Navy Pier Marina: How will fishing work at Navy Pier after construction

My first brush with Navy Pier came about 40 years ago when we rode the South Shore Line from college in Indiana to see a musical act.

While it was a cool setting to hear music in, let’s not wax too nostalgic, back then Navy Pier was kind of a dump.

What a difference a couple decades can make, Navy Pier is now one of the preeminent tourist draws in Illinois, the kind of touristy place that snooty Chicagoans look down their noses at. Navy Pier is about to add another big draw with the Navy Pier Marina. Construction will begin later this year, then open in the spring of 2021.

Here’s the rub.

The new marina is going in on the north side of the pier, one of Chicago’s most iconic fishing spots. (On the modern Navy Pier, fishing is only allowed on the north side.)

The proposed marina has been talked about for many years, but in recent years project developer Randy Podolsky started the formal process of gaining city approval and going through the permitting process.

When the news broke earlier this month about the coming marina, ballyhooed as ``the first and only dedicated transient marina on Lake Michigan,’’ some anglers had fits that another lakefront fishing spot would be gone.

I’ve tried to keep tabs on the permitting process over the years and was encouraged by what Vic Santucci, Illinois’ Lake Michigan Program manager, said at the Mayor’s Fishing Advisory Committee meeting on Nov. 16, 2017. He said he thought they would be able to work to keep fishing access from shore as part of the project.

``Bottom line is we don’t want to lose additional fishing access,’’ he said. ``That is an important historic fishing location.’’

Damm right, right up there with Montrose Harbor, Burnham Harbor, Jackson Park and Calumet Park.

I had hoped that fishing access would be formally written into the permit from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. It was not. But I don’t think it was anything nefarious.

``[A]fter fisheries asked for that during the public comment stage, the applicant responded saying they didn’t have any concerns with allowing fishing and would be willing to work with our fisheries department on adding those opportunities after the permit was granted,’’ IDNR spokeswoman Rachel Torbert emailed.

Dale Bowman

Last week on opening day of the Chicago Boat, RV & Sail Show at McCormick Place, I caught up with Podolsky at the NPM booth.

``Navy Pier itself, the organizers and operators of Navy Pier, are committed to continuing to have fishing on navy Pier during times of the year where it is critical, particularly in the early spring and the fall when salmon and other fish are running,’’ Podolsky said.

``Navy Pier Marina is committed to cooperating with that process as well. During the summer, peak summer, it will be hard to get fishermen on the pier. But in the spring and the fall, when we are not crowded, we will be more than happy to try to accommodate, provided safety and security are always taken into consideration.’’

History backs that up.

Podolsky is no fly-by-night out-of-towner. He started in boating at Diversey Harbor in the 1980s and was dedicated enough to move up the ranks of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary.

Navy Pier has not only allowed fishing on the north side of the pier, but encouraged it with an early-morning price break of more than 50 percent on parking, as long as anglers were out of the garage by 10 a.m., for the past two decades.

Podolsky seemed very open to anglers being around, particularly during off-peak times. I wondered about the prime perch time in winter.

``I don’t know in the dead of winter if we will have these piers open because of the safety factors, but fishing from Navy Pier will continue to be allowed,’’ Podolsky said. ``Shouldn’t be a problem as long as they are not fishing onto my docks.’’

By that he meant from the higher pier where anglers fish from now.

He mentioned that during off-peak times he thought anglers might be able come down to the marina’s docks near the wall at water level.

``During the spring and fall, probably not in the dead of winter,’’ he said.

His one concern on that was that anglers take care of the docks. I have split feelings on that. On one hand, anglers have 20 years of good behavior at Navy Pier; on the other hand, miscreants among perch anglers (illegal parking, littering, property damage) at the South Side slips in Chicago have cost access to private property.

Bottom line is Navy Pier morphs once again.

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Dale Bowman