A few years ago I would fish in Channahon Illini State Park below the dam there. I would pick up a few smallies. Nothing really big but fun to catch.

Quite a few years ago they drained Maple Lake not too far from Oak Lawn, filled it back up and restocked it. I haven't fished there in a long time so not sure if it's decent fishing there or not. A ways west of you is the Fox River and I heard rumors that stream is good for Walleye fishing. Tampier Lake was suppose to have Northern in it.

I have a Shimano Symetre reel, not UL, which I have paired with a Shimano UL medium fast action UL 6' rod. The rod is not real whippy and has good back bone for setting the hook. I use it on panfish, mostly crappie and bass. I've found it to be a pretty good combo for just about anything I catch. I've had both for quite awhile so not sure if you can find the same rod.
Hope this helps.

I've visited the Tunnel Dam area but never fished it. I heard the lake is fairly shallow but good for bluegills and I imagine some crappie are in there as well. Maybe put another post out there saying how you did. Getting all the back to the dam site can be a trip. Would like to know if it would be worth the effort when we have the lake itself to fish in.
Thanks in advance.

I always called them Northerns. and if small ones we'd call them hammer handles. LOL

Nice catfish you have.

Where are you located? The Kankakee River which can be waded - carefully - has pretty good catfish fishing from the IN/IL state line until it meets the Illinois River and that has decent catfish fishing in it too. Also both these rivers will have walleye and bass to test your skills in. The Kankakee River also has some northern in it. The Illinois River can be fished from the bank near Starved Rock State Park. A lot of the river banks are on private property so fishing is sort of limited. These are the areas I'm familiar with but you could probably do a search for IL Dept of Conservation and come up with state information for whole bunch of lakes, streams, and forest preserve areas. If you're in Cook County or Chicago area you could look into Cook County forest preserves and they use to have maps of their lakes, the locations and what you can fish for. Hope this helps.

Try the Kankakee River down by Momence or Aroma Park. You can fish from shore at either place mostly for catfish if using night crawlers, maybe walleye or northern if using minnows. The river is fast so some heavy weights should be used or your bait will be carried down stream.
I saw you were asking about the lake off Sauk Trail. Not sure what the name of it is called but if you're asking about the body of water by Park Forest, it usually just has carp in it.
Hope this helps in your search.

Very nice crappie

I don't fish for walleye in LOZ but occasionally catch one now and then. I heard they stock them on a limited basis in the Truman Reservoir and that's where the ones in LOZ come from. You might have better action of Truman..

Yes, I just park at the side of the road between the river and the road. I try and hit the cement pylons on Caton Farm and for some reason smaller orange bellied Rapalas work well there. The dam just north of Rt52(Jefferson) has been removed and I think there's a "put in" at that spot but the river might have a lot of silt in that spot making it pretty shallow.

I've put in at Caton Farm Rd and Lily Cache Rd, right where the DuPage flows under Caton Farm. There's a slope going into the river on the east side. Easy entry. I took my canoe there so I imagine a kayak would not be a problem. Just be carefull if the current is fast. It can be unforgiving. Lily Cache Creek branches off the Dupage just north of Caton Farm. I've never fished the creek but it does look very interesting. I've caught many smallies in the DuPage, nothing real big, maybe 10" tops.

I have a place on LOTO and sure would like to see some northern pike in there but - nope. I've fished for northerns in:
MN- Winniebigosh, Cass Lake, Lake Vermillion, Shagawa Lake.
Big Winnie was a nice lake for northerns, walleye, and nice yellow perch. Lake can get very rough if the wind just right.
Cass Lake did not do too well.
Shagawa Lake nice walleyes and a few big northerns but nothing close to 40".
Vermillion Lake didn't catch a lot and those we did were full of parasitic eggs, even the northern which I've never seen before.
WI Cisco Chain of lakes caught a number of nice northern mixed in with some musky. We trolled in the channels going from lake to lake, and there's a nice crappie population, but you might be tired of them living in Rocky Mount.
MI(UP) - again Cisco chain of lakes. Gogebic Lake for some northern, some walleye and some perch, think you need to know the lake or talk to resort owners for good spots. Lake can get rough too. Long time ago Bond Falls Flowage - seen some yuuuuuge northerns come out of there but not sure if there are waterfront resorts on it. We use to camp on the shore.
Can't beat Canada for BIG northerns but don't blame you for wanting to stick to the US.
FYI - the fishing and outdoor shows should start showing up soon, they do up here, I'm close to Chicago. They use to have all kinds of information on places to stay and a variety of lake locations you might want to check out. I don't ever recall seeing the shows being advertised in MO
Hope this helps.

Nice Walleye! I usually catch a walleye when going for crappie at LOTO. I'd like to try catching more of them. Were you jigging in the rocks or just happened to catch it? Just curious cuz most people I run into down there don't really fish for them.
Thanks.

I usually fish off my dock in the Grand Glaize arm of LOTO and do pretty well using frozen (thawed) shrimp or minnows. Worms and/or crawlers just get stolen by bluegills hanging out under the docks. There's always a catch of nice size eating catfish, 18' or so. Haven't caught anything really big, say 10# or so, but then they might be in deeper water. Fishing off the dock is anywhere from 8' to 23' deep. Some of the bigger coves in that arm will probably yield some nice cats. The lake seems to be loaded with them especially if you have kids in the boat and they drop food over the side. Sooner or later you'll see a catfish come up to the surface and take the food.