Chicago fishing: Ice fishing (What did you expect?)

Hey Dale,

Here’s a recap from the past weeks fishing.

Today’s adventure took me to the pits to chase some bass on tip ups. The bass did not disappoint. Flags were being chased from first light to 10:30. There were multiple flags on occasion so who needs to go to the gym when that in itself is a workout! The setup was along the outside weed edges in 9 fow near areas of springs. Once that overcast broke the bite totally shutdown. Ice conditions were a solid 5-6 inches of clear ice with plenty more to be made with this artic air coming down.

The cold air is here with game time temps to start the morning at -8. Staying mobile was not in the cards today with those winds and temps. I drilled holes on the drop off to the main basin in 10 fow where the shoreline drop off met the flat drop off. The active biters were there. The crappie were hitting a 5mm wonder bread swirl paired with a Clam Outdoors niku twitch fly. They preferred jigging the bait a foot off the bottom and slowly raising the bait another two feet. A few bluegill were caught as well. The bite turned off around 11:30, so it was time.

Here’s the nature pic of the week. Closing time.

TTYL

Ken “Husker” O’Malley

Husker Outdoors
Waterwerks fishing team

The brutal cold snap has made up to 12 inches of ice on ponds , backwaters and lakes. The forecast is for much more seasonal winter temperatures. Many have already had a great ice fishing season. For those that haven’t there are lots of derbies the next 3 weeks! Check out my Dave’s Bait, Tackle and Taxidermy facebook page for flyers from them. Tip up fishing has been good use a large or medium sized golden roach minnow 3-7 feet sounds like the sweet spot. Panfish on most lakes are near whatever green weeds are left in 3-6 feet of water. Some lakes , Bangs Lake in Wauconda have suspended crappies in 20-25 feet of water but the fish are at 15 feet. The problem is these fish move with the bait so use your electronics to stay on them.

Hi Dale

The deep freeze slowed the bite on island lake the last few days. Saturday had lots of anglers on the ice. I had an annual physical Saturday morning so I only fished for a few minutes Saturday afternoon and got a few nice Gills. My neighbors across the street pulled in what she called a baby northern on a tip up. I helped her unhook and release the fish. She had a tiny chartreuse walleye hook on the business end. On Sunday I had Roy Coakley and his friend Bill Forsberg over for some ice action. The cold slowed the bite but Roy got a couple perch on tip down rigs with a rosy red minnow on one of the smallest tremble hooks I’ve seen below small split shot. Bill got a beautiful largemouth on a tip up with conventional single tremble and goldenrod roach minnows. Monday we set the tip ups knowing it was most likely a fruitless activity...giving me thoughts of throwing crankbaits at Braidwood.

On the music front the conscious rockers are booked for February 22nd at Mackie’s Hideout. Time for set list construction and rehearsal. Gozortenplat waiting on Date for Las Vegas performance with Ray White. And February 1st at two brothers roundhouse in Aurora a possible sit in for The Bob Marley birthday bash with Jah Guide reggae band. Keeping things rolling into February!

Fishing Report – 1/20/2025

By Mike Norris

Big Green Lake: As expected, the Siberian cold front arrived last Saturday evening. Despite sub-zero temperatures, the high winds that accompanied the front kept Big Green wide open. Dartmouth Bay remains one of the two areas with ice thick enough to drive ATVs over the ice. The other is Beyer’s Cove. Bluegill and perch are biting at both locations, but their sizes are small. Tip-ups are producing northern pike.

Fox Lake: This 2,300-acre lake, 24 miles south of Big Green, is a popular ice fishing spot, but it can get crowded. The ice is 12 to 24 inches thick, and it’s the only area lake safe enough to drive vehicles out on. The crappie bite on a jig and minnow remains very good, but once again, move around until you find the bigger fish. Anglers can catch northern pike using shiners with tip-ups. There is a night bite for walleyes.

Some fishing on the ice in the slip at 87th street.

