So I stumbled upon this fantastic site in my quest to find more info on native fish. First, let me give you my short history of native fish keeping. As a kid I always enjoyed collecting stuff and had set up a 150 gallon tank that my dad gave me because it was cracked halfway up one of the seams with stuff I caught like crayfish, tadpoles, bullheads, some salamanders, etc. Eventually my dad wanted to get rid of the tank so I have been native fish-less (except for one short ill-fated attempt at keeping a baby muskie) ever since. This summer, however, I have set up a Caribbean coastal biotope tank with some macroalgae (hence my user name) and fish such as Emblemaria pandionis and several Cyprinodon variegatus. From there, however, I'm getting back into this native fish thing and have wanted to go back and set up a tank of Illinois fish. The problem is I haven't found anywhere that seems to have information on the regulations pertaining to collecting fish in Illinois. Does anyone on this site happen to know these regulations? Any info on neat fish in my area I should look for?

Welcome Seaweed Guy!

I'm also from Chicagoland.

Most of what you want to know can be found from the Illinois Department of Natural resources " 2006-2007 Illinois Fishing Digest PDF"
http://dnr.state.il....ems/fishing.htm

The nitty-gritty of what you need to know can be found in the Illinois General assembly, state statutes
http://www.ilga.gov/...n/ilcs/ilcs.asp

A call to the DNR might clear up some of the details if you talk to the right person.

I actually heard back from someone at the DNR finally, it looks like I need a "collection permit" to collect non-game species whereas game species can only be collected by hooking them. I don't understand why they can't make it clearer, but I guess people like us who want to actually keep the fish rather than have them mounted or eat them are in the vast minority. Do you know any particularly good spots for collecting in the Chicago area?

I actually heard back from someone at the DNR finally, it looks like I need a "collection permit" to collect non-game species whereas game species can only be collected by hooking them. I don't understand why they can't make it clearer, but I guess people like us who want to actually keep the fish rather than have them mounted or eat them are in the vast minority. Do you know any particularly good spots for collecting in the Chicago area?

Illinois has odd law with respect to netting fish. Only "minnows" (as defined as Cyprinids in Illinois) and a few exceptions can be taken with nets. Some of the laws can appear a bit cryptic or contradictory but I posted the below image in another thread.



I love sampling any and all of the streams in the area since every new stream is an adventure. If you want to keep the fish, I would first recommend becoming acquainted with Indiana law and make the drive there. Speaking generally, you can take just about any non-game (sport fish) with nets, provided they are very small and not threatened or endangered. This puts most darters, "minnows" and other smaller fishes suitable for home aquarium keeping in the legal category. Again reading the law carefully is the best advice I can give you.

I was in Indiana just yesterday
Let me know when you want to head out next. Maybe we can head that direction together.

The man I talked to, who is the fisheries biologist of the DuPage county forest preserves, told me that nongame species such as darters may be collected if one obtains a collecting permit from the DNR. I have yet to call the DNR to ask about what exactly this collecting permit is about. He also told me that net collecting is actually permitted, but not on forest preserve property, and that collection of non-game fish is prohibited on forest preserve property. I think I should place a call to the DNR tomorrow to try to see what their interpretation is. As far as collecting goes, I'm around for another month and then I head back up to Wisconsin where I go to school. I'm sure they have their own set of confusing and different collection regulations. I'm generally free on weekends (except this coming one) so if you ever have something going on I'd probably be interested in it.

So I stumbled upon this fantastic site in my quest to find more info on native fish. First, let me give you my short history of native fish keeping. As a kid I always enjoyed collecting stuff and had set up a 150 gallon tank that my dad gave me because it was cracked halfway up one of the seams with stuff I caught like crayfish, tadpoles, bullheads, some salamanders, etc. Eventually my dad wanted to get rid of the tank so I have been native fish-less (except for one short ill-fated attempt at keeping a baby muskie) ever since. This summer, however, I have set up a Caribbean coastal biotope tank with some macroalgae (hence my user name) and fish such as Emblemaria pandionis and several Cyprinodon variegatus. From there, however, I'm getting back into this native fish thing and have wanted to go back and set up a tank of Illinois fish. The problem is I haven't found anywhere that seems to have information on the regulations pertaining to collecting fish in Illinois. Does anyone on this site happen to know these regulations? Any info on neat fish in my area I should look for?

There was a VERY cool pet store specializing in fish in Skokie called the Sea Shore or something like that (my memory is hazy I left Chicago 12 years ago) and he used to sell Florida Gar and Northern Pike in his tanks. The Gar were maybe six inches and the Pike were little fingerlings. I told him I thought it was illegal to sell game fish and he explained how he was able to do it and I don't remember.

Here's an update, I think the store is now called Old Orchard Aquarium. They are located at 9235 Skokie Blvd. I think it is the original owner with a different name. Very cool store! I think he even had a custom tank with a large Leopard Shark (mayber 3 feet) and some Sting Rays.