Early Wednesday Fishing

As some of you may know, I am leaving my current job at Columbia College Chicago. Next week I will begin working at ChartCapture, doing tech support among other things. You may know about ChartCapture through fellow fishermen like Sam Bennett.

I won't be spending 3 hours a day commuting like I do now, I'll be working from home... That means I won't have the daily opportunity to fish downtown Chicago. Since this is my last week at Columbia, I decided I'd try and make the most of my last chance to fish while I'm there already. I woke up at 4am, downed a few cups of coffee, and hopped in the car, joining the already growing traffic on 290.

I parked at exactly 5am sharp, and reached Burnham Harbor Marina by 5:15. I was shocked and dismayed to find the gate leading to the choice spot at the pipe padlocked. Before I got too bent out of shape, I reminded myself fish can be everywhere, even away from "the good spot." I set up shop: one rod with crawlers under a bobber, the other with various jigs, cranks, spinners, and of course tubes.

Lake side at Burnham

I fish almost exclusively with lures, rarely fishing with nightcrawlers, and almost never with minnows. It's not that I'm against it, it's just convenient to carry all necessary fishing gear in my backpack as I go to work. Trying to transport minnows would make things tricky.

Because of that, I have this idea that if I use live bait- like worms- I'll have to fight the fish off with a stick. Turns out, this is not necessarily the case. I threw my bobber out, and was astonished it didn't get a single hit for at least five minutes. After a while, I finally managed to pull up a tiny bluegill, which of course is better than no fish.

Better than nothing!

I worked a small homemade inline spinner along the wall, perhaps hoping for any stray trout or salmon that might be in the harbor, and noticed many follows as I retrieved the lure. But they only followed when I burned the lure through the water super quickly. It reminded me of the baby trout on the Rogue River in Michigan; I only caught some when I increased the speed of my retrieve.

I had trouble keeping the spinner deep while I cranked it in, especially fishing from the pier six feet above the water. No matter what I did, I couldn't connect with any fish. I remembered some WCF members suggesting if I'm getting follows I'm close to the right presentation, so I tried a few other spinners and cranks. Some didn't get any follows, some did, but ony when I sped the lure through the water like a bat out of hell.

Frustrated, I decided to fish the other side, the lake side. I hauled my gear over a fence, jumped it myself, and found myself next to very calm water looking north to downtown Chicago. I set up at the pipe, and when I looked down I was amazed at what I saw in the water: a HUGE swarm of fish. The kind you see on the discovery channel on shows about the ocean. There were so many of them! I have no real way of estimating how many but I'd have to guess hundreds.

It was amazing! The water was very clear, and as the school swam around, the sun reflected on hundreds of tiny fish bodies like a chandelier in some underwater mansion. Occasionally I saw a much bigger fish chase some of the smaller fish. That was pretty cool; I don't often have the opportunity to see that.

And then I remembered to fish, so I did. I was sure one of those small fish would be interested in my night crawler, so I plopped it down in the water in the middle of the swarm. I couldn't figure out what they were... We're they shad? Baby bass? Alewives?

None of them were the slightest bit interested in my bait. When I tossed a jig and twister into their midst, they followed it around as long as I kept it moving, but lost interest when it was still. Just like trout.

Were these trout!!?

And then I saw a trio of giant carp, or at least what I thought were carp, cruising around the rocks near the swarm of little unknown fish. I saw another fish that wasn't a carp, but couldn't tell if it was a smallie, trout, salmon, or something else. Nothing I tossed into the water got any attention. Night crawlers on a makeshift crappie rig off the bottom, under a bobber, jigged; it seemed no presentation could entice these fish.

Finally I caught a goby. I may or may not have put it back on the hook. And it may or may not have elicited a strike from something, that may or may not have reminded me of a smallmouth bass... But alas, I missed the hook set and it didn't happen again.

After at least an hour and three gobies later, I decided to go back to the first spot. Some marina guys came and unlocked the gates, finally, so I made my way to the spot at the pipe. When I looked in the clear water, sure enough there was a swarm of fish there too. Still couldn't tell what they were, but I was excited to watch the fish. At one point I saw something I was positive was a big smallmouth bass, swimming casually a few feet under the swarm, but it was not interested in anything I dangled in front of its face.

And then I started to get follows again, burning a deep diving black and white crankbait through the water. It was very curious; there was a small window of speed, not slow but not like a bullet, where the little unknown fish would follow my lure. They lined up behind it, chasing it all the way back to me. It was exciting.

After about fifty casts parallel to the wall in front of the pipe, I figured out the right speed to attract the most fish. Suddenly, I felt a tiny amount of resistance on my crankbait that told me I had a fish on! And then I found out what those fish were.

Baby steelhead and the lure it took

That swarm of hundreds of little fish were baby steelhead trout! As soon as I realized what I had caught, I took a picture extremely quickly and got it back in the water in as little time as possible. I knew that these little guys would grow much bigger, and in three or four years would become the giant and delicious adult steelheads that I've had so little luck catching. I didn't want to mess up their childhood, I wanted them to grow big and strong. I marveled at the audacity of this little trout, to attack a lure about the same size as itself.

Now that I knew what they were, I stopped fishing for them. I wondered if these were stocked trout recently released by the DNR. Either way,  I didn't want to bother them and negatively affect the steelhead fishing in the future. Looking in the water, I noticed another school of fish that looked similar to the baby steelhead, but were brown. Could those be baby brown trout?

I threw a night crawler on the bottom on the off chance one of the giant carp might go for it, although there was no real way I'd be able to land one from the pier. I threw bass lures, trying to bring the smallies- supposedly "in the harbors now"- out of hiding. An hour later, it was time to go to work. I was really happy to add another species to my "species scoreboard 2012" and I hoped I didn't harm the beautiful little fish.

As I walked back to toward the city, dreams of adult steelhead and brown trout and giant lake Michigan smallies filled my head.

°°°

Although my haul of fish wasn't huge yesterday morning, I'm very happy with the variety of fish I've been catching! In the past 7 days, I've caught green sunfish, smallmouth bass, bullhead catfish, freshwater drum, bluegill, perch, walleye, gobies, largemouth bass, and this beautiful little steelhead trout. For a while I fished just for largemouth bass, but I see no reason to discount all the other great fish you can catch. They're all different, they all require different approaches, and I like the challenge of learning how they all operate. Someday when the zombie apocalypse happens, I might be glad I can catch more than just bass. 

Fish are awesome!

Hello again Mr. Goby

A nice fishing spot

This is my attempt at a short post.

