Fishing advice and reports going into the hottest part of summer so far lead this sprawling-raw file Midwest Fishing Report.
Chris Barcelona emailed the photo at the top and this:
Hi Dale it’s Chris Barcelona here.. I have an interesting story for you.
Last evening my wife Nora’s employee was fishing at Maple lake in willow springs and nabbed this nice Black Bass on a spinner bait, I’m enclosing the pics of the fish along with a pic of the spinner.
This nice young man is Andrew Ortiz 21yrs old from Evergreen Pk
That’s a good largemouth bass anywhere, especially from hard-fished Forest Preserves of Cook County waters. Good catch by Ortiz.
LAKEFRONT PARKING
Chicago Park District’s parking passes ($20 for two months) for the anglers’ parking lots at DuSable and Burnham harbors are on sale at Park Bait at Montrose Harbor (cash only) and the Northerly Island Visitor Center (credit card only, during the summer, 7-10 a.m. Tuesdays and Fridays).
My column from Nov. 30, 2022, on parking the length of the Chicago lakefront is posted at https://chicago.suntimes.com/2022/11/30/23485385/chicago-lakefront-parking-fishing
ILLINOIS FROG SEASON
Illinois’ bullfrog (only) season runs through Oct. 15. A fishing license is required. “Bullfrogs may be taken only by hook and line, gig, pitchfork, spear, bow and arrow, hand, or landing net.” Daily bag limit is eight, possession limit is 16.
AREA LAKES
Rico Cantu emaled the photo above and this:
Hey Dale I caught this bass on a Senko today after work, have a great weekend and take care.Rico CantuNew Lenox IL.
Dave Kranz of Dave’s Bait, Tackle and Taxidermy in Crystal Lake and with his You-Tube channel, Dave Kranz Living the wild outdoors, texted:
Bass fishing largemouth on the lakes and smallmouth on the fox river is good. Frogs, chatter baits and plastics for the green ones. . . . Fly rod fishing has been good with poppers and ant patterns on smaller ponds.
Ken “Husker” O’Malley of Husker Outdoors emailed the photo above and this:
Hey Dale,
Here is a recap of this past weeks fishing.
Area lakes- Bass have been good during evening hours working a baby 1- over the top of weeds. Key is to work the bait as slow as possible. A lower gear bait caster is a good option for this presentation. Once the sun hits the top of the tree lines, switch to a top water bait. Best bait have been popper style baits. As always pay attention to your trebles by switching out stock trebles with better quality hooks like the Vector tornado treble.
. . .
TTYL
—
Ken Husker O’Malley
Husker Outdoors Waterwerks fishing team
Rob Abouchar emailed the photo above and this:
Hi Dale
After the trip to Europe i put the river fishing off for a week for car and trailer maintenance. The fishing slowed a bit this week as the water is getting an odd algae color. Bass hitting topwater nightcrawlers and roach minnows. I got a decent bass on texas rigged senko flipped into holes in the moss matt. The bluegill fishing stayed hot on red trout worms or nightcrawler bits. Some good old yellow bellie bullheads hitting as well. I had Fred Harris our conscious rockers keyboard player over and the action was nice in the mid day.
On the music front I’m editing videos from the Zappa show in Germany and it is truly something. We really had a special moment in time those few days. It was like a damn bursting after all the rehearsals. Great to be thankful after all the work. Next up a jam session at the house with my lifetime friend dave dave sizemore and others from the old home town. The gig in Merrill is on for the conscious rockers at rock island August 26th and midnite mile September 9th. I was also contacted by a long time reggae producer musician from Chicago to play in Europe in the future. This is quite interesting and i think I’d like to see if he can record my mext batch of original cuts as way to get things rocking.
Tight lines and good health!!
Rob
Now that’s what a call a musical update.
BRAIDWOOD LAKE
James Baranski messaged the photo above and this:
Hi Dale, didn’t have much to do Friday afternoon so I decided to take an afternoon at Braidwood with the excellent temps. Next week will be miserable on the 93 degree power plant water. Bass fishing was tough as I scored 5 small bass with the largest at 2.5lbs however; at the end of the day, I decided to throw a crank bait at the spillway. The strippers were on fire. I lost 3 and landed 2 boomers.
