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Weather impacts on fishing for shoreline and tributary salmon and trout around southern Lake Michigan, the opening of snagging for Chinook and coho at select Illinois spots on Friday, the closing dates for cooling lakes, and early catch-and-release trout are in this sprawling raw-file Midwest Fishing Report.
Mike Norris emailed the photo at the top of Brian Murphy of Oswego with a nice smallmouth bass from Big Green Lake in Wisconsin. When I saw the photo, I marveled at the size of the belly and replied to Norris. He answered with a typically erudite answer:
Yes I wish I had taken a shot of the stomach. From the shape of it he must of ate a bluegill and it wedged in perpendicularly so the stomach was really wide. The amazing thing about my lake compared to Geneva is our fish are fat. Geneva fish are long and skinny. You will see the difference in the photos. Our bluegills are the same
SHORELINE/TRIBUTARY SALMON/TROUT
The winds really altered conditions last week.
CHICAGO: Stacey Greene at Park Bait at Montrose Harbor texted:
Good morning Dale. Those big winds in the middle of the week really stirred the lake up it was pretty dirty for quite a few days but it did push from what I heard salmon into Diversey and Belmont harbors, Montrose has been a little slower. Before the big winds one of my regular customers was using medium roaches and got a nice little Rainbow so I have a feeling the trout are going to start being around also. All in all is so far been a decent salmon season. Have a great week.
WAUKEGAN: Capt. Dan Leslie at the Salmon Stop said salmon/trout picked up and more are being caught days on spawn sacs (5 feet under a bobber) or Rat-L-Traps and some big stickbaits; at night it is back to big glow spoons.
Capt. Scott Wolfe of School of Fish Charters emailed:
. . .
In the harbor the hot water is taking its toll. Fishing was slow and the fish inactive. Most anglers are still casting but they need to fish skein or sacks in these conditions. The fish are not active enough to chase lures now.
Unfortunately, winds look to be East almost all week, which won’t help. Hopefully cold water currents will migrate in and spark some action.
Capt. Scott Wolfe
School of Fish Charters/Manipulator
630-341-0550
schooloffishcharters.com
NORTHWEST INDIANA: Capt. Rich Sleziak at Slez’s Bait in Lake Station texted:
Tributaries have what salmon we are getting in them now skein,spawn sacks and spinners best baits
SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN: Staff at Tackle Haven in Benton Harbor said some straggler coho are in the river and up at Berrien Springs; no report. Paddle and Pole hosts the Berrien Springs Fish Ladder Camera.
SOUTHEAST WISCONSIN: The better reports seem to be coming from Kenosha, Racine (such as the FOTW) and Milwaukee.
SALMON SNAGGING
Here are the details from the IDNR:
4) Snagging for chinook and coho salmon only is permitted from the following Lake Michigan shoreline areas from October 1 through December 31; however, no snagging is allowed at any time within 200 feet of a moored watercraft or as posted: A) Lincoln Park Lagoon from the Fullerton Avenue Bridge to the southern end of the Lagoon. B) Waukegan Harbor (in North Harbor basin only). C) Winnetka Power Plant discharge area. D) Jackson Harbor (Inner and Outer Harbors).
d) Disposition of Snagged Salmon and Paddlefish. All snagged salmon and paddlefish must be removed from the area from which they are taken and disposed of properly, in accordance with Article 5, Section 5-5 of the Fish and Aquatic Life Code.
TROUT SEASON
Early catch-and-release season for trout opens Saturday, Oct. 2 at select spots, closest is Rock Creek at Kankakee River State Park. The regular fall trout season opens Oct. 16.
ILLINOIS FROG SEASON
Illinois’ bullfrog (only) season runs through Oct. 15. A fishing license is required. “Bullfrogs may be taken by hook and line, gig, pitchfork, spear, bow and arrow, hand, or landing net.” Daily bag limits eight, possession limit 16.
LAKEFRONT PARKING
Chicago Park District’s parking passes for the fisherman’s parking lots at DuSable and Burnham harbors are on sale at Henry’s Sports and Bait in Bridgeport and Park Bait at Montrose Harbor.
