SPOT, RATE, QUICK HIT
Lake Michigan (Chicago/Ind.)
**
Good S/SW winds equal perch in harbors. Montrose, Belmont harbors best with baby roach minnows or soft shells. Also try white paddle bug with jig head.
Lake Michigan (Waukegan)
** 1/2
Salmon straight out and north of harbor in 80 to 120 feet of water. Anglers getting steelhead, kings and a few cohos using fly/dodger (pearl with white or green with orange) on dipsy divers and yellow birds. For downriggers, try purple and orange spoons. Perch from boat: Try 50 to 60 feet with large fathead off bottom or by jigging spoons. Perch off piers: Try large fathead minnows or crabmeat.
Independence Grove
** 1/2
Bass on Senko worms or buzz baits in low light conditions. In emerged weeds, use soft plastic frogs.
Cook County preserves
* 1/2
Beck Lake for crappie (crappie minnows) and bass (plastic worms/frogs). Busse Woods slow.
DuPage preserves
***
Catfish good at Mallard Lake and Pratt’s Wayne; channel (chicken liver) and flatheads (live bluegills or sucker minnows). Largemouth better in low light with buzz baits at Bass, Herrick lakes. Song Bird Slough good for bluegills on wax worms. Still fish Deep Quarry at night for walleye (leeches, big roach minnows).
Chain O’ Lakes
***
Fish Lake Marie, Pistakee deep for bluegills (waxies and crawlers), muskie (trolling with monster shad) and stripers (minnows or spikes). Crappie around wooded areas on jig/spikes. Walleye in currents on jig/leeches or jig/crawler. Check weedlines for largemouth on worms. Catfish in shallows on stink bait.
Braidwood, Heidecke lakes
**
Braidwood: Walleye (jumbo leeches or chartreuse tail with white/black jig head), smallmouth (golden roaches or bass minnow), largemouth (Chatter bait) and catfish (mud leeches or shrimp). Heidecke: Stripers (troll spoons) and walleye (large golden roach minnows).
Fox River
**
Troll for muskie with crankbaits. Channel catfish on stink bait or soft shells, live suckers for flatheads.
Kankakee River
** 1/2
Look in deeper holes for channel catfish (stink bait). State park area is best. Smallmouth in early morning by shoreline on surface baits or jigs.
Shabbona Lake
***
Catfish hot in bays and on points on chicken liver or large leeches. Bluegills in weed lines on wax worms; look for muskie (bucktails) there too. Largemouth in lily pads with plastic mouse/frog or near standing trees with live bait. Walleye in trees on jumbo leeches, 10-12 feet down. Crappie in trees/deep brush piles on crappie minnows or wax worms.
Lake Winnebago (Wisconsin)
***
Lake great for walleye on crawlers and leeches with lead-head jigs or slip bobbers. Try west side (Oshkosh). Garlic Island hot for perch on a night crawler piece. Catfish on large leeches, raw shrimp or cut bait in the river. Crappie (flies) and bluegills (worms) at Upper Lakes.
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akaschube@tribune.com