He’s right on that second question and this is the week I will be worried.
Open daily 6 a.m.-sunset.
District fisheries biologist Seth Love would like to hear from anglers on catches at Braidwood. You can email him at seth.love@illinois.gov.
CHAIN O’LAKES AREA
Kyle Tepper at Triangle Sports and Marine in Antioch said panfish are very active, especially bluegill when slip-bobbering at a variey of locations; walleye are more of a night bite 6-8 feet and shallower on leeches or crankbaits; bluegill on slip-bobbering in a variety of sites; channel catfish are eating about everything, stinkbait best; white bass are spread in 6-15 feet, some big ones mixed in, blade baits, spinners, etc.
NOTE: Check updates on water conditions at foxwaterway.com or (847) 587-8540.
NOTE 2: Stratton Lock and Dam is open 8 a.m. to midnight through Sept. 30
DELAVAN LAKE, WISCONSIN
Arden Katz said for bluegill wth a few perch mixed in, set up in 16 feet and cast in with trout worms.
Capt. Dave Duwe emailed:
Delavan Lake 7/24/23 through 7/31/23
Delavan lake fishing has been fantastic. The northern and largemouth bite is exceptional. It has been almost boring at times catching 16-23 inch largemouth bass I have to remember when fishing is tough how good this time of year is.
Largemouth bass are on the deep weedline in 16-18 ft of water. I’ve been catching them on nightcrawlers or drop shotting small plastic worms. Concentrate on locations in the weeds that have a hard bottom. This is obvious with a good fish locator. On my sonar it will show up as very dark red. Look for the fish along the north shore from the Yacht Club to Willow Point.
Smallmouth bass has been all right. I’ve been catching a few fish almost every trip out. The average size is about 17 inches. I’m either catching them on small suckers or on a lindy rigged nightcrawler. They are not on the weedline. They are about 3 ft outside the weeds in 20-21 ft of water. Try west of Willow Point.
Bluegills remain everywhere on the lake. The key to catching them is to stay in the deeper water. The best bite has been in 20-22 ft of water. Belvidere Park or the point by the gray condos produces most of the action. Leaf worms fished on a single hook has been the best approach.
Northern Pike has been aggressive throughout last week. Lindy rigged suckers are producing most of the action. Fish the pike suspended in 20-25 ft of water about 2-3 ft off bottom. Last week was the first in a couple that the average size was around 25 inches and I didn’t catch a legal fish.
Walleye fishing has been okay. I’m catching a few on nightcrawlers right at low light conditions, either 5-5:30 a.m. or 8-8:30 pm. Leeches and nightcrawlers fished on a lindy rig are producing most of the fish. The best depth has been around 19 ft of water. Fish the areas by Willow Point or by the gray condo weedline.
Good luck and I hope to see you on the water. For guide parties, please call Dave Duwe at 262-728-8063
DOWNSTATE
HENNEPIN-HOPPER: I’ve fished it a couple times in a last couple weeks from my kayak. It is really thick, but you can peck out some fish. Site is open through Sept. 4, sunrise to 30 minutes after sunset. Check regulations at http://www.wetlands-initiative.org/dixon-paddling-fishing.
POWERTON: Summer hours—6 a.m.-8 p.m.—run through Sept. 30.
EMIQUON PRESERVE: Fishing is sunrise to sunset. Access permits and liability waivers are available Tuesday to Saturday at Dickson Mounts Museum, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
SHELBYVILLE: Check with Ken Wilson of Lithia Guide Service.
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS: Check with Jason Johns of Boneyard Fishing.
FOX RIVER
Vince Oppedisano emailed the photo above and this:
Hi Dale,
I fished the Fox River two days over the past week in Kane County.
Levels have dropped back down to about where they were prior to the rain the week before. That combined with some hotter weather and water that still appeared pretty stained made the fishing tough.
