Who here kayak fishes in IL? What are your favorite places to fish that kayaks handle well?

Best places in Illinois to kayak are rivers, which coincidentally also have smallies. The Kankakee, DuPage, Des Plaines, Fox, Green, Kaskaskia, Vermillion, Apple, Kishwaukee and Rock are the rivers, mostly in Northern Illinois, that I’m familiar with.

54 minutes ago, Scott F said:

Best places in Illinois to kayak are rivers, which coincidentally also have smallies. The Kankakee, DuPage, Des Plaines, Fox, Green, Kaskaskia, Vermillion, Apple, Kishwaukee and Rock are the rivers, mostly in Northern Illinois, that I’m familiar with.

Since you're in Joliet, have you ever fished any of the Mazonia lakes? Curious how the fishing is and how it is in a kayak.

Fishing can be very good in Mazonia. If you are willing to carry/drag/wheel your kayak to some of the more difficult to get to lakes, you can do very well. 

Just an fyi there an illinois thread around here called "where are all the illinois guys", you may want to post there, you'd probably get more responses from local folks

On 1/30/2020 at 7:53 PM, kdubracing said:

Since you're in Joliet, have you ever fished any of the Mazonia lakes? Curious how the fishing is and how it is in a kayak.

Rock Run is a place I often take my kayak.  I always catch fish there.  A lot of interesting things to fish there.  

If you're near the hennepin canal, parts of it can be incredible. I've caught some big bass out of it.  It's usually well protected from wind, very mild current, and easy Portage. 

 

It might just look like a rotted old irrigation ditch but it can be tons of fun to fish. Interesting history behind it too.

On 2/21/2020 at 11:37 AM, Junk Fisherman said:

Rock Run is a place I often take my kayak.  I always catch fish there.  A lot of interesting things to fish there.  

Where is Rock Run? Never heard of it and google is slightly confusing. 

On 2/21/2020 at 4:18 PM, Do1982 said:

If you're near the hennepin canal, parts of it can be incredible. I've caught some big bass out of it.  It's usually well protected from wind, very mild current, and easy Portage. 

 

It might just look like a rotted old irrigation ditch but it can be tons of fun to fish. Interesting history behind it too.

I’ve thought about that. I’m just down the road from Bureau. What parts do you fish? I’ve heard there’s some decent fishing there just not sure where.

Rock Run is a smallish creek that runs along the West side of the City of Joliet.

I’ve fished the Hennepin Canal several times putting in at the Hennepin Visitor Center near the intersection of I-80 and IL-40 which is about 90 miles west of Joliet. 

On 2/26/2020 at 8:24 PM, kdubracing said:

I’ve thought about that. I’m just down the road from Bureau. What parts do you fish? I’ve heard there’s some decent fishing there just not sure where.

I live in the quad city area so when I do fish the Hennepin it's anywhere from the mouth at the mississippi river in Rock Island up to Atkinson.  I've only just started dabbling in Kayak fishing.  There are major access and recreation points all along the canal so start exploring some of those to start with.  Find areas of the canal that have areas of deeper water.  Deeper water may just be 3-5 feet. 

 

Right now is a great time to just hop in your car for a day trip and just explore the canal.  Check out a couple of the access points.  Alot of the canal has roads that runs along or near it so it's very easy to explore by car and just get out and poke around a little bit.  

 

I'm on mobile but I'll try and post a few bass I caught in the canal last year. Wasn't in my kayak though it was in my boat. 

 

 

http://imgur.com/gallery/1uBXMDl

 

Bear with me, I've never posted pics or links on bass resource so I'm not sure all of the rules around it. I typicslly only lurk and only jump in every now and then.  If you can see that gallery every one of the bass came out of the canal. 

 

 

Y’all just stay up north; there ain’t no fish down here in So.IL.

10 minutes ago, Tracker22 said:

Y’all just stay up north; there ain’t no fish down here in So.IL.

Truth be told I've lived in Illinois most of my life and have never been further south than peoria. I've only ever been there once or twice. I'd love to visit southern Il sometime to see the state and do some bass fishing.  I moved to Iowa a couple years ago but can still see Il from my house. Still work in Il also.