Readers suggest SpotHero app downtown. Otherwise, here are some basics: Foster (free street parking or pay lot); Montrose (now a mix of metered and free street parking); Belmont (pay lots on north and south sides); Diversey (pay lot or street parking); DuSable Harbor (pay lot or fisherman’s lot); Northerly Island/Burnham Harbor (meters, pay lot or fisherman’s lot); 31st/Burnham (meter parking between McCormick Place and 31st Street Harbor); Oakwood/39th (meters); 63rd Street/Casino Pier (pay lot); Steelworkers Park (free street parking at east end of 87th); Cal Park (free parking).
AREA LAKES
A few more crappie reports trickle in.
Ken “Husker” O’Malley with a fall largemouth bass.Provided
Ken “Husker” O’Malley emailed:
Hey Dale,
Here is a recap of this past weeks fishing.
Area lakes-some much needed rain has temporarily helped with water levels. Colder overnight temps have water temps coming down to slowly start fall patterns.
Bass are still in the weeds so search baits are productive to find active bass. Top water poppers in the morning and evening hours has been productive. Follow up misses with senkos.
Crappie are becoming active. They are scattered but a few can be caught twitching minnow baits over the top of weeds.
. . .
TTYL
—
Ken “Husker” O’Malley
Husker Outdoors
Waterwerks fishing team
Dicky’s Bait Shop in Montgomery reported better fishing for bluegill and largemouth with the cooling temperatures.
BRAIDWOOD LAKE
BoRabb Williams messaged from earlier in the week, “a few small cats… Bass were slow too”
Open daily 6 a.m. to sunset. Oct. 19 is the final day of fishing.
CHAIN O’LAKES AREA
Arden Katz said yellow and white bass with a few crappie and perch mixed in were good in 10-12 feet on Maria, trolling at .5 mph; he was rip-jigging while his boat partner was using a double Mini-Mite rig. Water was 67.
I was out Friday with Phil Piscitello and Mike Jackson. Piscitello had us on lots of white and yellow bass on wind-blown points, we also caught a few other surprise species, including a beautiful crappie and 17-inch walleye. He has us casting small rattlebaits.
NOTE: Check updates on water conditions at foxwaterway.com or (847) 587-8540.
NOTE 2: The Stratton Lock and Dam is open 8 a.m. to midnight through Thursday, Sept. 30. Beginning Friday, Oct. 1, hours go to 8 a.m.-8 p.m.
CHICAGO RIVER
Jeffrey Williams with a Chicago River carp with a story.Provided
Jeffrey Williams messaged the photo above and his on Friday:
10 lbs 28 in Shout out to IDNR for helping me with this brown torpedo
On Monday, he followed up with the photo below and this:
big boi 17 pounds 32 in, gave me a 35 minute fight
Jeffrey Williams with a Chicago River carp.Provided
DELAVAN LAKE, WISCONSIN
Dave Duwe emailed:
Delavan Lake 9/27/21 through 10/4/21
We had a week of warm, consistent weather that produced some great fishing opportunities.
Northern Pike fishing was really good all week, except for Sunday when the cold front moved in. They have again been off the weedline in 20-25 ft of water. I’ve found that the larger the sucker the better. I’ve been lindy rigging 8 inch suckers. The best location is by the gray condos or by Willow Point. 30% of the fish have been legal. Once the weather stabilizes, the pike will bite up to turnover and then go on a feeding frenzy until ice up. Turnover is approximately 3 weeks away depending on the weather.
The walleye have been sporadic. The most success has come while trolling deep diving crankbaits in 22-25 ft of water or by lindy rigging nightcrawlers on the weedline. The best colors for the crankbaits are fire tiger or pearl. I’ve been catching about one out of five fish that are legal. The best location has been by the Village point and the Oriental boat house.
Bluegills are in the 12-15 ft depth range. They are not as easy to catch as they were in the past few weeks. However, with a little perseverance a limit is possible. The best bait is leaf worms straight lined beneath the boat or on slip bobbers. Good success is coming from the Browns Channel area or west of Willow Point on the flat.
