Rend Lake is a huge lake with 18,900 acres of water and over 20,000 acres of land in Jefferson and Franklin counties. Rend Lake is one of the few lakes in Illinois where you can find some nice resorts to accommodate you. Rend Lake is very popular for boating, fishing, hunting and golfing. Because of the warmer climate in southern Illinois, the fish grow faster in Rend Lake than in the lakes in northern Illinois.
Rend Lake is a good multi-species lake with largemouth bass, crappie, white bass, catfish and bluegill available. Most anglers come here to target largemouth bass and crappie. Some very big bass up to and above 7 pounds are caught here every year.
https://ifishillinois.org/profiles/waterbody.php?waternum=00281
Bluegill & Other Sunfish
Bluegill and other sunfish are here in good numbers and there are some quality fish to catch too. Most of the sunfish will run smaller, but if you sort through them, you should be able to find some fish that are big enough of a fish fry. Most anglers that fish for panfish here will target the crappie, but you can often find some quality bluegill mixed in with the crappie too, so don’t be shocked if you catch some decent crappie when fishing with smaller hair jigs while crappie fishing. The spring spawn is definitely the best time to find some of the better quality sunfish in this lake.
Catfish
Rend Lake is a great catfish lake. There are a lot of catfish in the lake and some quality fish are here too. If you’re looking to just catch some catfish, it’s one of the better lakes to come fish in Illinois for numbers.
Crappie
Rend Lake is known as a good crappie lake and there are several guides on the lake who target these species most of the year with good success. You can catch good numbers of crappie here with plenty of bigger fish up to and above 12 inches long. The spring is the best time to come here to catch crappie, but if you can fish the deeper water and find the offshore brush piles and other structure, the crappie bite is pretty good here summer through fall too.
Largemouth Bass
Rend Lake has a good largemouth bass fishery with plenty of bass in the 1 to 2.5 pound range. Bigger bass in the 3 to 4 pound range are consistently caught and don’t be shocked if you run into a 5 pound largemouth bass or even bigger. The warmer weather gives these fish a longer growing season than northern Illinois, so if you get down here to fish, you’ll be pleasantly surprised with some of the bigger bass that are here.
White Bass
Rend Lake has a good white bass population and many anglers will target them on the lake. They are a nice bonus fish for anglers that are fishing for largemouth bass or crappie. Many of the same lures that anglers use for largemouth bass and crappie will be eaten by white bass too. When fishing here, if you account for what white bass eat, you can usually find more action by using those types of baits while targeting largemouths or crappie. Most crappie baits work well for white bass, but while targeting largemouth bass, you’ll get a lot more action if you use minnow-style baits such as crankbaits, spinners or soft minnow baits. Stay away from the bass jigs, bigger lizards and crayfish baits if you want to catch some white bass while fishing for largemouths. If you want to come here to specifically target white bass, you can definitely do that. The fishery is solid on Rend Lake.
