Fising the Fox Chain of Lakes by Don Dziedzina

 

Great fishing is not that far away. Have you ever heard anything like that before? Well believe it because it’s true. 

 

I just fished the Fox Chain of Lakes and had one fantastic day on the water. You would probably say the same thing if you caught about twenty walleyes, a half dozen largemouth bass, a nice handful of striped bass, catfish, perch, and drum.

 

Now don’t think for a minute that I really have the Chain dialed in. It has been a long time since I’ve been up there. I did have a little help from a local guide who has lived on the Chain all his life. JD of JD Turbo Spinners and Guide Service (www.jdspinners.com) agreed to take me on the water and tape a television show for Illinois Outdoors. We did very well and got a nice show on tape. It will be aired on Saturday, June 14 at 12:30 PM on Comcast Cable, Channel 67.

 

But that is not what this article is all about. It’s about having a place to fish that is close to home.

 

The Fox Chain offers anglers the Fox River, a variety of lakes, and numerous channels to fish. With heavy boat traffic on the weekends, there are still a lot of no wake waters available to fish and they’re probably the better locations to wet a line.

 

When I fished with JD, we hit a number of channels, Lake Marie, and the north branch of the Fox River off Grass Lake.   I have to tell you, I really enjoyed being out there.

 

So the great fishing really is not that far away. From our Will County area, it’s less than two hours away. And if you wanted to spend a weekend up there or a full week summer vacation, there are plenty of places to stay from campgrounds to some pretty nice motels and resorts.

 

If you have not traveled up to the Chain in a long while I would suggest hiring a guide. The reason for this is to take all of the questions and work out of trying to figure out where to fish and what to use. Should you take a trip for a three day weekend or one for a whole week, hire a guide on the first day if you can. Some times people fish a lake for a week and out of frustration; hire a guide on the last day. Once they find out how to fish the water, everything is great. So wouldn’t you like for that to happen on the first day? What you learn up front will carry on for your whole trip when you’re fishing on your own.

 

I have my ways of fishing and kind of know what works best on a lot of lakes and rivers that I fish. It’s a bit different for me up at the Chain because I have not fished there for such a long time. Having JD guide me through what works best proved to be the ticket because we did catch fish all day long.

 

We fish mostly with live bait. We used a #6 Aberdeen wire hook tipped with a fathead minnow. The line had a small splitshot attached about eighteen inches up from the hook. The minnows were worked off the bottom and we positioned JDs boat along the edges of drop offs in the river and channels. 

 

The day started out with a nice handful of stripers in the Fox River. I love these fish because they hit so hard.   We would have caught more if we would have stayed on the spot longer, but we were looking for walleyes which are JDs specialty.

 

It wasn’t long before we found them. After catching several here and there, we kept on moving to keep the action going. Actually, every spot that JD showed me produced fish for us. Again, the advantages of being with a guide will really give you an education as to where to fish and what to look for so that you are fishing productive water.

So with gas being as high as it is, do we have to drive all the way up to the Wolf River in Wisconsin for striped bass? Do we have to go to Lake Erie for walleyes or to one of the southern states for bass? Not really. Traveling to far away destinations is fine, but we can really have just as much fun fishing closer to home. If nothing else, it surely would be easier on our pocket books, 

The Fox Chain of Lakes really does offer great fishing that is not that far away. Give them a try.