We have had the wettest spring on record, and it shows. All our rivers are at or near flood-stage, and many of our lakes have launch areas that are under water.

This has caused a major problem for the Illinois High School Association State Bass Fishing Championship Sectionals. Several had to be postponed for several days and the Sectional scheduled for the Skokie Lagoons had to be moved to Tampier Lake in Lemont, Ill., due to excessively high water at the Lagoons.

The IHSA State Bass Fishing Championship will be held next weekend in south central Illinois on Carlisle Lake. More than 250 high school teams from across the State began competition in one of the 22 Sectional Tournaments. There were eight high school teams from our area: New Trier, Niles West, Loyola Academy (with two teams), Notre Dame (two teams) and Glenbrook South (two teams).

Unfortunately, only Notre Dame will be in the finals at Lake Carlisle. If you were wondering how competitive these young people are on our area lakes, the winning weight for five fish on Busse Woods Lake-Main pool was 14 pounds of bass, the Busse Woods South pool weighed in at 11 pounds, 11 ounces.

The Fox Chain North weighed in at 12 pounds, 6 ounces and the Fox Chain South produced 12 pounds, 1 ounce for the winner. The total weigh in at Busse-Main pool was 62 pounds, 4 ounces of bass, the South pool weighed in at 61 pounds, 5 ounces –and that’s from a lake that most fishermen drive past on the highway and never bother fishing. Maybe they should stop and give the Forest Preserve lake a try. It also has a terrific supply of muskies and pan fish.

Fishing reports from most of our area lakes are spotty because of the high water and low water temperatures for this time of year. Lake Geneva is producing some nice largemouth and smallmouth bass catches, according to the guide services. Lake Michigan is doing pretty well on steelhead and Coho salmon in 60 to 85 feet of water with lots of activity and lots of fish.

There are fish to be caught, so let’s get out there and set a few hooks.

Until next time, keep a tight line.