You don't need a boat to catch fish in DuPage County. The Forest Preserve District manages 30 lakes and ponds plus stretches of both DuPage River branches, Salt Creek and the Des Plaines, all open to shore and pier fishing unless a sign says otherwise. No admission fee, no parking fee. The only thing you buy is a $15 state license.
Read one thing before you go: the rules inside DuPage preserves are stricter than Illinois law, and in one case dramatically so. Smallmouth bass are catch-and-release here. Statewide you could keep six. Getting that wrong is a citation.
The Lakes
Herrick Lake, Wheaton
22 acres · off Butterfield Rd · the reliable one
The lake most DuPage anglers name first. A paved path circles the whole shoreline, so you can walk the bank and pick a spot without fighting through brush.
Stocked with bluegill, hybrid bluegill, channel catfish, northern pike and fathead minnows; crappie and bass turn up too. It's not a secret — people jog past you continuously — but it's consistent, and it's the easiest place on this list to bring a kid who may lose interest in nine minutes.
The Illinois Prairie Path runs through this part of Wheaton if you want to make a morning of it.
Silver Lake at Blackwell, Warrenville
62 acres · the big water · trout seasons apply
The largest fishable lake in the system, with multiple bank access points plus the West Branch of the DuPage running through the preserve.
Stocked with walleye, yellow perch, northern pike, channel catfish and rainbow trout. The trout are why you need the closed seasons: no trout harvest from October 1 until 5 a.m. on the third Saturday of October, and again from March 15 until 5 a.m. on the first Saturday of April.
Blackwell holds two backups within walking distance. White Pine Pond is 9 acres of largemouth bass — the preserve signage calls it White Pond, the District's own fishing table calls it White Pine Pond, and no, we don't know why either. Sand Pond is 4 acres of channel catfish and bluegill.
Before you drive: there's active construction on Mack Road between Williams Road and Route 59 — utility work for a new maintenance campus, with intermittent detours. Mack Road is how you get to Silver Lake.
Deep Quarry Lake at West Branch, Bartlett
40 acres, 45 ft deep · off Army Trail Rd · the only night lake
The one lake in the DuPage system where night fishing is allowed, and the rule rewards literal reading: you must be out of the preserve by 11 p.m. That's not "fish until 11."
Two piers plus shoreline access. Stocked with walleye, yellow perch, northern pike, redear sunfish, channel catfish and largemouth bass. Adjacent Bass Lake — 15 acres, 30 feet deep — is also fishable from shore.
Hidden Lake, Downers Grove
Eagle Lake 10 acres · Round Meadow Lake 15 acres · near Route 53 and Butterfield
Two lakes in one preserve: Eagle (channel catfish, bluegill, redear sunfish) and Round Meadow (largemouth bass, bluegill). There's East Branch river access too, about fifty yards from the lot.
Mallard Lake, Hanover Park
85 acres · the trophy water, with an asterisk
Stocked with walleye, yellow perch, redear sunfish and muskie. The asterisk: the District's stocking record shows the last muskie stocking in September 2021. The fish are in there. Ongoing stocking is not something the record supports.
The 9-acre Cloverdale Pond nearby is quieter and simpler.
Herrick for kids, Silver for variety and trout, Deep Quarry for the only legal night session, Mallard if you're after something big and patient.
The Rules That Are Different Here
Most fishing guides get this section wrong. The limits below are DuPage forest preserve rules, not Illinois statewide law, and only one of them matches it.
| Species | DuPage preserves | Illinois statewide |
|---|---|---|
| Smallmouth bass | Catch and release only | 6/day, no size limit |
| Largemouth bass | 14″–18″ protected slot; 4/day | 6/day, no size limit |
| Channel catfish (lakes) | 12″ min, 3/day combined | No limit |
| Bluegill | 25/day | No limit |
| Walleye (lakes) | 3/day, 16″ min | 6/day, 14″ min |
| Northern pike | 3/day, 24″ min | 3/day, 24″ min |
| Muskie | 1/day, 48″ min | 1/day, 36″ min |
Smallmouth is the one that matters. The District's rule is a flat catch-and-release. Keep one and you're wrong regardless of its length.
On catfish, our two sources disagree: the IDNR digest lists 6/day for DuPage preserve lakes, the District's own site says 3/day, channel and flathead combined. The District notes its rules may be stricter than the state's, and District rangers are the ones you'll meet. We're printing 3.
The smaller print: yellow perch 5/day at 9″, crappie 15/day in lakes with no limit in rivers, rainbow trout 5/day. In DuPage rivers there's no catfish minimum and no creel limit. And the West Branch between the former dam sites at McDowell Grove and Warrenville Grove is catch-and-release for both bass species — a stretch of river, not a lake, and easy to miss.
Takeaway: when the county and the state disagree, fish to the county's stricter number. The ranger checking your bucket works for the county.
Hours, Gear, and Zebra Mussels
The hours are strange here and people get them wrong. DuPage preserves open one hour after sunrise and close one hour after sunset. Not before sunrise. If you're used to Cook County you will show up to a locked gate in the dark, and you will be annoyed.
Gear rules: two poles or tip-ups maximum, no more than two hooks or lures each, attended at all times. No nets, seines, traps, bows, spears, slingshots, pitchforks or gigs. No wading in lakes or ponds; wading in rivers and streams is fine.
Zebra mussels are confirmed in Deep Quarry, Bass Lake, and now Mallard Lake. Clean gear before and after, drain the water, and put bait in the trash rather than the lake. There's also a district-wide blue-green algae notice up this summer — check the District's alerts page before letting a dog swim, which is a different guide.
License and Costs
You need an Illinois fishing license at 16 and older. Residents under 16, and resident anglers who are legally blind or declared disabled, fish without one.
- Resident annual sport fishing license: $15.00, agent fees included
- Inland trout stamp: $6.50 — required for trout anywhere in Illinois except Lake Michigan, so it's relevant at Silver Lake
- A license bought on or after March 1, 2026 runs through March 31, 2027
Buy online through IDNR, at sporting goods stores, or at Forest Preserve District headquarters, 3S580 Naperville Road in Wheaton, weekdays 8 to 4.
Before You Eat Anything
The advisories apply to the rivers and Salt Creek, not the preserve lakes.
- Salt Creek, common carp: under 24″, one meal a month; 24″ and over, six meals a year. PCBs.
- West Branch DuPage, carp at any size: one meal a week. Smallmouth 15″ and over: one meal a week — one a month if you're pregnant or feeding it to a kid. Mercury.
- East Branch DuPage, common carp: one meal a week.
That last one deserves a sentence. The Forest Preserve District's page currently says one meal a day for East Branch carp. The state health department's 2026 advisory table says one meal a week — seven times stricter. When a county page and the health department disagree about how much PCB-bearing fish to eat, follow the health department. We printed their number.
DuPage has more fishable shoreline than most people who live here realize, and the District maintains it well. Bring the license, keep the smallmouth in the water, and don't turn up before sunrise — the gate will still be locked.