Chicago fishing: Shoreline salmon, inland bass, catfish and flatheads

Dale Bowman .... we’re in the BOOKS!!!

[On Monday, shore guys caught ] lots of salmon and steelhead. I saw one jump in the harbor the other day

Kings are moving right along. I’ve been getting reports of a couple here and there every day now, also quite a few hits and misses. There are some really nice Steelhead, and a few Coho have been caught within the mix.

Waukegan 09/09

Hi Dale -

. . .

Salmon are starting in the harbor. They are there but the warm water in the 70’s has them very inactive. Everyone seems to be casting but with the inactive fish not chasing lures the harbor anglers may want to try skein already. It early for skein but it might work better with the inactive fish.

West and SW winds should bring in cool water and the shore fishing should improve. I think we will see good number of salmon but most small as the staging fish appear to be mostly 2 and 3 year old sized kings and coho.

Scott Wolfe
312-933-0552

Decent trickle of salmon came into the nwi creeks since last report. Spinners, spawn saks, skein baits to try.

Hey Dale hope all is well..

I made it out to powderhorn for a few hours before the bears game and let me tell you it paid off probably caught one of my personal best bass didn’t have a scale but he measured 21 1/2 in. two more right at 20.. All fish on a Ned rig right at the weed lines 10 to 12 feet of water. Total six bass and one nice crappie. Tight lines.

Hopefully I’ll get out a couple times before it gets hot again next week.

Best regards

Allen Shander

Hammond In.

Dale... Evening bite on Gulp minnows from retention pond... Bluegill was easy 1#...

Nice one on a nightcrawler. West sub pond.

Charles Horwath
Darien

My customers that are fishing the Fox River and Chain O Lakes are catching good walleyes. Some are using plastics like a gulp minnow. The live bait guys are use an extra large fathead minnow or a half of night crawler on a jig head. 1/8th to 1/4oz.

Catfish continue to be caught on cut bait and prepared stink bait, blood flavor.

. . .

Fall panfish is hard to beat. Wax worms, red worms or a 1 inch gulp minnow will work for all.

Hey Dale,

Here is a recap of this past weeks fishing.

Area lakes- The analytics had several good bite windows throughout the day. I picked the mid afternoon and evening bite to do my hooksets. Water temps have dropped to 73-74. Question was what presentation and location to choose. I decided to go old school and rig a power worm on a Vector Hooks 4/0 worm hook. The focus was outside weedlines with areas of transition from soft to hard bottom. That was the right choice as I found bass stacked up in those locations. Green pumpkin was the color and FINS Braids spin5 was the line of choice. I love it when that predetermined game plan comes together.

. . .

TTYL

Ken “Husker” O’Malley
Husker Outdoors

Hi Dale

The cool weather front that passed through over the weekend slowed the bass bite a little. Sunday it took a bit of work just to get a bass bite. Only the standby wacky rig in green pumpkin and gold flake flipped into weed pockets produced. It was a nice way to kill some time me before the bears game as the sun was bright the air was crisp and wind was wispy. The bluegill bite remained very good as Gills keep hitting red trout worms and crawler bits almost at will in weed pockets. The right size hook is important. Nighthawk sightings nightly indicating the seasons inevitable change is upon us. Bring on the fall foliage!

On the music front I met some of the boys from Mundelein in town for the Miracle in Mundelein on Saturday and what a rime it was. listening to Steel pulse play crucial roots rock reggae in this location was something surreal. Tomorrow I will resume rehearsal with Gozortenplat in Milwaukee for what will be my third zappafest. This time with Zappa band member Ray white. This Sunday midnite mile will play before the bears game and at half time at crossroads in Ivanhoe. Things are going to get rock and rolling again. If the Steel pulse show wasn’t enough Dan Peters who I went to college with was playing at sideouts in island lake. He is a world class player and his band members are as well. All I can say is what a Treat that was on a Sunday feet from the back door...music. is the best!

Tight lines and good health

Rob

Cant believe we are in september already, but that means fish are gonna feed heavy and on the riverwalk, they were hungry this weekend. Bass, crappies, Catfish, O MY. Managed to get in a slab of a crappie, 1.3 lbs and 14.25 in, caught a shiner on a dropshot. My brother caught a very nice channel on his ultralight on a shiner, Crappie bites have been tough over the pass 2 yrs so it feels good catching em again.

