While our locations are totally different, Alabama compared to Chicago, my buddy and I have had some success with early season open water fishing. Unfortunatly now the lakes and ponds are completely iced over but we had a few days of good weather where we caught some nice bass and pike. Main creek channels and main points on the lake seem to be good places to start. Technique wise we have had success with working jerkbait and Rapala x-raps fairly slowly. Long pauses and not as aggressive jerks as you would have in the summer. We also had some success with jigs. Just running them slowly across the bottom. Again I'm not sure if this is any help coming from an angler on the much colder side of the country but it could be worth a try.
Good luck to you!
Very jealous of you as I look out the window at snow!