I wasn’t getting many takers on moving baits. Most fish came on soft plastics. Nothing of much size except for one really good smallmouth that hit a white fluke about an hour and a half before sunset. Measured it against the net quickly and then measured that distance after releasing the fish. It was just about 20 inches give or take half an inch. Challenging summer conditions, but you can still find some good fish out there, especially early morning / late evening.
Ken Gortowski emailed the photos above and below, and this:
Dale,
I considered doing one of my long diatribe fishing reports like I used to years ago, the 2 fishing trips I did and what they did to my brain warrant it, but to spare your readers I’ll try to keep it brief.
For a few days I came up with every excuse I could think of to not bother going fishing. I finally succumbed to going. Even when I got to the rivers’ edge I seriously considered turning around and going home, but since I was here I figured to just go fish.
I fished the area around where the Orchard Road bridge crosses over the Fox. It’s wide here and the area I cover is around 200 yards long. Doesn’t sound like much, but it’s a lot of water. I used to fish here extensively, but it’s been a good 10 years since I bothered and I wanted to see if things changed. They hadn’t.
This stretch is unique compared to any of the other 20 plus miles of the Fox I’ve waded. The bottom structure is different and no matter how low the river gets, 370 CFS on my first trip and 300 on the second one 4 days later, this pool of water always has some depth to it. The fish seem to know this too.
Day one I wound up catching 23 smallies, 1 walleye, 1 white bass over a foot long, the largest I’ve ever caught out of the Fox and 1 channel cat. The channel cat was the largest one I’ve ever caught and it hit hard while I was in the middle of the river. This thing took me for a ride all over the place and refused to come up off the bottom. At one point I wished it would just break off already and be done with it. I was impressed by its size when I finally did land it. And then I was reminded of how much it sucks to unhook channel cats while standing in the middle of the river. The next day the muscles in my arms and shoulders actually ached a bit.
Day two I wound up catching 17 smallies and 1 small channel cat. On each of the days I went fishing, each had easily another dozen fish hit, play and spit out the lure, sometimes after jumping all over the place. Also on day 2 an unexpected storm erupted not that far away and did a nice job of providing a sunset.
When done on day 2, I ran into a guy at the take out spot that had to be in his 30’s that was fishing with his young son. Winds up he’s Polish, born in Poland and now a proud citizen of the greatest country on earth, as he said. That comment from him triggered a long conversation that meandered all over the place. Being Polish helped, we had a lot in common. Was easily the most interesting and intelligent conversation I ever had after a chance meeting and conversation with another angler.
HA! And this was the short version.
I’ve included the token fish picture and the sunset from day 2.
Ken G
I value fish photos, even token ones, and good scene-setters.
That paragraph on the Polish fishing connection was special, too. It would have been an interesting conversation to listen in on.
Dave Kranz of Dave’s Bait, Tackle and Taxidermy in Crystal Lake and with his You-Tube channel, Dave Kranz Living the wild outdoors, texted:
Bass fishing largemouth on the lakes and smallmouth on the fox river is good. . . . Spinners, small top water baits for the brown ones. Catfishing is still great on the river. . . .
GENEVA LAKE, WISCONSIN
Kyle Tepper at Triangle Sports and Marine in Antioch said about everything is biting at night.
Arden Katz said smallmouth are decent in 20 feet tnight fishing around the points and secondary points.
Capt. Dave Duwe emailed:
Lake Geneva 7/24/23 through 7/31/23
Lake Geneva fishing is really good right now and so is the leisure activity. The boat traffic has been extremely busy. For the most enjoyable fishing, fish early in the day or at night.
If you are interested in Walleye fishing, this is the best time for both quantity and quality. Many fish are being taken between 11 pm and 3 am. Boat traffic is at a minimum at this time. Most of the legal fish are being taken on leeches. Night crawlers are a good option, however you will catch more bass and rock bass with them than walleyes. The suspended walleyes are coming from the deeper water, 20-25 feet and coming up on the shallow weed lines in 13-15 feet of water. A lot of the fish are being taken on the west side of Williams Bay, Fontana Beach or east of Abbey Springs on the flats. Some walleyes are being caught on shallow diving Bandit Lures in the perch pattern. However all the floating grass has made this very difficult without wind.
