Planning an outing in central Illinois

Hi Guys,

I’m in the early stages of planning a summer fishing outing, I’d like to find a lake in the middle of the state (IL). We’d be up for targeting anything, crappie, walleye, bass, whatever. We just want to get togehter and catch a few fish on a nice lake. If you have any suggestions on where to go please let me know. We’re looking at June – July timeframe.

Thanks,

Matt

How about the Jim Edgar area, formerly known as site M. Get on the IL DNR website and see what you can find.

Thanks Robby! I’ll see what I can find. Is there anything worth checking out around the Bloomington Normal area?

Sorry, do not know. The DNR website, when it is working is a great resource. Check there if you are able to.– Rob

Here’s a link to the DNR site. The first one will take you directly to the PDF file for The Illinois fishing digest,drag down to page 58 and there is a list of places to fish, and what you can expect to fish for in each lake. I am not sure what county Bloomington/Normal is in, but I am quite sure there will be something listed in that area.

The second link is to the Illinois DNR site, you can buy licenses on line there, and access many other resources.

Good luck and enjoy your trip!

http://dnr.state.il.us/fish/Digest/digest.pdf

http://dnr.state.il.us/fish/index.htm

You can’t go wrong with Shelbyville , Crappie , Bass and musky fishing.. plenty of campsites ,motels and marinas around the lake . Google Lake Shelbyville , Illinois and you find tons of links. If your looking for a smaller lake with decent bass and panfishing and no jet skis allowed !!
Look up Lake Sara in Effingham IL. Check out Anthony Acres resort.. http://www.anthonyacres.com