Outdoors
The Shedd Aquarium’s Karen Murchie expects her research into longnose suckers to expand knowledge on a prime prey fish and maybe answer the question of why longnose suckers don’t migrate the same in Illinois’ Lake and Cook counties as in Wisconsin.
A morel on a golf course, a “Put Your Junk in the Trunk” campaign and the rise of pickleball in the outdoors world are among the notes from around Chicago outdoors and beyond.
A question on why one pair of Canada geese seem to have multiple families of goslings in tow and a Trout Unlimited meeting with talk on Illinois water access lead the notes from around Chicago outdoors and beyond.
The IHSA’s first regionals had a robust opening.
The Illinois High School Association’s switch to a regional-sectional-state format for bass fishing is a good thing, but in the first year, the numbers don’t add up.
An informed take on spring morel mushrooms around Chicago leads this package of notes from around Chicago outdoors and beyond.
“Fishes of the Chicago Region,” a guide to fishes of the Chicago region by Francis Veraldi, Stephen Pescitelli and Philip Willink (University of Chicago Press), will be formally released on June 3. It’s a treasure of hardcore fish intelligence and delightful tidbits of fish history around the Chicago area.
Ryan Leonard (personal-best find this spring) and John Moore offer their opinions.
Bowman will continue covering local fishing, hunting, foraging and more in his columns every Sunday.
Smallmouth bass and salmon/trout on the lakefront as well as the quintessential spring signs (lilacs blooming, Mother’s Day, near the May full moon) lead this sprawling raw-file Midwest Fishing Report.
Ken Kuhnle caught the drum from a place that produced the Illinois-record drum, Clinton Lake.
Foraging beyond morels (ramps and wild asparagus) and a big gross at Guyette and Deeter’s annual spring decoy and sporting art auction are among the notes from around Chicago outdoors and beyond.
After years of trying to hunt morel mushrooms together, Mark Brown and Dale Bowman made it out Tuesday afternoon to explore and find a couple around Starved Rock.
Kyle Danhausen missed catching the Illinois-record smallmouth bass on Thursday by one ounce, but he expects the record to increase rapidly over the next few years.
Pete Willy taught his 5-year-old grandson, Hudson Miller, the basics of turkey hunting from the ground up and it paid off in youth season in Indiana.
Opening day coming Saturday, May 3, in Wisconsin and true spring fishing (when the weather cooperates) settling in around Chicago fishing to lead this sprawling raw-file Midwest Fishing Report.
Jay Damm found enough morel mushrooms to make a feast.
Richard Music used a .410 shotgun, now allowed under new Illinois regulations, to bag a big turkey on opening day of Illinois’ spring turkey season in the north zone.
Joseph Opoka and his granddaughter Gabriella Opoka’s closeup of a forest preserve Canada goose and answering a question on local sturgeon are among the notes from around Chicago outdoors and beyond.
Tagging along on a treatment for only the second find of invasive hydrilla in Illinois provides an insightful treat.
The largest decoy and sporting collectibles show in North America runs through Saturday, April 26, at the Westin Chicago Lombard.
From a kid with a Chinook salmon that looks as big as him to smallmouth bass up and down the Chicago lakefront, spring is a time to savor fishing on southern Lake Michigan.
Lakefront coho, smallmouth bass on Lake Michigan and inland waters, and largemouth bass inland lead this sprawling raw-file Midwest Fishing Report.
The former Meigs Field terminal building will be open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Annual programs such as family fishing and bird walks will be available again, as well as a new fly fishing program in May and June.
Luke Efantis, 14, caught the surprise of a big walleye Saturday while coho fishing out of Portage, Indiana, to earn Fish of the Week.
A sighting of a yard wild turkey in Lake Barrington and a question on a tagged largemouth bass in the Chicago River lead the notes from around Chicago outdoors and beyond.
The ‘Rooted in Mystery’ exhibit, running through May 11, features tulips, hydrangeas and trees. Interesting fact: Trees talk to one another and help one another by communicating via their roots.
Some cautiously good news comes on the funding front at Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, while the staff situation continues grim and chaotic.
Imani, who hatched in 2021, is the third plover to be spotted at Montrose so far this spring.
Go & Show this week includes the South Side Muskie Hawks Swap Day Saturday, April 19, in Alsip and the North American Vintage Decoy & Sporting Collectibles Show begins Tuesday, April 22, at the Westin Chicago Lombard.