Lake Michigan eventually will give up a pike big enough to top Illinois’ long-standing record: the 26-pound, 15-ounce pike caught by Walter Klenzak on Nov. 9, 1989, from what is now called Monster Lake in Kankakee County.
Illinois’ trout season opener (a success, despite some weather challenges), coho and trout on southern Lake Michigan, crappie improving on inland waters and river walleyes lead his sprawling raw-file Midwest Fishing Report.