Fished the Madison Chain Friday through Sunday. Our group ended up with 20+ pike between 18”-26” all on shiners on tipups in 4’-10’ of water along and inside the weeds. Also bright 6 bluegill topside Friday primarily in the deeper water depth listed below with a small jigging spoon tipped with a couple small waxxies. Those six were from about 100 fish marked, they were not aggressive. Only fished for the gills sparingly as the weather wasn’t conducive to hole hopping. Great weekend with great friends in an amazing city with ample angling opportunities.

All right ladies and gentlemen ice anglers... Start your engines! I realize my reports are on the conservative end in regards to driving trucks on the ice. Plenty of anglers have already been driving trucks I know, but I couldn’t in good conscience give an all-around okay. Following the past couple of days though low temperatures of 22 and 27 below zero on the 20th and 21st of January, the 16 to 20-inch reports from Saturday will surely be in the 20 to 24 inch range by this Thursday. With 2 plus inches of snow on the ice, access by trucks and even all wheel drive cars will be fine.

Crappie: Good
Decent bite, even for the few crazies such as my grandson who went out in 17° below temperatures on Monday because Lakeland school was closed. Nice crappies with many in the 10 to 13 inch range including a 15-in slab caught and quickly returned by musical talent Bernie Thompson. Suspended fish in the 16 to 24-inch depth from reports being caught 3 to 6 ft off the bottom using cast Masters, both spoons and tiki flash these were tipped with wax worms. Still some fish hanging out in the weeds were being caught but very tight to the bottom on forage fried jigs tipped with waxies or spikes.

Yellow Perch: Good
Best in 16 to 20 foot mud flats. Schools are cruising. With the cold, the best is to wait your turn as they come through. Northland Forge jigs with a single hook tipped with the minnows taking the best perch. Pimples and Hayleys tipped with red spikes, good choices, just have to deal with more of the smaller perch.

Bluegill: Good
Nice gills of 71/2" to 81/2" with a few over 9" around cabbage flats of 8 to 12 ft. Mostly working into the weeds to pull fish up and out. Some very nice suspended gills are being found along with the crappies and the perch.

Walleye:Good- Fair
Still some decent action for mid-January. Lack of snow on the ice may be contributing. Live bait continues to be the best choice as all species but especially walleyes seem to be a bit finicky this past week. Top bragging rights go to Sawyer of Winneconne Wisconsin with a beautiful,
predusk 28 3/4" monster. Congratulations Sawyer.

Northern Pike: Good-Fair
Surprisingly not a lot of larger fish from the reports that we gathered here this week. some decent action on eaters of 22" to 27" on Big shiners and Suckers. Most of them have been related to weeds of 8 to 14 ft.

Largemouth Bass: Fair
As in “Fairweather ice fish”! Typically when temps get below 20° we don’t see as much activity from largemouth still a few of them up to 17" were reported over the weekend.

White Fish: Fair
Not much on the whitefish front. Should get better as travel conditions improve.

Despite all of this great ice for access and travel, still be cautious of ice heaves. The rainbow flowage, willow flowage, fence lake and north twin which has a 3-ft heave are bodies of water where you need to watch carefully.

Moving forward it looks like a great ice season. 2 ft plus of ice and lots of access. People with permanent shacks are starting to pull out the extensions already and creepers are still a good idea with such little snow on the ice.

Not a lot of anglers out Sunday through Tuesday with dangerously cold temperatures but that should change coming Wednesday Big shout out to the three schools and four teams that competed in the Minocqua Madness on Saturday. Teams from Winneconne Slinger and Wausaukee hit the ice and stuck it out catching lots of fish in six of the seven categories there were no smallmouth for the day. Lots of fish, great competition and a great bunch of young anglers. The WIFA organization has done a great job of getting these young anglers out on the ice and introducing them to the sport of ice fishing whenever you can support the WIFA organization to help support our wonderful sport.

Ice fishing all over nwi lakes and ponds.

Some fishing on the ice in the slip at 87th street.

Valpo chain of lakes giving up bluegills and a few crappie.

Pine lake in Laporte giving up some northern pike and bass for those running tip-ups using large golden roaches.

Not much has changed since last week, other than it’s way too cold to go fishing.