Where are all the Illinois Guys ?

[Rpratt]

This is going to be a long week. Why? The anticipation of all my favorite lakes finally opening back up! Most likely it's going to be a circus out there ?

[slonezp]

Got out today with dad and the kid to my favorite panfish lake. The lake is only a couple hundred acres, gin clear water, max depth of 30ft, 70* surface temp. Did more "hunting" than catching. Crappies were bedding but most of the schools we came across had lockjaw. #2 long shank gold aberdeen Eagle Claw hooks and minnow underneath a small splitshot and a Rocket Bobber which is the best bobber on the market. Screw Mick Thill and his overpriced under performing bobbers. LOL Pulled the crappies from one hole and the bluegills from another. Also got a dozen or so short bass on drop shot, poppers, and live bait. Think I cleaned just under 30 fish. The deep fryer is heating up as I type this.

[RStaff44]

Headed out today to southwest burbs and was able to get a couple decent size on the frog and some on lipless crank. I’ve noticed that a lot of the larger lakes and forest preserves have been absolutely packed. 

[Skunked again]

Rstaff44 - same here. From work, I can see part of the parking lot for the local ramp. The only days it's not packed are rainy ones.

[RStaff44]

Two fishing reports from this week:

 

Busse lake on Wednesday. Got a smaller bass in the reeds and a few more bites after. Fished by the dam  shallow with a hollow body frog and had a few good blowups but the bass were just a little off. Hot day, but saw another catch a  sizable smallmouth under some trees.

 

skokie lagoon: Broke in the kayak this week. Still have a ways to go with casting haha. Didn’t have much luck out there. Lot of weeds out there, and saw a lot of carp shallow. Went twice and had very little luck with bites. Fished frogs, craws, and some chatter bait w/ fluke trailer. Anyone having better luck that way?

 

Hope everyone is getting out on the water this week!

[slonezp]

Fox chain today. Water 74-79. Landed 16 bass, 4 small keepers (1) 3-1/2lb fish and the rest 12-13". Lost one that I'm sure was over 5lbs. Swimjigs, creature baits and wacky worms. 

[Junk Fisherman]

Fished Newton on Monday 6-8 and Friday 6-12 and had very good results.  Biggest was a 4.5 lber but I caught a lot of 16"-18" fish.  Water temps were from 78 to 85 with a nice clarity.  Caught fish shallow and deep on just about everything I threw from swimbaits to C-rigs to shakey heads to scroungers to jigs.  Bigger fish came in deeper water.  Had a few flurries on Friday of 5 fish in 10 casts when the fish seemed to go on a feeding frenzy.  Mostly 14" to 17" bass.  Good times.  

 

[Jig Rookie]

Found a 4lb glide bait eater in the 'burbs. Big bait bite is heating up.

[MrPeanut]

28 minutes ago, Jig Rookie said:

Found a 4lb glide bait eater in the 'burbs. Big bait bite is heating up.

I feel like a 4lb in the burbs is like finding bigfoot, nice work dude!

[Junk Fisherman]

22 hours ago, MrPeanut said:

I feel like a 4lb in the burbs is like finding bigfoot, nice work dude!

You just have to know the right ponds.  I have always thought that if I wanted to just catch big fish I would spend time hunting different ponds.  That's the easiest place to catch 5-6 lb bass in the area.  But I like fishing from a boat too much.  

[slonezp]

The larger subdivision ponds hold good fish. Getting access to them is not always a given. 

[MrPeanut]

Both are really good points above.  The ponds I head to more often than not have pretty small bass.  If I have a whole day to dedicate to fishing I’ll take the boat out,  but maybe I’ll try to mix up which ponds I frequent 

[Junk Fisherman]

Fished Shabbona twice this past week.  Tuesday was a tough day with bright skies, high pressure, and cool temps to start the day.   I didn't catch anything till 11 or so but ended up with 4 keepers the biggest being 17".  Caught one on a brushhog on a point and the other 3 on a sharp sloping shoreline. 

 

Had a small club outing on Saturday with 13 boats.  Overcast skies and light SW winds made for a much better day.  I caught 5 keepers for 13.5 lbs which was good for 2nd out of 26.  Winner had a little over 15.  Had a 4.01 and a 3.66 with the rest being 14"-15" fish.  All my keepers were caught using a finesse worm on the same steep shoreline I caught them on Tuesday.  Also caught 2 5ish pound catfish, a 4-5 lb drum, and a bunch of shorts.   Fun day overall.  

 

 

[slonezp]

Fox Chain slow as hell today. Water 81*. Took dad out for father's day, kid couldn't make it. Spent most of the morning looking for walleye and crappie on Channel Lake fishing weed lines in 10-12fow. We were only able to muster up drum and bluegills. Around 10:30 we shot over to Squaw Creek which was very productive 2 weeks ago. Was only able to pull one bass from there. There was a tourney going on today. Talked to a few guys today. Said it was real slow.