Fished a little bit yesterday on the lakefront. I'd read a few reports that there might be some smallie action on the lake. I've yet to catch one there, and I can't wait to the find them. They get super big in the lake!

Got some little hits on a little white jig and twister, I wondered if the goby were finally back and active after the strange winter. Turns out, there were. You may remember Mr. Goby as my sometimes nemesis and sometimes savior-from-the-skunk last year.

What can I say? A fish is a fish, and I enjoy catching them. Even gobies.

 

A little later I fished the Chicago river while waiting for my little sis to arrive via Amtrak. Got a few nips on the same twister, got a few stronger ones on a brick-colored texas-rigged chigger craw near a piling, but nobody would commit. Seemed like 20 people asked me if there were any fish in the river. I was happy to share with them the huge variety of fish you can catch there- unfortunately I couldn't demonstrate since I was skunked.

Only fished for about a half hour each time, but as always it was good to get out. With this series of thunderstorms rolling through, I'm at a loss how to approach fishing this weekend... or if I even should! Everything I've read tells me rain is good fishing, but thunder makes bad fishing for at least a day afterwards.

I'll probably just go fishing and find out.

It was %$!#@ing cold

I've been hearing great reports of the fishing at Dusable Harbor, so of course that's where I found myself this morning around 6am. As soon as I got out of my car, I looked into the black sky and was almost knocked over by the wind. I had some second thoughts. Maybe it would be warmer by the water, I thought.

Does it look cold? It was!!

I walked up Michigan, over on Balbo, and was at the water in a few minutes. Huge waves crashed onto the pier, white streams of water flew everywhere. The lake was filled with giant waves, little white caps everywhere, and the wind was extremely intense.

It was $!#@%&ing cold as $%#&!

I almost turned around just then, but I stopped. I didn't wake up at 5 for nothing. I like little adventures almost as much as I like catching fish.

I walked north along the shore, trying to figure out how to deal with this curveball. I looked for a place that might give shelter to fish trying to escape the torrential wind. For a while I fished the area where Lake Shore Drive curves around and there are some docks. The water there was more calm, but no takers.

I kept walking north, working various lures along the lakefront as I went. I cast and retrieved with my cold, numb hands. It was supposed to be 74°F today, so I didn't bring any gloves. Lesson learned! Trying to improve my fishing skills, I've been changing lures more often. Every 10-20 minutes I tied on a different lure and tried a different technique. If any fish were biting I was determined to find them, catch them, and photograph them.

When I reached Dusable Harbor proper, I discovered a door to one of the long docks that must have been a fisherman's entrance. All I had to do was pull it open, and I walked onto the dock. A huge- no, humungous flock of seagulls was causing an insane racket over by some rocks closer to Navy Pier. I wondered if they discovered the baitfish and were having a nice morning buffet. I tried walking in that direction, but as soon as I moved beyond the big boat docked there in the harbor, the hurricane-like ice-cold wind changed my mind.

Dusable Harbor - that big boat to the right
was blocking some of the wind

No luck at the harbor, I continued walking, and found myself on the Chicago River. I fished some pilings with cranks, spinners, tubes, etc. but nobody was interested there either. I kept thinking there were certainly fish there, but I couldn't figure out how to get them. The wind was unrelenting, my hands were frozen to the core, and my three layers of flannel, sweatshirt, and windbreaker jacket weren't even enough.

The Chicago River
Doesn't look cold, but it really was

It occurred to me that I must really like fishing to be putting myself through this.

I realized I was only a 10 minute walk from Ogden Slip, where I'd had plenty of luck last year (thanks to Jim Nolan aka Bridgeport Bass for turning me on to the spot) so I headed there.

Somehow the wind was even more intense in there around all the buildings, and casting was next to impossible. I tried to work some pilings, but the wind had other ideas. I walked down the sidewalk and started fishing next to the "no fishing" sign in the corner. I had it on good authority that the city of Chicago actually built and owns the small cement dock I was on, so third party management companies cannot actually disallow fishing.

After a half hour there, working tubes, shallow cranks, deep cranks, spinners, and jigs, it was time to go. Thankfully the sun had risen enough I was slightly warm, just as I was leaving of course. I cut my losses, walked a few blocks to Michigan Avenue, hopped on a bus, and headed to work.

Not the most flattering shot....
I found a smaller, rounder bean hidden in some side streets

New friends and no salmon

Sunrise at Diversey Harbor

Last week, I put up a post on windycityfishing.com advertising I was going to try salmon fishing diversey on Frday, asking if any other WCF'ers were going to be there. I got a response from Osprey (who I later learned was also called Rob) who said he'd be there. Great! I know almost nothing about salmon fishing, maybe I could learn a thing or two... Or even more.

Walking up to the wall at the mouth around 5am, I said hello and met Rob. After our introductions, I immediately proceeded to tangle my line beyond repair. First cast.

Rob was nice enough to help me fix my line, and another fisherman came over to assist. I felt horrible to show my noob-ness so quickly and keep them from casting- but I was also thankful for their help! After a few minutes, my line was cut, we pocketed the birdsnest, and Rob tied on some terminal tackle for me.

Throughout the next few hours, Rob and I talked about fishing, and other stuff, but mostly fishing. He'd been fishing a long time, and although I was extremely new to the sport, he was nice enough to share some tidbits of information. Like that the salmon we were fishing for were put there to bring down the alewife population. I knew the salmon were stocked, but I was foggy about the specific reasons. Or why a longer flexible rod can be a good thing. Stuff like that. Rob also let me use a bunch of his lures- there were a lot of names I'm foggy on, but I think some of them were clackin' raps, and one was a J-13 (or something like that).

A great day for fall fishing

It was great- I have to admit; as much as I love the internet, and I've learned my fair share of stuff staring at my computer screen, there is no substitute for conversation with another person. Especially when the other person knows stuff you don't.

After an hour or two, a guy near us started battling a fish- I tried to hide my gaping jaw and kid-at-christmas...These were serious hardcore fishermen, they didn't necessarily need to know how giddy I was.

The fish jumped, ran, splashed, lept, ran again, but the hookset was good. Rob grabbed his (giant) net and helped the guy land the fish. It was a great looking fish, although not quite as big as the salmon last week. They said it was a 7 pound coho, which wasn't huge.

Seriously, I'm glad I didn't catch it, I would have been giggling like a school-girl amazed at its size!

