Skip to content
Best fishing times / Illinois

Best Fishing Times in Illinois This Week

Near Carlyle, Waukegan and Peoria: today on a 24 hour timeline and the next seven days rated Fair to Best.

Working out the moon and the sun for Carlyle, IL, and reading the forecast.

Fishing somewhere else? Enter any ZIP for your own spot

Photo: “Fall fishing on the Madison River at sunrise”, Jacob W. Frank, Yellowstone National Park (NPS), Public domain

Illinois at a glance

Solunar windows plus the agency calendar
3
Towns rated this week
Carlyle, Waukegan and Peoria
4
Solunar windows a day
two majors, two minors, set against sunrise and sunset
4
Dated entries from the agency
Illinois Department of Natural Resources
4
Fish the calendar names
coho salmon, crappie and channel catfish
The fishing year

When fish bite in Illinois

Illinois fishing runs from coho salmon on the Chicago lakefront in March and April and the spring crappie spawn, through stocked catfish in summer, to salmon entering Lake Michigan harbors in mid September.

Each entry below is from Illinois Department of Natural Resources or its published guides, quoted word for word and linked. Line the season up with the week above: a run in its prime and a Great day with a window at first light is the morning to take off.

  1. March to April

    Coho salmon

    In March and April, the Lake Michigan lakefront and harbors are the place for coho salmon and smelt.

    “Lakefront and Harbors: Coho Salmon and Smelt”

    iFish - Lake Michigan, Illinois Department of Natural Resources, read October 9, 2026
  2. March to May

    Crappie

    March to May is crappie spawning season, as the water warms and the days get longer.

    “Crappies experience a lot of change this time of year (March-May). The water is warming, days are getting longer, and it is spawning season.”

    Outdoor Illinois Journal: Spring Crappie Fishing Tips for Beginners: Where to Fish and What Lures to Use, Illinois Department of Natural Resources, read October 9, 2026
  3. June to August

    Channel catfish

    IDNR stocks more than 12,500 channel catfish in Chicago lagoons in June, July and August.

    “Channel Catfish (12,500+ fish) are stocked by the IDNR in the following lagoons in June, July, and August”

    iFish - Lake Michigan, Illinois Department of Natural Resources, read October 9, 2026
  4. Mid-September

    Salmon

    Many salmon enter the Lake Michigan harbors in mid September.

    “Many of the salmon enter the Lake Michigan harbors mid-September.”

    Outdoor Illinois Journal: Snagging Salmon, A Fall Tradition, Illinois Department of Natural Resources, read October 9, 2026
Advertisement
Before you go

License, stocking and ice in Illinois

Illinois fishing licenseWhat a license costs and where to buy one.Illinois trout stockingWhere and when the state stocks trout.Illinois ice fishingWhen the lakes freeze and the ice is safe.Illinois daylightSunrise, sunset and day length all year.
How the days are rated

Reading the Illinois timeline

Each day has two major solunar periods of about two hours, centered on the moon overhead and underfoot, and two minor periods of about an hour at moonrise and moonset. A window within an hour of sunrise or sunset is marked in gold. The rating adds the moon phase, the gold windows and a capped nudge from the National Weather Service forecast for each town. Every factor and its points.

Dawn and dusk are the reliable part; the moon windows are the old angler’s rule.

An angler in a cap seen from behind, holding a rod over a calm lake at dusk, with a bobber on pink water and a pine shore beyond
Walleye fishing on a northern Wisconsin lake at dusk. The Wisconsin DNR says that in clear waters walleye stay deep in the day and move into the shallows at night, which is why the hour around sunset is shaded on every timeline here. “Fishing in northern Wisconsin for walleye”, Joanna Gilkeson, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Midwest Region, Public domain

Illinois fishing times questions

Advertisement

Best fishing times in other states