Delavan Lake 9/9/24 through 9/16/24

The pleasure boaters have been drastically reduced but there are still a lot of fishing boats. That’s not a big surprise since Delavan is a great lake in the fall!

Northern Pike can either be caught trolling crank baits in the weeds or by fishing suckers just off the weed line. I’ve been using large bass crank baits such as the Fat Free Shad or the Wally Diver in the fire tiger pattern. I use 12 lb. Test so my lure can reach optimum depth. The best depth I’ve been fishing is 20-25 ft of water. My larger fish have come suspended 5-6 ft off bottom. The best location has been by the Village Supper Club or by Browns Channel.

Walleye fishing still remains on the slow side. I have been catching one here or there, but the pattern is still hard to determine. The water is too warm for the walleyes to be in their typical fall pattern. Hopefully if we get some cool weather soon the fish will turn on. The fish I’ve been catching have all been on nightcrawlers fished on a split shot right on the weed line.

Largemouth bass remains the best bite on the lake. They can either be caught around the boat docks or off the main lake weed points. Senkos or nightcrawlers have been producing all of my fish. You can catch an occasional bass on the northern suckers as well. The best location has been by Willow Point and by the Village Supper Club.

I am still catching some nice bluegills in the 18-20 ft range. I’m catching a lot in the 9-10 inch range. Small red worms or nightcrawler pieces are producing most of the action. I’ve been straight lining right beneath my anchored boat. The best location has been by the gray condos, Yacht Club point or in front of the launch by Lake Lawn Lodge.

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

Hello Dale,

With my favorite body of water being stingy of late when it comes to Largemouth, my friend and I took the show on the road to Evergreen Lake near Bloomington/Normal. For those of you that haven’t fished it, its a tremendous body of water with lots to offer. It has Musky, Bass, Stripers, Panfish as well as a very healthy Saugeye population. Evergreen has produced the current Illinois state record for Saugeye, and in 2018, a fish over 10 pounds was recorded during the survey. Evergreen has two boat launches, a full service marina that has bait and a restaurant. It’s a “no wake” lake which makes fishing even more enjoyable. For those that are considering making the trip , there is a McClean County use fee for boats which is $20 per day or $40 for the year. It’s a reasonable ask for a lake with good fishing and great amenities. While I did pull a skunk, my co-angler did boat this fish on a crank bait fished near a lay down.

Tight Lines

Gene Jarka
Princeton, IL

Yesterday DuPage

42.5 inch Flathead caught this morning drifting a minnow under a float. Almost a 20 minute battle on 8 pound test leader.

Went out on fox on saturday for sum flatties, bite was slow(combined with cold temps and dense fog) but we manged 1 and it was my PB, 15 lbs on the dot, shout out to our crew member Ben

Hey Dale,

It definitely felt like fall over the weekend, even if it’s going to stay in the 80’s for the next week or two. Water temps were about 69 to 72 degrees, with early morning air temps in the low 50’s. Levels remain low, but the fall bite was on-- caught better numbers than I have over the summer, and the average size was up too. The smallmouth appear to be feeding up!

Hi Dale,

I spent one afternoon on local ponds the past week. I pulled the plug and decided to focus on moving water after that. Bright sun and low water made for unproductive fishing. The recent lack of rain meant that I was standing and casting from dry areas where I’d actually hooked fish earlier in the Summer that’s how much the water has dropped. It was a lot of effort for some small bluegills. Upcoming warm dry weather probably won’t help much.

As the Fox tribs have dropped to the point where there is almost no current, I spent most of my fishing time on the Fox itself. Do you remember writing a column about “The Jumps” at Shabbona, where the hybrid striped bass bust schools of shad? I blundered into the analogous smallmouth event last night, what our Sconnie friends call “The Crash.” I saw some big, fast-moving wakes when I got there. I didn’t think even a big smallmouth could create that kind of disturbance; I thought it was going to be flathead cats or a few muskies. But it was smallmouths, herding baitfish onto rocky shoals near the bank and then attacking. The water where they drove the baitfish was no more than shin deep. A fast retrieve was most productive: some fish were caught on a traditional slow strip, but ripping the streamer back to shore to imitate a panicked minnow swimming for its life drew much more attention from the bass. I hope this continues for a few more days, if not weeks.

Pete

My customers that are fishing the Fox River and Chain O Lakes are catching good walleyes. Some are using plastics like a gulp minnow. The live bait guys are use an extra large fathead minnow or a half of night crawler on a jig head. 1/8th to 1/4oz.

