Fishing Lake Plano in Kendall County, Illinois

• Overview

  The Kendall County entry here is Lake Plano, in Illinois. It stands 636 feet above sea level. It covers about 5 acres, so this is small water you can walk round in under an hour. It is a small entry by Kendall County standards. Plano is the closest place, 1.6 miles off. Aurora sits 12 miles out, and it is the nearest city worth the name. The boundary is near enough that local access rules are worth double-checking.

• Where to Fish on Lake Plano

  It is listed as an impoundment in national data, which explains the shape of the basin. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. Across Kendall County, recorded fish include rainbow darter, banded darter, smallmouth bass, johnny darter and orangethroat darter. The county figures include rivers and lakes alike. Anyone new to Lake Plano should walk it once before setting up.

• Seasonal Patterns

  July is the warm end of the year here, averaging about 73°F, while January sits near 20°F. The freeze arrives properly here and holds. The open season starts with the thaw, near enough late March. Climate figures give an open season running late March to mid December. Reckon on open water from spring through to late autumn, with May and June the strongest. That shapes the year on Lake Plano.

• Tackle & Baits

  The rules here are undocumented as far as public sources go. Parking is mapped about 130 yards from the bank. Largemouth respond to soft plastics tight to cover; go weedless where the growth is heavy. A landowner's word beats anything printed elsewhere. A polite question at the farm gate opens more banks than anything else. Should this one be busy, Beaver Lake is 2.4 miles off. Nothing here settles the position at Lake Plano for certain.