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Posts: 106
Location: Des Plaines, IL | Any tips for the chain for this time of year. I'll be out there early Saturday morning. |
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Posts: 305
Location: Illinois | Jim,
I'll try to give you a hand although I have seen very litlle the last 3 times out. First, it's a holiday weekend on the chain so bring a helmet. I would fish the slop or fairly deep. What I'm saying is, the heavyboat traffic seems tp push them in the slop or off the edge into deeper water. Make sure you hit the sandbar on marie for a burger or cocktail. There is some awfully nice talent in there. Try a bucktail with silver blades and white hair on the northern lakes and something bright further south. Finally, try some jointed baby depth raiders in a little deeper water. Be prepared for some frustration and try to make a fun day out of it. Honestly, hooking up with a fish will be a suprise bonus. |
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| It is not that bad, you will still enjoy yourself...From my experience you can pick up a great big fish pattern fishing the inside weed lines...really shallow working holes and pocktes wiht spinner baits, twitch cranes, undertaker and jerkos twitching up instead of down. The larger fish tend to go shallow and in the slop...good and enjoy yourself...Ben |
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| I've found that the heavy boat traffic really turns the fish on. I would cast in the morning early and then troll the rest of the day.
I'm a STU |
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Posts: 106
Location: Des Plaines, IL | Thanks alot guys, I will post some pics on Tuesday(hopefully)
Jim |
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Posts: 532
Location: Chicago, IL | Was out today (5/27), definately still slow. Saw 3, landed 1 which if I was lucky measured 12". I saw 2 of the fish on Phantoms and 1 on a bucktail. I was working the deeper weeds though. The fish on the Phantoms just came in lazy and the one on the Bucktail seemed more agressive. They just don't seem to fully want to turn on or commit to a bait. Judging from the bucktail fish which was a little more hot I would probably throw bucktails. For some reason it seems the more the fish can look at the bait the more time they have to think about it and turn away. Just a thought. |
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Posts: 106
Location: Des Plaines, IL | Went out Saturday morning and had four follows before 6am and a couple more by noon with two missed strikes. Boat traffic was kept to a minimum by the wind and a chill in the air. We got off at 2pm with none in the boat.All of the follows were on bucktails |
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| STU,
That is odd for you to give up information.At least it is accurate.
By the way, Nice SUV...
Proud not to be a STU |
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Posts: 956
Location: Home of the 2016 World Series Champion Cubs | Fished the Fox Chain Wed june 1st from 5:15 am til 9:00pm. The morning was for bass and walleye (a fishing outing from work, was tough not gunning for Muskies) While bass/ walleye fishing didnt see any incidental muskies. A friend of mine did manage to hook a 38"+/- on a husky jerk while basssin but without a leader he got bit off. he noticed though as the line gave way the bait came free near the surface. as turned the bow mount to retrieve the bait the ski cmae back for wha he thought was rightfully his and made off with the bait. Sorry to say but that doesnt seem to bode well for that muskies future. Fished various lakes for bass and boated only a ffew the largest was 17" . Tried walleye on the river north of the chain and managed only 3 sheephead. Fished Muskies from 3pm till 9pm. NO follows but did have a violent strike on a super top raider on N/W part of Marie just outside the weedline the runs along the buoys at about 8pm. Water temps were as high as 72 by the end of the day with a light breeze blowing all day with terribly clear skies. Boat traffic became noticable at about 3pm as well. A OOOOOOOOONG day with little to show for it but nice to be out.
Karl |
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Posts: 23
| I was also out there on Weds morning and didn't get a thing. I saw a nice mid 40's fish cruising the weed edge on Catherine, but that was it. I still can't believe how clear the water on Catherine and Channel is. My buddy fished the same tourney you were in and they got skunked. It seemed everybody I talked to said the same thing. They saw alot of fish, but no bites. |
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| Not a stu,
Now they revoked my membership card to the secret squirrel club. I didn't say to fish grass lake!
I'm proud to be a Stu.
P. S. I get compliments about my SUV! |
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Posts: 956
Location: Home of the 2016 World Series Champion Cubs | Water on parts of Marie already getting murky. Petite was deffinitely low viz as well as lakes farther south. Welcome to summer on the chain. |
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Posts: 42
| i already quit fishing the chain, its way too dirty to see anything with all of the pleasure boaters out there, its ridiculous. Not to mention all of the sheriff and conservation boats out there to ruin peoples days. I got pulled over by the sheriff, sorry, not the sheriff, but one of the hundreds out there, and he looked through my boat for a half hour until he found something he could ticket me for, long story short he found that i didn't have a whistle with me. so he cited me $75 bucks. Long story short, u don't see enough fish out here, even if there was a fish following u wouldn't be able to see it through the mud water out here, and the $75 launch fee to come out here and not catch anything isn't worth it at all. hopefully u guys can find some decent water to fish in out here, but it won't be for long with all of the pleasure boaters traffic. I've had much better luck out on the southern wisconsin lakes and haven't been stopped once. And in my three times out on the chain this month i've been stopped five times. Just my perspective lately. Tight lines to all who fish the chain (although knowing the chain it might be a tire or a boot, if ur that lucky)
MG5
A musky a day keeps me at pay |
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| sorry you feel that way about the chain. Yes the boat traffic sucks but you can still catch fish. I know someone that fished last week and caught 3 fish. he went back out later in the week and didn't get anything but another person on the same day caught 4. My other buddy was out fri evening for a couple of hours and caught a 41. So, fish are being caught and all these fish came from dark water. personally, i like fishing dark water.
