Park Bait Co.

07/29/2026

07/28/2026

https://parkbaitshop.com/fishing-report-280.html

Tuesday july 28th, Weather, Weather, Weather it’s So crazy Right? Hope everyone is ok after...

07/23/2026

BUTTER WORMS
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07/19/2026

Parky has the fishing report!

https://parkbaitshop.com/fishing-report-279.html

07/15/2026

I started going to the Icast show when it was in Chicago in 1998 and have only missed 2 shows in all those years.

07/13/2026

Monday July 13th, We’ll Summer Is Moving Right Along! Hope You Are All Getting Out And Enjoying It.

Perch Have Slowed Down Due To The North/East Winds We Had Over The Weekend. Those Winds Have Given Them Lockjaw! The Surface Water Temperature Went To About 70*. I Believe The Bottom Water Temps Are Still Cool Enough For The Perch To Stick Around For Now But The Warmer Water Makes Them Very Picky And Tricky To Catch. At The Moment The Bite Has Turned Off From Minnows And Went To Soft Shells (Crayfish). Looks As Though The Winds Are Going To Be All Over The Place This Coming Week So The Perch Bite Will Be Scattered And Unpredictable.

There Are Still A Few Steelhead Being Caught On Lures And Crank-Baits, Most Of My Reports Are From Diversey Harbor But Those Fish Move Around So Any Harbor Can Produce Them. There Was Even A Report Of A King Being Lost Last Week🤷‍♀️. It Is Definitely Early But It Won’t Be Long. We Will Start Getting Our New Lure Line Up Out By The Beginning Of August. We Have Some New Glow Reef Runners That Are Going To Be Hot!

Smallmouth Have Been Finicky As Well. It’s That Time Of The Year When You Have To Entice The Fish. Pop Live Crayfish Off The Bottom, A Juicy Leech Or A Big Fat Nitro Worm. Work The Plastics Off The Bottom As Well.

Even The Sheephead (Freshwater Drum) Were A Little Slower And They Love The North/East Winds. Use A Live Crayfish On A Bottom Rig.

No Reports From The Chicago River But For The Most Part You Can Always Catch Something There.

You Know What I Say, “ Life Is Short So Get Up And Get Out You Can’t Catch Em From The Couch!”

It’s A Great Time To Take A Kid Out To One Of Our Local Ponds They Have Been Stocked With Small Sunfish And Baby Bullheads. Get Some Wax Worms Or Red Worms Put Em On A Small Hook With A Small Weight And Small Bobber And Let Them Have A Blast. You Could Also Head Over To One Of The Forest Preserve Lakes And Let Them Catch Small Bluegill But Remember You Never Know What May End Up On The End Of That Line, Just Might Get A JUMBO! This Is A Fantastic Way To Get Kids Started Fishing!

As Always Call For Your Up To The Minute Report, We Tell It As We Hear It!
Have A Great Week!

07/10/2026

Soft Shells are now in stock!

07/10/2026

Thank you to Tariq for what will be my Friday night dinner!

07/08/2026

For our catfishers we have Triple S formally Sonnys in stock as well as Skipjack and Shad to use as cutbait

07/06/2026

Monday July 6th, I Hope Everyone Had A fun And Safe Weekend Even With The Passing Rain!
Perch Fishing Was Good. Sunday Morning A Lot Of Limits Were Caught, Mostly Using Baby Shiners Or Large Fat Head Minnows On Perch/Crappie Rigs. Most Of Them Still Seem To Be In And Around The Mouth Of The Harbor. I Posted A Few Pics At The Bottom That We Took in the shop This Weekend. I am sure there are perch at the other harbors also, you just have to look for them. If i had time i’d be out there with my powerline. Those Familiar with a powerline should give it a try. It is not like using it for coho you have to change up a few things but Definitely fun for perch!
The Winds Are Shifting To N/E For The Next Couple Days Which Will Not Send Them Away But I Think It may Slow The Bite Down A Bit. 🤷‍♀️ Perch Can Be Very Temperamental so you just don’t know!
Smallmouth Still In And Around The Harbor Walls And Mouths. Live Baits That Are Working Are Large Shiner Minnows, Medium Crayfish, Leeches And Nitro Worms. Plastics Such As Ned Rigs, fuzzies, Tubes, Crawfish, And Goby Types Have Been Working Great When Casted Out And Worked In slowly Off The Bottom.
Still A Few Steelhead Caught At Diversery On Spoons such as KO Wobblers And Moonshines. I Wouldn’t Be Surprised If A King Was To Be Caught In This Cooler Water.
A Lot Of Sheephead (Freshwater Drum) Being Caught On Just About Anything. They Mostly Like The live Crayfish On The Bottom Though With The Wind Shift To The N/E The Next Few Days They Will Be Hot And Heavy Out On The Horseshoe Pier.
You Know What I Say “Life Is Short” So Get Up And Get Out You Can’t Catch Them From The Couch!
As Always Call For Your Up To The Minute Report, We Tell It As We Hear It!
Our Hours through labor day Are From 4am To 8pm 7days A Week, So If You Are Calling And We Don’t Answer We Can’t Get To The Phone So Give Us A Few Minutes And Call Back. In The Case Of Bad Weather We May Leave Early.
We Thank You For Your Continued Support!