[RStaff44]

Took the kayak to Skokie lagoon again, no luck. Didn’t see a a lot of activity. Seemed to be a fish or two tight in cover but not a lot of bites. Anyone else had similar difficult in northern Chicago burbs? On the flip side retention ponds are always solid for 1-2 pounders with the occasional 3-4 for me. 

[Bdnoble84]

Small river smallies are the best. 4lber broke me off on 14lb mono leader as well?

[slonezp]

Fox Chain today. Surface temp was 73* at 6am, probably from all that rain we got yesterday and last night. Was 85* at 2pm when we got off the lake.

Got (2) 16", (2) 15" about a dozen shorts and a 12" crappie. Crappie and 1 of the 16" were on swim jigs. Other 3 keepers on wacky worms. Most of the short fish were caught on frogs in the middle of the day.

[Junk Fisherman]

Decided to do something different today and fished Whalen Lake which I hadn't fished in a couple years.  TOUGH  One 16" bass on a Ned Rig in 5 hours of fishing.  Didn't have another hit all morning.  Water was 78 to 82 with nice clarity.  I figured it wouldn't be great fishing with the big storms that moved through yesterday and the east winds and high pressure but I thought I would at least catch some small ones on finesse stuff.  Need to start carrying sunscreen in my kayak.  Fried my legs.  

[Bass Rutten]

Lost what I believe would’ve been a new PB yesterday, hooked her on a deep diving crank for about 5 seconds, then a momentary flash in the water with a side view of a huge bass drifting back down into the darkness... then nothing ?

[BigAngus752]

On 6/22/2020 at 1:23 PM, RStaff44 said:

Took the kayak to Skokie lagoon again, no luck. Didn’t see a a lot of activity. Seemed to be a fish or two tight in cover but not a lot of bites. Anyone else had similar difficult in northern Chicago burbs? On the flip side retention ponds are always solid for 1-2 pounders with the occasional 3-4 for me. 

 

3 hours ago, Junk Fisherman said:

Decided to do something different today and fished Whalen Lake which I hadn't fished in a couple years.  TOUGH  One 16" bass on a Ned Rig in 5 hours of fishing.  Didn't have another hit all morning.  Water was 78 to 82 with nice clarity.  I figured it wouldn't be great fishing with the big storms that moved through yesterday and the east winds and high pressure but I thought I would at least catch some small ones on finesse stuff.  Need to start carrying sunscreen in my kayak.  Fried my legs.  

Normally I would think it was nuts to try to offer you guys a suggestion on current patterns when I'm 2.5 hrs south of you, but bear with me.  For the last 4-6 weeks the pattern on our lakes here in central IL has held fast.  We (me and several fishing buddies) have been hauling bass off of rocks/rip rap with grass/vegetation on it and they are holding really shallow.  It's very, very odd for us here because the water has been over 80 degrees and we normally wouldn't find fish on shallow rock like this. 

 

So why would I think this could also be a pattern up where you are?  Last week my wife and I went to far southern Illinois where I fished two different lakes/ponds in Shawnee National Forest.  We were more than 200 mile south where the fish should have hit their deep summer pattern much earlier than here.  Where did I catch numerous bass?  In 1-2 feet of water on rip rap with a little vegetation nearby.  It's kind of crazy.  Normally by end of June I am fishing only under docks and laydowns or dragging a T-rig in "deep" water.  

 

Would this pattern work up your way?  I have no idea but next time you are out just give it a shot and PLEASE let me know.  I'm curious as heck.  

 

Let me add that, after talking with a couple close fishing friends, we have a theory.  One of the lakes I fish has an extrordinary crop of crawfish this year.  The size of them is outlandish and they are everywhere.  Perhaps central and southern Illinois have had a banner year for crawdads and it's keeping the big bass up on the rocks?  It's jigs and long ribbon-tail worms that are doing it for us.  Best of luck. 

[Junk Fisherman]

14 hours ago, BigAngus752 said:

 

Normally I would think it was nuts to try to offer you guys a suggestion on current patterns when I'm 2.5 hrs south of you, but bear with me.  For the last 4-6 weeks the pattern on our lakes here in central IL has held fast.  We (me and several fishing buddies) have been hauling bass off of rocks/rip rap with grass/vegetation on it and they are holding really shallow.  It's very, very odd for us here because the water has been over 80 degrees and we normally wouldn't find fish on shallow rock like this. 

 

So why would I think this could also be a pattern up where you are?  Last week my wife and I went to far southern Illinois where I fished two different lakes/ponds in Shawnee National Forest.  We were more than 200 mile south where the fish should have hit their deep summer pattern much earlier than here.  Where did I catch numerous bass?  In 1-2 feet of water on rip rap with a little vegetation nearby.  It's kind of crazy.  Normally by end of June I am fishing only under docks and laydowns or dragging a T-rig in "deep" water.  

