Chicago fishing: Coho year keeps rolling, inland it's summer bass and catfish

Hey Dale,

The bite has really been heating up for us-

. . .

Caught a surprise and unexpected 12 pound summer run rainbow trout while trolling for lakers.

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Thanks Dale, hope this helps you out.

All the spawning is over except for the catfish, they are summer spawners. They are still hitting well on the Fox River. Use cut bait or stink bait with blood in it.Weeds are very advanced on most ponds and lakes. It’s frogging time for bass!Bluegills have moved our on the edge of the weed lines and bass and pike are there to make them their dinner.Walleyes are hanging on current breaks like bridges and sea walls.

Hey Dale,

Here’s a recap from this past weeks fishing.

Area lakes-
The day started at first light in search of bass. I decided to toss a frog into the slop to start off. Only had one blowup. Next up was a bady 1- and had a nice one on until the bass decided to jump and throw the lure. I slowed it down with a weedless rigged senko and caught a few small bass. A slow start was not what I anticipated. Time to change the game plan of fishing shallow. The outside weed edge is where I found those active biters. A Berkley Fishing fusion 19 swim jig with a Keitech fat impact was the perfect bait to cover water. Some days you just have to scrap your game plan and adjust location and what the fish want.

. . .

TTYL

Ken “Husker” O’Malley
Husker Outdoors
Waterwerks fishing team

The good bite for bass continues on island lake with wacky rig and Texas rig plastic sekos and neko fat worm. The best colors were green pumpkin with glitter or baby bass. The Berkeley slobberknocker got some nice bass and a big beautiful northern pike. I’m pretty sure it was bigger than the one I caught through the ice a couple years ago. Bluegill action is good from shore or out on the lake. Small spinners and worms are working well for gills. I had my brother in laws friend Blake Max and his son Cameron out on Sunday for a guide trip and found the largemouth In the same areas I was catching them earlier in the week. Offshore weed patches had some bass schooling and feeding. Main lake points and docks were good areas as well. They were using 4 inch plastic stick baits. They also showed Bullhead cats eat plastics. This Saturday I’ll be taking my friend Robert “the brush father” Reed out on island lake. He of Ergo Styling tools fame is the one who took me to lake Casitas in California where I caught my 14 pound largemouth.

On the music front it was a nice time joining gizzae on Melodica at independence Grove. Band leader Brian “Rockit” Rock said let’s do it again. In Milwaukee Gozortenplat will begin our summer shows tomorrow at Nashville north on Milwaukees lower Esat side. Down by the river of course. Midnite mile is looking forward to family fest at lily lake on July 20th and getting a great set list ready. Ans lastly the conscious rockers had a great show down at the Dock at montrose beach. Having top ranking drummer champagne Phillips and world class percussionist Carl Storniolo on steel drums made it the dream team lineup. Back to Milwaukee tomorrow!

Tight lines and good health Rob

Hi Dale,

No images this week-nothing worth photographing. Fishing improved a little on local ponds. All the rain raised water levels to the point where vegetation was covered by a few inches or more of water; it was possible to fish under the surface and over the weeds. All the bass I caught were small, but they punched well-above their weight. Conditions must have been to their liking because they fought very well for their size. Algae were gone too so that made finding and casting to open water a lot easier.

Delavan Lake 7/08/24 through 7/15/24

Fishing has been very constant. By far the most success has been panfishing, limits are available and lots of them. What do you want to catch? Perch, Bluegills, or Crappies, they are all biting and are rather easy to catch.

The bluegills are in the deep summer pattern. I have been catching the fish in 15-18 feet of water. The fish are very close to the bottom, within 12 inches of bottom. Leaf worms seem to work the best. I either straight line the bait underneath the anchored boat or I slip bobber fish them with a small hook and split shot. I have been working the outside of the weed edge. I locate them using my Vexillar fish locator that is affixed to my bow mount trolling motor. When I mark fish on the bottom, I anchor and fish there. The best locations have been west of Willow Point, Delmar subdivision beach area or the Township Park.

The perch fishing continues to be excellent. The fish are located in 13-15 feet of water. I have almost exclusively been using slip bobber and single hooks and split shots. The best spots I have fished are in front of the Township Park, the Island area on the west end or by the area west of Willow Point, known as the Boy Scout camp.

Last week I had some of my best largemouth bass fishing of the year. The bass are positioned on the weedpoints in 16-20 ft of water. Nearly every trip had at least one and sometimes as many as 5 or 6, four to five pound fish. I’ve been getting them on a jig with a plastic four inch worm or nightcrawlers fished on a split shot rig. The key to the whole deal is finding the weeds that have a hard bottom underneath. The bass are pretty schooled up so if you catch one there are probably 10-20 others. I fish an area for at least 1 hour. .

