All waters · Illinois · Lake Michigan (Illinois Nearshore)
Lake Michigan (Illinois Nearshore), IL
Lake spanning Lake/Cook counties, Illinois. Illinois' Great Lakes coastline from Waukegan Harbor south through Chicago. A premier coldwater trolling fishery for coho and chinook salmon (spring through fall, kings peak Sept-Oct), lake/brown/rainbow trout, and a renowned spring and fall yellow perch run along the harbors and breakwalls. Charter trolling out of Waukegan and Chicago harbors is the standard approach.
Overall bite score
Scored 27 min ago · recomputed every 30 minutes
Each instrument reads 0 to 100. The score is their weighted blend, tuned for lakes and reservoirs. No black box: every reading names its source.
What swims here
8 tracked species in Lake Michigan (Illinois Nearshore), with the months each fishes best.
Water facts
Great Lake (freshwater, not tidal). No representative USGS water-temp gauge for the IL nearshore; bite score uses the seasonal baseline. Salmon/trout 10 in min, 5/day aggregate; yellow perch 15/day (verify the per-waterbody Lake Michigan rules). Ramps/harbors: Waukegan Harbor, North Point Marina (Winthrop Harbor), Chicago's DuSable/Burnham harbors.
See the full forecast for Lake Michigan (Illinois Nearshore) in the app: best windows, 7-day outlook, what to bring, and offline regulations. The score and essentials are free.
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