Toothy fish

Winter has been mild in southern Illinois, and the fish are biting. I have spent the past two months targeting walleye, rainbow trout and muskies. Water temperatures from 38 to 45 degrees keep the feeding windows short, but they typically set up a predictable pattern for days at a time, and they often stay in predictable locations.


In 10 trips to one particular spot over the last two months, I have caught 3 muskies and 13 walleye. I have caught a walleye per trip from that spot since Jan 1st except for a beautiful Saturday morning when I went fishless, unless you count the foul hooked asian carp. I don't catch many per trip, and often times I will only have one to two bites per trip when fishing for walleye. They have ranged in size from 15-23 inches. Muskies can be incredibly aggressive some days, then disappear for days, but that is nothing new. Rainbow trout are predictable and sometimes easy to catch. Several other species have showed up while fishing for the aforementioned target fish. I hope you are enjoying the outdoors as much as I am this winter.