SPOT, RATE, QUICK HIT
Lake Michigan (Chicago lakefront)
***
Perch have tapered off in cooler conditions, but should pick up again as temperatures rise. Best spots in and around mouths of harbors up and down the lakefront from Montrose to 95th Street, with better prospects in weeds. Biting on minnows, crawfish and soft shell crabs.
Lake Michigan (Northwest Indiana)
***
Good coho activity out of East Chicago Marina in up to 55 feet of water on dodger-and-fly combinations. A number of kings, steelhead and brown trout also caught in area. Lake trout active in 110 feet of water on spoons and bodybait. Good smallmouth bass and yellow perch activity reported throughout southern lake area, including submerged breakwater near Hammond Marina and along Inland Steel wall in East Chicago.
Lake Michigan (Lake County)
***
Coho still strong near shoreline and in open water in 70- to 100-foot depths east and south of Waukegan. Perch present and biting on large fatheads, minnows and soft shell crabs. But they are scattered and tough to catch for boaters. Perch catches also erratic for shoreline anglers.
Southeast Wisconsin
***
Early-morning anglers catching chinooks on glow-in-the-dark spoons off Milwaukee’s McKinley Pier while trollers have caught cohos and chinooks, along with a few rainbows, browns and lake trout. Shore fishing has tapered off near Racine, but trollers catching good numbers of cohos in 30 to 115 feet of water. Fair number of cohos being taken near Kenosha Harbor on dodgers and flies in front of the break wall out to 100 feet of water.
Chain O’ Lakes
*** 1/2
Conditions good across the board despite slight reduction in water temperatures. Walleyes very active on crawlers and minnows and catfish doing well on stinkbait, worms and suckers — especially near the south end of Lake Catherine. Bass and bluegill also active, but muskies have slowed.
Kankakee River
***
Catfish and rock bass very good in Indiana and Illinois. Largemouth fair in Indiana at bayou mouths and in deeper ditches. Smallmouth bass still being caught, especially near Momence, Aroma Park, Kankakee Dam through Sawmill Creek. Good on minnows and spinners and top-water baits in evening.
Fox River (Batavia)
***
Best fishing appears to be very early or late with water levels stable (or marginally higher due to this week’s rains). Largemouth and smallmouth bass and catfish prospects reportedly excellent. Walleyes and crappies good with bluegill catches improving in backwater areas.
Shabbona Lake
**
Conditions generally fair, with channel cats most active and biting on liver and dip baits.
Illinois rivers
***
Conditions generally very good thanks to stable water levels. Spawning has ended for sauger and walleye and best spots to catch them appear to be below dams, around islands and along rocky shorelines. Crappies, smallmouth and largemouth bass, white bass and catfish all in spawn conditions.
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Compiled by Jack McCarthy from pro and bait shops and state natural resource reports.
