Four Lakes in DuPage County: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Set in DuPage County, Illinois, this is Four Lakes. The setting is mixed forest. Surface area runs to about 24 acres — small enough to read in one session. The full circuit measures close to 1.1 miles on foot. Size puts it in the front rank of our DuPage County list. The nearest town is Lisle, 1.3 miles away. For a city, Naperville is 3.1 miles off. Two sets of local rules meet not far from this water.

• Where to Fish on Four Lakes

  We hold no depth figure for this one. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. A natural lake fishes on cover, and cover here means weed and timber. Species logged across DuPage County include bluegill, green sunfish, common carp and white sucker. What holds for the county may not hold for this water. On Four Lakes the quiet end is the one worth the extra effort.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Averages here run 74°F at the top of summer and 22°F at the bottom of winter. The middle months are generous; the ends are demanding. Count on hard cover from midwinter, and open water from mid March. The lid tends to go about mid March and return around mid December. Fishing peaks soon after break-up and again before the cold returns. It sets the rhythm of the year at Four Lakes.

• Tackle & Baits

  Nothing on record says whether the bank is open or closed. No dam controls it, and the level follows the season. A car park lies half a mile away, so the walk in is short. Bass water: a Texas-rigged worm near cover, a spinnerbait when you need to cover ground. Gates get locked out of season on water like this. Where parking is tight, arriving early solves most problems. Lake Saint Benedict, 1 mile away, makes the obvious fallback. Ask locally about Four Lakes if anything is unclear.