Fishing at Lake Ann, Schuyler County, Illinois

• Overview

  You will find Lake Ann in Schuyler County, Illinois. The bank is 581 feet above sea level. It covers about 2 acres, so this is small water you can walk round in under an hour. It is a small entry by Schuyler County standards. The nearest town is Astoria, 6.2 miles away. For a city, Springfield is 42 miles off. This one sits near enough to a boundary to be worth checking.

• Where to Fish on Lake Ann

  Depth went unrecorded, which puts the reading back on you. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. Open biodiversity records for Schuyler County list common carp, goldfish, white perch, bluegill and orangespotted sunfish. It is the county picture; the agency list is water-specific. At Lake Ann the first feature you find is worth twenty minutes.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Between January at about 24°F and July at about 76°F, the water has a wide range to work through. Winter shuts the surface down for months. After mid March the shallows warm and the fish move up. Break-up near mid March, freeze-up near late December: that is the shape of an average year. The middle of summer slows a little, with dawn and dusk carrying it. It holds true on Lake Ann more years than not.

• Tackle & Baits

  Who may fish here is not settled in anything we hold. Mapping shows an empty shoreline: no ramp, no jetty, no marked entry. For the carp, bait a margin spot and sit on it; corn and bread still work. Rules for this water may differ from the county norm. Some water is controlled locally without a sign saying so. Briney Lake Number 1 at 0.7 miles is the sensible second choice. Signs at Lake Ann carry more weight than any list.