Catfish continue to be caught on cut bait and prepared stink bait, blood flavor.

Fall is a great time to fish the Fox River for smallmouth bass. Use small spinners or shallow crank baits.

Lake Geneva 9/9/24 through 9/16/24

Perch fishing has been a consistent bite. The perch are on hard sand bottoms with scattered weeds in 10-12 ft of water. The best bait is either small fat head minnows or nightcrawler pieces. I prefer using slip bobbers with a small hook. The best location has been by Rainbow Point and Belvidere Park. Some of the perch are in excess of 11 inches. This bite should continue as the water cools. I prefer anchoring just so the slip bobber can be positioned better.

Smallmouth bass have finally gone to the deep weed points and are again moving shallow. With the cooling water, by the end of September, they will again be in the 10-12 ft depth range. Right now, on the deep weed points, I’m finding them between 21 and 25 ft of water. I’m either drop shotting small plastic worms or using small yellow perch fished on a lindy rig.

Walleye are still being caught at night. The best depth is 12-15 ft. Use large crank baits just above the weed line. The fish are suspended 6-7 ft down. The best location is by Abbey Springs or by Fontana Beach.

Bluegills are still being caught in the 12-18 ft depth range. They can be readily caught by drifting nightcrawlers on a split shot rig. The best location is by the Military Academy or by the Elgin Club.

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

Fishing Report – 9/9/2024

By Mike Norris

Big Green Lake: Last weekend brought about the first nighttime temps in the 30’s. But daytime temps rebounded back into the upper 70s and the lake temp only dropped two degrees. However, the change showed signs of a shift in bass behavior as we come into the fall period. The jig and craw bite was tentative. It was as if they were more curious when this presentation crossed their path, than a week earlier, when they bit the jig and craw with reckless abandon. Fortunately, the good old drop shot rig came to the rescue when dragged along drop-offs in 14 ft of water. The bluegill bite remains good in 20 -25 feet of water adjacent to steep drop-offs on a drop-shot rig. The walleye bite out on the Baptist Bar has slowed. But as we move into the last two weeks of September, we should see lake trout action pick up as they follow ciscoes up onto shallower feeding shelves. Look for what many consider the best fishing of the year for trophy smallmouth bass as we move through late September through October. I have several open dates available for guiding.

Contact me at: smallmouthangler@aol.com

Hi Dale -

Fished the river Saturday morning with nice fall like weather. River temps dropped to low 70’s and water level is low. Casting a shad swimbait on 1/8 oz head, along with Ned rigs caught mostly smaller smallmouth with a couple at 16 and 17”. Early morning surface bite was surprisingly slow. No Walleye bites.

Hey Dale,

Here is a recap of this past weeks fishing.

. . .

Kankakee River- Game time temps yesterday morning were in the mid 40’s. I will say it did feel great to adorn a sweatshirt for the first time in awhile. The destination was the Kankakee river to wade for smallmouth. The fish I think liked the idea of the dropping temps as well even though the bite was more subtle than lately. It was definitely a numbers kind of day with plenty of smaller fish. I started off with a BPF Lures custom popper and that caught a few fish. Next up was a wake bait and that produced the most fish during the day. I switched to a bandit 100 and that caught numerous fish as well. A TRD of course caught fish as well but it seems the craw bite is winding down for the season. I didn’t see many crayfish in the shallows or in the gullet of fish. The better size fish came from working current seams in the main flow. All fish were caught using FINS Braids windtamer braid with Vector Hooks tornado trebles on the crank. It certainly was a great day to be out as fall was in the air. That unfortunately is all about to change.

. . .

TTYL

Ken “Husker” O’Malley

Husker Outdoors

“Big Fish Beck Radenbaugh strikes again . . .

Hello Dale, hope you had a nice summer. My son, whom you have been so kind to put in your outdoor report twice before, has caught another boat record, this time for a big pike, 40” , 12.5 lbs. off Chicago .His last cast of the day!

