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Home › Waters › Illinois › Nippersink Lake
Lake · Lake and McHenry counties, northeastern Illinois, one of the connected glacial lakes of the Chain O'Lakes on the Fox River near Fox Lake and Antioch · Illinois

Nippersink Lake Fishing Guides

A shallow glacial lake in the Chain O'Lakes northwest of Chicago, connected to the Fox River and fished hard for walleye, pike, bass and panfish within an hour of the city.

An angler on a dock beside a moored boat on a calm reservoir
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

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About the Nippersink Lake

Nippersink Lake is one of the connected glacial lakes that make up the Chain O’Lakes in northeastern Illinois, lying between Fox Lake and Pistakee Lake where the Fox River threads through the system. The Chain is a genuine glacial feature rather than an impoundment, formed as the last ice sheet retreated, and its lakes are broad, shallow and fertile as a result. Nippersink sits near the middle of the chain and functions as a crossroads: water and fish move through it constantly between the river and the larger lakes on either side, which is a large part of why it fishes well for its size.

The species list is the standard northern Illinois mix and it is deep. Walleye are stocked and pursued hard, especially around the river channel and the drop-offs at the lake’s connections. Northern pike hold in the weedy bays and are common enough that most anglers encounter one. Largemouth bass work the weed edges, docks and lily pads. Bluegill, crappie and yellow perch are abundant and make the Chain a popular family fishery, and channel catfish are dependable through the warm months. White bass and the occasional muskellunge round it out. The dominant practical fact about fishing here is traffic: the Chain O’Lakes is among the busiest recreational boating waters in the Midwest, and summer weekends are effectively unfishable in open water.

The USGS gauge at Fox Lake reports lake stage, and on a shallow connected system that reading is more useful than it first appears. The Chain sits on the Fox River and its level is managed at the Stratton Lock and Dam downstream, so stage reflects both river flow and dam operation. A high river after heavy rain pushes colour and current through the lakes, moves fish toward the quieter bays and can bring no-wake restrictions that transform the boating conditions. A low, settled stage clears the water and pushes fish onto the weed edges. Check it together with the season, because water clarity here changes the fishing more than temperature does.

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Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

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Reviewed by hand before it appears. Pick the water, not the spot — we never publish exact locations.

Never published. We use it only if we need to ask about the photo.

Posting to Nippersink Lake.

JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 12 MB. We resize it and strip the location data out of the file.

The name shown under the photo. Leave blank to stay anonymous.

Reader photo license v1.0 — the short version:

  • You grant Guided Floats, LLC a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to publish, resize and crop your photo on guidedfloats.com and in GuidedFloats’ own social posts and apps. You keep the copyright and can use the photo anywhere else.
  • You confirm that you took the photo yourself, that publishing it does not infringe anyone else’s rights, and that anyone recognisable in it (or a parent or guardian, if they are under 18) is happy for it to appear here.
  • Credit is printed beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, using the credit name you give us. Leave it blank and we use your name; write “Anonymous” for no name. Your email address is never published.
  • Withdrawing is one email to hello@guidedfloats.com naming the photo. It comes off the site within 7 days.
Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

Access

Fox Lake - the village at the gauge, with marinas, launches, lodging and services.
Antioch - the town north of the chain with additional access and services.
Chain O'Lakes State Park - the main public access on the system, with ramps and camping.
Pistakee Lake - the connected lake immediately southeast, fished on the same trip.
Grass Lake - the connected lake to the north, shallower and heavily weeded.
Fox River - the river running through the chain, connecting the lakes above and below.
McHenry - the town downstream near the Stratton Lock and Dam that manages the level.

Seasons

Spring: the best fishing of the year, with walleye and pike active, crappie in the bays and very little recreational traffic.
Summer: heavy boat traffic dominates weekends, so fishing runs early, late and in the protected bays, with panfish and catfish reliable.
Fall: boat traffic collapses after Labor Day and walleye, pike and bass feed hard through cooling water.
Winter: ice fishing for panfish, pike and walleye in colder years, with the chain a long-established hard-water destination.

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Questions

What species can you catch on the Nippersink Lake?

Anglers target Black Crappie, Bluegill, Channel Catfish, Largemouth Bass, Muskellunge, Northern Pike, Walleye, White Bass, Yellow Perch on the Nippersink Lake in Illinois.

Where can you access the Nippersink Lake?

Fox Lake - the village at the gauge, with marinas, launches, lodging and services. Antioch - the town north of the chain with additional access and services. Chain O'Lakes State Park - the main public access on the system, with ramps and camping. Pistakee Lake - the connected lake immediately southeast, fished on the same trip. Grass Lake - the connected lake to the north, shallower and heavily weeded. Fox River - the river running through the chain, connecting the lakes above and below. McHenry - the town downstream near the Stratton Lock and Dam that manages the level.

When is the best time to fish the Nippersink Lake?

Spring: the best fishing of the year, with walleye and pike active, crappie in the bays and very little recreational traffic. Summer: heavy boat traffic dominates weekends, so fishing runs early, late and in the protected bays, with panfish and catfish reliable. Fall: boat traffic collapses after Labor Day and walleye, pike and bass feed hard through cooling water. Winter: ice fishing for panfish, pike and walleye in colder years, with the chain a long-established hard-water destination.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Nippersink Lake?

Regulations change by season and section. Read the current rules on the Illinois agency site: https://www.ifishillinois.org/site-documents/FishingDigest.pdf