Lake Profile

About the only thing keeping fishermen from fishing Des Plaines Lake more often is the hike from the nearest parking area to the water.
The lake is accessible by foot or bike along a

Curious anglers are eager to see what DNR has learned from a striped bass tagging program that was initiated at Cedar Lake in 2023.
The 1,750-acre water in deep southern Illinois has long been

DNR continues its work to manage the largemouth bass population in Lake Sara, a 640-acre body of water in Effingham County.
A protected slot limit put in place back in 2017 appears to be

Regular anglers at Evergreen Lake are convinced the central Illinois body of water holds a new state record saugeye. The fact that the standing state record of 9.68 pounds was set in Evergreen 24 years

Crappies and muskies continue to boom at one of the state’s most scenic and productive lakes.
A 50-inch muskie hooked by an angler last May at Kinkaid Lake topped the list of fish on

Balancing and “beefing” – that’s DNR’s challenge when managing the Braidwood Lake fishery.
Catfish are still king, for the most part. And DNR continued its efforts last year, choosing to stock 23,000 blue catfish

Another 1,020 largemouth bass were stocked in Washington County Lake this summer, continuing the effort to make the “cozy” 250-acre body of water an attractive stopover fishing spot for anglers who explore larger southern Illinois

The effort to thin out Mill Creek Lake’s bass population in order to boost size structure in the species appears to be working – even if gradually so.
There have been no recent sampling

The effort to boost Du Quoin City Lake’s largemouth bass population continues, with a new regulation put in place last spring and 115 bass in the 8- to 10-inch range stocked during the 2024 stocking