I payed close attention to the lure he had caught it on- I think it was a 3/4oz silver and green Mr. Cleo spoon. I had one of those! It's so great to know I'm not too far off base- I actually had in my collection stuff that would catch these fish. Pretty soon I tied one on - to a swivel, since I recently learned why that's a good idea - and began casting.

A little while later another WCF'er, Handler (Alex) showed up, ready to catch the big one. His dad caught a MONSTER king the week before; I showed the picture he texted to me to pretty much everyone I saw that day. What a monster. So huge. That was a big part of why I hadn't stopped casting, given up, and called it a day. The idea that THOSE are right here in the lake, swimming around, and all I have to do is figure out what will annoy them... That's why I was there.

And think about the facebook profile pic. That would be some real fisherman street cred. (Or would it?)

Engaged in fishing conversation, oblivious to my lure, I suddenly get some kind of hit on my spoon. It wasn't weeds or rocks, but it wasn't like a bass or bluegill- it was different. Maybe it was a salmon! Re-energized, I continued casting, desperately trying to remember what I had been doing when I got the hit.

After a few more hours, nobody had hooked into anything, and I don't think anybody even had a bump. They were jumping (the fish) but had no interest in anything any of us were throwing.

Rob called it a day, and some others left too. Eventually Alex moved to a different spot, and I was still fishing, but with a new group of people. Some old guys gave me tips about salmon fishing, which I appreciated, but their tips were mostly about all the big fish they'd caught. Not exactly helpful in that moment.

I was casting a wildly gaudy rattling crank (or is it rat-L-trap?), which every third cast got followed by something big and brown. Again, distracted by conversation, I thought it was my imagination at first. Paying more attention, I saw the full outline of the fish. I couldn't identify it or see how big it was, but it was BIG and BROWN. Brown trout! flashed through my head. But for all I know it could have been some new kind of rock bass I don't know exists.

I stuck around another half hour, egged on by this phantom brown shadow, teasing me. Why wouldn't he take it?? Obviously it had some interest, why not just take the lure already?

And then, I was done. I had been standing, casting, and talking for many hours. My coffee was empty. I hadn't caught any fish. I had to go to work. I was frustrated. It was time.

Would I be back to catch one this year? I wanted to land one, but wasn't jumping for joy at the idea of casting for another 5 hours with no pictures of fish. On the other hand, the conversation, friendship, and of course tips from Rob and the others had been invaluable... So for that, I'd probably do it again.

But it sure would be nice to hook into a monster!

The Big Lake

A Wednesday book-ended with salmon fishing

Morning on Lake Michigan

Part One: Morning

Tuesday night I got a text from my WCF buddy Alex, asking if I wanted to go salmon fishing early in the morning. Of course I did! Claire and I had just started an episode of Mad Men, so after that was over I put together my gear and did my best to fall asleep quickly.

Did what is now my normal fishing routine- wake up, coffee, clothes, gear; biked in darkness to the train, got to Union around 5:30am, Alex was generous enough to pick me up from the station. A few minutes later we were at Diversey Harbor, trying to figure out the parking situation. A short walk from the car, and we were standing on Lake Michigan, fishing for salmon.

At this point, I'd still never seen anybody catch a salmon in person, only YouTube videos and stuff. They were still mythical to me- huge powerful animals swimming around the lake, filled with delicious meat. I was really hoping to see some today!

Alex and I talked about salmon as we rigged up our gear; he put shrimp under a bobber on one rod, and had a spoon on the other. (If I remember right, it was pretty early.) I just had my 6'6" rod, and rigged it with a silver and green Mr. Cleo. A few days earlier- I think when I went out to the Fox- Alex made the hike to Waukegan to go salmon fishing. He said the pier was lined with fishermen, and he did in fact see them being caught (not many). One guy caught a trout and gave it to Alex- this guy was fishing for perch and was annoyed all he was catching was trout. (I hope I'm recounting this story right; I was very tired and hadn't had much coffee.)

We began casting, and noticed the other fisherman around us. Alex talked to one guy who had been there since 2am I think, and only got a few bites. I thought of a WCF post, where someone gave salmon fishing advice: "KFC: Keep f'ing casting."

I was having a lot of problems with my line; it kept twisting up into birds' nests and I couldn't figure out why. As I tried to untie the knots, I heard a splash and Alex said "Did you see that!!??" It was a salmon. I looked up, and of course missed it. I have terrible vision, and can really only see things in certain parts of my glasses. They are progressive lenses, like bifocals; I have to look through the right part of the lens to see things the right way.

At one point I snagged (I think that's the right term) a tiny goby on my 3/4oz spoon. Well at least we weren't skunked..? Alex admired my ability to catch gobies- I wasn't sure if it was an ability or a curse.

does this count?

I cast some more, we continued talking about salmon. I kept getting knots like crazy, and kept missing salmon jumping. Alex couldn't believe I kept missing them! I changed out the spoon for a chrome rat-L-trap I had. Another fisherman showed up around that time, and set up a few yards from us.

All of the sudden there was some activity across the mouth of the harbor- a guy had a fish on! His rod doubled over, his buddies brought up their lines, apparently to give him some wiggle room. There were splashes, this fish wasn't coming in easy.

Then, maybe 50' from the wall where we were standing, a salmon comes flying out of the water, accompanied by a rattling sound. I was startled and quickly cast in that direction; as soon as my rat-L-trap was airborne, I heard the guy next to us shout "Mine! Mine!"

Oh crap! He had a salmon on and I was about to tangle up in his line! That would be a major party foul. I did my best to quickly reel in and get out of his way. Thankfully I was successful.

The fish attached to the end of his line was amazing. I stood there, literally with my mouth open in disbelief, a huge smile across my face. This was salmon fishing. This was why guys came out, casting for hours upon hours. For the chance at this.

Earlier in the week, I had my first real tangle with smallies. Although they weren't huge, they fought very hard, jumping out of the water like surface to air missiles. It was great fun to fight them, definitely a change from your average largemouth bass.

But this salmon made those smallies look like amateurs.

The fish must have made it at least 5' clear out of the water. Its tail swimming through air, I got the sense it was pure muscle. From what I understand about fish anatomy, that is pretty accurate... Every time it leapt from the water I heard the sound of rattling. I realized it was the sound of a rattling lure, just like the one I had been casting. Aha!

Alex dropped his rod, and ran over to the guy. I was catatonic, my mind blank, unable to speak, in awe of what I was seeing. Then I came to my senses, and went over to help.

