Chicago Sun-Times

Moving right along after dam removal

Sun, 19 May 2013 02:40:17 -0500

I can’t decide if it’s a dam miracle or what we should have expected all along when the Hofmann Dam was removed last year from the Des Plaines River. In October, months after the dam removal, broodstock smallmouth bass, of a size that makes fishermen fantasize, were tagged and stocked by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. And they are on the move in remarkable ways. ‘‘Hooked up with one of those tagged smallmouth bass from last fall’s stocking near Riverside and Lyons,’’ Marcus Benesch emailed last week. ‘‘Only this guy was miles north of there in the Catherine Chevalier …

BOWMAN: How gobies have altered Lake Michigan fishing

Wed, 15 May 2013 02:24:44 -0500

Should we credit or blame round gobies? On May 4, Mike Myers and David Adams weighed a five-fish bass tournament record for southern Lake Michigan. The Indiana men weighed five smallmouth bass at 25.72 pounds in an Angler’s Dream tournament out of East Chicago Marina. The unnatural natural world of Lake Michigan fascinates me. Round gobies were discovered in Lake Michigan in 1994. Since then, the invasives from the Black and Caspian seas have altered the lake’s natural balance and changed fishing. Smart fishermen learned to imitate gobies to catch smallmouth, which have learned gobies make a good food source. …

Decoy ducks bring in big bucks

Sun, 12 May 2013 02:40:22 -0500

The bidding battle came down to former Illinois Gov. Jim Thompson and one of the top collectors in the country, who won and bought the canvasback drake decoy by Henry Ruggles for $74,750. That was one of 12 world auction records for maker last month at the Guyette, Schmidt & Deeter decoy auction at Pheasant Run in St. Charles. The auction precedes the annual National Antique Decoy & Sporting Collectibles Show, which is put on by the Midwest Decoy Collectors Association. That Ruggles canvasback was one of the glamorous sales. Jon Deeter understands why attention goes to such high-end sales, …

BOWMAN: In fishing, size does matter

Wed, 08 May 2013 02:22:49 -0500

Back then, Vietnamese potbellied pigs were something of a rage. So looking at Deva Vranek’s freak brown trout in 1997 in the parking lot of Henry’s Sports and Bait, I thought, ‘‘That thing looks like a potbellied pig.’’ Vranek caught the 36-pound, 11.5-ounce brown on June 22, 1997, east of Burnham Harbor. It’s the Illinois record that most sticks in my memory. But it might be surpassed because Lake Michigan and its tributaries have produced two world-record browns in recent years. Drought and all, 2012 was a good year for record fish in Illinois. Most surprising was that the walleye …

Jumbo perch make Gary Light real hot spot

Wed, 01 May 2013 02:19:09 -0500

We joined the flotilla of boats at midmorning Monday off Gary Light for the hot bite around Chicago fishing: deep-water jumbo perch. ‘‘It looks like Japan, all drop-shotting on top of each other,’’ Pat Renwick joked. The bass-obsessed host of the Region Bass Buzz (Saturday mornings on WJOB-AM) was making his first perch-fishing trip since his youth. ‘‘That’s perch fishing: It’s when Mother Nature allows us to come out,’’ said Mike Starcevich, the guru of southern Lake Michigan perch fishing. Last week, Bobby Bergren, one of the hottest young fishermen in the Chicago area, invited me out for perch and …

Floodplain to see: We need solutions

Thu, 02 May 2013 09:11:44 -0500

CANTON, Ill. — As I drove home, I swerved by American coots swimming between red cones marking the top of backed-up Duck Creek, which spilled onto the blacktop of Route 24. All kinds of oddities showed as a historic flood rolled down the Illinois River. I had a chance to be there as the crest passed from Peoria toward Havana. The Nature Conservancy used a Eurocopter, offered by farmer/businessman Rick Studer, to survey the Illinois River around TNC’s prime backwater restoration project at Emiquon Preserve. A historic flood like the one this month is a teachable moment. TNC folks are …

OUTDOORS: It’s fair to ask about effects flooding has on outdoors

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 23:56:28 -0500

Like many, Carl Wanzung of South Leavitt wondered what the record flood did to fish populations and to fishing in general. I wondered about the broader wildlife issues, too. The biggest impact might be on waterfowl. Or in damage to the dozens of public sites along the Fox, Des Plaines, DuPage and Illinois rivers. That will be assessed in the coming weeks. ‘‘Rising waters have almost assuredly flooded many nests of resident waterfowl, primarily Canada geese and mallards using low-lying areas,’’ emailed Randy Smith, the wetland wildlife program manager for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. ‘‘Wood ducks, which are …

Chicago River offers both beauty and ugliness

Sun, 05 May 2013 02:39:50 -0500

Ken Schneider punched a jig through the rubbish piled in the corner of Ogden Slip to catch an idiot fish, then a bluegill. So began the fishing side of a post-flood survey Wednesday of the Chicago River main stem and South Branch. We had a side goal of catching smallmouth bass, which sometimes hold to odd structure in Ogden Slip. Capturing the essence of fishing the Chicago River is tricky. There’s man-made beauty. The Willis Tower from the South Branch is a boat-stopper, and there’s wonder in the bridge types. But there are staggering examples of man’s unnatural impact, too. …

There’s lots to see on the Illinois River Road National Scenic Byway

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 02:53:04 -0500

CANTON, Ill. — I left off last month leaving Peoria. And I don’t mean in a symbolic sense. Just that I separated out a two-day trip on the Illinois River Road National Scenic Byway into columns on the lower and upper ends. I pick up with Ducks Unlimited biologist Eric Schenck, my guide for the byway, as he led me out of Peoria to new country. Barreling down Route 24 on the west side of the Illinois River is a regular trip for me on visits to Banner Marsh State Fish and Wildlife Area for duck hunting or to Emiquon …

