Channel cats get little or no pressure on the chain and are sometimes caught incidentally by ice-fishermen. Someone who might want to put on a red worm or an earthworm and give a little winter catfishing a try should walk onto Fox, Grass or Pistakee lakes. The shallow waters of Pistakee are ideal for catfish anglers, and Fox and Grass -- which cover 1,700 acres and 1,360 acres, respectively -- hold plenty of cats, many of which are in the 5-pound category.

And don’t be surprised when you hook a northern pike on your panfish rig. Northerns in the chain lakes can weigh up to 5 pounds or more and generally will be found in any remaining green vegetation. Catherine, Marie, Bluff and Petite are the best northern lakes.

A slot-length limit for walleyes has been doing its job on the chain, with the average female sampled in 2003 stretching to more than 22 inches long. The best walleye lakes in the chain are Channel, Catherine, Fox, Marie and Pistakee.

Access to the Fox Chain O’Lakes is from U.S. Highway 12 and state routes 59 and 173.

For more information, contact the IDNR’s Region 2 office at (847) 608-3100.

Mazonia Fish and Wildlife Area
Ice-anglers wanting to fish small waters should take a look at the ponds and lakes on the Mazonia FWA. Winter fishing for crappies, bluegills and even largemouth bass can be very good here.

Mazonia’s numerous ponds and lakes range from barely 1/10 acre to more than 150 acres. Typical of strip-mine ponds, the water is clear and deep. Each pond is a fishery unto its own, and there are no two that are exactly alike.

Bluegills are dominant in the ponds. Anglers wanting to take home a mess to eat should start with Ponderosa Lake, Pond 3 and Pond 10. Larval baits along the shoreline should provide good action.

Crappie populations in the ponds are cyclical with boom years followed by lean ones. There isn’t any way to predict whether or not crappies will be doing well in any given body of water, so it’s up to the angler to find them.

Largemouths can be tempted to bite during mild conditions of no ice or from under the ice with a minnow under a float. Ponds 3, 7, 8, 9 and Monster and Ponderosa lakes are the best bets, but bass can be found throughout the area. Bass fishing can be good when ponds off the beaten path are given a try.

Mazonia FWA lies two miles west of Braceville, in Grundy and Kankakee counties.

For additional information, contact the IDNR’s Region 2 office at (847) 608-3100.

Cedar Lake
“Cedar Lake is an outstanding fishery, with one of the better bass populations in southern Illinois,” said IDNR fisheries biologist Shawn Hirst. “There isn’t a lot of ice-fishing, because there isn’t usually a lot of ice, but fishermen stay on the lake all winter long.”

The bass will bite throughout the winter months if anglers fish the structure and slow down their presentations, Hirst said. A 14- to 18-inch slot-length limit is in place, and there are plenty of bass in this range and larger.

Many crappies are taken through the winter months. Crappies average from 1/2 to 3/4 pound, which in anybody’s book is a nice slab. Minnows are, of course, the mainstay, with small ice flies and jigs tipped with a minnow or minnow head completing the common bait rigs.

Purebred stripers can also be a bonus at Cedar Lake during a good winter bite if anglers can find them.

“I haven’t gotten them figured out yet,” Hirst admitted. “When I’m trap-netting them, I have to set the nets on the points out into deeper water. There’s almost an art form to finding them, and some of the locals have got it down to where they can catch stripers consistently.”

Cedar Lake covers 1,750 acres in Jackson County. It’s located four miles southwest of Carbondale, off Route 51 South. A 10-horsepower motor limit for boating anglers helps keep the fishing pressure down. For more information, contact the IDNR’s regional office at (618) 687-4546. * * * Visit the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Web site at www.ifishillinois.org/” for more information on ice-fishing resources in the Prairie State. Contact the Illinois Bureau of Tourism for lodging information at (800) 406-6418 or visit online at www.enjoyillinois.com./”

Find more about Illinois fishing and hunting at: IllinoisGameandFish.com/”