As the fish came closer, I was no less impressed. Alex grabbed the guy's net, trying to reach down to the water, but it wasn't long enough. He ran back to our stuff, got his monstrously-long net, and used that to try and capture the salmon-beast, still thrashing like a berserk drowning viking in the water.

The guy took over the netting duties himself, and after a few tries was able to successfully net the beast while holding his rod in his other hand. He brought the fish up, and set it on the ground.

What a fish. King Salmon? I'm told it's a Coho

To me, this was a MONSTER huge fish. Even my biggest, fattest toad of a largemouth would have looked tiny next to this salmon. If I had caught and landed this fish, I would have literally $&%# my pants out of excitement and fear. I'm glad I hadn't caught it!

Not really. I was super jealous.

I stood there, admiring the fish, as the man unhooked his lure. It looked familiar to me, but I couldn't identify it. It didn't have a lip, it had 2 treble hooks, was bright red/orange/yellow and black, and had rattles in it. I took some pictures, mostly to document this amazing fish, but also to remember the lure so I could buy the same one at the first opportunity. 

The man said it was probably about 10 pounds. A baby. Not anywhere close to full size. He told us of one four times that size he hooked a few days ago, that broke his line.

As soon as I thought it polite, I walk/jogged back to my rod, and cast as quickly as possible, hoping that this catch was an indication the bite was on. Alex came back over, and did the same.

We fished for a while longer, seeing many of the beasts jumping, falling back into the water with forceful explosions. It was like some unseen boat out in the lake was firing 20 pound cannonballs at us.

Soon it was time to go- I had to be to work, and Alex again was nice enough to give me a lift - so we packed up. As we headed back to his car, I couldn't help but feel very satisfied. Although I didn't get so much as a single hit the whole morning, I saw a ton of salmon, and saw a guy hook, fight, and land a salmon. I understood the appeal. This was not bass fishing, this was the closest thing to big-game fishing I'd ever seen. Big, powerful, angry-looking fish.

I had to catch one for myself.

Sunrise on Lake Michigan

Part two: Evening

I had to stay at work late, so I figured I might as well stay downtown a little later and try my luck at some more salmon. I had my rod and gear with me, so it would have been silly not to.. right?

Headed to Burnham, since that was so close and easy to get to from work. I got to Shedd and the Water Taxi stop, and assembled my rod. I started casting my rat-L-trap- the same type of lure that landed that 10 pounder in the morning- working my way along the shoreline. As I made my way, I noticed TONS of weeds, two dead birds, and what looked like a dead and decomposing salmon. A guy walked past me, carrying a big net and gear. He said was salmon fishing. I looked toward the pipe on the lake side, and saw 4-5 people, already there fishing for salmon.

It didn't occur to me I might not get a spot! Most times I'd fished Burnham I was the only one, sometimes there were one or two other anglers there... But the salmon were in, and things were different now.

I stopped casting and made a bee-line for the pipe on the marina side. Maybe there would be more space, and I could set up shop right at the pipe. Maybe I would see some salmon. Maybe I would hook into some salmon. Maybe I would even land a salmon.

Well, really that was doubtful, as I didn't have a net. I imagined my 20 pound test snapping as I brought up a 20 pound salmon. Maybe there would be some way I could maneuver it to land.

When I got to the marina side, I saw a guy by the pipe. I asked him how it was going, he said he hadn't been there long. He introduced himself as Rick (I think) and proceeded to give me TONS of tips and tricks about salmon. He explained all the lures on the myriad of rods he had leaning against the railing; he explained the action of the pipe, and told me the salmon were stacking up when the water was flowing; he told me he often fishes the fox, and showed me tons of pictures of him holding huge fish.

Not only was he incredibly knowledgable, but he was incredibly nice. I was clearly a newbie, and yet he was friendly and gave me all these tips. It's great to meet folks like that; I really appreciated the help.

He even told me where I should cast, which was effectively where he was casting. I'd never fished with anybody who encouraged me to fish in their spot. This was a good guy! How generous.

As I cast my rat-L-trap, and he cast his Thunderstick, he told me tons of fishing stories. He had fished all 50 states, except Alaska and Hawaii (so I guess that's 48). Saltwater, freshwater, lakes, rivers, reservoirs, surf, deepwater, brackish water; he'd fished it all. And been successful! I'm sure the few pictures on his phone were just a tiny sample of the monsters he'd caught.

Soon the water began to flow out of the pipe. He pointed to the water and said he could see them, swimming around. I leaned over, struggling to see. Where were they? I looked and looked, trying to focus my eyes..

And then I saw them. Tons of them. It seemed like hundreds, but it was probably 30 or so. A group of 30, what he said were 20 pound kings cohos (I think kings... maybe coho? Still new to this.) I'd seen plenty of masses of fish like this; always bluegill though, mostly 4" babies, swimming around together eating tiny particles floating in the water.

These were not babies. These were the biggest fish I'd ever seen (except for some big carp). They way the swam suggested the insane amount of power contained in those muscles. I was giddy. I couldn't believe what I was seeing!

Following the lead of my new mentor Rick, I tied on my one and only glow spoon. Before I tied it, I asked him if you were supposed to use a swivel or not... He said yeah, you HAVE to, otherwise it will twist your line like crazy!

I realized why I was having so much trouble with my line earlier- I tied a spoon directly on my line! Somehow, in all the internet scouring, message boards, and research, I missed that key piece of information. I knew it was a good idea on inline spinners, but hadn't been using swivels with spoons.

I cast, Rick cast; soon more guys showed up, and they began casting. This salmon thing seems to be a lot about luck- even if the salmon are there, which they were, you have to figure out what will tick them off enough to attack your lure. And even if you have the right lure, with just the right action, they may be in a different part of the water column. And even if your lure smacks them- which kept happening to Rick - they may just ignore it.

These are some interesting fish.

It was dark, and getting cold. I used my iPhone flash to charge my glow spoon, but it wasn't very effective and didn't last very long. I saw the other guys using special flashes- if I'm going to get serious into salmon fishing, I should look into that. It was very instructive watching these guys fish. Obviously they'd done this before. I tweaked my retrieve speed to match theirs, holding my rod just the same way they did, catching weeds just like they did.

When I'm not catching fish, it's good to know that what isn't working for me is also not working for others... It's not me. They all had glow spoons, so I stuck with a glow spoon.

After a while, tired of the weeds, energized from seeing these fish but deflated from the lack of action, I decided to call it a night. I bid the anglers farewell, and headed back toward the city.

