[Fishthoughts]

My co-worker was gracious enough to invite a few of us at the office up to his cabin on Lake Elizabeth. Due to scheduling issues, I could only fish on Saturday morning (Jan 31st) and didn't have much hope to catch much. We headed up from Skokie on Friday evening at about 4:30PM. We started dinner at 8PM with some great sirloin steaks from a butcher in Antioch.

After several beers, wine, and vodka, we walked across the lake to visit a local bar. The walk was somewhat difficult b/c of the decent amount of snow and the uneven terrain. Hung out with the locals for several drinks and enjoyed two games of pool. Some guy was nice enough to drive us back through the lake with his Jeep.

Started getting ready for fishing in the AM by getting bait and fishing license. I can't believe the shortest license was 4 days at $24! Got some minnows, spikes and mousies. Drilled about 6 holes at various depths with a hand auger. I didn't have any tip-ups with me, so we just jigged around. The wind starting picking up real bad and made life miserable out there. I called it day quickly. We got several bites, but no hook-ups.

Here's a picture of my co-workers hanging out. Sorry, I didn't take more photos.

 

[Big Bass Lee]

Lake Elizabeth is an awesome lake. There are lots of bass and Crappies. There are 2 underwater points on the west side of the lake with giant pike, gar, and Smallmouth bass. The Crappies are suspended a little deeper. Did you stop by the bar on Musial? When I used to live on the lake I'd go straight to the underwater points. Did you see anyone driving out there?

 

[Fishthoughts]

Yes, the bar was called My Place on Musial. It's a nice place to hang out for drinks and the people were super friendly. I had a good time in there. As for fishing, we were limited on our transportation option, so we were at the mercy of the area in front of the cabin. I noticed a colony of shantys up on the north end of the lake, right below the hill. I would love to fish here during the summer. Man, we saw several cars driving around at night as we were crossing the lake. We made sure they didn't run us over.

 

[Big Bass Lee]

They used to have SCCA ice races on Elizabeth. I miss living there. My Place is a cool place. I used to stumble home drunk across the lake at 1 a.m and pick up my food at Mad Dan's. 3 weeks ago a guy left a 5 gallon bucket filled with slab crappie. The biggest was 14". The north end has 2 rock piles that the fish hang around. The flat on the west side of that holds a lot of Bass and Pike. The Crappies get huge there. They have a mushy texture when you eat them during the early summer. During the winter they are good.

 

[Ice Crazy]

I have ice fished Elizebeth many times in years past. One of the best ice fishing spots in the country IMHO. It's nice to know someone with property.

 

[WrenchingnFishing]

Atleast ya caught something... Even if it was only a Buzz instead of a fish!