This past week the small mouth bass have made a showing in shallow water chasing minnows. The legal fish however, are hard to come by. I have been using the split shot rig with night crawlers. Once I find the active fish, I like to work between 12 and 18 feet of water, trying to find the legal fish. My best success has been west of Black Point or by Coleman’s Point. The numbers and size have been there almost all week. Saturday, quite a few nice small mouth were taken by Knollwood, outside of the buoys in 14 feet of water.
Lake Trout fishing continues to be good; the fish are in the central basin chasing the schools of Cisco. Look for the suspended fish in 70-90 feet of water. They have a tendency to bite better than the lakers that are holding tight to the bottom. As always the chrome/green and chrome/blue spoons seem to work the best.
Large mouth bass fishing has slowed slightly. I have been getting many of my fish in the 8-10 foot range, fished through the weeds. The night crawler rig has been the bait of choice for me. The top water bite has been effective in the early morning or in the evening. Try the chrome zara spook or the chrome and blue chug bug. The best location has been east of Linn Pier or by Coleman’s Point. The bluegill and perch fishing has been good. I’ve caught plenty of keeper fish as I fish for the small and large mouth bass. Some of the perch I caught last week were 10-12 inches, and I could have kept a good bunch of either fish.
Good Luck and I hope to see you on the water. For guide parties, please call Dave Duwe at 262-728-8063.
GREEN LAKE AREA, WISCONSIN
Guide Mike Norris texted the photo above and emailed this:
Fishing Report – July 24, 2023
Mike Norris
Big Green: The tube bite is on! My clients and I are catching largemouth and smallmouth bass in numbers in 8 – 16 feet of water with tube jigs on rocky points and along deep weed edges. Slowly drag the tube until you contact rock or weeds, then pop the tube. The bass will hit it on the drop. Swimming the tube also works well. Drop-shotting a goby-colored Berkley Flat Worm is a good secondary choice. Set the worm 18 - 24 inches above the weight, cast it out, and slowly work the rig back to the boat. Vertical jigging with the Flat Worm is a good second choice.
Fox Lake: The walleye bite is good in 12 -14 feet on slip-bobbered leeches or trolling nightcrawler harnesses. Largemouth bass have moved from the docks to the weed lines. Catch them early in the morning with stick baits or surface plugs. Try casting crankbaits along and over the rocky shoal off the tip of Keno Point.
GREEN/STURGEON BAYS, WISCONSIN
Arden Katz said he and Roger Jackson used Howie tubes and drop-shotting Berkley Flat Worms to a 50 smallmouth bass day on Monday on Sister Bay and were well on their way to having a 100-fish day Tuesday.
Click here for the Wisconsin DNR weekly report.
HEIDECKE LAKE
Open 6 a.m. (6:30 bank fishing) to sunset.
ILLINOIS RIVER
See the column tomorrow.
KANKAKEE RIVER
Bob Johnson emailed the photo above and this:
Hi Dale - it’s been too long since last time on river. Made it out Sat morning for a few hours where I started out with top water getting a couple blow ups but no fish. I started to have some success casting finesse rigs green pumpkin but best action was casting Rapala crainkbaits. Caught 1/2 dozen smallmouth, rock bass, sheephead and a 24.5 5 lb Walleye. Good July fish!! All fish released. River temps are upper 70’s and slight stain. I’ll be going back soon.
George Peters emailed the photo above and this:
Hi Dale. Smallmouth back on the feed in the Kankakee. Fast water with crayfish baits are working. Hot days ahead mean fishing early and late are the best idea. G . Peters
Ken “Husker” O’Malley of Husker Outdoors emailed the photo above and this:
Hey Dale,
Here is a recap of this past weeks fishing.
. . .
Kankakee River-
Walleye are decent working an Erie darter along the outside edges of eel grass. Current seams hitting those edges had baitfish stacked up in those areas.
No size to them but still a fun morning.
River is in good wading shape with a slight stain and water temps at 81.
. . .
TTYL
—
Ken Husker O’Malley
Husker Outdoors Waterwerks fishing team
LAKE ERIE
Dana Robinson messaged the photo above and this from a Big Catch Angler Association from mid-July:
Lake Erie was great! Final count for 5 boats for 2 days was 225 walleye.
