More Lake Front Fishing

Bill Matteson
Uptown  Chicago History Correspondent

We had lake front fishing at its finest—perch, still the best eating fish bar none. Whether fishing with cane pole or trolley, the fishing was always great. Herring came in twice a year and smelt came in April.

I would bike to Gompers Park with a fly rod for pan fish. Sometimes I would fish the lagoon at  the Waveland Golf Course just east of Montrose Harbor. Carp snagging at Belmont Harbor was one of my favorites. The north end of Belmont Harbor was shallow and clear. I would rig my casting rod with a treble hook and a 1/2 ounce lead weight. There weren't any snagging hooks commercially available in those days, so we had to make them. I would tie a piece of white cloth  to the line about a foot above the hook. This would allow me to see where the hook was in the water.

We would walk along the edge of the harbor, spot a carp, and then cast over it, and by watching the white strip we could tell where the hook was as it approached the carp. We gave a hardy pull, and if every thing worked right, would snag the carp. All hell broke loose when that fish tried to get away.

There were only  2 or 3 of us that ever did this type of fishing, knowing it would never catch on as an Olympic sport. In addition to carp,  people would throw in their gold fish, and these fish would grow to large sizes, looking like the koi fish of today.

Some years later while fishing with my youngest son, age 11 at the time, we were at the dam in Jefferson Wisconsin and I noticed a lot of carp in the still water. So I said, "Dan, watch this trick." I got out a treble hook and cast out to snag a carp, at which time some DNR  guy said, "You're under arrest"! Wisconsin had just passed a no snagging law.

I explained to the DNR guy that meant Lake Michigan for salmon, and since there are no salmon in the Rock River, it doesn't apply here.

Well, he had an interpretation that was a little different than mine. The outcome was four hours later; a daughter came up to bail us out. $200 later we were on our way home.

Son Dan wanted to know that if I had any more tricks to show him, if I'd just keep them to myself. We  went to court and the judge hollered at the DNR guy for being stupid and wasting his and the court's time and me, I just wanted some of his blood.

Sally's Bicycle Shop

Sally's Bicycle Shop on Wilson Ave just east of Clarendon was  one of my hangouts.

Sally's—I could never figure out why it had that name—it was run by a guy. I would rent a bike from them for .50 cents a day. They had a 20" bike which would fit my size, and I could peddle it with ease. If I rode a 26"  I had problems stopping. I would have to find a curb, pull up alongside it, then placing one foot on the curb I could dismount. I would start up much in the same manner.

Sally rented Schwinns, nothing but Schwinns. I remember that a Schwinn sold for $16. 00. Now this was for a plain frame, no belly tank or lights, but it had knee action. Knee action being a heavy duty spring on the front fork. The ads that ran in the comic books said that the knee action could take care of all kinds  bumps and jumps. I rode a knee action Schwinn at a curb thinking it would bounce over it with ease, boy was I wrong. At that point I started not to believe ads.

Any time I came up with fifty cents I headed to Sally's. It was a four block walk to Sally's but worth it. Looking back it seems sort of ridiculous to walk 4 blocks, rent a bike, and then after riding all day walk home, but then at that age who cares?

The lake front became our home. Riding to the downtown area along the lake was fun. Riding to the zoo was just as great. I used to love riding to the casting club in the Lincoln Park Lagoon; they had a little pier that you casted from, and out in the water were colored hoops at different distances. You would cast out and try to land your plug in the hoop.

We would ride all the way out to Western Ave. On the west side of the street was an open field that ran between Riverview and Lane Tech High School. That field had high mounds of dirt, "mountains" to us inner city kids. "Bicycle Paradise" is what every kid on the north side called; it was sort of like a bicycle obstacle course.

Now that was 11 blocks south and 16 blocks west, but we never thought distance, we just thought time.
We would ride way out to Labagh Woods with all our gear and camp out the whole weekend; that was only about 5 blocks north and 40 blocks west, at Foster and Cicero.

I would ride out to Gompers Park at Foster and Pulaski with my fly rod and fish for blue gills  or I would ride to Belmont Harbor to snag carp.

The bicycle gave us the keys to the city.
Days gone, but not forgotten