Illinois Mixed Bag: Trapping permit drawing for nine sites scheduled

Havana, Ill. — DNR will conduct a public drawing for the allocation of trapping permits for nine different Illinois locations on Oct. 11 at Siloam Springs State Park in Adams County.

Registration will begin at 10 a.m., and the drawing will follow at 11 a.m. People whose names are drawn must be in attendance.

Site permits for trapping will be good for a two-year period.

All trappers entering the drawing must be at least 16 years old and have a current 2025-2026 trapping license and habitat stamp. Site-specific trapping regulations for each site will be provided at the drawing. Available sites are:

Siloam Springs State Park

• Buckhorn Unit

• Fall Creek Unit

Ray Norbut Fish and Wildlife Area-Pike County

• East Hannibal Unit

• Dutch Creek Unit

Weinberg-King State Fish and Wildlife Area 

Scripps Unit at Weinberg-King

• Spunky Unit at Weinberg-King

For more information about the Oct. 11 drawing, call 217-894-6205 or 217-285-2221.

onX Mapping Expands Into Illinois

Minneapolis — onX Fish Midwest, a digital mapping and discovery tool for anglers, recently announced its expansion into the state of Illinois. With plenty of lakes and dozens of gamefish species to choose from, Illinois’ anglers now have a tool for finding the right lakes to target their desired catch.

“Illinois anglers know the real treasures are found close to home,” said onX Fish Head of Marketing, Joel Nelson. “From tucked-away park lakes to expansive reservoirs, the state offers incredible bass, crappie, and bluegill fishing, among other species, across hundreds of accessible waters. With onX Fish, we’re giving Illinois anglers a tool to uncover new spots and make every trip more rewarding – whether they’re fishing their favorite local lake or branching out to explore somewhere new.”

onX Fish Midwest is a new app developed by digital mapping and navigation powerhouse onX. The app aims to solve the biggest problem facing anglers, “Where should I go fishing?” onX Fish Midwest debuted in Minnesota in early 2024. Since then, the company has been adding more Midwestern states, while gathering feedback from anglers in each new state to improve the user experience before moving onto the next. The app is currently also available in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Dakota, Indiana, and Ohio, and will continue to expand across the region and country. Learn more: https://www.onxmaps.com/about.

B.A.S.S. Events Televised On Fox, FS1

Birmingham, Ala. — B.A.S.S. has announced the 2026 television schedule for the Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series and the Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic.

This season delivers 12 hours of live bass fishing on FOX broadcast television, reaching more than 200 million U.S. households, along with almost 60 hours of additional weekend coverage on FS1. This comes on the heels of record-breaking viewership in 2025, which saw a 20% increase in live viewers over 2024.

The Elite Series season launches Feb. 7-8 with back-to-back live shows from Lake Guntersville on FS1. Just a week later, the tour heads to Lake Martin, another Alabama favorite, setting the stage for a seven-month run of live coverage from some of America’s most diverse bass fisheries.

Anchoring the broadcast lineup is the Bassmaster Classic on the Tennessee River in Knoxville, Tenn. Fans can tune in March 14 at noon ET and March 15 at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX. For the remainder of the season, FS1 will continue to serve as the home for weekend live coverage.

Deer Factor in Reported Illinois ‘Tick Invasion’

Champaign, Ill. — Experts said Illinoisans should be aware of the increase in ticks in the state. A new study out of the University of Illinois shows multiple counties recording three different types of ticks: the lone star tick, the dog tick and the black legged tick.

Associate Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Illinois, Becky Smith, says they found between 2018 and 2022 there were over 1,700 human cases with Lyme disease infections.

“Deer is a big factor,” Smith said. “Deer provides such a good blood meal that they’re able to make a lot of eggs, and so then there’s a lot of babies, and so there’s just more ticks.”