Lake Zurich, Bangs Lake offer new chances to find your own fishing hotspot

I remember receiving an email berating me for promoting bass fishing on Bangs Lake in Wauconda.

And I had a face-to-face confrontation with a clerk at the Bass Pro Shop in Gurnee blasting me for sharing information pertaining to the sometimes-great muskie fishing on the Fox Chain's Lake Catherine.

I understand the Bangs Lake rationale because the writer of that email lives on the lake and his complaint centered on the additional bass fishermen scouring it for trophy fish.

The Lake Catherine argument came from a lure designer and store clerk who wanted to keep the secrets of Catherine to himself, especially when I opened the door by reporting that some 50-plus inch fish were caught there.

The times, however, have changed a bit.

Lake Zurich officials have been on the ball by going to bat for shore anglers.

The west side of the lake used to have a railing that literally kept any shore fisherman from working the weed line just a few yards from the old Route 12 access that ran through the downtown area. Now there's an entire section specifically designed to allow anglers to drop a line or enjoy a picnic in the sun.

I stopped to talk with several anglers, some of whom were able to catch small bluegills. Little did they realize that just about when the sun sinks over the western horizon largemouth bass move in to the western weed edges and feed on minnows.

Boat anglers can still get to the hot fishing spots on Lake Zurich by renting a boat from Bill's Boats on the west side, right next to the new shore fishing locale.

A Jackson Tip Of The Hat to Lake Zurich officials for providing a safe spot for shore anglers to fish.

Public access is generally not a free lunch deal. In other words, a fisherman usually has to drop some bucks to sit on a shoreline and hope to catch fish.

If you choose to fish the Fox Chain by boat, you must have a Waterway Agency use sticker ($100) affixed to the boat's windshield or side of the boat. Shore fishing is practically nonexistent, except for benches and available bank spots at C.J. Smith's Resort on the Spring Lake Channel (Grass Lake Road bridge).

It's the accommodations at Bangs Lake, however, that really opened my eyes.

I sat under a newly constructed canopy that could easily provide shelter for squads of people. The fishing pier was originally constructed by the village and the Northern Illinois Special Recreation Association. A wooden sign at the entrance to the pier notes the help and contributions of other individuals and companies.

And what I also liked was the availability of access for canoe and kayakers as well as paddle boarders wanting to skirt the shorelines.

Regular boats and fishermen still have to purchase a lake-usage sticker from a lake enforcement officer once you're stopped on the water.

I will freely concede Bangs Lake is well managed. Its lakeshore residents admittedly get their money's worth from the patrol units and weed cutting operations. Plus, the cost of planting fish is usually covered in part by user fees.

I will also continue to tout the wonderful bass and bluegill fishing usually found in many sections of this 220-plus acre body of water.

But even if I said there were 6-pound largemouth bass in Bangs, or if I reported 51-inch plus muskies swam the route between Lake Catherine and Channel Lake, or perhaps that there were a few 5- to 8-pound walleyes in Pistakee Lake, not many would take these words to heart.

From my experience, if a fisherman fails to connect with a jumbo fish after I report angling is good on such-and-such lake, I'm the bad guy — whether or not I report weekly fishing conditions.

• Contact Mike Jackson at angler88@comcast.net, catch his radio show 7-9 a.m. Sundays on WGCO 1590-AM (live-streamed at 1590WCGO.com) and get more content at www.mikejacksonoutdoors.com.