I've been bothered too. It was just starting to get dark and it happened to be no wake because of high water. We nailed 3 fish that evening when a storm was coming in. The lake county police came over and was giving us a hard time about my lights not being on. NO WAKE. Then the police said the dnr caught a 63 inch muskie in the trap nets. OK. good luck and proud to be a STU |
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Posts: 305
Location: Illinois | Fished the Chain Sunday, 6-5. Water clarity still good but starting to get a little more murky, which is good. There is a decent bloom starting on Channel aznd Marie. Boat traffic fairly heavy but not crazy. Caught a 30.5 annd partner caught a 37 shortlining in 8-10 fet of water. Casted Bluff and Channel without a follow. I have also had the police board my boat on the chain and I wasn't thrilled but I also understand that this is the job they were hired to do. They are always polite and I return the favor in kind. I agree the Chain isn't LOTW or any other exotic fishery but it does produce fish and sometimes there is no other body of water I would rather be on. (ok maybe Eagle but you catch my drift 
hj |
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| The funny thing about the Cops.When there are idiots out there that need to be controlled, Not a cop in sight.
Was out on Fri 6/3 and saw nine fish, boated zero. Biggest was mid forties. Was out again today and saw 2. Boated a 39. Water definately dirtying up.
If I were a Stu, I wouldn't be sharing this. |
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Posts: 532
Location: Chicago, IL | The chain is definately not a serene place to fish. It definately is not the prettiest of waters or the most friendly at that. You deal with idiots flying between you and the shoreline while you are casting, or flying through your favorite weeds. The one thing that keeps me fishing the chain is convenience and the fact that it does have a lot of fish. Also some decent sized ones too.
The murky or dirty water is just how it is, you can't go to the chain and expect the water clarity of the lakes up north. Although it might not make is the easiest task to see a follow, I know one thing and that is the fish have no problem locating baits. |
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Posts: 532
Location: Chicago, IL | Out yesterday (6/7). Definately saw some fish and boated a 31". To be honest judging from the head on the fish I thought it was around 36", but the end half of its body looked true to it's size. They seem to be eating well, even if they were sluggish for a bit. |
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Posts: 532
Location: Chicago, IL | Was out today (6/10). After pulling an all nighter the night before me and a buddy managed to head out to the lake early and try our chances at popping his Musky cherry. We managed to get him a 41" which was all the coffee we needed to wake us up. The picture below is of Joe Lucarelli with his first musky ever. Also the fish had two huge wounds on its right side which looked like they were caused from a prop.
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 joe41vs.jpg (38KB - 68 downloads)
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Posts: 169
Location: Elgin ,IL | Popped a 43'er with clients on Marie casting. It was Zack's 1st musky caught on a black/orange bucktail!
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Zack_s43web.jpg (44KB - 77 downloads)
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Posts: 106
Location: Des Plaines, IL | Do you pull the weeds off after every cast or fish in deeper water? I was out yesterday and kept getting this "hair" weed on my lures. |
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Posts: 341
| Just keep pulling the annoying hair off or try a more weedless colorado blade spinner. It sucks but that's were i'm finding them in the slop soup. |
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Posts: 341
| Looking for a partner for Thursday at 6:30pm. Work Catherine and maybe troll Marie for a while. Probably pull the boat out at 10pm unless we are getting bloody knuckled.
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Posts: 169
Location: Elgin ,IL | Fished with clients on sat. & sun. Got blanked on saturday. Sunday popped a small 33"er trolling on marie. Also trolled up a 33.25" pike and about a 5 pound carp. Water temps were up to 82 degrees by noon. Algae bloom is on all lakes. Visibility is down to 2 feet or less. |
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| Sunday got a 5lb bass and had about a 40 in fish on for about 4 head shakes. Anyone know how far they are required to stay away from you. 50 ft. 100ft. I was almost hit twice. |
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Posts: 462
Location: Antioch, IL | If your refering to the fish, I think they are required to stay at least a 100 yards from any lure I throw. |
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Posts: 106
Location: Des Plaines, IL | I agree with you, maybe we should go fishing at the same time and the fish will get confused and at least one of us will get one.  |
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| anyone braving the crowds this week?? |
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Posts: 462
Location: Antioch, IL | Only the crowds of drunken women at Blarney Island |
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| Based on the reports here I'm thinking of driving down from Minnesota to try "the chain". With the traffic you're talking about & water quality the fish probably haven't seen a lot of baits. Sounds like I can get into some high 40's low 50 "virgin" fish? |
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