Axehead Lake
Fishing Information & Reports
Axehead Lake Facts
Size: 17 acres
Max Depth: 31 feet
Shoreline: 3400 feet (.64 miles)
Location: Southeast corner of Touhy and River Road in Park Ridge, IL
Fish: Largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, bluegill, perch, crappie, trout (spring and fall), carp
Hours: Sunrise to Sunset
Jay's General Comments
Axehead Lake is primarily known as one of the "inland trout" lakes for the State of Illinois' Inland Trout Program. Every April and October the lake is stocked with 1000-1500 rainbow trout that rance in size from 1/2 lb. to sometimes 2lbs. The lake closes for 5 days during the stocking to allow the fish to acclimate. The days of the "trout opener" and following finds the lake very crowded, especially opening day when it can litteraly be elbow to elbow with fishermen. The inland trout program is designed so that anglers can keep the fish with a daily creel limit of 5 fish. The trout usually last for about 2 weeks, with the majority taken in the first few days.
Axehead Lake also has a decent largemouth bass population. I've had much success casting 3" Slug-go's just above the weeds (below the surface) in various colors for largemouth bass. Other soft plastics and stick-baits have also been effective with this method. Most of the bass however, are in the 8"-12" range. There are larger largemouth bass - i've seen 18"-20" fish swimming around, but they seem to be few and far between. Traditional methods would be the way to go for the larger bass, I wouldn't plan a trip to Axehead just for big bass.
Over the past several years smallmouth bass have been stocked at Axehead Lake. An average of about 1800 smallies (minnow size) have been stocked annually since 1999. During this time I have managed to catch 1 smallmouth bass, in August of 2007 with a Senko. The fish was about 7". Smallmouth bass are a slow-growing fish but some decent sized ones should just be getting ready to be had. With the steep drop-offs at Axehead, its very possible that many have been out of reach for the fisherman. Axehead Lake should indeed be a good habitat for smallmouth bass. Time will tell.
No boats are allowed on Axehead Lake. The entire shoreline is accessible for fishing and in 2007 new fishing structures were constructed on the lake which are all nice places to fish. There are no paved trails but joggers can often be found doing several laps around this asthetically pleasing forest preserve lake.
Axehead Lake Accommodations
The restroom facilities consist of a lone porta-potty between the parking lots. No sinks. There are two parking lots with plenty of parking - one on River Road south of Touhy and one on Touhy east of River Road. Overflow parking during trout opener accross Touhy entrance on north side preserve. There are plenty of restaurants and gas stations along Touhy Ave and River Road. The gas station on Touhy and Dee Rd has a bait machine as does the gas station on Touhy and River Road. The next closest place to get live bait would be Fish-Tech (formally Ed Shirleys) on Dempster in Morton Grove. Dick's Sporting Goods on Touhy in Niles usually has crawlers and redworms but call ahead first for availability.
Jay's Bottom Line
Axehead Lake is a medium sized typical forest preserve lake located on the border of Park Ridge and Des Plaines. Not a place you'd travel great distances to get to, or even to plan an all day fishing outing. It is however, a nice little place where nearby residents can wet a line in hopes of catching a small/medium sized largemouth bass. Parents will like taking kids fishing at Axehead Lake as there aren't huge weed matts to get tangled in, and a bobber and small worm almost gaurentees a fish of some kind. The trout season can be great fun for kids and adults as well.
Hopefully in the next few years the smallmouth bass will grow up and provide anglers the opportunity to catch these always feisty fish.
For current Axehead Lake conditions, fishing reports and news, visit the Axehead Lake Forum of our message boards.
Map and Directions
Axehead Lake is very easy to get to. One thing to note is that the Touhy Ave ramps of I-294 are closed for construction until 2009. The Lake is located within the Chippewa Woods forest preserve on the southeast corner of Touhy Ave and River Road in Park Ridge, IL.