I got on a bus at Shedd, which was filled completely with Shedd Aquarium employees. They all had their sea-colored shirts on, talking about their days; I was sitting there with my fishing gear and my rod. I wondered what they thought of me. Some of them might be responsible for taking care of fish- I made a sport out of catching them.

Got to my train, collapsed into a set, and immediately fell asleep. It had been a long day, but I had experienced salmon fishing second hand.... I had to return as soon as possible and hook into one of those beasts for myself.

Burnham after sunset

New friends and gobies at Burnham

Nice clouds on the way to the water

Things have been crazy with the new semester starting at work; here is the first of three posts from this weekend.

I have been reading the forums on windycityfishing.com obsessively, and recently began posting my own reports. It's great to be a part of a fishing community, especially because most of the guys on there have tons of experience- whereas I'm just a beginner.

I recently got a PM ("private message") from another fisherman on the site, who suggested we go fishing sometime, as we seemed to be at similar levels of experience. Great idea! We were able to work out a day (last Friday) and time (early!), and hopefully we would catch some fish.

Woke up Friday at 4am, clothes, coffee, fishing gear, biked to the train, arrived downtown at 5:30, and walked to a bus stop. I assembled my collapsible rod, tied on a crankbait (one of only 3 or 4 I had) and waited for the bus. 

Breakfast- homemade tamal

Hopped on the #14- the bus driver recognized me from the previous morning. Not surprising, I guess- there hasn't ever been anybody waiting for the bus with me, and I was carrying a fishing rod. He asked me how I did the day before, and I told him about the 17" LMB from Burnham. He seemed impressed, but didn't seem awake enough for my enthusiasm. It was 5:45am, after all, and he had to drive a bus instead of go fishing!

Started making my way to the Burnham pipe, and began fan casting my crankbait. I noticed a guy on the other side of the marina casting as well, slowly making his way toward the pipe. For some reason I didn't think that could be my windycityfishing.com friend, I just assumed he was some other fisherman.

Eventually we both ended up near the pipe, and I said "hi, any luck?" he said "no, I just got here." There was a pause, and I thought, well duh- this must be the guy!

"Are you Alex?" I said, and of course, he said yeah.

Well alright then! As we were making our introductions, another fisherman emerged- seemingly from nowhere- and set up shop directly over the pipe- the prime spot, and the spot we had planned to fish. Oh well, you snooze you lose. We started casting about 20' west of the pipe.

We talked about our fishing experiences, and for the most part we did in fact seem to be at similar skill and experience levels. There were differences though- Alex had caught many many smallies, and I of course was on a mission to catch even a single one. Alex also had an impressive selection of baits and lures in his backpack, but I usually traveled with a very small tacklebox with a few lures. Nice collection! I said.

It was great to share experiences- and misadventures- with another pseudo-beginner fisherman. There were a lot of things neither one of us quite understood, even from scouring the internet and fellow fisherman for information. Things like if a fisherman goes out every day and catches a limit of salmon, that could amount to hundreds of pounds of salmon. How much time must they spend processing the fish to get the meat, and what in the world do they do with so much salmon!!?? Or the logistics of landing such a big fish- once they catch it, do they just carry it by the tail on their back, and throw it in their back seat? Don't their wives mind? From the pictures I've seen, you'd have to have a monster cooler to fit a fish like that.

Eventually the guy at the pipe packed up and moved, and we headed over to the pipe. We saw some bass - largemouths? and a whole mess of giant carp. Between the two of us, we pretty much threw every type of lure in the book! Crankbaits, tubes, spoons, spinners (inline and safety-pin style).... I tied on a 3/4oz (I think) jig with a gulp minnow, and caught an average sized gobie.

Well hey, I'll take it. When you get right down to it, I go out to catch fish, because I love to catch fish. A goby, by almost anybody's standards, is a fish. I caught a fish! I didn't care that it just sat there and took it like a sissy, or that it did that gross goby-foaming-at-the-mouth-thing, or that I snagged it in the side (it seemed perfectly fine). I beat the skunk, I caught a fish!

But it was just a goby. My new friend Alex was a veritable smallie-slayer, so maybe one of us would catch one. That would be great! I caught another smaller goby a few minutes later on the same rig; even though we saw bass swimming around, they weren't interested in our offerings.

Another fisherman came by for a while throwing almost the same thing I was, and gave us a lot of tips, specifically related to salmon. Neither of us had ever even hooked into a salmon, and we had been dreaming about the possibility for some time now. Based on the wise angler's advice, I knew I needed to get some glow spoons!

He left and headed for a different spot, and we decided to do the same. We headed up (well, down) Northerly Island along the wall, looking for promising spots. We'd seen videos of people catching smallies along the wall, but today wasn't going to be our day.

The only fish we saw were monster carp- Alex rigged up some carp bait and threw it out. I'd never caught a carp, but I'd heard about their insane fight. I would love to catch one someday, but there's something about them that doesn't seem as appealing as a smallie or salmon... I think it might be the passive fishing techniques that seem to be needed to catch them- apparently there's no casting and retrieving, just chumming and waiting. At this point, I don't have the patience for that, or the multiple rods to fish for different fish at the same time.

With no luck, it was about time to head to work. I felt bad Alex hadn't caught anything- I think that was his second or third trip to Burnham that ended with a skunk... But we would be back. We would be back for salmon! 

I imagined what it would be like if one of us hooked into one of those beasts; I probably would emit a combination of little-girl-like-giggling and profanity that would make a sailor cringe, all with an ear-to-ear smile. It would be glorious. I've literally been dreaming of catching a salmon- at least for now, the allure of the mighty salmon has overshadowed my quest for smallies.

Alex was nice enough to drop me off at my work on his way out- all in all a great morning, although with not many fish to show for it. That's ok- we would be back, and we would slay them. Or not. But either way, we each had a new fishing friend, and hopefully soon one of us would buy a net. Cause those salmon are BIG!

First Burnham Bass

SPOILER ALERT: I caught a bass! It was a hog!

Sprung awake at 4am, quickly made some coffee, got dressed (in that order- priorities!), and checked on my crockpot tamales. They weren't ready yet, so I grabbed something else to eat, put together my gear, put on my headlamp, and hopped on the bike in the darkness. Made it to the station just before the train arrived. Soon I was in the city- which was still dark- and I headed to a bus stop that would take me to Burnham.

on my way to the bus stop at 5:30am

Not wanting to waste any precious fishing time, while I waited for the bus I assembled my rod and tied on a chartreuse spinnerbait. Why not start with something that isn't a tube jig? Hopped on the bus, and a few short minutes later I was at 11th and Columbus, a short walk from the water.

