at dusk on Wednesday night. Earlier in the year I just saw small bullheads, and I remember your article about a lack of channel cat stocking this year, so this was something else.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/2022/6/5/23155226/chicago-outdoors-chicago-lagoon-catfish-deck-robin-family-minnesota-sturgeon-ducks-decoys

Many possible answers, but I was just happy to reel in this fish: (with a Berkley Gulp Minnow on a 1/2 oz jighead floated under a bobber, a terminal tackle combo of convenience in the dwindling light)

Otherwise, a modest amount of Chicago lakeshore and river fishing this late summer and fall yielded a large number of small fish…and infinitesimally small number of big fish. I’m OK with that, but my son is looking for more so I need to up my game. In the meantime, gearing up for perch too.

Thanks and best wishes always,

Atul

Hi Dale,

I’ll send this now as I’m likely finished fishing for the week.I wanted to get out on Saturday-last day of Daylight Savings Time, so all sunsets will be early for the next few months-but it didn’t happen due to the gale-force winds.Sunday turned out to be a much better day:temps in the low 60s; wind quit in the late afternoon; the water must have warmed a little because the fish were feeding.It was a mixed bag of bluegills and largemouths.The bluegills were of respectable size; the bass were not.But it’s November and I’m catching fish on fly tackle, without a hat and gloves and can still feel my fingers.Not much to complain about.

I haven’t targeted crappies yet and haven’t found any while fishing for bass and bluegills either.If the forecast colder weather materializes next week, that could be the start of it.

Pete

Interesting day, we walked from the riverwalk(state st) all the way to Burnam, he caught a nice 2 lb smallie under state st and lost 2 salmon while walking the lakefront

Hey Dale, Oct 21st is the last day for boats to be on Spring Lake.Boat fishing will still be allowed from the Sky Ranch ramp up to the narrows throughout waterfowl season.The stoping point in the narrows will be marked with buoy markers. The youth waterfowl hunt is oct 23-24.Bank fishing will be allowed along the south Lake road after 1:00pm during waterfowl season.Thanks. Thad

Dale,

Spent a lot of time on the Fox River again this weekend, mostly wading with crankbaits & jerkbaits.

Kane County levels were a little low but not too bad. Saturday conditions were very tough with strong wind gusts, more weed growth than last week, and fallen leaves everywhere. Tough to get too many clean casts without picking up a weed or a leaf. The rain on Saturday seemed to help with the leaf situation, they were much more cleared out on Sunday.

Still able to locate some smallmouth but definitely less than the prior few weeks. Noticed a few short strikers, I think the dropping water temps are slowing them down….but it seems like very good conditions for some other species. Had a good size musky go full airborn a few feet in front of me and spit the hook yesterday. Very cool experience, and always more tolerable when you’re still catching some good fish. Picked up another handful of walleye over the weekend, some good size (see attached— would estimate about 20 inches).

Looking forward, would anticipate pretty good fishing this week until the winter temps hit on Saturday. We’ll see how that changes things.

Fishing Report – 11/06/2022

Mike Norris

Big Green Lake – Last week’s summer-like weather brought anglers back to the lake in droves, but the calm glassy-water conditions slowed the bass fishing.That all changed when a cold front moved through the area last Saturday with cooler temperatures and wind gusts up to sixty mph.With cooler temperatures the bite for smallmouth bass will improve this week as they group up and start relocating to their wintering holes.Look for fast tapering drop offs in 20 to 35 feet of water for bass.Controlled drifts along break lines with a Carolina-rigged live bait offering is a smart choice for finding bass this time of year.

Fox Lake – The largemouth bass on Fox Lake woke up and bit well last week after a dismal early fall season.Local anglers located bass in shallow water in both the Jug and in the Government Area.Both chatterbaits and swim jigs worked well fished above the last good green weed growth.One angler reported catching over seventy bass during an outing last week.

Hi fellas….Here is a quick update on the fishing

Perch fishing has been super as of late when you can get out there with the nasty weather we have had.Sawyer Harbor, Riley’s Bay and Little Sturgeon are all good areas in the fall.Fathead minnows and plastics the best baits to use in the fall.

