Chicago Sun-Times

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 …

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

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 02:36:06 -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

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 12:42:07 -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 …

Still looking for the scoop on scaup

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 06:34:18 -0500

LEWISTOWN, Ill. — In camo neoprene waders, a dozen biologists and researchers waded out at Emiquon Preserve on Thursday morning to a trap filled with scaup (bluebills). One sealed the funnel on the trap with PVC pipe. Others opened the back wire; two netters scooped scaup. Nets were carried to a boat where birds were stashed in poultry crates for transport. One scaup-trapping oddity is that males are caught at a 10-to-1 ratio. The best guess is predation on females during nesting exacts a heavy toll. It’s not a subject to dabble in — you have to dive in. In …

Capt. Bob White, early lakefront charter captain and prolific fisherman, dies at 78

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 07:19:29 -0500

Capt. Bob White planned to go fishing Saturday morning, like usual, in the western suburbs. But one of the early charter captains on the Chicago lakefront died unexpectedly late Friday night at home in Montgomery. Mr. White, 78, grew up in Detroit and maintained life-long affinities to Motor City sports teams. Stephanie, his wife of 54 years, said they collected baseball stadiums on their travels, trying to see Tigers games at away stadiums. “Our 50th wedding anniversary was the Detroit Tigers at Kansas City,’’ she said. “He took me out to a nice dinner the next night.’’ But his favorite …

First day of fishing at LaSalle Lake sure sign of spring

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 06:46:41 -0500

Winter can kiss my arse goodbye. That’s the true meaning of the reopening of LaSalle Lake to fishing in mid-March. LaSalle, the cooling lake south of Seneca, reopens to fishing Friday. Things look promising. It escaped any major fish kills during the historic heat wave in July. In fact, those targeting big blue catfish, the glamor fish in recent years, did extremely well during the heat wave. Fisheries biologist Ken Clodfelter said fish up to 30 pounds have been netted in surveys, but there have been reports of fishermen catching blues topping 50 pounds. ‘‘We have seen those big ones, …

BOWMAN: Taxidermy is all in the details

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 06:47:54 -0500

SPRINGFIELD — Dave Emken was shining a small flashlight up the nostril of a mounted deer head when Frank Williams introduced us. Details. I roamed Friday with Emken during the setup for the 33rd Illinois Taxidermist Association Convention and Competition at Northfield Inn in Springfield. It was open to the public Saturday and Sunday. Emken and his wife, Claudia, were two original members when the ITA was formed in 1980. He favors deer heads, while she loves working with the colors of fish. The competition was divided into whitetails (judged by Mark Gonnering), fish and reptiles (Tim Perkins), mammals and …

OUTDOORS: This Millennium Park could be big

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 23:02:14 -0500

The Calumet region is the most bizarre urban wild area, mishmashed with the remnants of an industrial past, I have ever seen. Yet, that area is primed for innovative solutions. In terms of conservation, few things illustrate that better than the Millennium Reserve, what Gov. Pat Quinn’s staff call the largest open-space project in the country, encompassing more than 140,000 acres of land. The Calumet region is core to the reserve. On Friday, Quinn signed an executive order creating a steering committee to oversee the development of the reserve, an initiative started last year, with $6.8 million in investments. John …