Tim Lesmeister.

APRIL
Rainbow Trout
Siloam Springs State Park
Rainbow trout are now stocked in catchable sizes in several lakes across Illinois, one of them being the lake at Siloam Springs State Park in Adams County.

Trout are released into the lake between March 15 and April 7 with the season opening up right afterward. The best bets to take these hatchery-raised fish are small earthworms or red worms, tiny spinners or the old standby of a kernel of canned sweet corn on a tiny hook.

Busse Lake is one of Cook County’s finest spring fishing holes for largemouth bass. These fish can run up to 5 pounds.

The rainbows will roam throughout the lake and at times are quite easy to catch. They’re generally not spooked at the sight of anglers along the bank and can be willing biters. Fly-fishing is an adventure when the trout are surface feeding. Hook one of these fish and you’ll have your hands full.

Anglers must purchase an inland trout stamp.

The Siloam Springs State Park lake covers 58 acres. It’s located three miles southwest of Kellerville.

For more information, contact the Region 4 office at (618) 462-1181.

MAY
Decatur Lake Crappies
Crappies will be in the spawning mode early in the spring, but the dates can change from year to year depending on the weather. Generally speaking, the best way to target them is to look for shallow, vertical cover that includes fallen trees, manmade structures, emergent weeds and submerged edges like dropoffs and steeply declining shorelines.

After spawning, crappies will move out to deeper structure and can be found with your electronics. At times, they’ll suspend over deep water and will easily show up on fish finders.

Most of the crappie population is under a pound, but when you find fish, you can catch plenty of them.

Largemouth bass are good-sized because of the 14-inch minimum length restriction. There are numerous bass just over the protected length limit.

The 3,093-acre lake is surprisingly shallow and averages only about 6 feet deep. It’s located on the east side of Decatur in Macon County.

For more information, call the DNR’s Region 3 office at (217) 345-2420.

JUNE
Carlyle Lake
Largemouth Bass
Bass anglers should check Carlyle Lake this year for good numbers of scrappy largemouth bass. The bass average between 2 and 3 pounds, but there are bigger ones available. The lake covers 24,580 acres of water and is somewhat intimidating to fish. The best way to approach it is to target good bass habitat, which isn’t hard to find. Standing timber and fallen trees along the shoreline are great in the early summer months, especially if they’re near deep water. Shallow coves in the early morning and late evening hours can be dynamite. If the water is cool, riprap shorelines warm up and attract prey fish after dark. The minnows as well as crayfish bring in the bass.

Carlyle Lake is home to just about everything that swims in Illinois. If one species isn’t biting, just start fishing for panfish.

Carlyle Lake is located northeast of the town of Carlyle in Bond, Clinton and Fayette counties.

The DNR’s Region 4 office at (618) 462-1181 can provide more information.