Contact: R&R Sports, (563) 243-4696.

STATE PARK LAKES
Northern Illinois has a number of state parks that feature a small lake as a centerpiece. Most of these have been around for decades, with the lakes stocked on a regular basis by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

Just east of the Mississippi River in Whiteside County's Morrison-Rockwood State Park you will find tiny 77-acre Lake Carlton. DNR biologists say there are several year-classes of crappies swimming here, the largest of which is worth greasing the skillet for. But the real draw on Carlton is saugeyes, a cross between a sauger and a walleye. Multiple specimens in excess of the state record have turned up in DNR fisheries surveys the past several years. This provides you with your best shot at getting in the Illinois record books with a game fish.

Another fishery where the saugeye record could fall is 900-acre Evergreen Lake in Comlara County Park just north of Bloomington off Interstate 39. Although this lake freezes over every winter, the ice that is there today could be gone tomorrow. Evergreen has a solid crappie population, with some fish exceeding 12 inches.

Head north on I-39 about an hour and you'll pass Lake Sule, a borrow-pit lake with little structure but a lot of crappies. Electronics are a major key to success here. Fish that are actively biting tend to suspend from just below the ice to about 8 feet down. Remember to fish above those electronic blips. Crappie eyes are located near the tops of their heads, thus making attack from below a favorite crappie tactic.

Driving another 45 minutes north will put you by Rockford where Olson Lake and Pierce Lake lie next to I-90/39 within Rock Cut State Park.

Pierce Lake has been around for years, but it still gives up solid catches of bluegills, crappies and the occasional bass from its 160 acres. Walleyes approaching trophy dimensions are also present, according to DNR surveys, but just about the only time you can see one of these fish is when the DNR is out there pulling in survey nets.

Olson Lake holds similar fish species and is much smaller, with both less structure and less pressure than Pierce. As is the case at Lake Sule, electronics play a major role in a successful day on the ice here.

SHABBONA LAKE
For at least the last decade, DNR fisheries surveys have indicated walleyes in excess of Fred Goseline's 14-pound state record are swimming in this 319-acre De Kalb County lake.