Largemouth bass that I’m fishing for are coming off the deep weedline. I’m moving around a lot. There is no rhyme or reason as to their location. I just move down the weedline fishing nightcrawlers on a split shot rig. The best location seems to be from the Village Point down to the Oriental boat house. Once the water cools to about 60 degrees, I will switch from nightcrawlers to fathead minnows.
Good luck and I hope to see you on the water. For guide parties, please call Dave Duwe at 608-883-2050
DOWNSTATE
LAKE SARA: Art Costa messaged about his champion dog and added this:
I was with the Village Sportsman Club out of Alsip fishing in Lake Sara in Effingham , Thursday and Friday was slow with the wind , Saturday crappie and strippers were starting to hit but the catfish 3 to 6 # were hungry
POWERTON: Hours are 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. through Friday, Sept. 30. On Friday, Oct. 1, winter hours–8 a.m.-4 p.m.–return. Last day for boat fishing is Oct. 24. Bank fishing runs through Oct. 29.
EMIQUON: Access permits and liability waivers are again required. They are available Tuesday to Saturday at Dickson Mounts Museum, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
SHELBYVILLE: Check with Ken Wilson of Lithia Guide Service. SOUTHERN ILLINOIS: Check with Jason Johns of Boneyard Fishing.
HENNEPIN-HOPPER: Closed for the season.
FOX RIVER
Dicky’s Bait Shop in Montgomery reported more anglers fishing with cooler temperatures; the river is very low and dropping; some of the larger flatheads started to be caught and some big muskies below the dams.
Pete Lamar emailed:
Hi Dale
All moving water for me this week-I really wanted to catch smallmouths.
I did get to practice some two-handed casting on the Fox last night (at some point, Wisconsin is going to get enough rain to draw salmon and steelhead into the tributaries, isn’t it? I want to be ready if it ever happens). There was barely any flow where I was. I might as well have been casting on a pond.
We did get some rain late last week, but it didn’t affect water levels much. Outings on the Fox tribs reminded me of trout fishing in the central sands of Wisconsin, the water was so clear. I stayed out of the water as much as possible; when I did need to wade, it was upstream-only in order to avoid spooking fish. I did catch fish on minnow patterns, but nothing memorable in terms of size. It was a bright afternoon and the fish were holding in any shade they could find.
Pete
GENEVA LAKE, WISCONSIN
Dave Duwe emailed:
Lake Geneva 9/27/21 through 10/4/21
The yellow perch are everywhere in 12-16 ft of water. You need to sort through a lot of the small ones to catch quality fish, however you can use the small ones as bait for the bass. The best presentation is a leaf worms or a small piece of nightcrawler. I’ve been straight lining with a single hook and a split shot beneath the boat for the maximum success. You could try slip bobbering with small minnows, that may actually produce some bigger fish.
Smallmouth bass fishing has been great. It’s probably a month later than normal but the bass are finally schooled up on the deep weed points in 25-35 ft of water. This is my favorite time to fish for both size and numbers. I’ve been averaging at least 3 fish over 18 inches every trip out. I have been lindy rigging small yellow perch or lindy rigging nightcrawlers. I use a 1/8 oz walking sinker and a 24 inch leader. Good locations are by Knollwood and by the Military Academy.
Northern Pike are off the thermocline and again cruising the shallow weedlines. The best location is by Linn Pier or by Trinkes Bay. Most of the success is coming off of large white spinner baits or by trolling crankbaits like the Bandit Shallow Walleye. Fire tiger has been producing most of the success.
Rock bass and bluegills are again in the 12-14 ft depth range. They can be caught on nightcrawlers fished on a split shot rig. Some of the best success has been by the Military Academy and by Knollwood. Some of the sunfish I caught last week were in excess of 10 inches.
There are some walleyes being caught at night trolling large crankbaits. Most of the success is coming off of large Rapalas or deep diving Walleye Bandits. Chrome/Blue or Chrome/black are the best choices. Try for the fish in Williams Bay or Trinkes Bay.
