New to Il, looking for some places to start.

[ajhallfr]

Hey all,

I am new to Illinois, but not to ice fishing. I recently got back from a trip to the U.P. fishing pike (so/so results). I live in Glenview (north of Chicago) and was curious if there are any lakes around that I can ice fish? I'm not asking for anyone's honey hole, just a few places to start my search. I love fishing pike and walleye through the ice, but perch and 'gills are great too. I'd be willing to drive an hour to fish someplace with decent fishing, maybe even an hour and a half.

Any help would be greatly appreciated and thanks.

[ajhallfr]

after doing a little research, it looks like the Fox Chain of Lakes is probably my best bet?

[crappie66]

It depends on your style and level of ice fishing.  If you are content with catching small fish and only catch a few then you can try many of the CCFP lakes.  If you are more serious about it then the Fox Chain is likley your best bet.  This message board doesn't seem to get much activity from people in the NE area of IL. 

I would recommend checking out other chicago area ice fishing message boards if you want more information. 

[ajhallfr]

Thanks for the info Crappie. I'm pretty serious about ice fishing and I'm pretty experienced, just not around here. I'm probably going to drive up to the Fox Chain on Monday just to check them out and see what I'm in for. I'm really hoping to find someplace with some halfway decent pike fishing with maybe the occasional walleye.

[gillpill30]

Fox Chain is good. I would hit Pistakee

[ajhallfr]

Thanks gill

I'm also looking at taking a look at Busse since it's close to home and seems like it might have a good walleye population. Anyone know anything about pike or panfish there?

Also, how do people normally ice fish walleye around here? I generally put a medium size minnow on a tip-up and then jig with a swedish pimple and minnow head.

[crappie66]

I would not waste my time at Busse.  I live in Arlington Heights about 5 minutes from Busse and don't even bother. 

Pistakee is good, just be careful with ice conditions now.  I do most of my ice fishing on Pistakee, moving to different areas as the season progresses.

[180 Pro]

Pistakee is good but you'll probably have better luck finding Pike on Catherine or Channel lake. It seems like the North Chain is better for the toothy critters. Pistakee will give up an occasional Walleye and loads of Stripers and Crappies. Mineola has been producing of late as well for Crappies, Stripers and the occasional Walleye.

180

[Ranger619]

Since you live all the way up in Glenview I'd be going north across the border. Lake Geneva,Delavan thare's a ton of smaller lakes in Kenosha County. And most all of them have northern. Not sure if they have big Northern but they have them. Good Luck !!

[waterfowler04]

Wherever you came from is probably better than this crappy state. I moved here last year from northern  Indiana and it doesn't  even come close to what we had there for fishing.

[crappie66]

Wherever you came from is probably better than this crappy state. I moved here last year from northern  Indiana and it doesn't  even come close to what we had there for fishing.

What part if Indiana? 

I moved here in 2007 from Ft. Wayne.  A lot of good fishing in NE Indiana.  NW Indiana is horrible for ice fishing.