 

Would this pattern work up your way?  I have no idea but next time you are out just give it a shot and PLEASE let me know.  I'm curious as heck.  

 

Let me add that, after talking with a couple close fishing friends, we have a theory.  One of the lakes I fish has an extrordinary crop of crawfish this year.  The size of them is outlandish and they are everywhere.  Perhaps central and southern Illinois have had a banner year for crawdads and it's keeping the big bass up on the rocks?  It's jigs and long ribbon-tail worms that are doing it for us.  Best of luck. 

Thanks for the tips Angus.  What lakes were you fishing in So IL?  My dad has a home in Cave in Rock and I have fished some of the lakes in Shawnee National Forest.  Fished Glenn Jones Lake a couple weeks ago when I visited.  Hiked Garden of the Gods too.  That place is fantastic.  

 

In terms of my day, I was unprepared.  I hadn't fished the lake in several years and it was much weedier than I thought.  I only had one baitcaster with fluoro and that doesn't work for fishing frogs.  Being in my kayak I pretty much decide how I am going to fish before I go to the lake and I take very little tackle.  I would definitely fish different techniques if I was going back there today.

 

The pattern you discussed is how I did catch my bass at Shabonna and Glen Jones Lake over the last couple weeks and those lakes are 300+ miles apart.  Both were on rocky shorelines with light vegetation.  Actually, it was the success I had at Glenn Jones that made me focus on the spot at Shabbona where I ended up taking 2nd out of 26 in a tournament.  I was definitely looking for spots like that yesterday but it was very weedy everywhere.  Good fishing.  

[BigAngus752]

3 hours ago, Junk Fisherman said:

Thanks for the tips Angus.  What lakes were you fishing in So IL?  My dad has a home in Cave in Rock and I have fished some of the lakes in Shawnee National Forest.  Fished Glenn Jones Lake a couple weeks ago when I visited.  Hiked Garden of the Gods too.  That place is fantastic.  

 

In terms of my day, I was unprepared.  I hadn't fished the lake in several years and it was much weedier than I thought.  I only had one baitcaster with fluoro and that doesn't work for fishing frogs.  Being in my kayak I pretty much decide how I am going to fish before I go to the lake and I take very little tackle.  I would definitely fish different techniques if I was going back there today.

 

The pattern you discussed is how I did catch my bass at Shabonna and Glen Jones Lake over the last couple weeks and those lakes are 300+ miles apart.  Both were on rocky shorelines with light vegetation.  Actually, it was the success I had at Glenn Jones that made me focus on the spot at Shabbona where I ended up taking 2nd out of 26 in a tournament.  I was definitely looking for spots like that yesterday but it was very weedy everywhere.  Good fishing.  

We were there only for hiking and sightseeing, but we had a tiny pond that came with our cabin and I caught every bass in that pond at least three times.  LOL.  I did spend 45 minutes fishing from shore on Dutchman lake.  40 minutes of that was on the riprap fishing clumps of grass.  I couldn't believe how successful that was.  I caught a few short ones, four keepers, and missed what would have been my best of this year and possibly a PB.  I set the hook and struggled to pull her from the grass.  When she came free I thought I had her and she raced right past me into a laydown and tangled my line.  I jumped in to try to grab her but she broke off before I could get ahold of her. I've caught 5lb fish and she was at least 5lbs.  I'm going back to Dutchman when I can.  It seemed like it was chock full of bass and it was a really beautiful lake.  

 

That is very interesting that you found the same thing at Glenn Jones and Shabonna.  It's great to be on a solid pattern.  I'm going to try it again tomorrow and hope it still holds.  Good luck

[Junk Fisherman]

1 hour ago, BigAngus752 said:

We were there only for hiking and sightseeing, but we had a tiny pond that came with our cabin and I caught every bass in that pond at least three times.  LOL.  I did spend 45 minutes fishing from shore on Dutchman lake.  40 minutes of that was on the riprap fishing clumps of grass.  I couldn't believe how successful that was.  I caught a few short ones, four keepers, and missed what would have been my best of this year and possibly a PB.  I set the hook and struggled to pull her from the grass.  When she came free I thought I had her and she raced right past me into a laydown and tangled my line.  I jumped in to try to grab her but she broke off before I could get ahold of her. I've caught 5lb fish and she was at least 5lbs.  I'm going back to Dutchman when I can.  It seemed like it was chock full of bass and it was a really beautiful lake.  

 

That is very interesting that you found the same thing at Glenn Jones and Shabonna.  It's great to be on a solid pattern.  I'm going to try it again tomorrow and hope it still holds.  Good luck

I have heard really good things about Dutchman but have never fished it.  Heard the frog fishing can be fantastic.  

[slonezp]

Inside weedlines can be very productive

[slonezp]

First skunk of the year today. Fox Chain, 84* water. Had some blow ups on top water but that was about it.