Big Gills...

[hanson]

Bob- Been seeing some photos of chunky gills from you. Nice, by the way!

How big is normal or average down there and what is big?

I imagine the average size has got to be running larger than our gills up here in Minnesota.

[Bob Horn]

The gills you seen are above average. Tony would know more on average because he fishes here more than I. I icefish more out of state than in. So what do you think Tony 7-8 1/2 average?

[Matt Johnson]

Not a bad average. Although the couple pics you sent me were in that 9-10 inch range

What type of sunfish specie is more predominant in Illinois? Or what strain?

[Tony Boshold]

We have some great spots just loaded with fish. Sort of Like the redstone trap you gotta weed thru the dinks to get some keepers. And that's a matter of perspective. On the Fox chain average fish are in the 6.5-8" range. If your getting 8"+ fish at the chain you are on the spot. Good fish up to tens are taken every year. Good days are 100+, imagine what the great days can be like. But the fish here are more the longer than taller variety. A half pound fish is a good one here. They don't weigh much compared to those pics of Bob's fish you see. Those are not Illinois fish. Are biggest where Bob fished was 13oz and several in the 12oz+ range, not a numbers spot, nothing under .5#.

The other common sunnies would be pumpkin seeds and they get pretty fat around here if they ever get a chance to grow up. Some lakes just have this great pop of pumpkinseeds and tons of dink gills to weed thru to get 'em up to 10".

The dillema is do you keep those more numerous eaters and let the slabs free? Not too easy to pry good size fish from most buckets around here, just doesn't happen often enough for many.

The crappies on the other hand do get to a good average of 10"-11"+ on the Chain many years. They often mix it up with the gills in the thick shallow weeds at early ice and late ice. My son caught a Master Angler fish not far from my house that was 16" and again skinny at 1# 8oz...snapped the pole and everything. If you have seen a CJS commercial with a giant, fat crappie in it and some guy in a crazy hat, that fish came from the same lake and may have been a state record that was released. It was Reported a 20"+ fish. I'm still searching, I know she's in there, I seen her sight fishing, I wiffed.

Perch can also be found around here too, but again they just taste so dang good and they don't get very big that often. The occasional good school comes thru and you might get fish over ten. But they average 7-9" on the chain. Lake Michigan ...well thats a fish factory and what else do I need to say. It's not often that I hear big perch on the ice on LM though. I have not found a better Perch fishery than LM (and I fished Cass for many years and its great but this is just way better on open water). They average 11-13 with 14-15's+ commonly caught. Again they are not the stout variety common to the Dakotas and MN but long. Last time out my big fish was 14.5+ and 1#8oz from a boat.

Largemouths are a lot more fun on ice tackle and 2# test than a flippin stick. We have some great largemouth spots around here and they get to a pretty good size with fish over 20" taken very often. They average 14-17" on many lakes. Some are real fatties and some lakes produce skinny fish.

Walleyes I have not targeted on ice here. In fact Rainey will be my second time and DL was the first. Any help out there? But for open water there is no fish I love to chase more. I have caught my PB here in Illinois and lost bigger here too. Probably has something to do with time on the water spent here. Last spring I had a week with 4 good eyes from 22.5-25.25" and that's as good as I have ever had around here. Many surprisingly good walleye waters around to choose from. It makes me laugh that we drive up to your neck of the woods to chase them and some days here, it feels like we are there. That's how good it can be. Stringent limits and CPR have revived some of these fisheries. The PWT was on the Chain last april and caught many good eyes upto 10#. If you want to experience some of the toughest walleye fishing I have ever had the pleasure of torturing myself over I'll show you around anytime. And if you think its bad on a thursday try a sunday some time...you'll think your boat is a bobber. The craziest part is that the fish are so used to the traffic some spots don't turn on untill the traffic stirs up the bait in the area. With all the traffic and the shallow flats of 5-7' the fish are spread on, guys are practically fishing in their prop wash trolling to keep from tangles. I actually ran our boards into Mr. Walleye's boards last april out there. DOH. I didn't see his board coming, give me a break.

We have a lot of "Put and Take" rainbow trout fisheries that can be a blast. Some ponds get better fish because they hire a private firm to stock and not the state fish. Either way makes for some tasty fun. We encounter these fish on the ice at various forest preserves around chitown. Really breaks up the monotony of dink gills when one of thes Bows takes you for a ride.

I was really looking forward to getting on some Lake Michigan Ice this winter for some of the browns in the harbor's, but that's not gonna happen. Bob know's all about these when we get them from shore. Yes, it's a fish factory and having fishing this good could be dangerous to a persons schedule. And then there's the Kings and Steelies OMG.

Almost left out Pike, not much ice fishing them for me unless incidental or pestering my pannies, I may try to introduce him to my frying pan. Open water we target them and hundred fish days, when its on fire, are an hour away north of the boarder. Oh yeah Mike poked a lake record 51" Ski there last year. It's full of good Smallies, Largies and a healthy pop of eyes. Not to mention the Sunnies and Crappies we get with the Ice rods and flashers in the boat while double anchored. "Field testing" on the boat can be more fun than you think. We troll alot on open water and the mixed bag can be sweet.

The fish are here in Illinois for those that go find them. The thing about fishing here is that it is so pressured, you meet some of the craftiest, city slickers that figure out how to get them that you ever met. If you can get them talking that is.

Now that's what I'm talking about! Caugth on a 3mm Fiskas lure of Sweden and a Little-Atom White Wedgie ( reminds of a Billy Idol song LOL). Not the best pic due to the camera phone used. Enjoy!

[Rick]

Nice Gill there Tony.

Just click the edit lionk to see how I got the pic in the image tags. When posting a picture just use the link that says "Image" below the "Post" box.

[Bob Horn]

I made a correction on my earlier post. I wrote that the fish were about average, I meant to say above average. Ops

[Team Otter]

"It's a nice day for a White Wedgie"...

I love it! Nice 'gill by the way.