It was hot! I checked the weather, and my phone told me it was 92% humidity. Holy crap.

I began casting, and noticed some fish close to the wall. They were bigger than bluegill or rockbass- they looked like largemouths to me. Awesome! I'd never caught one there. They were clearly not interested in my spinner- whether I jigged it, burned it, or slowly start-and-stop retrieved it, they just watched it go by. I switched to a texas rigged worm, which got me a nice bass last night. Nothing. Switched to a tube. Nothing.

A guy walked past, and asked if I caught anything. I said no, and then he said "Hey look at that, there's a coho right there!" I ran over to where he was - directly over the pipe - and saw a magnificent-looking fish. It looked big, silver and blue colored, and majestic. It was definitely not a carp, or a bass, or anything else I'd ever seen. It was awesome! I'd been doing lots of research on salmon, and it was amazing to finally see one.

He gave me some tips on catching cohos- he suggested big heavy spoons, cranks, and rattle traps, and said I'd have better luck on the other side (north of solidarity drive). The coho was gone, so I packed up my stuff, and headed over, rattle trap tied on. My heart was racing. I figured hooking into a fish like that would probably destroy my little collapsible rod, but I wanted to do it anyway!

Well, no such luck. I set up right at the pipe on the other side, and nobody wanted anything to do with my lure. I did see some more of those same fish, apparently cohos. So awesome looking. I actually had a dream last night I caught one; that's how excited I've been looking at pictures and reading old reports. Big, big, powerful fish.

I tried throwing a few different mepps inline spinners, some cranks... I realized the few spoons I had were in a different box at home. That's what I get for not bring my entire collection of gear with me at all times! I saw some big fish hanging out by the pipe... Some were carp, and I think I saw at least one bass, but there were definitely some fish there I hadn't seen before. Maybe they were salmon....

I tied on a gulp minnow on a red jig, and threw it out. Hey now, I got a fish! Could it be a big 40 pound coho salmon about to give me the fight of my life?

Nope, it was a goby.

only the most talented anglers catch gobies....

Not a tiny one though, and at least I caught a fish. In my book catching a goby is still catching a fish! I wondered what gobies taste like... They're so easy to catch, and nobody wants them in the lake, it seems like the perfect solution would be to catch them all and eat'em! I imagined grilling gobies on skewers, maybe with some peanut sauce on the side. They seem nasty. I bet they taste horrible.

I decided to go back to the pipe, where I knew I could at least catch some rock bass if nothing else was biting. As I walked down the steps, I see two guys fishing. They asked me about the pipe, so I showed them where it was. Actually I wasn't completely sure that's where it was, but after a while we saw water flowing which confirmed my location.

Turns out these were two of CPD's finest, out for some fishin'. Joe and Steve gave me tons of great tips; they fish the area often, apparently usually by McCormick place. They heard about the pipe so they came down to check it out.

Steve had softshell crabs under a bobber, Joe was going through his arsenal of lures, and I threw wacky rigged worms, texas rigged worms, and eventually resorted to my 2" green tube jig. Steve's crabs kept getting eaten by tiny rock bass- he caught one that couldn't have been more than 4" long.

At one point, Joe switched to a 4-5" green tube jig, and saw a bunch of bass right in front of the pipe. They were there, but not interested! I was about 20' to the left of him, doing some tube jigging near some weeds. It's validating to know other serious fishermen use tubes. And then...

BAM! Fish on!

I saw a flash, and I knew it was a bass, and I knew it was a big'un! This was awesome- I hadn't even seen bass here before, let alone hooked into any. Even if he threw the hook- like the one at Busse last sunday- it was still a first for me.

After a very quick fight (I was terrified of losing the fish!) out of the water came the fish, thankfully still attached to my line. A VERY nice largemouth! My first Burnham bass, which I am counting as part of Lake Michigan... so let's just say it's my first Lake Michigan bass.

17" of Burnham Harbor / Lake Michigan largemouth bass
caught on a 2" tube!!

Joe and Steve came over to look- Joe estimated the fish to be about 17" and 2 pounds. I'll take his word for it, that sounded right to me. Amazing! No fish, and then this HOG of a largemouth. Beautiful coloring, a big fat belly, and giant dark eyes.

We noticed some stuff on its belly, Joe guessed it was some kind of parasites. You can kind of see it in the picture.

After Joe was nice enough to snap some pictures for me, I (as carefully as I could from the wall) dropped the fish back into the deep, extremely thankful for its interest in my lure. That's when I realized Joe was using basically the same lure, with no luck. I'll just chalk that up to fickle fish changing their mind about what they want... But either way I was beside myself, so happy to catch such a sweet fish here- 10 minutes from my work.

We continued fishing. Steve's bait kept getting stolen, and Joe cycled through a variety of different lures. At one point he put on some crab as well. The guys gave me tons of tips and suggestions about salmon, baitcasting setups, the best lures, all kinds of stuff. Although I have gotten a wealth of information from the internet and message boards, I especially like talking to other fishermen in person- when they're nice enough to share their secrets. These guys didn't seem to mind I was such a newbie, and were happy to offer their suggestions.

The more they told me, the more I lusted after salmon. I need to use a bigger, stronger rod and reel, and get some more spoons... But I can't even imagine catching a fish like that in downtown chicago. I've heard stories of long fights ending in broken rods or snapped leaders... It's all so epic! These BIG missiles of fish, these predating eating machines, who come in looking for tributaries but settle for battling fishermen.

I stopped daydreaming and came back to reality... I wasn't going to catch a coho or a king today- it was hot, I'm sure the water was hot, and I had to head out anyway. I bid my new fishing buddies farewell, they said I'd see them there again once salmon season started in earnest.

A great morning out on the water, some great new friends, and a big ass fish to use as my facebook profile picture. Fishing is awesome.

I'm Obsessed

Geese at the spot

Didn't have time to hit up my new spot on the way to work this morning, but I did give it a once over to check water levels, weeds, etc. I have nightcrawlers in my backpack, just in case I have some time to hit up some water today. There were some geese hanging out at my spot. I saw them last evening too; I wonder if they are there because they eat the fish, or because there's water to swim in, or because the grass has lots of tasty bugs... I need to learn more about birds!

