The 5 Top Lake Destinations In Illinois For First-Timers To Learn Ice Fishing

Ice fishing is a great way to make use of the cold weather and frozen waters of winter. There are destinations around the world that have ice fishing as their main draw — even one of the best winter festivals around the world revolves around celebrating ice fishing. The gist of the sport, if you've never tried it before, involves drilling a hole into a frozen sheet of water, dropping your lure down into the frigid waters below, then setting up on the ice to try to catch the fish swimming underneath. With plenty of smaller, shallower lakes with easy public access, Illinois has some excellent options for beginners to cast their first line under the frozen surface.

To go ice fishing in Illinois, the first step is to get a state fishing license — they're available through local sporting goods shops or online through the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Licenses are valid for up to a year, though if you're just planning a weekend or day trip, there are cheaper, shorter-term licenses available.

Once you've obtained your license, you'll want to find a lake destination where ice fishing is allowed. Below, we've selected five of the best options in the state for getting out there and giving ice fishing a try, especially for those doing so for the first time. These lake fishing spots have a good reputation among local anglers — sourced from online reviews and fishing magazines — and are known to have reliable ice during the winter (making it safe for treading), abundant fish populations, and proximity to roads or parking. We also chose spots that are prominently inhabited by panfish (perch, bluegill, and crappie), since ice fishing guides like Catching Times recommend them as good targets for beginners.

Believe it or not, one of Illinois' best ice fishing destinations is just outside of Chicago. Busse Lake (also known as Busse Woods Reservoir) is just a 25-minute drive from the Chicago O'Hare International Airport and about an hour drive from downtown Chicago. It's even been endorsed by a nationwide fishing expert: Mike McNett, freshwater sport fishing director for the U.S. Angling Confederation, told Chicago Magazine that Busse Lake is his favorite ice fishing spot in Cook County. The Chicago Fishing School also cites it as a top spot for teaching ice fishing, underlining its appeal for beginners.

The reservoir consists of three separate but neighboring "pools," and all but the North Pool allow ice fishing, according to the Forest Preserves of Cook County. The commission's Main Pool Fish Population Survey indicates that this is a great spot to fish for bluegill, a type of panfish that's great for beginners to target. It also has sizable stocks of largemouth bass, gizzard shad, and black crappie. The lake is relatively shallow, which means that it freezes more predictably and that fish are easier to locate, having less space to hide away. There's convenient access to the lake from the parking area off of East Higgins Road, as it's just under a 10-minute walk to the Main Pool's fishing area from there.

Shabbona Lake, the main draw of Shabbona Lake State Park, is an artificial body of water specifically made for fishing. Just a 40-minute drive from Sycamore, a buzzing Midwest hotspot with scenic nature, the lake is stocked year-round with bass, sunfish, bluegill, crappie, perch, and more, and yes, it allows ice fishing in the winter, so long as the ice is thick enough to walk on. With an average depth of 17.5 feet, it's not too deep to delay ice formation. According to a post from the park's site, two record-sized State of Illinois Hybrid Crappie were pulled from ice fishing on Shabbona Lake.

Shabbona is a structure-filled lake, meaning that when it was developed, objects like fish cribs, brush piles, and a sunken bridge were scattered throughout the lake. These structures are the key to ice fishing success on Shabbona — the fish cluster around these structures, so it's easy to pinpoint where to drill your hole to get the best chances of a strike. You just need to get a map of where the structures are, which is available at the lakeside bait shop. Best Fishing in America suggests looking for deep timber areas and weed edges as the most promising spots to fish for walleye here, while bluegill are typically concentrated around docks and weed beds. The park has three parking lots that are within close distance to the water.

About an hour and a half by car from Chicago, the Des Plaines State Fish and Wildlife Area is home to wild woods with campsites, trails, and water recreation. Ice fishing is allowed on Milliken Lake, located within the area, and it's stocked with panfish, catfish, and bass, according to the Des Plaines guide. The lake was cited as the best ice fishing spot in the Chicago area by Game & Fish Magazine. According to the magazine, when the lake isn't frozen over, only bank fishing is permitted, so the ice fishing season allows for greater reach into the lake's full area, where fish might congregate further from the shores.

Milliken Lake is quite shallow, with an average depth of 4 feet and a maximum depth of 8 feet, according to Lake-Link, so it will freeze over faster than deeper lakes. It's located right off of I-95, with an access road and day-use area on its west side, making it easy to park, walk a short distance, and start drilling holes without a long hike carrying equipment.

Close to Illinois' border with Wisconsin, the Fox Chain O'Lakes is a water body made up of 15 interconnected lakes, and it's a reliable option for ice fishing, according to Northland Fishing Tackle. You have to be a bit more cautious about going onto some of the lakes, because of currents, but you're rewarded with abundant fishing opportunities: "What's great about it, though, is that you're likely to catch yellow perch, crappies, and white bass on a jigging spoon, as well as walleyes," said charter captain Doug Cloet in Northland.

According to a lake fishing guide from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Channel Lake has the best spots for ice fishing of the chain's individual lakes. Midwest Outdoors notes that bluegill and crappie are readily stocked by the early ice fishing season, most prominently at the lake's south bay. The lake's main basin, meanwhile, has a reputation as a great spot for catfish. Lake Marie is another location that was cited as a standout for ice fishing, especially for bass, walleye, and crappie. It might be frozen over sooner, too, since it's shallower (with a maximum depth of 26 feet, compared to Channel Lake's 40-foot depth, per the DNR). Parking can be a bit trickier at the Fox Chain O'Lakes, but a Reddit user suggested, "Many bars or restaurants will let you park in their lots to ice fish... Just give em a call and see if it's free or a couple bucks to park there."

Beck Lake is another dependable option for ice fishing that's surprisingly close to Chicago — about a 30-minute drive from downtown and just 15 minutes from O'Hare International Airport. It's managed by the Forest Preserves of Cook County and is a designated ice fishing lake. Its maximum depth is 18.5 feet, according to the Forest Preserves — still somewhat shallow compared to other lakes — and it has easy access, including a boat ramp and parking area right near the banks.

Beck Lake supports a nice mix of fish that are good targets for beginner ice fishers. "Definitely one of the popular ice fishing lakes around... Tons of bass & crappie. Have friends who do well catfish & carp fishing there as well," said one Reddit user. Another post shared success with finding catfish under the ice, adding that there was at least 6 inches of ice all around the lake — while that ice thickness isn't guaranteed, it's a good sign that the lake freezes over evenly.

What makes an ideal lake for beginner ice fishers is reliable ice formation on the lake's surface, diverse and abundant fish (especially panfish, which, as Catching Times noted, are easier targets in winter), and close, public access to the lake. We used data available from state departments and wildlife resources to select lakes that have shallower waters, where ice builds earlier and uniformly. We sourced from fishing magazines, online ice fishing guides, and Reddit to narrow down which lakes have the best reputations for ice fishing, looking out for mentions of stable ice conditions, successful catches, and access from the roadside.