Dave,

I don't live in the area, but I do a lot of work for an electric COOP in the area.
We were working in the Salem area last year and there were a lot of welders there working on pipelines.

Vernon is pretty close to Carlyle Lake. It's pretty well known for crappie.
Rend Lake is farther to the south. It's also known for good crappie.
Some friends used to fish the outlet of Rend lake for very large rough fish.
The outlet is not a very scenic spot, they just went there for the size of fish.

There are a lot of small ponds all over the place. They are pretty much on people's property.
Unfortunately, I don't have any inside info or leads on any of them.

Talking to to locals is the best bet of finding some good bluegill ponds.
Maybe someone here lives in the area or haves some better inside information.