I also need to learn more about the trout and salmon that swim around lake michigan, because I DEFINITELY want to hook into some of those guys! I caught those 3 rainbow trout at burnham a few weeks ago, and they fought harder than any fish I'd ever caught. Maybe that's why those fly fishermen love trout so much. And they're tasty to boot.

amazing! this guy is my hero
check out his blog here

There are some pretty amazing posts on windycityfishing.com of fall and winter salmon/trout fishing on the lake. Check this out- caught by GEO at Northerly Island - which is 15 minutes from my work. (Click here to view the full report)

At this point I'm pretty obsessed with fishing- I'm wondering if I'll calm down about it once winter hits, when my open water fishing opportunities become much more limited. But it seems like a lot of guys can catch perch, salmon, and trout from shore throughout the winter. That's bad news for my other interests!

I'm tentatively planning on gearing up "music-making" season in the next few weeks, transitioning from all-fishing all-the-time to a nice balance of recreational creative music-making and some fishing. Maybe some smallie fishing... or maybe some salmon and trout fishing... Whups, there I go again. Maybe the cure is to fish MORE! Maybe I'll get tired of it.

If so, I might get cured soon! Planning on hitting up the Fox this weekend, hopefully for some smallie; the weekend after that my lovely wife and I are heading to Flint, Michigan to hang with my family and do some fishing. This will be our third annual "fishing trip;" we rent a pontoon boat, hit Lake Nepessing, Lappeer, MI, and catch a lot of sunfish. Maybe we'll get into some bass, or maybe even pike this year!

Beautiful Lake Nepessing, Lapeer, MI - Fall 2010

Journey to the Edge of Chicago

the edge of Chicago

Decided to go check out Northerly Island at lunch. I've heard of some big fish caught on the south side as well as the lake side. I'd really like to catch some trout or salmon this fall, and apparently this is one of the places to do it. Discovered that I can get on the #130 bus from very close to work, that takes me all the way to the planetarium. The other end of the #130 route is Union station, which is super convenient: a straight shot from Union to Burnham Harbor. Awesome!

Anyway, I walked along the west edge of Northerly until there was no more path, just rocks. I fished a little bit- some bites, but nothing major. Didn't land anything except a solitary goby. I threw my amazing magical green tube jig, jig with white mr. twister, and some other various lures. I also had cooked salad shrimp - strange, I know - but hey, it catches fish! Sometimes.

some geese I saw

No non-gobies were interested, and I couldn't blame them.. It was the hottest part of the day, barely a cloud in the sky, and the most boat traffic I've ever seen! But you'd think fish who hang out there would be used to it. The air show jets were practicing again, creating extremely loud booming and explosion sounds as they flew around.. I have it on good authority that's what shut off the bite on the river yesterday.

I wanted to walk to the east side, the lake side, but couldn't quite figure out how to do it. I climbed the wall and hiked through the grass, brambles, and flowers until I got to a bike path. When I turned around to see where I came from, I saw a sign that said "Restoring prairie, please stay on the path." I felt really bad! I didn't think the peninsula was developed at all, but clearly they're trying to make it into a nice nature-preserve type area. I noticed a lot of bicyclists and people walking, enjoying the very nature-y area with the very urban-y backdrop of downtown Chicago.

there's the path

I followed the bike path, but according to google maps it never actually went to the shore. When I squinted, I could kind of see a little tiny foot path in the satellite photos that went all the way to the rocky shore... So I walked north until my blue dot in Maps was due west of the path, then I walked due east. Sure enough, extremely hidden in the tall prairie grass, was a path not a foot wide. It's funny that I couldn't find it with my eyes, but it was clearly visible by satellite. There were some rocks on either side of it, delineating the path. Awesome!

I made my way down the path, which at this point felt a lot like hiking. If you count this experience, this would only be my third time hiking, ever. I like the outdoors now! After about a minute of walking, the grass opened up to piles and piles of rocks, beyond which was the lake. There was a very strange area between the grass and the rocks that seemed very post-apocalyptic to me, with some manholes, dirt, rebar, and lots of what looked like sidewalk chunks.

Chicago after the zombie uprising?

Finally I got to the lake, and it was great! The water was very blue, the sound of the waves was great, and there were what seemed like hundreds of sailboats and motorboats and jetskis and dinghys all over the lake all the way to the horizon. To my far right I could see (I think) Northwest Indiana, and a cloud of brown haze over everything in that direction. That sucks.

I fished a little bit, got no bites. I noticed to my left the penninsula jutted out to a point. The internet has told me a good place to find fish is points, so I decided to move. I followed the path along the shoreline, and got to the point.

The waves here were CRAZY big, and there were very big boulders? sidewalk pieces? strewn about on land and in the water. There were sun-bleached wood beams jutting out the water, I wondered if this used to be a pier. In quick succession I lost 3 lures caught on either rocks, rebar, or who knows what else. I enjoyed the scenery for a minute, and decided to head back toward Burnham, and maybe I could catch that catfish I saw swimming around today... it looked like the same one I caught last week.

thanks for saving me from the skunk,
Mr. Rock Bass

Made my way back to the water on the west side of Northerly (aka the marina) and my catfish friend was nowhere to be found. I did see some small fish swimming around. I always learn a lot fishing when I can see how the fish react to my presentation, even when they're small. It was enlightening; with shrimp the fish would swarm and eat it no matter what, with white twister tails they would only be interested if it was moving. Makes sense! Surprisingly, out of nowhere a rock bass busted in the middle of all the gobies and took my bait.

At this point, I'd been in direct sun for quite a while, and I was sweating profusely. The fish were doing the smart thing, chilling out in the shadows, I should do the same. 

I packed up my stuff and walked back to the #130 bus stop, and headed back. It seemed like I had left civilization for a while, and visited the remnants of some bombed-out and overgrown Chicago... I was glad to be back in town, even though I never really left. I was also glad to have caught at least one somewhat respectable fish! Thanks rock bass, I can always count on you.

the surreal view from Notherly Island

Saved from the skunk... by a goby

I'll stop right here and acknowledge most of you wouldn't count catching a goby as catching a fish, and would just as well feed it to the seagulls than take pictures of it... But on a tough morning like today, I'll take what I can get!

the view on my drive downtown

Woke up extra early, ate some crock pot steel cut oatmeal with pecans and blackberries (recipe coming soon), filled up my travel mug with coffee and hit the road. 

The weather report anticipated a light rain this morning and clouds, and winds from the south/southwest. This sounded like great fishing weather! I packed my rain jacket and was prepared to slay'em! I checked windycityfishing.com for updates, and somebody reported salmon close to shore. Awesome!

I really do like being up early, before the day really starts... Everything is nice and quiet, the air is fresh and crisp, and the possibility of catching massive amounts of fish could still become a reality.

