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Posts: 470
| It was surprising to see the number of Smallmouth and Largemouth bass coming out of the Chicago River downtown. I see lots of guys fishing the walls/piers during the warmer months. I think Muskies would at least have a chance in these waters, but like ToddM, I don't see it happening in Illinois.
RandalB |
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Location: E. Tenn | Slobasaurus - 2/25/2017 8:35 AM
Muskies will just move down the Chicago River to the Des Plaines and Illinois Rivers.
....but they'll eat all the Asian carp... |
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Posts: 161
Location: Chicago, IL | Exactly! Not such a bad thing at all. Ragas- yes the state is out of money, but Muskies Inc. clubs like the Chicagoland Muskie Hunters are dying to contribute capital and field volunteer support. |
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Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | The IL DNR is not going to stock Lake Michigan with muskies. They're not even stocking king salmon in the same numbers because of the alewife crash. Kings bring in zillions in commerce (charters, gear, events, blaa blaa blaa), muskies would bring in almost nothing and realistically would be snacking on declining alewife populations and the really expensive salmon and trout that get stocked.
Great dream, never going to happen. AND, if it did, Lake Michigan is pretty much an ocean...would take millions of fish stocked to create a viable population. And sad to say, 80% or more of muskie fisherman do not do open water/big water trolling, at least int the midwest. |
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Posts: 161
Location: Chicago, IL | Where are all the "Yes Men"?! I'm proposing we get the Chicago River stocked first. The big lake is the dream, but we need to a small win (still a lot to overcome with the DNR) first. |
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Location: oswego, il | I dont see the dnr stocking the rivers. Just the sheer numbers it would take to build a fishery. I know they are in the fox but it is low level and low numbers.
I dont think asian carp would take over lake michigan either. For one, they need rivers to spawn, they are not lake spawners. Second, the competition for their food source is incredible. Almost every invasive in the lake eats what they eat. Both muscles, water flea, blood schrimp, alwewife, and i am sure to be missing some. Then there are the native stuff.
Edited by ToddM 2/28/2017 6:41 PM
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Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | ToddM - 2/28/2017 6:40 PM
I dont think asian carp would take over lake michigan either. For one, they need rivers to spawn, they are not lake spawners. Second, the competition for their food source is incredible. Almost every invasive in the lake eats what they eat. Both muscles, water flea, blood schrimp, alwewife, and i am sure to be missing some. Then there are the native stuff.
GOLDFISH! I saw two about 24" at the dock in Waukegan Harbor a couple years ago. |
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Posts: 431
| There are some hog goldfish pulled through the ice here on Lake St Clair. It seems strange how a bright gold pet goldfish can bumble around a lake loaded with musky, bass and pike for years getting huge without ending up in a stomach. |
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Location: oswego, il | Goldfish are carp, they are not filter feeders like asian carp. There are giant carp in lake michigan. I hooked one two years ago smallie fishing. It came off before it spooled me. |
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Location: Lake Country, Wisconsin | Well well....looks like someone made a long journey south
http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/muskie-on-the-chicago-lakefront-...
Edited by Musky Brian 4/19/2017 8:34 AM
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Location: Northern Illinois | Cool thanks for sharing that. Good news for us FIBS.....
So your telling me there's a chance. |
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| Slamr - 2/28/2017 8:51 AM
The IL DNR is not going to stock Lake Michigan with muskies. They're not even stocking king salmon in the same numbers because of the alewife crash. Kings bring in zillions in commerce (charters, gear, events, blaa blaa blaa), muskies would bring in almost nothing and realistically would be snacking on declining alewife populations and the really expensive salmon and trout that get stocked.
Great dream, never going to happen. AND, if it did, Lake Michigan is pretty much an ocean...would take millions of fish stocked to create a viable population. And sad to say, 80% or more of muskie fisherman do not do open water/big water trolling, at least int the midwest.
WI DNR made the decision to cut way back on brown trout and lake trout stocking for Lake Michigan, while keeping up the King and Coho. It created a lot of push back from fishermen who have experienced incredible brown trout fishing from small boats, break walls and through the ice in the marinas around Milwaukee. The reason was simple: The commercial charters spent a lot of money lobbying the legislature and the regular fishermen don't have an effective lobbying group. The head of the WI assembly, Robin Vos (R) has publicly stated that he will not even talk to a lobbyist who had not personally donated to the Republican party and whose group has not donated. The charter captains did both. |
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Location: oswego, il | Musky Brian - 4/19/2017 8:33 AM
Well well....looks like someone made a long journey south
http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/muskie-on-the-chicago-lakefront-...
My guess its a "slobbasaurus" planting. There was one caught last year in indiana.
As far as the salmon go the charters want the kings. It is a shame but the lake is not the same as it was when charters could go get limits of 30lbers. Browns adapt well, kings do not but the arguement still remains despite the overwhelming evidence. I was told you could stock 7 steelhead for every king. I am sure the brown king ratio is favorable to the brown as well. Kings are the only fish that is not adapting to the changing forage. |
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| The brown trout fishing close to shore in the Milwaukee area has been amazing for several years. The local fishing shows have had guys catching and releasing multiple fish in the 30" range both through the ice and in boats along the piers and break walls.
