This week’s field notes (June 5)
BY DALE BOWMAN outdoordb@sbcglobal.net June 3, 2011 6:34PM
Ethen Fowler shows off one of his morels collected in Lee County in April.
DALE’S MAILBAG
Being 78 next week, fishing with my father is vague in memory. One special adventure I do recall was that we would take the North Shore elevated train from Wilson Avenue at about midnight. This was in the late 1930s. When we arrived at Lake Forest we would leave the train and walk east on Deer Path Road to Lake Michigan. It was a long walk, arriving at a wood plank stairway that was down, down to the beach. There, we walked a few more yards to a pier about 30 feet into the lake. My dad brought railroad flares. He lit them to get minnows at the immediate shoreline. Minnows appeared to be by the
millions, and as they passed, the perch were on the attack. It was a truly amazing experience. We took home enough fish for a meal. Walking back to the train, at different times of the year, my dad picked mushrooms, asparagus, wild raspberries or whatever.’’ — Richard Donath
I love this stuff. And I didn’t know about the North Shore elevated. Donath’s memory was triggered by the column on public transit to fishing spots.
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Updated: July 8, 2011 3:31PM
MOREL OF THE WEEK
We end MOTW for 2011 with Brandon Fowler’s photo of his son Ethen from April 23, when they found about 70 morels in Lee County. Next week, it’s back to Wild of the Week photos until Buck of the Week photos start arriving. E-mail
nominations to straycasts@sbcglobal.net.
WILD TIMES
FREE FISHING DAYS
Today: Final day, Indiana, free fishing weekend (residents only). . . Wisconsin, free fishing weekend.
Through June 13: Illinois, free fishing days.
Weekends through June 12: Michigan, free fishing.
FISH GATHERING
Thursday: Capt. Ralph Steiger on smallmouth tactics,
Riverside Fishing Club,
LaGrange American Legion,
7 p.m., RiversideFishingClub.com.
KANKAKEE MEETING
Tuesday: “WaterWorks” conference on the state of the Kankakee River, Kankakee’s Hilton Garden Inn, 4-8 p.m., gokankakeeriver.org, (815) 935-1177.
BIG NUMBER: 1,580
Citations and written warnings issued by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources conservation police during Memorial Day weekend on Illinois waterways and at state sites. There were no fatalities in boating.
LAST WORD
“Like the last few years, they don’t know which way to go.’’
Mike Repa, counter man at Park Bait at Montrose Harbor, on weather impact this spring on perch, which started to come in last week
