Western Suburbs

[Scarecrowbirdie]

I am looking for suggestions of lakes/ponds to take my son to this winter in the western suburbs/Oak Brook area. Looking more for action, than trophies. I have fished a few of the DuPage forest preserves before, but am wondering if there are any smaller bodies of water that aren't forest preserve that are accessible without getting run off. Stuff like retention ponds or other small bodies.

Thanks in advance.

[offshoredrilling]

Hop on google maps and go into satellite view. Its the absolute best scouting tool for small bodies of water. My old man is the only person I tell about fishing spots any more. Thanks to the internet, the second you post about when/where you caught something, people take over. There's pan fish in every little puddle you pass. Start scouting now, anything that is park district for the most part will have park hours and rules/regulations. If there's no ice skating, there's no ice fishing. You really dont know if you're going to get booted from places until you try them. If there's not signage specifically prohibiting ice fishing or keeping off ice i dont know how else you would find out.

Get out to the city and fish the harbors once we ice over. You can spend a few hours on the ice and catch a hundred perch. Action and good eating. Its just a bit of a drive some times.

[Scarecrowbirdie]

Thank you. I have been doing that, and am going to try a few different forest preserves as well.

[joechicago]

Yup, I've done that too. Worth the drive.

[cjlangellier]

I've been fishing Silver lake and Herrick lake the last couple years.  I like kayak fishing Silver in the summer but no luck whatsoever there in the winter.  Herrick, I never get skunked but rarely catch keeper panfish.  Last winter I started driving out to Shabbona Lake.  If you have a full day to fish and don't mind a little drive, I personally think it's a much better fishery than any of the local forest preserves.  I went perch fishing off one of the piers at lake Michigan for the first time this year.  You can have varying degrees of success, but if you like peace and solitude, fish somewhere else.