See every public fishing venue in Illinois on the map, with boat ramps, camping, parking and full rules for each one.
Channel Lake is a public lake in Lake County, Illinois, managed by Illinois Department of Natural Resources. It is public water managed for fishing by the Illinois Department of Conservation & Natural Resources. Public access confirmed via IDNR public water.
The Fox Chain O'Lakes in northeastern Illinois — a connected chain of natural glacial lakes (Fox, Grass, Pistakee, Nippersink, Petite, Marie, Catherine, Channel, Bluff, Redhead) draining into the Fox River. Largemouth bass, muskellunge, northern pike, walleye, bluegill, crappie and carp; a huge summer boating and fishing destination.
Channel Lake covers about 365 acres in the Chicagoland region. Anglers here mostly fish for largemouth bass, muskellunge, northern pike, walleye; bluegill, black crappie, channel catfish, common carp are also on record. The nearest other mapped waters on PiscaMaps are Lake Catherine and Lake Marie.
Species from IDNR fishery-management data.
Night fishing: No statewide night-fishing closure in Illinois. Some IDNR site lakes post hours or gate at dark, and a handful of urban lakes are day-use only. Trotlines, throwlines and set hooks are legal on most rivers and reservoirs (not on IDNR-managed quality lakes) with the gear tagged; bowfishing for carp, gar and buffalo is popular after dark on the big rivers.
Boats: Rend, Carlyle, Shelbyville, Clinton, the Mississippi, Illinois and Ohio rivers have no horsepower limit; idle / no-wake zones are marked near ramps, dams and marinas. Many IDNR site lakes are electric-motor-only or have a horsepower cap posted at the ramp, and several Chain O'Lakes waters have summer speed-zone rules. Illinois requires a boater-safety certificate for operators born after 1 Jan 1998.
Bank & bivvy camping: Camp at Illinois state parks and recreation areas on the big reservoirs (Rend Lake, Carlyle, Shelbyville, Clinton, Kinkaid, Crab Orchard), the Shawnee National Forest in the south, and IDNR site campgrounds on many of the managed lakes. The Mississippi, Illinois and Ohio rivers have Corps campgrounds and river-access parks.
Tackle: Statewide black-bass daily limit is 6 (14-inch minimum on most water, with special slot or catch-and-release rules on IDNR quality lakes); crappie 25 on most reservoirs; muskellunge 1 (36-inch minimum, higher on trophy waters); walleye/sauger limits vary; catfish generous. Check the current IDNR digest of fishing regulations for this water.
Boat ramps: 5 mapped — Boat ramp, Boat ramp, Boat ramp, Boat ramp, Boat ramp.
Source: OpenStreetMap contributors.
Anyone 16-64 needs an Illinois Department of Natural Resources fishing licence — the resident annual is about $16 (a resident Sportsmen's Combination that adds hunting is more), the non-resident annual about $32, and non-resident 1-day/5-day licences are sold. Illinois has no trout stamp requirement for most water (a small number of put-and-take trout ponds may need a separate stamp — check locally); Illinois residents 65 and older, and anyone under 16, do not need a licence. A single licence covers the state's Corps and IDNR reservoirs. Buy from IDNR at dnr.illinois.gov. An Illinois fishing licence covers this water, the Corps and IDNR reservoirs included.
Every water carries species, bank & boat access, current regulations and live water conditions — and members get Swim Mapper, Catch Logger and Trip Planner. It's the only US map with a dedicated carp-water layer.
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