Sarley: If it’s April it must be the start of trout season in Illinois
“All right, all right, all right,” as Matthew McConaughey would say. Open-water fishing season is right around the corner. I look at the catchable trout season to be the semiofficial beginning of open-water fishing.
April 4 marks the opening of the trout season here in Illinois. Each one of the sites that are stocked with catchable trout has its own set of regulations, so check with your site to determine what time the season begins.
The Illinois Department of Natural Resources plants 80,000 beautiful rainbow trout, perfectly sized for eating, into 58 public waterways in Illinois with the majority going to the northern portion of our state. There is a catch-and-release season that begins earlier in some areas, but I don’t even consider it because these trout are planted to be kept, so why bother to release them. It only makes them harder to catch later.
All anglers must have a fishing license and an inland trout stamp unless they are younger than 16, blind or disabled, or are an Illinois resident on leave from active duty in the armed forces. Fishing licenses and trout stamps can be purchased online. Visit ifishillinois.org for more information on trout seasons and other Illinois fishing opportunities.
The areas that the IDNR stocks with these beautiful (and delicious) rainbow trout are:
Cook County Forest Preserve District — Axehead Lake, Belleau Lake, Green Lake in Calumet City, Horsetail Lake, Sag Quarry East, and Wolf Lake, in the William W. Powers State Recreation Area in Chicago.
DuPage County Forest Preserve District — Grove Lake, Pickerel Lake and Silver Lake.
McHenry County Conservation District — Lake Atwood and Piscasaw Creek.
Lake County — Sand Lake in the Illinois Beach State Park.
Yes, the trout can be fished for after the opening weekend, but the success numbers drop off dramatically after the first three weekends of the season. If the weather is good, the first weekend will give up as many fish as the next three weekends do, so plan on getting out early.
There is a limit of five trout per angler. Five fish is more than enough for a family dinner, so please don’t be a meathog and take more than you can use. I get outraged when I see people leaving a local lake with a pail full of five trout and then coming back an hour later with an empty pail to fill up again. Come on, folks, let’s be good citizens here.
On opening day they are hungry and ready to eat dinner. You’ll be amazed to see the fishermen standing elbow-to-elbow on the banks of the stocked lakes. It’s a great time to make new fishing friends.
The trout love tiny morsels, like tiny minnows and waxworms. Nightcrawlers are too big. A little bit of Velveeta cheese balled up on a very small treble hook should work for you. For artificial bait, Berkley makes a product that works like magic on these tasty trout. Berkley PowerBait comes in a paste that can be rolled on your fingers and impaled on a tiny hook. Of course, beige and yellow are the best colors to choose.
Light and tiny are the watchwords to follow in your trout fishing. Use your lightest weight rods and reels. Light line is the key. The kind of line that the manufacturers put on kids’ fishing rods is far too heavy for trout. Replace it so your children don’t get disappointed because they don’t catch anything. Two or 4-pound monofilament works best and 6-pound is the absolute maximum. Fluorocarbon line works like magic. Don’t use a leader, tiny split-shots are what is needed for weight, and 8-pound hooks work fine.
When you get them home, sauté them quickly in melted butter and sprinkle with a little dill. Whatever you do, don’t overcook them. Bon apetit.
• Daily Herald Outdoors columnist Steve Sarley can be reached at sarfishing@yahoo.com.