Good luck and I hope to see you on the water. For guide parties, please call Dave Duwe at 608-883-2050
GREEN LAKE AREA, WISCONSIN
Guide Mike Norris emailed:
Fishing Report – 09/24/2021
Mike Norris
Big Green Lake – Cooler weather last week brought the surface temp on Big Green down to 63 degrees. Fishing for smallmouth bass with tubes and drop shots along weed edges and cribs has picked up as they begin to feed more with the cooler water temperatures. Largemouth bass are under docks and in shallow weedy areas with healthy vegetation. Try skipping jigs under the docks and Senko’s in the weed pockets. Windy and rainy days late last week hampered fishermen, but with dry weather and lighter winds this week, fishing should be outstanding. The crappie bite is also picking up as is muskie fishing. Lake trout fishing is now closed until January 1.
Little Green – With cooler water temps fishing has picked up on Little Green Lake and now is the time to try fishing for muskies. Work bucktails along weed edges and in the bays. Crappies remain good in the basin and perch can be found along the shoreline.
Fox Lake – Largemouth bass remain active along the shoreline rocks and around the islands. Try swim jigs and Senko’s. Crappies are starting to bite on jigs and minnows in the basin, but you must keep moving to find them.
To book a guide trip reach out to me via my Facebook page at mike.norris.7773 or email me through my website at www.comecatchsmallmouth.com
GREEN/STURGEON BAYS, WISCONSIN
Click here for the Wisconsin DNR weekly report.
HEIDECKE LAKE
Open 6 a.m. (6:30 bank fishing) to sunset. Oct. 12 is the final day of fishing.
KANKAKEE RIVER
Bob Johnson with a good fall smallmouth bass on the Kankakee River.Provided
Bob Johnson emailed the photo above and this:
Hi Dale -Another great day on the river. Fall conditions are setting in water temps at 63 and water mostly clear. Caught these smallmouth on surface lures and finesse baits. The earlier the better on the surface lure bite. The big smallmouth was 19″ at 3.5 lbs, good river bass!
LAKE ERIE
Click here for the Ohio DNR Report.
LAKEFRONT
Salmon/trout report for the shoreline is at the top.
Capt. Bob Poteshman of Confusion Charters said they fished reefs out of North Point on Sunday and found good lake trout off the reef in 140-160 with some kings, too. The wind and waves have made Chicago fishing slow.
Capt. Scott Wolfe of School of Fish Charters emailed:
The big NE blow last week really, really hurt the fishing. Until then we hade been getting limits of trout in under two hours with some big steelhead and small salmon to go with them in 105 to 140. We had 46 degree water 100 feet down. After the wind it’s 65 degrees top to bottom on the tops of the reefs, 120 down. We have been getting about 8 fish per trip, a mix of lake trout and 2 and 3 year old kings 125 to 160 down on downriggers. Magnum spoons in yellow and Aqua like Warrior UV Lemon Ice and Hey Babe have been best. Until cold currents come in, fishing will likely be slow.
In the harbor the hot water is taking its toll. Fishing was slow and the fish inactive. Most anglers are still casting but they need to fish skein or sacks in these conditions. The fish are not active enough to chase lures now.
Unfortunately, winds look to be East almost all week, which won’t help. Hopefully cold water currents will migrate in and spark some action.
Capt. Scott Wolfe
School of Fish Charters/Manipulator
630-341-0550
schooloffishcharters.com
LaSALLE LAKE
Open daily 6 a.m. to sunset.Oct. 15 is the final day of fishing.
MADISON LAKES, WISCONSIN
Click here for the update from D&S Bait.
MAZONIA
Both units are open for fishing. Oct. 19 is the final day of fishing; but Monster stays open all year.
