IceShanty.com's Ice Fishing Community
Illinois => Ice Fishing Illinois => Topic started by: jimmygunns on Jan 16, 2010, 08:04 PM
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Why is it we always have Jack Squat on our board? Are we not spreading the word about IS enough? Sad, just sad!
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I was wondering the samething. If you look in any other state there full of people talking, but then you look in IL and it's like a ghost town. I think ether people don't like to talk or afraid that some one will come fish on there lake because they talked about it or they have yet to find this great site. I also agree very sad.
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Well im here..... I was thinking the same thing though, get home from work jump on IS, and nothing to read on illinois forums. C'mon guys gatta be some topics to talk about.....
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Really. I am on here at least 2-3 times during the day, but always nothin here.
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I haven't fished in a couple weeks. First four trips out were pretty bad with something like 0 fish, 3 fish, 0 fish and 2 fish. Water clarity had been horrible and when I was able to view with the underwater camera the fish cribs I had hit years past were like ghost towns themselves :( Not much for me to report I am sorry to say.
I thought about going out tommorow now that I taped up the windows on my shanty, no idea where things are clear enough to appreciate my new underwater cam.
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Find a nice strip mine lake. They are usually pretty clear. Went to one today with no luck but 4 inchers, but my daughter had a good time so i guess that is all that matters.
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We live in a unique State. The Chicago area has the most fishing Web sites of any region in the country, that sort of thins the crowd here. As for myself I'm in the process of selling my own site so I haven't had the time or will to post. Also it seems like all of the really good water around here is in private hands and that makes things a bit tough.
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Any of you guys familiar with Lake Summerset in Winnebago County? ???
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Yep lets go to Iowa.....or Erie..... or Maine.
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Any of you guys familiar with Lake Summerset in Winnebago County? ???
I fished it a few years ago in the summer. I had a cople friends that lived there. If it is the lake i'm thinking of it is a private lake, but like I said it's been along time ago.
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Let`s have a all Illinois get together on a lake either in Lake or McHenry Co, so that we can all meet and bs and put some faces to names.
Bob
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Yeah that would be a great time for sure.
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well the problem i have with Illinois lakes is like stated before the good fishing ones are private and the publice ones you need a wheeler or sled to get 2 to the good fishing as for me i sold my sleds last year and my wheeler 2 years before that and have not had the time and need a little more $$ to get the new ranger i want. i fish mostly Wis because i am only 12 miles south of the border and most of my bass tourneys i fish are in Wis and i am lucky because i can take a 1-2 hour drive and be on some very good lakes like Geneva,delevan,monona,lake wis,rock,and fox plus from middle to late ice season i can drive my truck right 2 where i want to fish and don't have to sit butt to elbow with 100 other people keeping 6 inch fish now don't get me wrong i like fishing in the crowds sometimes but most of the time i like splitting of and moving to find fish. me and some of my friends were just talking the other day we hate were we live because the local lakes stink. we have a conservation area with three beautiful lakes and the fishing is terrible the only time it is decent is every February when they release the stocking trout for the kids fishing clinic then the fishing is fun but you have to wait a while for the fish to be in there before they are decent to eat they have to get that farm food out of there systems. we also have rock cut state park with 2 nice lakes yet here again the fishing is bad with tons of dinks plus we have some nice old gravel quarry ponds that are now parks and they wont let you ice fish them but go figure they have good open water fishing. so here we sit having to drive west to savanna or east 2 the fox chain or south to shabonea or north to Wis so usually after early ice i am north bound
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I live around Peoria and we have some decent lakes around here, but dnr shuts them all down for duck and goose season that runs til February.
I've been out several times this year to Lake Storey, Evergreen, Dawson, but the lake I fish the most is Banner Marsh. You aren't supposed to start fishing til after 1pm and the best spots are closed for waterfowl refuge. Living this far south, it's a coin toss as to whether or not there will be ice by the time February comes around. I think people are pretty guarded around here because there aren't many good public ice fishing spots available and people are worried about them getting over fished. I wish DNR would help us fisherman out and not close as many lakes for waterfowl or hunting around here.
