The Lake Michigan Biological Station annually conducts a creel survey to determine non-charter angler use of the Illinois waters of Lake Michigan. Shoreline anglers and boaters are interviewed from March through September by creel clerks at four areas along the Illinois shoreline ranging from Calumet Park (south of Chicago, near the Indiana border) to North Point Marina (near the Wisconsin border). 
Data collected by creel clerks through interviews are used to estimate angler effort, harvest, and expenses for both shore and boat anglers. Length and weight data are collected from those fish in the possession of anglers. The bulk of the harvest includes yellow perch (Perca flavescens), coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch), chinook salmon (O. tshawytscha), rainbow trout (O. mykiss), lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush), and brown trout (Salmo trutta). In the harbors and along the shoreline on the south side of Chicago other species that are normally associated with warm inland waters are caught on a regular basis, including smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieui), largemouth bass (M. salmoides), rock bass (Ambloplites rupestris), bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus), pumpkinseed sunfish (L. gibbosus), common carp (Cyprinus carpio) and freshwater drum (Aplodinotus grunniens).