MINNESOTA
Tim Potoczny with a nice smallmouth bass from Mille Lacs.Provided by McQuoid’s Inn
Justin Lederer emailed the photo above and thisfrom McQuoid’s Inn in Isle, Minn.:
Justin Lederer checking in from McQuoids Inn Lake Mille Lacs. The boss and I managed to get out the last couple days and chase smallmouth. This little pig was caught in 7′ dragging suckers on a Lindy rig. It’s a good sucker bite right now you want to get 3″-4″ suckers if possible. Work the tops of the reefs and if your not finding them slide off a little deeper. They are starting to stack up and have the fall feed bag on. Some walleye are being caught in the same area’s using the same technique. The Fall colors are starting to pop. Come on up and enjoy the beautiful scenery on atvs or by boat the trails are awesome right now and the fishing is great.
NORTHERN WISCONSIN
Kurt Justice at Kurt’s Island Sport Shop in Minocqua emailed:
A bit of a long, stretched out cool down. Water temps hanging in the low to mid 60’s despite some night time lows in the upper 30’s, afternoon warm spells averaging things out.
Largemouth Bass: Good-Fair – Best in live green weeds in water of 5-8′. Swim baits, Wacky worms. Most action subtle, not a lot of aggressive action.
Smallmouth Bass: Good-Fair – Same a last week, big fish (19″+) in shallows, inside weed edges on Whopper Ploppers and spinner baits with Colorado blades. Off shore humps and coontail edges providing action fish (10-14″) on drop-shot rigs.
Northern Pike: Good-Fair – Most action on spinner baits and 4″ swim baits. Wind blown shores providing best action.
Crappie: Good-Fair – Still scattered, but starting to find some small concentrations in around wood of 12-16′. Medium fats under slip-floats best.
Walleye: Fair – Bite best on lakes with depth. Walleyes being picked up along transition areas of hard to soft, with mud flats in 20-30′ producing for anglers jigging large fat heads or 1/2 crawlers.
Bluegill: Fair – Some big Gills (9″+) being found deep in 14-18′ around wood being used by Crappies
Yellow Perch: Fair – Same as Gills on Flowages. On lakes Perch found scattered along weed flats of 6-10′.
Musky: Fair – Shallow weeds still best with top-water, swim baits and large fluted bladed buck tails. With water temps in low 60’s, the sucker bite isn’t far away.
Gonna have some very nice weather this week, too nice for us anglers, but by the weekend things should cool and improve into October.
Kurt Justice
Kurt’s Island Sport Shop
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NORTHWEST INDIANA
Capt. Rich Sleziak at Slez’s Bait in Lake Station texted:
Tributaries have what salmon we are getting in them now skein,spawn sacks and spinners best baits
Crappie decent in the evening at lake George in Hobart using crappie minnows around the bridges.
Rosser lake still giving up catfish on triple s stink bait.
Musky suckers in stock now here at Slez’s.
Christina Petrites at Stan’s Bait & Tackle Center in Hammond emailed:
Hi, Dale! The recent up-down weather has certainly proven a fishing challenge! Here’s what’s been going on, & hopefully the upcoming beautiful conditions will prove fruitful.
Due to high winds last week, trolling & Perch fishing was very slim last week.
Anglers did get out on the rivers & inland lakes-river anglers caught some nice Walleye & Smallmouth, with a few Catfish mixed in. Those on the inland lakes lake caught some nice catches of Bluegill. This week’s forecast looks much better.
ROOT RIVER, WISCONSIN
Click here for the Wisconsin DNR’s report, usually on Tuesday or Wednesday.
SHABBONA LAKE
Concessions are going. Site hours through Oct. 31 are 6 a.m.-10 p.m. daily.
SOUTHEAST WISCONSIN LAKEFRONT
Click here for the southern Lake Michigan reports from the Wisconsin DNR.
SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN
Staff at Tackle Haven in Benton Harbor said some straggler coho are in the river and up at Berrien Springs; no report from the lake or for perch.
Paddle and Pole hosts the Berrien Springs Fish Ladder Camera.
WISCONSIN DELLS
Hook-and-line sturgeon season in Wisconsin runs through Thursday, Sept. 30. Click here for the details. Click here for the harvest areas. River’s Edge reported its first registered sturgeon last week (62 inches, 65 pounds); otherwise the river is low and the white bass are going by the dam.