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A get together sounds like a great idea, where and when? I am out from Feb 10 to 20.
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I live around Peoria and we have some decent lakes around here, but dnr shuts them all down for duck and goose season that runs til February.
I've been out several times this year to Lake Storey, Evergreen, Dawson, but the lake I fish the most is Banner Marsh. You aren't supposed to start fishing til after 1pm and the best spots are closed for waterfowl refuge. Living this far south, it's a coin toss as to whether or not there will be ice by the time February comes around. I think people are pretty guarded around here because there aren't many good public ice fishing spots available and people are worried about them getting over fished. I wish DNR would help us fisherman out and not close as many lakes for waterfowl or hunting around here.
You must remember the waterfowlers have the money so they will be catered to for sure....just my .02 btw I do fish Dawson and Evergreen and Lake Bloomington..there are some nice farm pounds down here to fish...as far as Illinois being dead on this page...our ice fishing is really divided...from central illinois to mid southern illinois the ice season can be very short...I know futher north they have a longer season..and if you get below effingham I don't know if they ever get ice thick enuff to fish on. I think that this is why our boards so hit and miss...alot like the ice fishing season here is.
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I live in Morrison and the closest lake is only 2 miles out of town. It's not the best fishing as the gills aren't very big in the winter. I have caught a couple crappie there though. Also some Largemouth Bass. I hear of people catching Walleye, too but I haven't had any luck catching them myself. I haven't been out in a couple of weeks because of work, weather and wife. I am getting the itch to go again. I also have access to a private highway pond that I haven't been to yet this year. I also don't know why there isn't much action on the IL board.
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I live in Morrison and the closest lake is only 2 miles out of town. It's not the best fishing as the gills aren't very big in the winter. I have caught a couple crappie there though. Also some Largemouth Bass. I hear of people catching Walleye, too but I haven't had any luck catching them myself. I haven't been out in a couple of weeks because of work, weather and wife. I am getting the itch to go again. I also have access to a private highway pond that I haven't been to yet this year. I also don't know why there isn't much action on the IL board.
jbird have you tried any of the sloughs on Mississippi around the Savannah area? Getting back in there might be tough, and I don't know the current ice conditions, but there is some excellent bass and crappie fishing back in there. I am sure they are closer to the mouths of the sloughs where the water is a little deeper. Ask around. Good baitshop at the gas station in Savannah.
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The reason the site is dead cause ice fishing is just about dead in Illinois, some reasons have been touched on. Siltation on the Miss river has killed many areas. DNR decisions on stocking in some of our public lake is questionable at best. There is not to many places to fish so when a place gets a little warm it gets hammered for weeks. Maybe its just a bad cycle but I remember years in northern Illinois especially on the Miss river there would be cars parked on both sides of RT 84 near pallisades park in Savanna,Mickeolsons,perch hole and the #13 pocket....What happened to all that. Over harvesting? Nobody had crap for equipment but caught fish. Now we drag all this gear out and catch three 4" bluegill on a good day. Its hard to get motivated. Keep trying anyway................ ..........Thanks
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well with pool 13 and 14 with all the flooding the last 20 years every thing is silted in and it does not sound like the engineers are planing on dredging anything any time soon that is the big problem there are places mostly the ones you speak of that i can not hardly blow back into with my ranger any more need a new duck boat with a pro-drive just so i will be able to get back to the good fishing
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Toadhunter2, agree 100% siltation is the culprit on the Miss river. If you have a quad runner there our some spots you can get to but are taking a chance with current. I Probably need to get one with all the gear. Agree with the flooding but the granddaddy of all floods on the Miss river 1965 didn't seem to kill the ice fishing or did it? Anyone remember? . The dredging at Mickeolsons helped some but mostly for bass fishing during non-ice.....................
