Shabbona Muskies
This 318-acre lake is our state's best on an acre-per-acre basis. Statistics indicate that lures with either black/orange colors or green fluorescents work best. Shabbona gets tremendous pressure, but if your line is in the water, you're always a threat. Don't overlook the "no wake" areas!

JULY
Kankakee River Smallmouths
This northeast Illinois stream offers plenty of public access for wading anglers between the Kankakee dam and Bourbonaisse. There's a boat launch at Bird Park, near the dam.

A canoe float trip using a crab-claw anchor to slow your downstream progress is probably the most efficient way to get hooked up. Fish hold tight to cover. If you're "free floating," you may get in only one cast at a fallen log that hides a whopper.

Contact Lanny's Bait at (815) 935-1661.

Mississippi River Largemouths
Target deep weed edges where there is at least seven feet of water nearby. A promising snag usually yields more than one fish. Watch for gulls dive-bombing baitfish -- especially on sand flats. Have a tandem willow-leaf spinnerbait ready to go.

Illinois River Channel Catfish
Cut shad tightlined just off the main river channel at the first shallower breakline is a great tactic in this glorified canal. Try to fish directly down-current from the boat to minimize line drag that can alert wary fish.

AUGUST
Lake Michigan Chinooks
Cast Little Cleo spoons or crankbaits from shore, or try trolling mouths of Lake Michigan harbors and you'll see why these fish are called "kings."

Four-year-old chinook salmon are close to shore now, trying to find their way up into tributaries to spawn. Fish that aren't darkly colored offer excellent eating. Flesh of fish with big, hooked jaws in tributaries can be mushy. Regardless of your culinary desires, the kings of August can provide a whale of a tussle.

Rend Lake Flatheads
Start saving your old milk jugs! Huge flathead catfish roam the flats of this vast reservoir near Mt. Vernon at night. You can toss up to 50 jugs that must bear your name and address. Two feet of 70-pound-test, a heavy No. 2/0 hook and a chunk of shad complete the rig. Set 'em at dusk, run 'em at dawn. Average size of the flatheads is about 4 pounds, but fish 10 times larger than that are in the system.

Mississippi River White Bass
Bajillions of small shad are cloistered around rocks of wing dams and below lock-and-dam systems. Bass are right behind them. Throw a 2-inch Sassy Shad body on a 1/8-ounce white jighead. Dawn and dusk are the best fishing times.

SEPTEMBER
Evergreen Lake Muskies
This reservoir varies in size, but Evergreen is usually smaller in the fall due to lower water levels.

Throw big crappie-pattern jerkbaits on the sloping flat near the spillway. White bucktails with chrome blades work well around woody cover.

A 10-horsepower limit is in place on this lake just north of Bloomington. Speed-trolling shallow ShadRaps while following the 8- to 12-foot contour is another good way to hook up.

Contact the site office at (815) 667-4862.

Lake Shelbyville Muskies
Target your efforts on the southern 10 percent of the lake, especially on riprapped areas just above the dam and below the dam in the tailwaters. Main-lake points hold fish, but the best place is casting around docks at the Lithia Springs Marina with an orange/black fluorescent Jake lure.

Carlyle Lake White Bass
Summer's end spells an intense migration of white bass up the Kaskaskia River to the Carlyle tailwaters. A small chrome or shad-pattern blade bait is a real killer. Best times are dawn and dusk. When the fish are active, you'll hook up on every cast.