During the warming that affected Chicago’s southernmost Lake Michigan harbors last weekend, ice fishermen’s prayers spared the 8-inch-thick ice by the slips at Belmont Harbor, where Henry’s Sports & Bait Shop was conducting its annual ice fishing classic.
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“This harbor is kind of sheltered,” tournament official Tom Grose said.
The explanation sufficed but didn’t prevent Steve Palmisano from waking at 4 a.m. and stringing 7,000 feet of yellow caution tape around selected docks to divert fishermen from anyplace showing hints of water.
From 6:30 to 10 a.m., perch–and the occasional trout–were in danger of being yanked from the deep and displayed in sunshine brilliant enough to almost fry them without a pan. Anglers fished gloveless and hatless in temperatures which rose to 55 degrees. Despite the comparative inferno, somehow everything worked.
Ken Kiska, son Dan and neighbor Chris Berrafato, from River Grove, landed 23 perch during under-the-ice morning rush hour.
“We hit the right school at the right holes at the right time,” Ken Kiska said. “And then they went away.”
The weather was so pleasant that a few dads decided to introduce young sons to ice fishing rather than wait until a typical freeze-your-tootsies day.
“It was hard to get him away from the TV and the couch,” said Chicago’s Larry Schmitt of his 8-year-old son Marc. “I said, `You have to try this.'”
Marc tried, sitting on an upturned bucket on the ice with no wind to chill him, no need for gloves or hat and only a sweatshirt on his torso. Little did he realize the odds against that combination of circumstances ever occurring again in his ice fishing career.
Henry Palmisano said his team watched the ice all week to make sure they weren’t sponsoring a swim-a-thon.
“It was in the 20s at night,” he said.
Henry’s checked in 149 adults and 27 kids younger than 16 for the classic, a turnout reflecting the mild conditions. They competed for gold, silver and bronze medals, plus randomly selected merchandise prizes. Fishermen tried their luck near posted signs reading, “No Fishing Within 100 Feet of Any Boat.” The boats were in storage and anglers took advantage.
John Wilkins of La Grange brought out his son Cameron, 7, and daughter Madeline, 4.
The Wilkinses caught two little perch, but dad said the kids’ attention span was erratic.
“Sometimes when they don’t pay attention, dad will fly a fish past their heads,” Wilkins said. “This is beautiful out, so fish are a bonus, anyway.”
Several anglers set up ice shacks, but they were not occupied. No need. Instead, many sat in cloth folding chairs on the ice, basking in the sun.
“If the fish would cooperate, it would be all right,” said Elmer Mestrovic of Chicago. “I got a couple perch. Just the wrong ones and too few of them. Nice to be out, anyway.”
At 10 a.m. a horn sounded. Rods up. Fishermen gathered at the on-shore scale for the weigh-in and the distribution of prizes that included underwater cameras and ice fishing rods.
“Are we going to win anything?” Madeline Wilkins asked.
“You won two perch,” Wilkins said. “Hey, you won a day out with daddy.”
Sure enough, Cameron Wilkins won a kid’s fishing rod.
The kids class medal-winners, based on total fish poundage, were Jack Manarcik, gold, 2.25 pounds; Lauryn Johnson, silver, 1.95 pounds; and Eric Busz, bronze, 1.65 pounds.
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Adult winners were Simon Sadler, 6.25 pounds; Joe Serrano, 3.9; and Larry Spain, 3.8.
Sadler also caught the biggest fish, a 2.55-pound brown trout that was much admired. “Look at that trout,” Steve Palmisano said.
Sadler said he nabbed the day’s largest fish shortly after 8 a.m.
“Not very big,” Sadler said, “but for today, it was.”