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Just curious, of the Illinois ice fishermen on this site how many have tried their luck in wisconsin. Reading thru I noticed Toadhunter lives 12mi from the border and frequents Wi waters and I can't say I blame him. Anybody else ice fish the southern Wi waters with any success? . Definitley more water to choose from. Trying to make a decision whether I want to keep all this ice fishing gear or sell it.................... ................
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I do 40% of my ice fishing in Wisconsin. Once year to Lake Peppin and the Mississippi backwaters around Nelson, Castle Rock and the Petenwell and this year I have access to a Lake house in Southern Wisconsin. I will be spending the next 3 weekends up there fishing the hardwater for the first time in that area. Locally I like Shabbona and some small retention and farm ponds. The farm ponds are disappearing due to building boom that took place and those that are left private, the owners are fed up with people they don't know coming in and trashing the place so they have posted them as private and don't allow anyone on.
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i live probably 5 miles from the wisconsin border. that said i mostly fish the fox chain. i however have private access and a snowmobile so i cant say i have it too hard. the fishing has been tough lately but the crappies are there and catchable. so are the gills. i just dont have the drive to fish for them lately as walleye have been our target.
as for the site im part of the problem around here. i stopped posting because it has been dead. the other problem i have is nobody seems to want to share reports. every now and then somebody does. I used to but all it was greeted with is people pming me and asking how to get out on a lake or where to fish or where public access is. i dont much have a problem with that but i do expect to hear some feedback about other spots. i didnt drill 500 holes over the course of several days so everybody else can benefit from my time and legwork and not give a little back. it is a two way street. i am pretty free with info as long as others are willing to give too. until that happens i will continue to be nonspecific.
aside from that if you see an arctic cat el tigre towing a fish trap guide on fox, petite, dunns or marie feel free to come say hi to me.
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I tried Mickelsons once last year and only caught one keeper perch. Havn't been back since.
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I usually post my results on the board with all the relevant information. I have found other websites relating to Chicagoland fishing provides a lot of information to fill the gaps.
I generally am only concerned with ice conditions at the beginning of the season as I would hate to make the trip up north to find out I can't get on the ice after waiting 9 months for the ice.
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It sure was Dead for me today. Standing in 6" of water all day.
Fran 8)
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IceRocket I also remember those days at Perch Hole and Palisades. Back in the late 80's you could go to the Perch Hole and watch 9" bluegills and nice perch all day long in 2-3 ft of water!! They catch some monster crappie over at Pool 13 in the open water but not sure you could ice fish those areas or let alone get to them. I fish the Cook Cty Forest preserve lakes to scratch my itch till I get up to Wisc. My brother inlaw has a place on Castle Rock. Got to Neilson's for the 1st time ever this year and did decent on gills. Have always wanted to try Willow Slough but haven't made it yet.
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I agree with John BZ that much of the fishing is taken up into WI for IL fisherman in the winter... especially around the suburb area, lots of connections to friends/coworkers etc. with lake houses and access up there. We have the chain, which really doesn't have much access in the winter, unless you have the snowmobile to get you to non populated areas. Otherwise, you and everyone's uncle are out on the same patches of ice/locations that some of you have been fishing for years... Many of the private lakes, you have to also know someone to get out on them, and many of them are part of associations that don't even allow ice fishing. So, even though Lake County boasts a lot of lakes and fishing, you have all of these obstacles to overcome before dealing with the ice conditions, weather, dnr stocking, etc. It comes down to, is it worth all of the hassle to get out on the ice in IL? When you can drive a little further north and have all the access you ever wanted, and probably better fishing in general. (Even if the Sconnies don't like us FIBs coming up to their country. :-)
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i go to lake summerset because its a mile from my house, also new in the sport a few years ago, BTW this site is kick a##, L.S. is ok they have dumped alot of cribs for the fish and stock it yearly,,,,,but some guy last year got caught with some crazy number of fish over the limit and now its changed to 10 combo crappie and gill, per man. but i still love it and i am also a few miles from the state line to wi and hope to go there soon
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Buddy owns a house there and wants us to head that way. Thanks for the Sommerset Report.