In a related matter, he emailed about the kids fishing event that big catch put on Big Catch Angler Association on July 15:
Kid’s tournament went well also. 31 kids plus parents and grandparents. Possibly picked up some new members and 4 college scholarships were given away by us.
That club is a serious fishing club.
Click here for the Ohio DNR Report.
LAKEFRONT
Gene Kalkowski emailed the photo above and this:
Adela Kalkowski of Niles, First fish fishing at the R-4 bouy this saturday morning off the boat Maryland caught a 18.4lb king salmonOff a downrigher down 60ft in 110fow. On a black fin tuna spoon.
Jeffrey Williams messaged the photo above and this:
Glad 2 to c smallies are still around, started at montrose harbor then went harbor hopping ending the day at Burnam, fish were their but not committing, i got the skunk but my brother got a couple in along the wall along the lakefront
I’ve done some harbor hopping for smallmouth over the years, but never a stretch that impressive.
Stacey Greene at Park Bait at Montrose Harbor texted:
Hi Dale,No perch lately, no early kings. Just sheephead and smallmouth. As I have been telling most of my customers this is just a fishing year not much catching. This way by next year with all the practice they will have a solid fishing form lol.Have a great week.
Capt. Bob Poteshman of Confusion Charters said some nice ings being caught out of North Point on both sides of the border on the hill, very short bite early morning in the dark and right at dusk, a few lakers off the North reef, decent fishing for a mixed bag in 120, again better early. Out of Chicago, fish in 50-80 real early some king bites; but the lakers are “fantastic,” mostly on the bottom in 110 feet and deeper on Spin-N-Glos.
Capt. Dan Leslie at the Salmon Stop in Waukegan said early bite is key; 120 is the main depth for a mixed bag coho and some steelhead and kings on a variey of lures;
Capt. Scott Wolfe of School of Fish Charters emailed:
Hi Dale
Cold water continued to hold close to shore this week. Early morning king fishing was very good 55 to 80 feet with coho, steelhead and an occasional lake trout. Later after the sun is up for a while 80 to 110 had decent action through mid-day. There is a second good area out in 180 to 210 the a few boats have been going to. We have been working the shallower water exclusively this last week.
Spoons dominated the catch this week. Warrior Blue Dolphin, Hey Babe, Three Face and Green Mile were all good. The fish wanted the smaller XL or standard size, not the big magnums. 7 - 10 color leads and riggers below 50 were the best presentations.
There were a few on flasher fly combos, NBK flasher with bullfrog or Aqua Fly and White on White combos on wire divers 150 to 220 out and riggers below 50 were hot and cold. They would get a lot of action for a while, then die. The spoon bite was more steady.
Lots of nice kings, steelhead and coho with an occasional laker still holding in close to shore is not very common this time of year. Hopefully people take advantage of it.
Capt. Scott Wolfe312-933-0552
LaSALLE LAKE
Site is open daily 6 a.m.-sunset. As a perched lake, boating is closed when winds top or will top 14 mph. Check daily updates on boating at (815) 640-8099.
MADISON LAKES, WISCONSIN
Click here for the update from D&S Bait, Tackle & Fly Shop .
MAZONIA
Hours are 6 a.m. to sunset.
NORTHERN WISCONSIN
Kurt Justice at Kurt’s Island Sport Shop in Minocqua emailed:
Summer is heating up…again…here in the Northwoods! Following some cool mornings last week, temps are rising into the upper 80’s this week, pushing lake surface temps up with them. This warming trend should put the bites back into early mornings and evenings more than the previous week when cool mornings held bites off until mid/late AM.
Largemouth Bass: Good-Very Good – Top-water action in the evenings has been getting good reports as anglers finding active fish hitting Whopper Ploppers, Jitterbugs, Frogs and Buzzbaits. Pre-rigged plastic worms, twitchbaits (Husky Jerks) and Wacky Worms getting the nod mornings and afternoons.