The Northern Pike fishing has been good. The fish are still located on the deep weed lines and can be readily caught. I have only been using lindy rigged suckers. The average size this year has been awesome. I have caught legal fish almost every trip I go out and almost all have been released. They are very easy to locate. Find the weed line and electric motor troll, they will hammer the suckers.

Walleyes have been slow, the cold front during the week shut down the fish. With stable weather this week, fishing should improve. With the other fish biting so well, I wouldn’t waste my time. Large mouth fishing has been all right. They have been in the shallows cruising around the piers. Flipping the docks or split shot rigs with live night crawlers has been the best. The depth I prefer is 3-5 feet of water. Look for piers with more of the scattered weeds, they have not been in the really matted weeds.

Good Luck and I hope to see you on the water. For guide parties, please call Dave Duwe at 262-728-8063

Hello Dale. I just wanted to share this with you. My dad caught this a couple days ago. He turned 76 today. A 10-pound channel from the Hennepin Canal. Pretty big for a Channel.

. . . He actually caught it on a shrimp trying new things. And it was released to swim again.

Hi Dale,The rain won’t let up this year. The Fox River is still running high and fast where I’ve fished it in Kane County. Floating weeds have been a major problem some days-- sometimes topwater is the best option to steer clear of them. Last Friday was the most productive day from the bank, with a number of good sized smallmouth 15 inches and over. The biggest is pictured here. Hoping to do some wading in July and August if the levels come down some this summer...

Hi Dale,

No images this week-nothing worth photographing.

. . .

The Fox and tribs are still running high and off-color (forecast rain later today is unlikely to help). Not to the point of being unfishable, but fish are seeking out current breaks close to shore. I did better late last week than yesterday; I think the water is warming to the point where fish are getting a little sluggish. When levels eventually drop, I’ll be looking for riffles and downstream of dams where the dissolved oxygen levels are higher.

All the spawning is over except for the catfish, they are summer spawners. They are still hitting well on the Fox River. Use cut bait or stink bait with blood in it.

Fishing Report – 7/8/2024

By Mike Norris

Big Green Lake: Last week, I located several largemouth and smallmouth bass in 10 -12 feet of water on sand grass flats. Making long casts with a drop shot rig turned out to be the best way to catch them. I fished deeper later in the week as the 4^th of July holiday boat traffic increased, and found active walleyes and white bass in 31 -34 feet of water. A drop shot rig was the winning setup here too, though I switched my bait from a plastic worm to one-half of a night crawler. Lake trout fishing is good right now in 100 -120 of water. Lake trout are biting well offshore in 100 – 120 feet of water. Vertically jig with Jigging Raps or Rattle Spoons to catch them

Lake Puckaway: An outbreak of milfoil infestation has kept most anglers away from Puckaway, but fishing prospects are improving with high water due to recent rains. I received a number of reports from anglers who caught northern pike up to forty inches this past holiday weekend. Other anglers are doing well on walleye downriver, where the Mecan River flows into the Fox River and where patches of open water are found amongst the weeds.

Fox Lake: The no-wake-only restriction was lifted at the start of the holiday weekend. The lake is high and muddy, but bass have flocked to the shorelines and are being caught on baits that make noise. Try a square-bill crankbait along the rocky points that extend from the numerous islands on the lake.

Hi Dale,

Hope you had a nice holiday weekend.

Longtime reader of the fishing report, and finally have the fruit to show for it. My friend Hannah and I went fishing at Kankakee River State Park this past Saturday. Attached are photos.

Small yields; we released right after. But I had to send in hopes to finally have my chance to make the famed report.

In total, we caught 7 fish.

Best,
Blair

Hi!

My friend Josh Qualls drove up to fish with us out of Waukegan on long gone 3 charters and got a 15lb lake trout. It was his 1st Lake Michigan trip and the man from Tennessee is hooked now. Wanted to submit him for fish of the week

Hey Dale, got 4 nice king salmon out of Diversey harbor this morning. Was a beautiful day for fishing.

Hey Dale,

The bite has really been heating up for us-

Really big 8-12 lb Coho at first light and later in the morning around noon. Coming on larger spoons and dodger and flies. Cohos have been eating all spring and summer and are getting to a very respectable size. Longer fights with crazier runs away, towards, and in front of the boat. Fishing in 75-115 feet of water throughout the day. Fish coming all over the water columns.

Lakers have begun to get more active. Catching numbers of smaller sized lake trout earlier last week, with that size shifting to the higher side 10-15 pounder range. Lakers seem to be very aggressive hitting spoons, and flies on the bottom and as high up in the water column 45 feet. Marking extremely large fish on the bottom of deeper water but don’t seem to be feeding as aggressively.

Caught a surprise and unexpected 12 pound summer run rainbow trout while trolling for lakers. Picture below.

Getting large smallmouth on rock piles all over the lake front. Keyed in on finesse and large moving lures. Best early AM or dusk.

Thanks Dale, hope this helps you out.

