Looking for good Illinois or Indiana Fishing?

[BassMaster101190]

Just looking for some good fishing spots in Illinois or Indiana. Just very bored with the same lake want a change of surroundings.

[JB]

Well for indiana, ya just cant beat Monroe, 10 lb hogs and lily pads, plus all the usual lake structure...then theres Patoka, huge bluegills and nice bass,
and my favorite is Brookville lake... but If I had to refer someone to a great lake, it has to be Monore down by bloomington

[lizardsrule]

Fishing can be tough at Monroe. I would use your electronics a lot, and try to find roadbeds(there are several, look at the shoreline to get a idea). Also I like Patoka a lot, but if you can find a coal pit to fish, them that is my reccomendation first and foremost. Also there are a few lakes right on the IL/IN border, I won't give their names, since someone I knows on this forum fishes at least one of them LOL(right IL LOL). They are Power Plant lakes on the border, allows you to fish all year, and they definately have some Hawgs in them.

Lizards

[brandonjames]

My brother and I usually always have good days on lake maxincuntkee in culver. Sorry, I dont know if the spelling is right but it is in the northern part of the state. Two good places for small mouths is the st.joseph river, my brother and I fish it from the north part of south bend up into michigan. Also if you fish around the ports in michigan city an new buffalo michigan you will get alot of small mouth, but if your up on lake michigan I would say go for the perch, my brother was out this morning and they were catching 10-12 inch pearch and got their limt very fast (36). This is the first day the jumbo pearch have been in. If your interested I can tell you where they are located at. Have a good day and keep a tight line.

[adirondack]

next time you spell that you'll get you'r mouth washed out.

[CreekGeek22]

101190, What part of the state do you want to focus on? I know of a bunch of lakes in the north central part of the state that are good, not close to Illinois though.

[BassMaster101190]

Originally Posted by CreekGeek22

101190, What part of the state do you want to focus on? I know of a bunch of lakes in the north central part of the state that are good, not close to Illinois though.

I would want to probably focus on the northern to central area.
Thanks for the input guys.....

[CreekGeek22]

I would want to probably focus on the northern to central area.

Try to get to Koskiusco County...FAST! There are a lot of Muskie lakes up there and most of the fisherman are fishing for Muskie, meaning the bass don't get targeted as much. Most of these lakes have great cover, the Muskie fisherman and DNR won't let the homeowners kill off the weeds because it hurts the Muskie population, which the state has invested a lot of money in!
Try these: Webster, Barbee Chain, Maxinkuckee, Tippy(Tippacanoe).
Further north: Lake James, Big Turkey

[kenkinser]

Patoka lake in southern indiana is good

[brandonjames]

Webster lake in north webster is a great lake, its very large and most of the homes there are vacation homes so the lake is not over run during the week.

[CreekGeek22]

bjames, Where is New Carlisle? Are you up there by Webster? I've been there twice but the guy who I go with wants to muskie fish so that's all I get to do. Haven't been able to 'bass' fish it yet.

[brandonjames]

North Webster is about 60 minutes from me, I am located east of South Bend about 15 miles.

[weidner21]

i fished webster yesturday for muskie and on the very first cast i had about a 35 incher hit my bait but didn't get a hookup and that was only bite i had but we also had 3 follows by some very nice muskie..........we also did some bass fishing and ended up catching 4 decent bass....i plan to go do some smallmouth fishing tomorrow on max.....if u want bass fishing i would not recomend webster ...i would say go to wawasee just 10 miles north of there...........weidner21

[ILfishinman]

for central illinois yuo got kickapoo state park, clinton lake (power plant) and lake shelbyville (corps lake)

[CreekGeek22]

Weidner,
Thanks for the tip. Is Wawasee the lake in Syracuse? A buddy and me caught two 40" muskie on Webster in June. My first experience with them and all I can say is WOW! What about the Barbee Chain? Are they good for bassin?

[weidner21]

yea it is right in syracuse.....its a pretty good lake to fish...i dont fish it to often cause its a 1hr15min drive for me and i have to nice lakes 15 mins away...salimonie and mississinewa.....that was also my first time fishing for muskie...i didn't have the proper tackle to catch them was my problem....well im taking off to max right now to do some smallmouth and walleye fishing so ill report how i do........weidner21

[garry_3000]

Ok i live and fish in indina i like Geist Res. have seen an 22.13 sack my per. best is 14pounds. Next I would say Mourse Res. have seen 17 pounds from comp. in an turny.

[garry_3000]

sorry not 14 pound fish but and 14 pound sack and an 17 pound sack the best fish i have cought was 9 pounds at Geist Res.

[Bender]

I lived in Warsaw, IN for 6 years. Unfortunately I did not fish much since I didn't have a boat and all of the lakes around there have so many houses there is not much shore left. Now when I go back i just fish a small private pond at my dad's house. I will concur that Webster is great from what i have heard around there. I would also try some of the smaller lakes for bass, maybe Palestne or some of the many other pond size ones around there.

[brandonjames]

Ok, here is another great place to fish in northern indiana, I went to Potato creek state park in north liberty. I could not beleive how well we did in just four hours. We ended up with thirteen in four hours. The smallest fish was just under three pounds and we even had one that was just over five. Now this was the best fishing that I have done in a long long time. I cant wait to go back. Of course I did not have my camera because I was positive we would not catch a thing, well I guess that is how it goes. We are going back in a few weeks, I will four sure bring a camera. We were on the east side of the lake fishing the scum with scum frogs and fake mice.

[I<3LrgMouthsOnMyPole]

anyone ever fished wolf lake? its smack in the middle of the border of indiana and illinois. or powderhorn lake both in northern area of states

[Fishie1]

IL I know of Rend Lake...fish the marinas and boat docks...bring cranks to pound some riprap for some bites...Coffeen Lake which is more towards st. louis...bring some big red shad worms and your spinnerbaits....Carlye lake which has some great white bass fishing....you can get them in the jumps....your jigging spoons , rattle traps and also baby one minus baits pay off on that lake....

[Fishie1]

Coffeen has lots of grass if you are into that stuff while Rend has a lot of rip rap and old fences and trees you can fish...