A couple years ago the fishing show "City Limits" had Mike Iconalli fishing with live bait in the boat slips of a harbor in Milwaukee. He was going crazy, catching and losing giant brown trout. But lots of guys without "Lake Michigan" boats have taken advantage of this fishing as well. Sadly, with the focus on Kings and Coho, that is going to be a thing of the past. Which would probably suit the charter captains just fine. Some of them are just plain greedy, as shown when a feud between competing captains in the Sheboygan area resulted in a number of boats being torched. |
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| Fox river, Des Plaines river, Maybe the Dupage river, Chicago river. I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the Kankakee river. I'm aware it flows into Indiana but who knows. Maybe the state could work with Indiana in a joint stocking effort to create a trophy musky fishery out of the Kankakee! |
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Location: oswego, il | kdawg - 4/19/2017 11:34 AM
Fox river, Des Plaines river, Maybe the Dupage river, Chicago river. I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the Kankakee river. I'm aware it flows into Indiana but who knows. Maybe the state could work with Indiana in a joint stocking effort to create a trophy musky fishery out of the Kankakee!
The KKK (yes that is the correct abbreviation) river flows out of not into indiana. It joins the des plaines river which forms illinois. It would take a huge amount of fish to get a population going. The fox river has a nominal population that can be occasionally caught frequenting certain spots. |
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Posts: 731
| Whats interesting about the Triple k is for as long as I can remember, it had a good fishable population of pike. And I'm not sure if the dnr ever stocked the river with pike meaning could there be a certain level of natural reproduction? I'm not a biologist so if there are backwater areas, one that comes to mine is the railroad bayou, where pike can reproduce, can muskies as well? I think the Triple k may be one of the few Illinois waters where pike do reproduce. Which leads me to the question would it not be a good idea to stock muskies where they may have a CHANCE to successfully spawn? KDAWG |
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Location: oswego, il | I did a survey on the KKK river when i was a teenager with the dnr. Pike were more prevalent towards the indiana border. I would call the population present but not common. We did not survey many past momence. Pike are present in the fox and desplaines river too. I believe the dnr may have stocked some in the dupage. Again it would take as many fish as the state produces now just to dedicate to one river if not more. |
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| My brother caught a King Salmon in the Des Plaines river, north of 135th Street, in Romeoville, quite a few years ago. He was in a kayak and saw a fish with it's dorsal fin and tail out of the water. It was in a little pool of water about a foot deep. He thought it was a carp until he got closer and saw it was a big salmon. He got out of the kayak and grabbed it by the tail. It was a big male, about 18 to 20 pounds. He got a couple of pictures. A picture of it was in an outdoor paper.
It must of come up the canal, made it through the locks, then up the river, through Lockport.
Also, heard of people catching steelheads in the canal, under the big bridge, in Lockport, and in the Des Plaines, south of Joliet. Of course, they were targeting other species.
Sorry about getting off topic, but it was just too cool, not to share. |
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Location: Minocqua, WI | ToddM - 4/19/2017 3:23 PM
I did a survey on the KKK river when i was a teenager with the dnr. Pike were more prevalent towards the indiana border. I would call the population present but not common. We did not survey many past momence. Pike are present in the fox and desplaines river too. I believe the dnr may have stocked some in the dupage. Again it would take as many fish as the state produces now just to dedicate to one river if not more.
DPR and its tributaries are actually quite infested with snake pike right now. Breeding like crazy. No stocking. |
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Posts: 390
| well well......http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/muskie-on-the-chicago-lakefront-rare-catch-draws-crowd-at-adler/ |
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Location: Grand Rapids, MI | That recent Chicago fish corresponds to some stocking in Michigan that's only 90-ish miles away. Just as the Green Bay fish have wandered up and around Door County the fish stocked in Michigan are going to wander around the south half of the lake... this is only the beginning. |
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Location: Apparently where the Muskie aren't | Well, in that case, they will eventually be everywhere. Yay for migration!!! |
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| FWIW, a musky was caught out behind the planetarium a few weeks ago by a coho fisherman. If I knew how to post images, I could upload the photo that was posted on a local fishing site. nothing huge, low 30's inch fish... but a lucky and random catch none the less. I also went for bike ride earlier in the week along the river and saw nice mid 30's pike sunning himself along the river wall. Went back the next day with a rod, no luck. Oh well, getting into prime smallie season!
Edit: Found a link to the story - http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/muskie-on-the-chicago-lakefront-...
Edited by jhillman17 4/28/2017 9:25 AM
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Location: oswego, il | Cool, thats the third time the link has been posted on this thread!:-) pretty soon someone will post the "rainy lake" pike.
Edited by ToddM 4/28/2017 8:59 PM
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Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | Heard this one was caught out of Waukegan Harbor a few weeks ago!
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Location: Delavan, WI | Nice move Slamr I was about to do the same thing  |
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