Waterway officials are anticipating a busy summer for the Chain O’ Lakes and Lake Michigan boating communities as Memorial Day weekend launches the season.
Don Anderson of Wauconda, a charter captain since 1972 for the Waukegan-based fishing charter service, Captain Don’s Charter Service, said business “has picked up” at Waukegan Harbor & Marina where he keeps his Tiara Yachts model boat, Spendthrift II.
“There it is, right here in your backyard,” Anderson said of Lake Michigan. “And it’s probably the best fishery in the world.”
Last year, the charter boat business was impacted by state COVID-19 restrictions.
“We lost a couple months last year, in the beginning, in what I consider the best tourist time,” Anderson said.
For C. Haling & Sons Marine, which began in 1920 in Antioch, last year was the 100-year anniversary of the family business. C. Haling & Sons Marine has 17 acres of property along Grass Lake.
“With the COVID and all that going on, we had plans for a celebration, a pig roast and barbecue and some other stuff. We kind of put that on the back burner,” Chuck Haling said. “We hope to do something with that now that things are starting to loosen up.”
His brother John anticipates that all 100 of the company’s boat slips will be fully rented this year.
“We were running about 70% (slip rentals) for the five, six years before COVID,” he said.
Slip rentals increased last year because boating became a primary recreation option, John Haling added. “Because that’s all they could do. The chain was uplifted with it.
“You could walk on boats out here last year,” he added, pointing to Grass Lake.
Joseph S. Keller, executive director of the Fox Waterway Agency of Lake and McHenry counties, confirmed that this season, many marina owners, “have reported that they have no inventory to sell.
“There’s an uptick in everything,” he said. “A year ago at this time, we were urging folks that the waterway was the place to be to get vitamin D, fresh air and to keep folks and their family safe.
“Certainly, we had a government that was trying to get a handle on the pandemic, but eventually it led to the largest sales we ever had from a (boat license) sticker perspective in the month of June,” Keller said. “I’m happy to say that that’s carried over into this year.”
Keller reported that boat sticker sales were up more than $175,000 at the end of April, compared to this time last year. “Our sticker sales have been gangbusters.”
The water levels on the Chain O’Lakes system are lower, he said.
“Last year at this time, we had higher water,” Keller said. “We’re actually at a spring right now where we could use rain, versus the alternative of the last couple years where we were worried if the system would be open for Memorial Day.”
At Waukegan Harbor & Marina, in-person events are planned this summer, including the first-annual Christmas in July with a July 24 car show, a motorcycle show, multiple bands, an arm wrestling exhibition, a K-9 demonstration, vendors and food trucks.
Christmas in July is a daylong charitable fundraiser to provide local children with Christmas gifts.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has presented many challenges to many industries, but it has also drawn the public back to the freedom of boating,” said Joe Seidelmann, general manager of the Waukegan Harbor & Marina.
Being quarantined at home, with no end in sight, was how many started the 2020 boating season.
“For many, boating became an escape from the day-to-day problems of the world,” Seidelmann said. “Fresh air, open seas and more social distancing than anyone could hope for is how our customers viewed Lake Michigan over the past year.
“We are encouraged to see a return of many faces we missed last season,” he said.