Smallmouth Bass: Good-Very Good – Sandgrass flats, off-shore humps, rock slides holding good numbers and size. Drop-shotting Z-Man Craws and 3 Gulp Alive Minnows, as well as Ned rigging, has scored nice Smallies this past week from those targeting these fighters. Simple slip-floating hair jigs or large leeches along coontail edges in 14-18’ of water also producing nice fish of 16-19.
Bluegill: Good-Very Good – Daytime work weed tops of cabbage flats in 8-10’ using Mini-Mites, 1 twisters or small leeches under small slip-floats. Evenings fish poppers on the surface around calm shores.
Yellow Perch: Good – Heat has Perch action picking up. Both cabbage flats, and on deeper lakes sand grass flats, Perch taking beaver tails or pieces of crawlers. On Flowages, target drowned wood using slip-floats with medium fatheads or beaver tails
Musky: Good – Action picking up on top-water (Dr. Evils, Pacemakers, Flaptails and Fat Bastards), as well as bucktails, over weed flats. Musky seem to be found all over, in water as shallow as 2-3’ and out along deep weeds (coontail) in 18-20’. Deeper fish responding to rubber baits.
Crappie: Good – Weed tops in 10-14’ using Kalin Crappie Scrubs or other 2 twister style plastics. Fish are scattered, picking up fish here and there.
Northern Pike: Fair – A recent drop off in activity by most reports. Live chubs and suckers on weedless jigs or below floats when Pike not willing to chase spinnerbaits or chatterbaits.
Walleye: Fair – Some signs of scattered late Mayfly hatches could be a reason for the soft Walleye reports. Crawlers, redtails and the largest leeches available to tempt during small windows of activity.
Scattered weather in the form of small showers and warming water is a bit of an inconvenience, but should help spur some good action for both Bass species and Musky this week.
Kurt Justice
Kurt’s Island Sport Shop - Like us on Facebook
NORTHWEST INDIANA
Capt. Rich Sleziak at Slez’s Bait in Lake Station texted:
Some perch action the last few days fishing in 30ft of water just west of mt baldy. Nothing crazy but it is a start.
Trollers have moved a little deeper last few days fishing 110 to 150ft of water. A mix bag of fish being caught using spindoctors and flys, spoons and dodgers and spin n glows
Catfish at night fishing burns ditch and deep river using triple s stinkbait and cut bait.
Christina Petrites at Stan’s Bait & Tackle Center in Hammond emailed:
Hi, Dale! It’s gonna be a scorcher this whole week; summer is in full swing-keep that sunblock handy. Now as far as fishing goes…
The weather has finally broken, & we have quite stable temperatures. That being said, now the fishing is REALLY good. Limit catches of Trout & Salmon are being caught on Lake Michigan from 100-140 FOW; Spin Doctors & specifically GREEN flies are working best.
Perch fishing is nicely steady, with minnows & redworms the baits of choice; anglers are doing better while drifting at the moment.
Catfish are excellent per usual this time of year; shrimp & nightcrawlers are performing wonderfully.
Walleye fishing is fair at Wolf Lake; leeches still remain the hot ticket for big catches.
ROOT RIVER, WISCONSIN
Click here for the Wisconsin DNR’s report, usually on Tuesday or Wednesday.
SHABBONA LAKE
John Honiotes at Boondocks reported walleye are good on the ponts with crawlers on the bottom; bass are about the same; bluegill are hitting evenings behind the restuarant; water was 81.5 degrees on Tuesday morning and headed up.
Site summer hours—6 a.m.-10 p.m.—run through Oct. 31.
Boondocks’ bait shop is open daily, 6 a.m.-7 p.m.; restaurant hours are 11-8.
SOUTHEAST WISCONSIN LAKEFRONT
Click here for the southern Lake Michigan reports from the Wisconsin DNR.
SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN
Paddle and Pole hosts the Berrien Springs Fish Ladder Camera.
WOLF RIVER, WISCONSIN
Guide Bill Stoeger texted:
We’re in our hot and hazy summer pattern. Early mornings are your best bet, with walleye, crappie, and bluegill action continuing to be good. Crawlers always work well, with plastic or minnows for crappie