Nothing about the expressway was nice and quiet, it was chock full of traffic, before 6am.

Once I got downtown, I went right to the pipe at Burnham. Meijer didn't have any nightcrawlers - even though I called ahead to confirm they did!! - so I would be working with all artificials today. Rigged one rod with a bobber and gulp minnow, the other with a little cleo spoon (wanted to try it out).

After 30 minutes and not a single bite, I was distraught. I can always manage a bite from SOMETHING by the pipe. Then I noticed a flow of water, about 50' to my right. I was in the wrong spot! Obviously I had not consumed enough coffee.

We meet again, goby

After moving to the pipe, I went through a selection of lures- tubes, jigs tipped with gulp minnows, spinners, and nothing. At this point I'd been sitting there for about an hour, with the blazing sun, unencumbered by clouds (no rain, weather.com, you lie!) not getting so much as a nibble.

Finally I got a fish! Although when I hooked it, I didn't get excited... I knew what it was.

BUT it sure was nice to catch a fish! I caught it on a beetle spin with a gulp minnow on the hook. The spinner was almost as big as the goby. I almost have to admire their audacity to attack something the same size as them. Or maybe they're not too bright.

Tried a few more spots in the marina, got nothing, so I moved to the lake side (by Shedd and the planetarium).

Got a few tiny bites (gobies, you bastards) but didn't hookup with anything. Worked my way down the shoreline toward Chicago Harbor. Saw a lot of gobies hanging out on the rocks, in the sun.

Farther inland, close to where the water taxi docks, I started getting some stronger bites. Could have been rock bass, I don't think it was anything bigger. Lost a few tubes and a chigger craw in the rocks. I saw some other guys fishing, one guy said he was fishing for smallies, and nothing was biting. I don't feel so bad when nobody else is slaying'em... If the guy next to me is catching them as fast as he can bait the hook, then I'm doing something wrong!

I called it a day. Alright smallies, you win again, but don't rest too easy- I'm coming for you!

Lunch on the lake

Hit up the lakefront for an hour at lunch, hoping to catch something. My last two outings have been nice, but no fish landed... And although I claim I love fishing, I love catching too.

Assembled my 5-piece rod as I walked, so I was ready to cast as soon as I got to the water. I saw some other guys fishing, but they didn't seem to be catching anything. Another guy walked by and I asked him what he was fishing for. "Anything that'll bite!" Yeah man, me too!

Apparently gobies were the only things that bit, because that's all I caught. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining brightly, and there was little to no wind.

My limited fishing experience tells me these are not the ideal conditions in which to fish at noon in the summer. Can we get some clouds up in here?

I threw some dropshot-rigged cooked salad shrimp (which got some gobies); tube jigs; silver size 0 mepps; texas rigged grub with wiggly tail. Got a lot of small hits close to the rocks, which were definitely gobies (although I know for a fact there are a ton of rock bass right there... but they obviously were taking a siesta).

After a while, I started casting as far as I could, to see if I could entice anything bigger into my offerings. It was a little difficult, because between me and the breakwater is a high-traffic boat lane to and from the marina. I tried casting out, letting it sink, reeling in the slack, and letting it sit there.

After a minute or so, I moved the rod a bit to check, and I felt resistance. Hooray! Fish on! I reeled in, pulled the rod back, and repeated, just the way my new hero Jeremy Wade on "River Monsters" does when he hooks into 300 pound fish. I didn't want this one to get away!

As I reeled it in, I was excited to see what I got. Could it be a smallie?? Perhaps?

Nope, goby.

my nemesis, the goby

Not to be discouraged, I re-baited, re-cast, and waited. Hey, at least I beat the skunk.

A few more minutes passed by, and once again I felt resistance... But much more this time!!

I didn't want to get too excited, but I did my Jeremy Wade maneuvers anyway; this one seemed a lot bigger. I reeled, pulled, reeled, pulled; at this point the fish was about 30' away from me in the water. I got it close to the surface and saw a flash of brown. Smallie!?

SNAP! My line broke. 

I didn't get a good look at it, but I don't think it was a goby. With that, it was time to head back to work. 

Watch out smallies, I'm coming for you. You're safe for another day, but I'll be back.

a view on my walk back to work

Fishing the Big Lake and the Chicago River

Yesterday morning (~6am-9am) fished the Chicago river from Union Station all the way to the lake, then down to the planetarium. It was nice and sunny, only a few tentative hits. I was throwing 2" tube jigs in grey with red specks and green ones with red specks; also threw white spinnerbait, a mepps black fury, and pink 1/16 oz jigs tipped with gulp 2.5" smelt minnows. Met Ron from the Chicago Park District around the Columbus drive bridge, and he gave me lots of great tips.

Once I got to the lake, I saw some rocks and weeds and threw my trusty 2" green tube jig- and got this little guy:

It was great to beat the skunk! Also caught a lot of gobies on the tube jig, including this big guy (the largest goby I'd caught):

I had to go to work, so that was it for the morning. After work (~5pm) I came back out to the lake and met Jeff Nolan, Sun Times fishing contributor, who gave me a wealth of tips and a good bass spot... So I headed up the coast, back to the river spot he suggested.

The spot looked super fishy, and it indeed was! On my first cast (jighead tipped with gulp smelt) I got a real strong hit and pulled up this fella:

Took a quick picture, threw him back, and quickly recast to the same spot, and immediately got another hit, this time way stronger! I was super excited. I hadn't yet caught ANYTHING in the river, and this was too good to be true! After a short battle I met my first Chicago river bass!

Around that time Jeff (who was on his bike) showed up and gave me some more tips on the spot, and I proceeded to land 2 more LMB, all on the same pink jighead and gulp smelt, bunny-hopped along the bottom per Jeff's suggestion. The fish all seemed healthy and put up pretty good fights. I'm not sure how long each one was, I didn't have a way to measure them... but I sure will next time.

Around the 3rd bass, a security guard came out and told us we couldn't fish there, that the management company of the building owned the sidewalk or something like that. There was a short argument, and I'm glad Jeff was there (apparently he's seen this happen before, and it even made the paper that the can't ban fishing there...!) I had to catch my metra home, so I headed off... But all in all, a GREAT day fishing, made possible by tips from other fisherman. A few short months ago, I couldn't tell the difference between a LMB and a bluegill, but thanks to the generosity of those on windycityfishing.com and fishermen I've met along the way, I think I'm becoming a better fisherman.