Mayor’s Fishing Advisory Meeting: Back in monthly sessions

Talk included perch, dam removal, salmon, trout, North Lake Shore Drive changes, and just stuff on access and beyond.

The Mayor’s Fishing Advisory Committee met on Sept. 21 at 31st Street Harbor on the Chicago lakefront. It was the first meeting since May. (Sorry that I am late getting notes cleaned up and posted; life intervened.)

Bob Long Jr., “The Fishin’ Guy” for the Chicago Park District, filled in for Tom Gray of the Mayor’s Office of Special Events as meeting moderator.

Vic Santucci, Lake Michigan program manager, said perch seining “did OK, but not as good as last two years.” Official numbers will be compiled this winter. . . . That made me wonder if they were planning an informational meeting this winter. He said probably not. They usually only hold those when there are some regulation changes coming or being considered. There will be the usual email in winter with details of the year on Lake Michigan. . . . He came to the meeting from a harbor survey. The surveys just started and are ongoing weekly through the fall. He said they did really well at Waukegan for Chinook, coho and rainbows. He said all the fish they have checked so far in the harbors were stocked fish. . . . He said they had just stocked 50,000 steelhead (about 5 inches) at Waukegan and Diversey. It was their last stocking for the summer. He called it a “great job at Jake Wolf Memorial Hatchery under short staffing.” He’s damm right about that, both the “great job” and “short staffing” parts.

Steve Silic, fisheries biologist for the Forest Preserves of Cook County, said fall trout stockings, from both IDNR and FPCC, will be at Axehead, Belluea, Busse North, Horsetail, Green and Sag Quarry East (new for the fall), All fishing on those lakes will be closed for from Monday, Oct. 16 through opening day on Oct. 21. On the topic of trout, I asked Silic if they had talked at all about opening one of the lakes to the early catch-and-release fly fishing. He said it was discussed, but it would just not be doable in FPCC lakes. I suspect he is right, but the idea intrigues me, having that fly-fishing season in a heavily urban area. . . . He said a contractor was used to control vegetation to Busse and Skokie; staff did 13 inland lakes. The low water at the end of summer and early fall is promoting vegetation growth. . . . Scheduled stockings went well, walleye stocked in Main and South Busse and Tampier. Some is FPCC’s own and some came from the IDNR’s LaSalle Hatchery. . . . They are receiving “non-vulnerable catfish” from the IDNR’s Little Grassy Fish Hatchery and they will be going into the main catfish lakes. And yes, I wondered what “non-vulnerable catfish” were. They are larger, as in 8-inches or so, so they are not as vulnerable to predation upon stocking. Some young-of-the-year bluegill from LaSalle will be used to fill in some of the lakes with summer bluegill kills. . . . He noted there will be a call to action with the “Busse Blitz” on Oct. 7. It is not just to clean up fishermen trash but all sorts of trash from 9 a.m.-noon. Registration is requested, but not required. . . . FPCC hosted five events that are free family events or derbies, drawing probably 500-1,000 kids.

Brenda McKinney, urban fishing program coordinator, said the summer went well, but numbers were down from the usual 10,000 to 7,000 kids, largely because she was short two instructors. She had three new instructors this summer, but lost two experienced instructors. . . . The sites used by her program included Northerly Island, and the park lagoons at Jackson, Palmisano, Humboldt, Douglas, Gompers and Columbus. . . . She said summer stockings went well (with one exception related to thermal shock) for catfish and bluegill. . . . She is booked up until October 15 for schools. . . . McKinney noted that there will be a Wolf Lake Fall Fest on Oct. 7 10 a.m.-3 p.m. at William W. Powers State Recreation Area. It’s free and has fishing, canoeing, grilling, archery, insect petting zoo and live animals (from Hoo Haven Wildlife). Yes, you read right, insect petting zoo.

Ken Schneiderwas remarkably quiet and had no major complaints from fellow fishermen.

Bob Long Jr., “The Fishin’ Guy” for the Chicago Park District, said that if lakefront or city fishermen have issues, the best thing to do is to call Long at (312) 656-3852. . . . Long, feeding off a remark by Schneider, said there were 100 fishing line containers made and about 45-50 of them are out along the lakefront and lagoons. Key thing to remember is not to stick your hand inside of the containers. There may be other things inside the containers that can cause damage to your hands and general health. But the containers are being used, which is a good thing for other wildlife, particularly birds. . . . The parking passes–Northerly Island, Burnham and DuSable–continue on. No raising of the fees for the two-month passes is expected. There was some tension this summer because of expanded programming at the music venue on Northerly Island. The passes usually bring in $9,000-$11,000, a good thing for the image of fishermen. . . . In a note from one of his programmings, Long said that city parents seem to want somebody to take their kids fishing, as different from suburban and rural parents who would rather take their kids fishing themselves. In thinking about it later, I think he is right. . . . There was a fishing program on the Chicago River at Wells this summer from Monday through Saturday. . . . It is not a park district thing, but Long noted that RFP have gone out for dam removal of “The Waterfall,” the dam on the North Branch of the Chicago River at the confluence with the North Shore Channel. That’s a major change. I will be curious how that area changes when the dam goes. Right now that is one of the two or three best spots from fishing on the Chicago River system. . . . And Long again reiterated that fishermen really should be going to park district board meetings and expressing their opinions, especially on such items as the closing of the restrooms in the fall and winter. That is one of the things that most irks me about the lakefront. Probably need to write about it again.

Chester Kropidlowski, near the end of the meeting, made one of the more interesting reports. He has been representing the interests of fishermen in ongoing meetings about reconfiguring North Lake Shore Drive. I hope some of the ideas he said are being discussed actually come about, particularly the one dealing with vehicles exiting LSD and turning east on Montrose toward the lake. The interaction there between bikers, runners and drivers borders on the deadly. I’m sure none of this will come quickly, but I am glad Kropidlowski is keeping tabs on it.

Don Dubin, the Hall-of-Famer, talked about a number of things, including a mention of fishing stuff at Gompers. Before the meeting started, I talked with Dubin about the need for a Chicago Fishing Hall of Fame, a place to keep Chicago fishing history alive. That’s a story for another day.

Howard Kambara, a fisherman who ran into Dubin on the lakefront, came along to the meeting as a guest. Kambara, 54, is a runner as well as a fisherman (“since I was a kid”). I am always glad when visitors come to the meeting.