By Louie Stout
While the St. Joseph and Tippecanoe Rivers get a lot of attention from anglers, The Kankakee River remains a sleeper.
The Kankakee begins about five miles from South Bend and flows to the Illinois State Line. Once considered a mecca for sportsmen, the river was channelized and adjacent wetlands were drained years ago to accommodate farmland.
Even so, an Indiana DNR Fisheries Division survey last summer revealed the system has a fishable population of bluegill, smallmouth and largemouth bass and some northern pike.
“It’s a healthy river with a good sport fishing community with good sizes,” says District Fisheries Manager Courtney Weldon. “Bigger fish might be harder to find, but overall, it looks like a relatively healthy fish community.”
Her crew was there last July and sampled fish from LaPorte County to the state line. They collected 55 species of fish with bluegills, shiners and suckers being the most plentiful.
“Compared to the last survey we did there (2004), we saw a general increase in sport fish, a little better habitat and no decline in diversity,” Weldon adds.
Bass sizes ranged from 2 to 19 ½ inches, with most of the quality bass on the west side of Indiana.
“We also saw some bigger gamefish around Rt. 6 near Walkerton,” she says. “The habitat is much better there.”
Bluegill averaged 6 to 7 inches in better areas. They collected 17 pike during the month-long survey with the largest measuring 33 inches.
The Kankakee has several public access and boat launches, including on DNR Fish and Wildlife Areas located along the river.