Kankakee River, IL

The Kankakee River is a tributary of the Illinois River, approximately 90 mi (144 km) long, in northwestern Indiana and northeastern Illinois in the United States. At one time the river drained one of the largest wetlands in North America and furnished a significant portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River. Significantly altered from its original channel, it flows through a primarily rural farming region of reclaimed cropland south of Lake Michigan.

The Kankakee rises in northwestern Indiana, approximately 5 mi (8 km) southwest of South Bend. It flows in a straight channelized course generally southwestward through rural northwestern Indiana, collecting the Yellow River from the south in Starke County and passing the communities of South Center and English Lake. It forms the border between LaPorte, Porter, and Lake counties on the north and Starke, Jasper, and Newton counties on the south. The river curves westward as it enters Kankakee County in northeastern Illinois. Approximately 3 mi (5 km) southeast of the city of Kankakee it receives the Iroquois River from the south and turns sharply to the northwest for its lower 35 mi (56 km). It joins the Des Plaines River from the south to form the Illinois, approximately 50 mi (80 km) southwest of Chicago.

The Kankakee River is one of the Midwestes prime rivers for smallmouth. From Bird park down stream to Warner Bridge is about ten miles. Fish for smallmouth in your typical river style. Don't forget the summer top water bite.