Mill Creek in Illinois

[Smooty]

I already posted this on the Illinois page but wanted to see if anyone here had anything to add. Going to Mill Creek tomorrow, Friday the 30th, to fish for bass. I've never been to Mill Creek before and was hoping to get some info on it. Anything you can tell me would be very helpful. Also, how much is an out of state license? Anyone been on it recently and know water temps or any patterns working? Thanks for any help you can give me.

[hardestyeric]

An out of state liscence is 24.50 plus tax. It is a fun lake to fish. I haven't been over there this year. You can get them on line.
Eric H.

[bassman409]

Hey Smooty, I was thinking of hitting it next month. Let me know how you do, I also have never been there. I did hear that their pretty strict on their lake rules, speed limit, etc. so be careful.. Good luck...






I already posted this on the Illinois page but wanted to see if anyone here had anything to add. Going to Mill Creek tomorrow, Friday the 30th, to fish for bass. I've never been to Mill Creek before and was hoping to get some info on it. Anything you can tell me would be very helpful. Also, how much is an out of state license? Anyone been on it recently and know water temps or any patterns working? Thanks for any help you can give me.

....aa

[Smooty]

Water temp. was anywhere from 57-66 degrees and water was stained to muddy. First thing when we got there it wasn't quite light yet so we just put the trolling motor down and started fishing close to the ramp since we were in unfamiliar water. Once it got light we decided to cruise down the lake and see what it looked like. Turned the key and the motor started to turn but slowly quit, then nothing. Graphs were still on and trim would work but no turn over for the outboard. Trolled back to the dock and pulled the boat out, had the charger with us so we decided to give it a charge real quick on 10 amps, just long enough to get us through the day. While we were looking for an outlet we met a local pulling in to launch and asked him about the lake and how things were going. He told us we were in for a real treat and that they'd be catching 3-4 pounder left and right for the past few weeks on almost anything. He said once we got everything squared away to find him, he'd be close to the ramp and he'd show us a thing or two. So we thought alright, we might have just lucked out on a new body of water. So we tried charging the battery but the charger gave us a bad cell error. This battery came with the boat so I figured it probably was bad. We ran back to Wal-mart, which was only about 10 minutes away and got a new one, re-launched and sure enough, outboard fired right up. We met up with the guy, he told us he'd be catchin em up spinnerbaits, plastics and chatterbaits real shallow and to kinda follow him. We did for about 2 hours without a single bite, he caught 1 or 2 small ones in this time. Then he met up with another guy and showed us some other spots before he zoomed off, and told us to throw the chatterbait at these banks and we should cash in. My dad threw the chatterbait and I decided to ditch that and start throwing a t-rigged lizard because of the amount of grass in this lake. Every cast would cover your lure. My dad caught 1 small one then I followed it up with a nice 2.5 lber out of a laydown tree. I caught another 1.5 a few casts later on a rip-rap bank. We then moved to some main lake points and rip-rap banks where I kept throwing the lizard and caught a nice fat 4 pounder. We thought it was more like a 5 with the gut it had but the scale said 4.03. It had the tail of a shad or gill still hanging out it's throat and still felt the need to take a stab at my junebug lizard. My dad switched to lizards after that and managed 2 more small ones. Seemed like after noon or so the bite shut off and we never caught another fish. Talked to the local guy a bit later and he said he was having a tough day and hadn't caught any keepers all day. All in all I was pleased having found quality fish on a lake I've never seen before. I've got pics of the 4 on a disposable camera, when I get them developed I'll add them to the post.

[BoatBuckle]

April can be a hot month on Mill Creek. Several years ago, we won a tournament on 4/17 with 5 weighing 24.14#.

3 of those (about 17#'s of the total) came from the upper end of the lake. Turned left out of the ramp and went under the bridge. Followed the main channel (not the arm heading NE) back and fished the E bank with black and blue jigs. All 3 came in about a 100 yard stretch in about 20 minutes. RIGHT PLACE - RIGHT TIME!!!

I have seen fish up to 8.5# weighed in and my top 2 went 7-14 (black / blue jig - Fri night tournament - 6:00pm - 9:00pm) and 6-2 (fluke - day tournament mid-morning). These 2 were caught 3 days apart mid summer in the arms to the west closer to the dam.