Where are all the Illinois Guys ?

[slonezp]

Water temp 83* today. 15 bass in 7 hours with only four keepers. Most were on soft plastics. Got caught in a pop up storm. A large storm front passed just north of us which gave us a little drizzle. Nothing showing on the radar, then BAM. Not more than 15 minutes after the the first front skimmed us, the skies just opened up. Probably got an inch of rain in about a half hour. Fortunately we were able to pull up to a restaurant/bar dock and duck for cover in the beer garden.

 

  

[Skunked again]

I love that shirt !

[slonezp]

Tried a spot I haven't fished in a couple years. Besides a couple 5lb cats, these were the 2 big fish of the day.

 

[12poundbass]

6 hours ago, slonezp said:

Tried a spot I haven't fished in a couple years. Besides a couple 5lb cats, these were the 2 big fish of the day.

 

You would have caught more if you wore your new shirt.

[slonezp]

50 minutes ago, 12poundbass said:

You would have caught more if you wore your new shirt.

I would have dropped dead from the heat. Navy blue and 102* doesn't mix well in my book

[slonezp]

What a beautiful evening.  Not fishing,  just chilling in the back yard. No humidity,  70* just listening to the birds chirp. 

[stinkychzman55]

Hey All! new(ish) to the forums. located in northern IL. Fished the fox chain yesterday and only managed 2 over 4 hours. 1lber in about 6" of water on a frog, and a 3/4lb squeaker in about 16' of water on a drop shot. Ran all over and just couldn't get anything going. Ive not spent much time there. I typically don't fish the fox chain due to pleasure boat traffic and its a bit of a hike from my house, but i was offered a boat launch pass for the rest of the year at a great bargain so i couldn't pass it up!! 

 

I have no idea how to dissect these lakes, i was out yesterday and so many areas looked good but just didn't produce anything. Any help or tips would be appreciated (not asking for secrets spots or baits obviously ?)

[Skunked again]

There are a few on this site that fish there, they should be along shortly.

[slonezp]

14 hours ago, stinkychzman55 said:

Hey All! new(ish) to the forums. located in northern IL. Fished the fox chain yesterday and only managed 2 over 4 hours. 1lber in about 6" of water on a frog, and a 3/4lb squeaker in about 16' of water on a drop shot. Ran all over and just couldn't get anything going. Ive not spent much time there. I typically don't fish the fox chain due to pleasure boat traffic and its a bit of a hike from my house, but i was offered a boat launch pass for the rest of the year at a great bargain so i couldn't pass it up!! 

 

I have no idea how to dissect these lakes, i was out yesterday and so many areas looked good but just didn't produce anything. Any help or tips would be appreciated (not asking for secrets spots or baits obviously ?)

Been fishing the Chain since 2004. Summertime bite is tough. What do you want to know?

[Randy Price]

I live near Rockford, IL but grew up in Pekin, IL

[stinkychzman55]

On 7/30/2019 at 9:43 PM, slonezp said:

Been fishing the Chain since 2004. Summertime bite is tough. What do you want to know?

Thanks for the response! I guess my main questions are....

1) Are they schooled up during summertime? Is it more of a find a group of them and you can catch them? or have you found that covering lots of water is a better tactic?

2) Having only really ever spent time on the northern half of the chain (Lakes Channel, Catherine, Marie, and Bluff) do you have a preference on fishing northern half vs southern half? Any lakes that just aren't worth it? Any lakes that are standout better than the rest? 

3) Have you had more luck in the summertime fishing deep water or shallow cover? Im ok if i only catch a few fish per time out but i want to catch good quality fish. Have you had better quality historically in deep water or shallow water in summertime?

4) Main Forage? Shad? I know there are shad in there from the few times i've musky fished the chain. Will bass key on shad like they do on other bodies of water? Or do they tend to gravitate to the other options like small gills, craws, and worms? I did not see much of what i would call good craw habitat (ALOT of muck and mud) and i really had a hard time finding other types of baitfish up shallow. Kinda stumped on what they eat in there?

 

Thanks again for taking the time to help!!!

[slonezp]

The water on the southern part is stained versus relatively clear on the northern end. On the rare occasion I find bass schooling, it will be on the limited structure on the north end and around some of the islands on the south end. 

 

Shad, bluegills crawfish and during the summer, carp fry. The crawfish are more prominent in the south because there is more sand and gravel. 

 

I rarely fish channel catherine and marie in the summer, more spring  and fall Petite is decent in the spring. Sometimes you can pull multiple fish from under docks on bluff and pistakee. Redhead, spring, and jerlynd are decent in the spring and unfishable in the summer. All of the channels from grass lake south are decent. Squaw creek can be decent all season. Mathews is either good or bad, no in between. The channels on the upper river are decent if you can get into them.

 

There's a lot of shallow channels in the southern lakes so you need to pay attention. Get a push pole if you dont already have one. 

[stinkychzman55]

Wow thanks for all of the info! hoping ill have a chance to put it to use later in the week!!

 

 

[slonezp]

3 hours ago, stinkychzman55 said:

Wow thanks for all of the info! hoping ill have a chance to put it to use later in the week!!

 

 

Fishing was dismal this past weekend. We caught 6 bass in 6 hours on Saturday. There was a tournament on Sunday. No limits weighed in. 25 boats weighed in a total of 15 bass.

[stinkychzman55]

It’s been very slow on all lakes I’ve fished the past week or 2. Hit Loon Lake on Saturday and caught 3 bass with the biggest being just over 2.5lbs and 1 small pike

 

Was out last night on Diamond Lake in Mundelein and only got 1 in about 4 hours

 

Getting real excited for cooler temps and quieter lakes!!!

[Randy Price]

Been fishing a local quarry and having good luck with GY wacko worms.

[slonezp]

Nice fish Randy

[Jig Rookie]

I've been stickin em late night on the 7" Jenko Booty Shaker--this site won't let me load more than one pic in a post, so I'll have to go separately. For those of you who throw big baits, check em out. Cheaper alternative ($8.99/2-pack of the 7-inch) to the more expensive big soft baits. 10/0 Owner Beast Hook.

Now it won't let me post pics at all, "due to low memory." I'll figure it out...

[Jig Rookie]

There we go.

[Jig Rookie]

My daytime go-to bait has been the Savage Gear Shine Glide 178.  I don't catch a ton on these baits, but when I do they're good fish.

[Skunked again]

Nice ones!

[Jig Rookie]

One more Shine Glide fish outta Busse Lake; this thing was a FOOTBALL, check the guts on her.  Almost wanted to pick her up and tell my son to go deep!

[Randy Price]

On 8/28/2019 at 4:25 PM, slonezp said:

Nice fish Randy

Thanks Slonezp.

[Tracker22]

Jig Rookie: What type of rod are you using?

[cadman]

On 8/7/2019 at 7:16 AM, stinkychzman55 said:

It’s been very slow on all lakes I’ve fished the past week or 2. Hit Loon Lake on Saturday and caught 3 bass with the biggest being just over 2.5lbs and 1 small pike

 

Was out last night on Diamond Lake in Mundelein and only got 1 in about 4 hours

 

Getting real excited for cooler temps and quieter lakes!!!

You must live close to my area. BTW welcome. I mainly fish S.E Wisconsin waters. So if you fish those I can give you some more inf. Lake Geneva, Lake Delavan, Browns, Powers, Lake Beulah, Como and a few more. I've always wondered how  Diamond Lake was. It is about 10 minutes from my house. If you would like to talk more, PM me your phone number and we can talk.