Notes come from around Chicago outdoors and beyond.
FISH OF THE WEEK
James Baczek lived up to the nickname, “Jumbo Jimmy,” bestowed by Steve Palmisano at the late Henry’s Sports and Bait. On Monday, June 16, the reopening of perch season on Lake Michigan in Illinois, Baczek caught five jumbo perch night fishing with soft shells deep at Burnham Harbor. The jumboest perch of all was 16 inches and weighed 1 pound, 14 ounces. So Joe Grega’s yellow perch (2-8.75, caught Jan. 5, 1974 at the old Arrowhead Club Lake in Will County) remains one of the longest standing fish records in Illinois.
FOTW, the celebration of wild stories and photos around Chicago outdoors, now runs most weeks in the two-page outdoors section in the Sun-Times Sports Sunday. To make submissions, email BowmanOutside@gmail.com or contact me on Facebook (Dale Bowman), Twitter (@BowmanOutside), Instagram (@BowmanOutside). or Bluesky (@Bowmanoutside).
BIG NUMBER
5: Species of salmon and trout–Chinook, coho, Skamania (steelhead), brown trout and lake trout–Capt. Jason Baldwin’s Top Dog Charters out of Belmont Harbor (charterfishchicago.org) caught Monday to win the Gary Zilian Memorial Tournament. Catching all five is a rare feat, as Baldwin noted, “I did it this year now and once last year and three or four times as a mate and in my 20’s.”
LAST WORD
“The tinge awakes over the willow-tree and the mulberry-tree,”
Walt Whitman, line from section 2 of “The Compost” in “Leaves of Grass.” Mulberry season is here for the picking.
WILD TIMES
FISH GATHERING
Wednesday, June 25: Capt. Anthony Zimmer of Unlimited Guide Service, “Walleyes on the Fox Chain O’Lakes,” Walleyes Unlimited, Gurnee American Legion, 6 p.m.
U.S. COAST GUARD AUXILIARY
July 7: Water N’ Kids, Wilmington, Mckenna Capwell, mcapwellipd@gmail.com
BIRD EXHIBIT
Through Sept. 27: “Winging It: A Brief History of Humanity’s Relationship with Birds,” Newberry Library, free, runs through Sept. 27
HUNTER SAFETY
July 17 & 19:Newark, davidpaulinski@gmail.com
Aug 14 & 16: Bonfield, (847) 635-3198
The full state listing is at dnr2.illinois.gov/SafetyEd/SafetyEdClassByCounty