Kaskaskia River Fishing Guides and Conditions, Illinois

About the Kaskaskia River

The Kaskaskia is the second-longest river inside Illinois, rising near Champaign and running southwest more than three hundred miles to the Mississippi below Chester. The USGS gauge near Venedy Station reads the lower river in Washington and St. Clair counties, on the reach that has been channelized and locked for barge navigation, and it reports discharge and stage without a current water temperature series. Because the lower river is a managed navigation channel, stage here behaves differently than on a free-flowing stream and is worth reading before a trip rather than assuming.

The lower Kaskaskia is a warmwater river fishery of real quality that gets far less attention than the Mississippi it feeds. Channel catfish are everywhere, blue catfish and flathead catfish both reach substantial size in the deeper channel and around wing dams and log jams, and the flathead fishing at night in summer is the reason a lot of local anglers are on the water at all. White bass run up in spring in numbers, crappie stack in the backwaters and side channels, sauger move up from the Mississippi, and largemouth hold in the sloughs and oxbows left behind by channelization.

Above the gauge the river changes character entirely, running through Carlyle Lake and Lake Shelbyville, two large Corps impoundments that dominate the recreational fishing in the upper basin and release the flow that sustains the lower river. Below the gauge the navigation channel runs to the Kaskaskia Lock and Dam near the Mississippi confluence. Access to the lower river is by public ramps at Evansville, New Athens and Fayetteville, plus scattered bridge and levee access; guided work is limited and generally comes from Mississippi River catfish guides who work the confluence area.

Fish it by release and by season. Discharge from the upstream reservoirs shapes the lower river, and a high release makes the channel fast and dirty while a low steady one leaves it fishable and clear enough. March through May is the white bass and crappie window, June through September is the catfish season, and October brings the sauger. Illinois licenses are required and the regulations linked below carry current limits.

Access

Venedy Station area access at the USGS gauge - the lower-river flow reference and bank access.
New Athens boat ramp - trailer access to the middle navigation reach.
Fayetteville access - hand and trailer launch on the lower river.
Evansville ramp near the Mississippi - the downstream launch for the confluence reach.
Kaskaskia Lock and Dam - tailwater access at the Mississippi confluence.
Carlyle Lake tailwater - the upstream dam release and a heavily fished tailrace.
Levee and bridge crossings between New Athens and Evansville - scattered bank access.

Seasons

Spring: white bass and crappie run up the lower river in April and May; high releases can blow it out after rain.
Summer: the catfish season, with blue and flathead catfish in the channel and best fishing after dark.
Fall: clearing water and sauger moving up from the Mississippi make October and November productive.
Winter: cold and slow, with some catfish and sauger fishing near the lock and dam and the Carlyle tailwater.