Yet, it produces some astonishing catches of a great variety of fish, including walleyes. The shallow lake is a perfect habitat for bluegills.

Launching ramps and boat rentals are available; however, motor size is restricted.

While the bluegills here are not large, they are plentiful and can be found anywhere in the lake. Best fishing usually occurs from May through September.

For a quiet, no-hassle day of bluegill fishing, try 35-acre Powderhorn Lake, located at Brainerd and Burnham avenues, on Chicago’s south side.

This Cook County Forest Preserve lake allows bank-fishing only, but in view of its small size, this is not a problem. You are not going to set any state records here, but your bobber will duck beneath the surface enough to keep you from dozing off on a sunny summer afternoon.

With the coming of zebra mussels to Lake Michigan, the water in the Chicago Park District Harbors has cleared amazingly and fostered luxuriant aquatic weed growth. The improved habitat has in turn contributed to a bass and northern pike population explosion and resulted in large schools of bluegills and rock bass in almost every harbor.

Although boat fishing is not allowed within the harbors, certain areas have been designated for shore-fishing. To learn which sites are open, visit www.ifishillnois.org/profiles/lakes/ lake_michigan/wheremich.html or www.chicagofishinglinks.com/chicago parkdistrict.html .

The Mazonia Fish and Wildlife Area is another intriguing bluegill hotspot. This 1,017-acre site is located in Grundy County, three miles southeast of Braidwood. The site is divided into the Braidwood Lake unit and the Mazonia South Unit. Braidwood Lake is large and windswept and possibly dangerous for boaters. The South Unit, however, consists of four large lakes and 10 smaller ponds. It is rugged terrain, formerly used for surface mining.

All of the lakes and ponds have good fish populations, but for our purposes, we shall focus on bluegills in the south unit’s Ponderosa and Monster lakes. Both of these lakes are very deep and hold excellent populations of panfish, walleyes, bass, crappies and catfish.

As in other lakes, spring bluegill fishing is best when the fish are congregated on their spawning beds. Work the shorelines with live bait and a slip-bobber, paying close attention to submerged vegetation and brush.

Launching ramps are in place at both lakes, and although there are no size restrictions on motors, there is a “no-wake” regulation. The lakes are closed during waterfowl season, but open in mid-January for ice-fishing if sufficient ice has formed.

Many small lakes and ponds are scattered throughout the Mazonia site, and as you become familiar with them, your angling horizons will expand. For more information on fishing Mazonia, call (815) 237-0063 on Tuesday, Wednesday or Friday between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m.

With all these bluegill hotspots in mind, your only problem will be finding enough freezer space to store all those tasty filets. And isn’t that a nice problem to have?