The Pike fishing has been super and will just continue to stay good right through ice up.Sturgeon Bay ship canal, Sawyer Harbor, Riley’s Bay and Little Sturgeon are all very good areas to try.Jerk baits, spinner baits. Spoons, large plastics and sucker minnows are all good areas to target Pike

The Smallmouth Bass fishing has been excellent as it usually is late in the fall.Fish near their wintering areas in that 20 to 40 foot range.Howie’s Shorty tubes, ned rigs, swim baits, Alabama rigs along with live bait rigging sucker minnows on circle hooks

The Walleye fishing should be getting better as the water continues to cool.The night bite becomes much more prevalent this time of year and you pretty much can fish right up until we ice up.Trolling and casting suspending jerk baits generally the ticket in the fall

Hey Dale,

Here is a recap if the past weeks fishing.

. . .

Illinois River- water levels are low with water temps holding at 55. Sauger are spread out throughout the river. Areas to work are near wintering holes and drop offs from the main channel. Best bait has been vertical jigging a Clam tikka mino tipped with a fathead. White bass are hit or miss on blade baits.

. . .

TTYL

—

Ken Husker O’Malley

Husker Outdoors Waterwerks fishing team

Hi Dale -Got a double Sunday. I set one pole down in rod holder with lure dangling a foot below surface and a follow up bass hit it just before boating first bass. 2 the hard way. More of the same on river as fall frenzy continues. River temps still above 50 with a slight stain from recent rains. Best action continues on finesse baits having less success on crainkbaits, bladed jigs and swim baits. Walleye bite remains slow but hopeful that will change with falling water temps.

Dale Bowman … Today at 63rd Street Harbor

Dale Bowman ….. we’re catching Everything in Jackson Park Harbor…. from King Salmon… Coho… rainbow.. Steelhead … crappie blue gills… etc

Steelhead still doing pretty well in the harbors on spawn, med to large wax worms.Still some Kings and Coho on lures and some baits. A few smallmouth and Northerns in the mix.No perch reports yet. Our hours are now 6am to 4pm

4) Snagging for chinook and coho salmon only is permitted from the following Lake Michigan shoreline areas from October 1 through December 31; however, no snagging is allowed at any time within 200 feet of a moored watercraft or as posted: A) Lincoln Park Lagoon from the Fullerton Avenue Bridge to the southern end of the Lagoon. B) Waukegan Harbor (in North Harbor basin only). C) Winnetka Power Plant discharge area. D) Jackson Harbor (Inner and Outer Harbors).

For the second year in a row, it looks like November will be a better month for big Musky!Water temps averaging 45 -48 degrees as of today (11/8).With conditions over the end of last week not so favorable, we are seeing a lack of angler participation for all but Musky and Walleye.

Musky:Good – Nice fish (42-45) being reported but few Big Fish.Suckers have been dominate, with some anglers reporting surprisingly shallow fish and lots of bait fish in the shallow water also.While casting into weeds of 10-14’ has brought out fish, hanging suckers in water 20-25’ has been good.Oddly, not deeper than the 25’ range yet.

Walleye:Good – Even this species seems to be shallower on some lakes than expected.While most anglers working 34-44’ doing well using chubs on 3/8 – 1/2 oz jigs or drop-shotting along gravel slides or mud basins.Anglers finding Walleyes moving back up into weed edges of 12-14’.Casting and ripping #9 Jigging Raps and #3 Shiver Minnows up gravel slides of 40’ to 24’ also producing.

Forecast has warm weather (highs upper 50’s) through Thursday night (11/10), then a major drop with highs of mid 30’s to upper 20’s and lows through Tuesday (11/15) in the upper teens.Warm rain on 11/9-11/10 will bolster surface temps, but cold change with rain and snow will pull those temps down into low 40’s or possibly below.

Good time to hunt big fish…if you’re willing!

Speaking of hunting – The board is up for the Big Buck Contest, stop in to sign up before opening day, November 19th.

Kurt Justice

Kurt’s Island Sport Shop – Like us on Facebook

Lakers and whitefish action on the Michigan city pier usingblade baits and spoons for whitefish best fishing bottom with small peices of skein or little peice of worm

Crappie, bass and bluegills up and down the river near 249 bridge. Minnows, jigs tipped with waxworms best.

Few steelhead in area creeks must cover a lot of water use voodoo jigs tipped with waxworms or dime size spawn sak on single hook.

Slez’s has all the minnows you want perch will be up in the river soon.

The water temp Monday was 45 degrees. Crappie and white bass are slowing down, although still getting bass near Poygan. Walleye action should pick up by next week. The river is on the rise, and cold weather coming in this weekend