Illinois trout Streams???
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The base habitat in many streams in northern Illinois is basically fine; a cracked, slate limestone (and some sandstone) that is about 8,000 to 11,000 years old (the last glaciers to pass through).
Habitat restoration for such waters usually means taking man-made stuff out of the water (like dams) that restrict seasonal flows, encourage siltation and stifles plant growth and oxygenation.
The killer for planting trout in our flowing waters is temperature. The reason streams are stocked in spring is, that is when the water is 12C (about 53F - max stockable temp). After spring the K3, Fox, Piscasaw, Kish and other smaller streams reach temps of 21C (70F) to 26C (80F) and beyond, with low flow, and O2 levels made worse by algae blooms.
45 to 50F are prime rainbow temps. 70F = death.
Many of those Wisconsin streams are fed by well-oxygenated, multiple cold/cool water springs that hold water temps in check over the summer and winter months. They are also located in areas that do not have the huge amounts of warm, untreated sewage, treated city water, or city and farm rainwater run-off that we do.
My what a difference 50 to 100 miles can make in geography, topography and geology.
Smallmouth are actually an extremely hardy fish to be able to survive the high summer temps (80F+), wide seasonal temp swings (of 35F to 80F+), low O2 levels, algae blooms, and pollution levels. In lakes fish can look for some relief in deeper water and/or near areas holding oxygen giving plant life (not oxygen robbing algae).
Smallmouth have nowhere to go. They simply stick it out and survive (in good numbers, too).
As water quality improves, they manage, usually all on their own (as conditions and the forage base allow), to make their way into more and more waters (small creeks and larger waters like the Des Plaines).
What a wonderful fish. No wonder they are such fighters.
Habitat restoration for such waters usually means taking man-made stuff out of the water (like dams) that restrict seasonal flows, encourage siltation and stifles plant growth and oxygenation.
The killer for planting trout in our flowing waters is temperature. The reason streams are stocked in spring is, that is when the water is 12C (about 53F - max stockable temp). After spring the K3, Fox, Piscasaw, Kish and other smaller streams reach temps of 21C (70F) to 26C (80F) and beyond, with low flow, and O2 levels made worse by algae blooms.
45 to 50F are prime rainbow temps. 70F = death.
Many of those Wisconsin streams are fed by well-oxygenated, multiple cold/cool water springs that hold water temps in check over the summer and winter months. They are also located in areas that do not have the huge amounts of warm, untreated sewage, treated city water, or city and farm rainwater run-off that we do.
My what a difference 50 to 100 miles can make in geography, topography and geology.
Smallmouth are actually an extremely hardy fish to be able to survive the high summer temps (80F+), wide seasonal temp swings (of 35F to 80F+), low O2 levels, algae blooms, and pollution levels. In lakes fish can look for some relief in deeper water and/or near areas holding oxygen giving plant life (not oxygen robbing algae).
Smallmouth have nowhere to go. They simply stick it out and survive (in good numbers, too).
As water quality improves, they manage, usually all on their own (as conditions and the forage base allow), to make their way into more and more waters (small creeks and larger waters like the Des Plaines).
What a wonderful fish. No wonder they are such fighters.
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But what if one knew a creek that had reproductive rainbows I’ve been catching them for 20 years any time I want a special lunch no matter the time of year however if it’s summer what you catch you eat because waters cold enough for them to survive but after being caught in august 50% of the time they die within hours so I only target them when I plan to eat. Be real nice if the dnr would protect the creekI believe that there are areas on Rock Creek that may stay cold enough for the entire year. However, from from talking to the IDNR fish biologist I doubt that Rock Creek is capable of supporting a year round trout population. Rock Creek does have a nice population of smallmouth bass and rock bass and catching these in the beautiful surrondings of Rock creek makes for a wonderful experience.
According to the "Fishes of Illinois" the only places where trout (brook and lake trout) occurr naturally is in Lake Michigan. Brook trout (the only native trout in the midwest) are not found on inland streams or lakes. There may have been an occasional stray from streams that are on the border in Wisconsin. Doing habitat improvement on streams that never supported a native trout population is unlikely to make it support a trout population. However, Illinois does have a good number of smaller streams that support smallmouth bass. These fish are really fun fish to catch.
If you want to catch stream trout in illlinois you can fish Rock Creek, Piscasaw Creek, Apple Canyon State Park and whatever other streams the IDNR stocks with trout during the spring season. The stockers are fun, enjoy them.
If you want to fish for native trout you are better off going to to Wisconsin, Michigan, and even Iowa.
Although I love to flyfish for trout, I think massive habitat improvement in Illinois streams so they can support trout will not work. However, the money wouldn't be wasted as I'm sure the carrying capacity of these streams to support smallmouth bass would greatly increase.
To answer your question yes there are trout streams in Illinois however, none of them support a year round trout fishery. Hope this answers your question.
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