MIDWEST FISHING REPORT
Fire will get first taste of turf conditions after a Bears game
SHORELINE SALMON/TROUT: Chinook being caught on Chicago lakefront (remains officially closed, but anglers walking or biking in). Park Bait: More coho than usual, a few steelhead. Slez’s: A few more coho up Indiana tributaries on spinners or spawn.
STURGEON: Hook-and-line season runs through Sept. 30 below the Dells dam (and other Wisconsin spots). Erik Brztowski: A 30-fish-plus night over the weekend; keep moving to stay on fish. River’s Edge: A few keepers (60-inch minimum) caught and released.
AREA LAKES: BoRabb Williams: Forest preserves doing better on crappie. Ken “Husker” O’Malley: Bass slowed with cooldown; work a flick-shake rig outside deep weed lines. Jeffrey Williams: Small largemouth and crappie hitting in Chicago lagoons.
AREA RIVERS: CALUMET: BoRabb Williams: Water around 64, fall patterns near. CHICAGO: Jeffrey Williams: Crappie slowing, but caught a 6-pound catfish; now normally time for good catfish. FOX: Anthony Hoovers: Explosive action from St. Charles to Montgomery; mixed bag of walleyes, smallmouth and even a muskie on a 3-inch white paddletail grub on 1/4-ounce Moon Eye jighead. ILLINOIS:
Low. Dresden Island, Marseilles, Starved Rock, Peoria and LaGrange locks closed for major reports, KANKAKEE: Low. As Fish of the Week (below) showed, some good smallmouth caught on topwaters. CHAIN: Arden Katz: Crappie starting on Marie in 11-14 feet, a few white bass mixed in, trolling about .7 mph with double hooks with minnows; water in mid-60s. Triangle: Try crappie at T and Deadend channels with live bait; catfish good on cutbait, stinkbait and crawlers; white bass going in lake and river on bladebaits and Mepps; bluegills good on Loon’s deeper weed lines. NOTE: Stratton Lock closed. COOLING LAKES: BRAIDWOOD/MAZONIA: Oct. 13 is final day. Monster stays open year-round. HEIDECKE: Oct. 6 is final day. LaSALLE: Oct. 15 is final day. Brztowski: Some decent blues as water cools. DELAVAN/GENEVA, WISCONSIN: DELAVAN: Rise Up for Grant Big Bass Tournament is Saturday. Details on Facebook. Dave Duwe: Walleye in 12-15 feet in low light; crappie in shallow weeds in 10-12; largemouth now in 10-12, same as pike. GENEVA: Duwe: Rock bass excellent in 15-20 feet; walleye consistent at night, Abbey Springs or Trinke Bay; perch improving daily in 10-12; bluegill in 12-15.
GREEN LAKE, WISCONSIN: Mike Norris: BIG GREEN Lake trout good on north shore in 90 rip jigging Rapala Jigging Raps; active smallmouth in 14-18 on weed edges. LITTLE GREEN: Muskie improving on trolling big crankbaits; crappie suspended over deepwater basin. BEAVER DAM: Shore anglers getting crappie and perch around bridge neckdowns.
GREEN/STURGEON BAYS, WISCONSIN: Howie’s: Perch “fantastic” in Sturgeon Bay, Sawyer Harbor, Little Sturgeon and Riley’s Bay; walleye and bass slowed.
LAKEFRONT: Shoreline salmon/trout at top. Park Bait: Good drum off horseshoe and numbers of big pike. Capt. Bob Poteshman: Out of Chicago, lakers continue good mornings in 120-160 out of Belmont and Montrose. Out of North Point, lakers on and around South and Julian’s reefs.
NORTHERN WISCONSIN: Kurt Justice: Muskie good to very good with pre-turnover topwater action early and late over shallow weeds in 3-8 feet; suckers also producing; pike and walleye good.
NORTHWEST INDIANA: Slez’s: Some perch east of Michigan City in 30-35 near condos.
SHABBONA: Lakeside: Catfish most consistent, moved back into cribs; largemouth moved shallower, caught on spinner baits and crankbaits; a few walleye consistently again.
SOUTHEAST WISCONSIN: Katz: Four Chinook on in Milwaukee Harbor, none landed, on rattle baits Saturday night.
When the Fire announced their move to Soldier Field, one question that came to mind was how the playing surface could handle soccer games during the Bears’ season. An answer is coming.
On Sunday, the Bears beat the Giants at the lakefront. Now, that same grass will host two high-level soccer games in less than a week, starting Wednesday as the Fire (2-7-3, nine points) welcome the Houston Dynamo before a match Sunday against Atlanta United. This adds another variable for the Fire, who are still getting acclimated to their new home.
During a videoconference last week, Fire coach Raphael Wicky didn’t know what to expect from the playing surface shortly after a Bears game.
“Yeah, you guys tell me,” Wicky said to the media. “I don’t know, you have probably already experienced that in the early years of Chicago Fire; I have never, so I can’t give you an answer to that, and also, it’s out of my control.”
Wicky, though, knows what an NFL game can do to a field.
“Usually, a field is pretty beaten up after an American football game, but there are people who will work on the field, so we just have to trust these people that they put the field in good shape, and all the rest is — I can’t do anything against that,” Wicky said. “If it’s going to be a bad field, then it’s going to be a bad field and we play on that bad field. There’s nothing I, as a head coach, can do right now, and I am not losing, actually, too much energy on that. It’s going to be a first for me, as well. I’m going to be looking forward to see how it is.”
In soccer, the condition of the playing surface is important. A level field with shorter grass allows for a quicker game. Passes can move smoothly, making them more predictable and easier to receive.
But if the field isn’t great Wednesday, it will be a challenge for the Fire and Dynamo (3-3-6, 15 points). And the leagueworst Fire need points, regardless of the grass.
“Yeah, we know that even going into it, the grass is a little bit longer because we know that the guys play there,” Fire midfielder Ignacio Aliseda said through a translator.
“And yeah, we have some concerns obviously, because that sport uses cleats that are longer than ours, and we know that they step on the field differently, so that could cause some holes or some inconsistencies on the field. But the reality is, we have to go out and play on the field we play, wherever we play, it’s not an excuse. The field isn’t an excuse. We just go out there and enjoy the moment.
“So even if there are some inconsistencies on the field or there’s a divot here or there, we just close our eyes and enjoy our moment because that’s our field and that’s where we play.”
NOTE: On Tuesday, MLS released the remainder of the Fire’s schedule, including four games at Soldier Field: Oct. 3 against Montreal at Harrison, New Jersey; Oct. 7 at Sporting K.C.; Oct. 11 vs. D.C. United, Oct. 14 at Minnesota United; Oct. 17 vs. Sporting K.C.; Oct. 24 vs. Red Bulls; Oct. 28 at Philadelphia; Oct. 31 at Nashville SC; and Nov. 8 vs. New York City FC.
“WE HAVE SOME CONCERNS OBVIOUSLY, BECAUSE THAT SPORT USES CLEATS THAT ARE LONGER THAN OURS, AND WE KNOW THAT THEY STEP ON THE FIELD DIFFERENTLY.” IGNACIO ALISEDA, Fire midfielder, on sharing Soldier Field with the Bears