Lake Mendota Fishing in LaSalle County, Illinois

• Overview

  You will find Lake Mendota in LaSalle County, Illinois. It sits at 758 feet above sea level. This is a pocket water of some 14 acres, and every part of it is reachable from the bank. It is a small entry by LaSalle County standards. You are 1 mile from Mendota. Aurora sits 44 miles out, and it is the nearest city worth the name. A county line runs close by, so local bylaws can differ within a short drive.

• Where to Fish on Lake Mendota

  Depth is not on record here, which means reading the ground instead. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. A natural lake fishes on cover, and cover here means weed and timber. Records held for LaSalle County cover bluegill, green sunfish, smallmouth bass, johnny darter and banded darter. County data is a starting point rather than a guarantee. Treat Lake Mendota as a water to read rather than to cover.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Climate records put July near 73°F and January near 20°F. Winter shuts the surface down for months. Ice-out usually falls in late March, and the weeks after it fish hardest. Expect the water usable from around late March until roughly mid December. Late spring and early autumn carry the year between them. That is the shape of the year on Lake Mendota.

• Tackle & Baits

  We have no record of the rules that apply on this bank. There is somewhere to leave the car, half a mile off. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. Where a permit is needed, the nearest town usually sells it. Signs go up and come down, so check on the day. The nearest alternative is Lake Sunset, 11 miles out. Nothing here settles the position at Lake Mendota for certain.