Fishing has still been about the same. The perch is still hanging around the mouth of the harbor biting on various baits. Small minnows, shiner minnows, crayfish, shrimp, plastic jigs with spikes or wax worms. Those perch will keep you working for them. Smallmouth is still active in and around the harbors on all the basic baits. GT360’s, Big Bite Baits and Lunkers doing good on the plastics, night crawlers, leeches, larger minnows, and crayfish in live baits. Still getting reports of Steelhead on spoons, crankbaits, and large spinners. Nice Rock Bass in the harbors. No Northerns to report. Big Sheephead on crayfish, especially when the wind is north/east. As always, call for your up to the minute report, and we tell it as we hear it.

Waukegan 7/8

Hi Dale. Waukegan fishing was excellent this week. The kings are showing up are we still have plenty of coho. There are also steelhead and lakers in the mix. Big fish wee taken this week. The Waukegan fleet took a 17 pound coho (Capt. Jim Stepp on Jaws-On Charters) a 27 pound chinook (Capt. Dave Dunmeyer on Bearking Charters) and we (Abigail Charters) took two 14-15 pound steelhead. Several kings over 20, cohos over 10 and big lakers and steelhead were taken.

South of Waukegan off Lake Bluff, Lake Forest and Highland Park has been consistently good. Best depths have varied anywhere between 100 and 140 feet of water. Red, Yellow and Chrome Stubbie and 0 dodgers and Jimmy fly aqua, Blue/Green or White Pearl slider flies on downriggers 39 to 90, divers 65 to 160 and 6 to 10 color leads were best. Warrior UltraGlow Blueberry Muffin and Bloody Nose, Steelhead Candy and Fin Girl in the Warrior Standard size were the best on 6 to 8 color leadcores and 250 and 300 coppers lines.

Capt Scott Wolfe
312-933-0552

Came up to Minocqua, WI for the 4th of July week. So much rain to deal with but managed to catch his personal best small mouth bass.

Into the summer we go! Warmer temps, but still too much rain, has water temps in low 70’s and many species setting up into summer patterns.

Largemouth Bass: Very Good – Setting up in heavy cabbage of 8-12’. Using Wacky Worms, Ned rigs and Jig/Sweet Beavers. Top-water action on Whopper Ploppers, Jitter Bugs and Savage Spiders hot! Fly rodders using large poppers also scoring.

Crappie: Good – Setting up at tops of narrow leaf cabbage taking small jig spinner combos, 2” plastics on 1/32-1/16 oz jigs and tiny hair jigs (Gapen Freshwater Shrimp). Fish the top 2’ of the 8-12’ cabbage.

Bluegill: Good – Action on small leeches, worms or Mini-Mites under small floats in 6-9’ of broad leaf cabbage. Poppers or dry flys on top towards evenings.

Smallmouth Bass: Good – Drop-shotting and Ned rigging coontail edges of 14-18’. Some rock/gravel humps starting to produce. Twitching #8 or #10 X-Raps and Husky Jerks in minnow patterns also working on Smallies targeting schools of surface feeding bait fish (works on Largemouth also).

Walleye: Good – Best outside weeds edges of 14-20’ where sandgrass can be found. Large to XL leeches, full crawlers under slip-floats or worked on 1/8 oz jigs. Reports of anglers finding Walleye on rock humps of 22-30’ using redtails or crawlers on 1/8-1/4 oz jigs. Drop-shotting live bait also a good way to present bait.

Northern Pike: Good – Mepps spinners, chatterbaits and spinnerbaits over weeds of 6-10’. If slow, work back over using chubs or suckers on weedless jig with weed guard.

Yellow Perch: Good – Not many reports, not many trying. Still nice eaters in heavy cabbage taking ½ crawlers or beavertails in 6-10’.

Musky: Fair-Good – Timing, as always, important! Overcast days, warm evenings and early mornings for best action. Top-water coming into play more over weeds with Fat Bastards and Whopper Ploppers working well. #8 bladed bucktails, especially twin blades, also moving fish.

Lots of traffic on the water through last Saturday (7/6) of the holiday week. Still dealing with passing rain/storms. Lakes settling down and water temps slowly rising (70-72 degrees avg.). With forecast climbing into 80’s for the weekend, expect both Bass species, as well as Musky action to pick up.

Kurt Justice

Kurt’s Island Sports Shop
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Lakers and a few silver fish in 90 to 120ft of water northeast of portage fish 50ft to the bottom.

Some steelhead for trollers fishing 35 to 50ft of water out of portage.

Perch action decent from portage to Michigan city fishing 20 to 35ft with baby shiners best bait.

Catfish at night fishing deep river and burns ditch using triple s stinkbait, skipjack and shad

Water is very high, emergency no wake in effect on the river from Poygan to New London. Walleye and white bass action is fen-nominal. Crawlers for walleye, minnows working best for bass