A barge with a towering crane already sits surrounded by small boats at the eastern end of the north side of Navy Pier. Workers moved around like hard-hat figurines Wednesday morning.
Construction for the long-delayed Navy Pier Marina is underway between the north side of Navy Pier and the Jardine Water Purification Plant.
And a lot of perch anglers around Chicago freaked.
Navy Pier is the No. 2 winter perch fishing spot in Chicago.
That freak-out also is related to the announcement of the Quantum Campus being proposed near the North Slip (85th Street), Chicago’s No. 1 winter perch spot.
Whew, now take a deep breath.
Let’s start with Navy Pier, then the North Slip.
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“Yes, we will be doing the same thing we do every year for the fishermen,” emailed Brian Murphy, chief operating officer of Navy Pier. “However, they will need to be a little more flexible on the location, which will still be on the north side but just avoiding the barge that will move down the dock as they drive piles for the new marina construction. They started on the far east end about two weeks ago and will make their way west down that north wall.”
He also added that “the parking discounts will apply as well, just like in the past.”
Anglers receive discounted parking rates if they’re out by 10 a.m., a program that has functioned for a couple of decades.
What does it mean in the long term, as NPM expects to be operational for the boating season in 2025?
Since the NPM was first floated eight years ago when Rahm Emanuel was mayor (Mayor Lori Lightfoot stalled the plans her entire tenure), developer Randy Podolsky has been adamant that fishing will continue, obviously with some changes, on the north side of Navy Pier.
“That was always my plan,” Podolsky said again Wednesday.
Most of the north side of Navy Pier will remain accessible to anglers, other than small areas around four power units and four gangways.
“For the most part, our margin pier is about 10 feet off Navy Pier,” he said.
There are a few places where anglers will be able to cast farther out. There will be more open space on the west end by the bus turnaround.
“I don’t see us being open past mid-October,” he said.
In the offseason, he would like to open at least some piers. As models, he has the pier-pass program run by the Chicago Park District at select piers in many harbors from Nov. 15 through March 31 and the discount parking at Navy Pier. Both programs have run successfully for about 20 years.
Safety and numbers also will dictate what happens.
“Safety is always going to be an issue and caring for our docks,” Podolsky said. “The onus will be on the anglers.”
Anglers have a good track record at self-policing and keeping the area clean at Navy Pier, a plus.
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The South Side Slips at 85th (North Slip) and 89th have more of a mixed track record on self-policing and trash.
Only Saul Vaicekauskas fished (jigging a jigging spoon for lake trout) Wednesday at the sliver of public land at the mouth of the North Slip, part of Steelworkers Park. That parcel can accommodate 30 anglers comfortably, more if there’s no wind and everybody plays nice. Access to that small space should not change with the coming of the Quantum Campus.
But the best perch fishing in winter, generally, is the main stretch of the North Slip west to South Lake Shore Drive. Two guys were trying Wednesday when I checked. That land and all of the slip at 89th are private land or what I call quasi-legal. Sometimes fishing is allowed by security, sometimes not.
In my world, it would be a brilliant public-relations move if the Quantum Campus opened the private land by the water to public fishing. Right now, things are in a nebulous stage. I received no response from Gov. JB Pritzker’s office. At least a response came from Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office and the chief engineer but no information if public fishing fit in the big picture.
The water is still too warm for perch to come in hard, though early reports have started.
It would be admirable if in coming years perch anglers could spread out broadly there in a public space as the perch swarm in.
On the way out, I stopped by “Tribute to the Past,” robust artwork by Roman Villarreal, one of my artistic heroes, to bolster my soul.