BOWMAN: Spring can’t come fast enough

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 22:33:55 -0500

We put the fish smell in Andy Mikos’ new cooler Sunday. ‘‘I didn’t sleep much last night,’’ said Mikos, who was giving his 22-foot Thompson, Bismarck, its shakedown cruise. Mikos, Dave ‘‘Stan’’ Stamer and I met at the Diversey launch. Mikos floated the Bismarck off his trailer all right. But with record-low water on Lake Michigan, the problem was the calisthenics needed to get in. ‘‘They need ladders,’’ Stamer said. He wasn’t kidding. Ladders are needed. Spring is needed, too. For goodness’ sake, snow pellets spit as we loaded. The motor started. The boat floated. All good things in the …

IHSA bass-fishing championship enters fifth year

Wed, 15 May 2013 06:39:46 -0500

A thunderstorm, complete with lightning and wind, rolled rapidly across Carlyle Lake on May 8, 2009. That was a fear — that weather or water conditions would threaten young lives — when Illinois became the first state to hold a state championship for high school bass fishing. But officials from the Illinois High School Association contacted all the boat drivers, who found safety (mostly in marinas) and waited it out. They adjusted. Just as IHSA officials adjusted in 2011, when high water forced the state championship to be postponed until late June. Just as they adjusted when tornado warnings forced …

BOWMAN: Batavia teenager bags second tom turkey in as many springs

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 23:26:52 -0500

Morgan Kunert is turning bagging big toms in spring turkey hunting into a spectator sport. The Batavia teen followed up her success last spring with a 25-pound tom shot Saturday, the opening day of the youth-hunt weekend for Illinois’ north zone. ‘‘We had to work a little to get him, as we were competing with about 20 other hens in our first spot,’’ dad Mike Kunert emailed. ‘‘She got this guy at our fourth setup spot. [He] had another old tom with him that was a little bigger, but he stayed back about 70 yards and watched her shoot this …

Happy 10-year anniversary, Northerly Island

Wed, 08 May 2013 06:38:37 -0500

Ralph Grasso had the right idea to call the annual perch derby on Northerly Island the ‘‘Harrison Ford Fishing Derby.’’ Even a decade later, Northerly Island makes me feel alive like few other stories I have covered. It mixes love and hate. That sacred space on the Chicago lakefront both makes my blood boil and moves me to tears — sometimes on the same day. During the last decade, I have figured out the twin reasons why Northerly Island so touches me. One is simple: In the modern world, Northerly Island is a unique experiment in returning prime real estate …

Smelt netting on Chicago lakefront still lures diehards

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 21:17:48 -0500

The battered smelt had a kick. Dave Parker pan-fried them in olive oil over an open fire in the fresh, cold air Monday night at Montrose Harbor. The fish morsels connected smelt netting with its fading tradition on the Chicago lakefront. Slap Ya Mama mix gave his smelt the kick after he put them through an egg wash, then dredged them in baking powder and flour. The group of 15 associated with Perry Castrovillari, around grills under a tarp tent near the mouth of the harbor, had come with a backup plan. They had three pounds of smelt from the …

Launching right into two openers

Wed, 01 May 2013 15:10:13 -0500

I have two words for boaters fishing the opener Monday at Heidecke Lake: Be patient. And two words for those checking smelt nets on the Chicago lakefront on opening night Monday: Be social. Heidecke First about the launches at Heidecke, the former cooling lake near Morris. Much-needed work is being done on the ramps. Site superintendent Joe Giacone said the temporary launch will be switched to the east, near the old concessionaire spot. It will be 40 feet in the water, 30 on land, with about 28 inches of water at the end. The usual flow of launch traffic will …

BOWMAN: No such thing as typical spring

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 06:50:50 -0500

Ed Hansen perfectly described this spring. ‘‘Not a typical year, never is,’’ said Hansen, the manager at the LaSalle Fish Hatchery. ‘‘Last year, we got spent fish. This year, we are a week off.’’ He meant sauger caught during the Masters Walleye Circuit tournament last weekend on the Illinois River out of Spring Valley. But that typical-or-not remark applies across the lakes and rivers around Chicago fishing. When smelt netting opened last April 1 on the Chicago lakefront, Lake Michigan water temperatures touched 50, well warmer than prime (the low to mid-40) for netting the small, tasty morsels. Monday will …

Along the Illinois River, life is a byway

Sat, 23 Mar 2013 20:27:24 -0500

ILLINOIS RIVER — I took the road I didn’t know. For some reason, at the intersection of Pine Bluff Road and Route 47, instead of going north to take Interstate 80, I went straight and wandered back roads, some dirt, by the southern bluffs along the Illinois River. It perfectly set up a tour of the Illinois River Road National Scenic Byway. The upper gateway is Ottawa. There’s a kiosk downtown at Lafayette and LaSalle, in the park north of the Abe Lincoln mural. Kiosks have maps and suggestions. Other gateways are Canton, Princeton, Peoria, Pekin and Havana. Byway attractions …

Excitement of opening day isn’t just for baseball

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 22:56:39 -0500

MARSEILLES, Ill. — Anthony and Roxie Tate were swinging bluegill up into the rocks Friday afternoon when I finally reached the east bank of LaSalle Lake. On my first cast, I pulled a 71/2-inch bluegill out. That was my goal: Catch big bluegill on opening day at the cooling lake south of Seneca. But it’s so easy to be distracted at LaSalle. There’s many options. So many shore fishermen had big hybrid striped bass — 4- to 5-pounders — on stringers along the south bank that I spent more than an hour trying to catch one with a lure. Let …