WORSHIP PING AT CHURCH OF PER CH
‘ 87th Street Slip area’ epicenter of action on the Southeast Side
Ray Gregor walked up, sat along the wall of the slip, baited, then cast. Bam, a small perch. He threw it back and cast again. Bam, a better one— a keeper. ( I can’t help channeling chef
Emeril Lagasse because perch are our tastiest fish.)
Welcome to perch fishing on the Southeast Side, ‘‘ the 87th Street Slip area.’’
I had walked up a half- hour before Gregor and had one. I moseyed over to see what he was doing differently. I had one rod with Mini- Mites and wax worms and another with jigs and minnows.
He was using a crappie rig and minnows. Later in the winter, when he switches to ice fishing, he finesse- fishes with Smelt Sticks and Hali jigs.
‘‘ Every day is different,’’
said Gregor, a cabinetmaker from Tinley Park. ‘‘ If you get a good two days in a row, stay home the third day because it is going to suck.’’ Arden Katz, one of the better lakefront perch fishermen, echoed that.
‘‘ It comes and goes,’’ he said. ‘‘ Put in your time, you will get fish.’’
Don Cetera of Blue Island, who was on the other side of Gregor, had spent most of the day fishing the slip. He said he watched a guy early in the day catch perch after perch using gold hooks with minnows.
‘‘ You’ve gotta fish with minnows,’’ Katz said. ‘‘ Fish with spikes, and you catch those 4- inch perch all day.’’
But you have to love those 4- inch perch. Baby, they are the future on the lakefront.
Gregor had made a circle of perch spots, catching two keepers at 87th and his best keeper at 95th. It used to be that the best winter perch fishing started around Thanksgiving at Navy Pier.
In recent years, the focus has been on ‘‘ the 87th Street Slip area.’’ I put that in quotes because it includes some quasi- legal fishing spots on the Southeast Side.
What 87th Street specifically refers to now is the Chicago Park District’s Steelworkers Park around the mouth of the slip and the shoreline areas by the western shore of Calumet Harbor near 87th. More broadly, it includes other spots, too.
Between flurries of catching fish came talk of a hot bite early in the morning at 87th. That’s the way fishing goes. Fishermen come and go.
‘‘ I know people out here I have known for a long time, and I don’t even know their names,’’ Gregor said. I knew what he meant. Around 4, as the sunset built over the South Side, we made our final casts, then walked out different ways.
It was time.
I had kept two for a lunch of one. Perch fishing only will improve as LakeMichigan finally cools down after the balmy fall.
Hunting
Illinois’ second firearm deer season is Thursday through Sunday. A reminder: If you hunt in a county with chronic wasting disease, you must use a check station. . . . Archery harvest through Sunday was 46,920, lagging behind the harvest last season ( 47,970).
Wild things
Reports of snowy owls have begun in northern Illinois. As always, don’t flush them. They are stressed enough just making it here.
Stray cast
White Sox ace Chris Sale going to the Cubs would be like a horsefly landing in a rouge compact.