Yep Southern Illinois has good fishing,all around fishing. 14" is a really nice fish. But on a good day you can catch more than one or two 15" to 16" maybe 17" fish..... and there are a few bigger ones out there.The state record is swimming somewhere there....It would not shock me too bad if a new world record came from their. Sometimes the lakes have a couple of years of good spawn and you get a whole passel of year class fish about 9" or so and they actually need thinned just a little to match the food stocks.If you take a few of them and leave some of the hogs as brood stock it actually helps. All fish that way. I am hopeful the fishery biologist are telling us the right thing to do,and I think they are for the most part.Stuff happens sometimes that just cause a crash. Bad spawn hurts for several years. Bluegill...now that's another story.

The catfishing is world class. Especially the Ohio river.And a couple lakes have better than average bass fishing.