Kings are moving right along. I’ve been getting reports of a couple here and there every day now, also quite a few hits and misses. There are some really nice Steelhead, and a few Coho have been caught within the mix. This past weekend, there were 3 Northerns that I know of for sure. Late last week, a kid was catching Perch in the harbor here at Montrose. He had about 8 to 10, and some were decent size. Sheephead off and on. Have a great week

Waukegan 09/09

Hi Dale -

The weather has kept offshore boat fishing to a minimum. The one trip we got to run saw a quick limit of lake trout on the reefs off Waukegan. Trophy size trout are there with multiple fish over 20 pounds. Best presentations were Jimmy Fly Mo rigs near the bottom pulled behind smoke or chrome 0 dodgers. A few were on 300 foot plus copper lines with Warrior Magnum UV green or blue spoons.

Staging kings, coho and small kings and coho which will not spawn this year were holding in 100 to 115 feet in the bottom 15 feet of water. Fast trolling standard size spoons like Warrior hey babe, Blue Dolphin and Green Menace pulled at 3.0 mph near the bottom worked.

Salmon are starting in the harbor. They are there but the warm water in the 70’s has them very inactive. Everyone seems to be casting but with the inactive fish not chasing lures the harbor anglers may want to try skein already. It early for skein but it might work better with the inactive fish.

West and SW winds should bring in cool weather and the shore fishing should improve. I think we will see good number of salmon but most small as the staging fish appear to be mostly 2 and 3 year old sized kings and coho.

Scott Wolfe
312-933-0552

Menominee River Fishing Report

The water temp on the Menominee River is 65 Degrees

I experienced some incredible action this past week. On September 6, we caught 18 smallmouth bass ranging from 18-20 inches, along with several smaller ones. The walleyes and pike were also aggressive. Swimbaits were the preferred bait. Most of the fish were found in areas with rocks and grass in 4-6 feet of water.

The smallmouth and walleye activity should remain excellent through late October.I will also be booking some walleye trips in October on the Menominee River. I have some dates open in October so book a trip now!

It sure felt like fall earlier this week, seeing people break out jackets, football starting, bear hunting opening up and hearing geese fly overhead. Unfortunately, for those hoping that we’re heading into the fall fishing patterns, that we are all so fond of, Mother Nature’s throwing a heatwave at us. 80’s are forecasted in the Northwoods for the next five days.

Yes, this fluctuation in temperature has made fishing a little frustrating for some species of late. Although there have been some good reports from the Musky world. Fish have been caught cruising shallow, weedier areas with reports of fish coming on Smity Flaptails and bucktails.

With the warm weather, look for Bass fishing to also be productive. Target the Smallmouth over deeper gravel with drop-shot techniques, but also don’t forget to poke around those shallower, inside weeds. Some of the bigger Smallies might be cruising around there looking for a swimbait or a top-water to grab.

For Largemouth, look for 8-12’ of water with weeds. A variety of techniques will work, creature baits have been productive and top-water should be productive with the warm weather.

It’s been a quiet week in terms of anglers on the lakes the past few days due to cooler temperatures and a lot of wind earlier in the week. Hope to get more anglers out fishing in the coming days and also more reports.

Wisconsin bow dear season, fall turkey and grouse season all open this weekend, good luck to those going out. We do carry a small amount of hunting supplies if you need, or forgot; cover scents, scents, ammo, broadheads, etc.

That’s about it for now, get out and enjoy the warm weather, it could be the last warm spell until June??

Kurt Justice

Kurt’s Island Sports Shop
– Like us on FaceBook

Hey Dale hope all is well.

Things were great in Northwest Indiana tonight, was out in the kayak again today couple hours after work cold front turned the feed bags on. 2 hours 11 fish and a bonus crappie on the wacky worm 12 and 1/2 in crappie.. can’t wait to get out tomorrow unfortunately going to have to fish early on Sunday Got to watch the bears..

Best regards

Allen Shander

Hammond In.

I honestly thought it was a bass until I pulled it into the boat. Like I said before I pretty much fish at least four or five times a week I’ll keep you posted in Northwest Indiana.. All fish were caught in about 8 feet Right at the weed edge Got a couple on the ned and one topwater. Wind was a little difficult this afternoon. Attached are a few of my nicer fish and the monster crappie.

Decent trickle of salmon came into the nwi creeks since last report. Spinners, spawn saks, skein baits to try.

Crappie starting to be caught again at lake George in Hobart using minnows. Fish around the bridges and gazebo near chase bank.

Long lake in valpo giving up a variety of panfish for boat fishermen using jumbo reds, beemoth and crickets.

White bass are slowing down again with the warm weather. Crappie, perch, and bluegill bite has been good. A few walleye are coming in , dragging crawlers on jigs working best