WOLF RIVER, WISCONSIN
Guide Bill Stoeger in Fremont texted:
Conditions haven’t changed much. Water temp is in the low 60’s. Crappie are still the best bite.
I heard it a zillion times at Barack Obama campaign rallies, Stevie Wonder’s hit, “Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours.”
So it made a lot of sense, for those following the arc of the Obama story all these years, that it was the walk-off tune played after a bit of dirt was symbolically shoveled at the end of the ceremonial groundbreaking for the Obama Presidential Center on Tuesday. The song connects Obama’s past with Obama’s present.
“We can’t wait to see this place come to life,” said Obama at the ceremony, back home with former first lady Michelle on Monday and Tuesday. I’m told they spent Monday night at their Greenwood Avenue house in Kenwood; it’s been a long time since they’ve been there.
The Obama Center in historic Jackson Park is a big — but not the only — piece of the post-presidential life of Barack and Michelle Obama.
The Obama Center will serve as their base for carrying out their vision of training succeeding generations of global leaders. Obama is working on another book. Obama and Michelle are also Hollywood moguls. Their company, Higher Ground Productions, has a bunch of projects in the works in partnership with Netflix. They do politics and some causes but are very picky about giving up their time.
They also seem to be having some fun. The daughter of working class South Siders and the son of a white woman from Kansas and a Black father from Kenya live a lifestyle far removed from their days as a young couple in a Hyde Park condo. They have an oceanfront mansion in Martha’s Vineyard and a large home on an upscale block in D.C.
Building an Obama Center on the South Side has been in the works since 2014, when the University of Chicago led the drive for it to be located near their Hyde Park campus.
Though a formal competition was held, statements made by Obama since made it clear there were always two thumbs on the scale for his legacy project to be on the South Side — not New York, Hawaii, the West Side of Chicago or any other place in the city.
Being from the South Side is so central to the Obama story that it was always inconceivable their center would be anyplace else.
I think I have written this before, but in this context it bears repeating. Michelle Obama is a South Sider by birth. Michelle Obama grew up at 7436 S. Euclid Ave.
Obama is a South Sider by choice, coming to the South Side from New York to begin a career as a community organizer. After leaving for Harvard Law School, he returned to the South Side to launch his political career, and you know the rest of the story.
Michelle Obama talked about her vision for the center at the groundbreaking — and how the city needs to even the score between the North and South Sides.
“For us, the Obama Presidential Center means a lot more than just creating a space to house memories from our eight years in the White House,” she said, referring to the museum.
“This substantial investment in the South Side will help make the neighborhood where we call home a destination for the entire world. But more importantly, this project, as the governor and mayor have said, will be a vital resource for the people who live right here.
“The OPC will be a place where folks could find work; where kids can learn and grow and envision bigger lives for themselves; where families can walk and ride a bike, or have a reunion in the grass; where everyone can find calm and beauty and peace and safety.”
Michelle Obama recalled as a little girl, “We didn’t have a lot of places like that in our own backyard.
“I remember that whenever me, my mom, dad, my brother wanted to do something special — to see art, to hear music, take in a new museum exhibit, we had to get my dad’s Buick 225, take Jeffrey Boulevard to Lake Shore Drive and head north to downtown.
“…And even as a child I understood this disparity. I understood that whenever there was a huge investment of resources in the city — new park or infrastructure improvements, or any other beautification effort — It just rarely happened in our neighborhood.”
Jackson Park, while it did have the Museum of Science and Industry, “It just didn’t call to us.”
The location, in Jackson Park, designed by the famed landscape architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, remains controversial because it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Though Washington Park was an alternative, in the end, the center is in Jackson Park because that’s where the Obamas wanted it to be. A federal court case is pending on appeal challenging locating the center in Jackson Park. It is a long shot.
The Obama Center. For now, it’s Signed, Sealed And Delivered in about four years.
Jose Abreu said he had reached his limit when he was hit by a pitch Monday in Detroit.
It was the 21st time this season, and while Alex Lange’s 0-2 fastball was nowhere near his head when it got his unpadded left elbow square, adding yet one more bruise to the Sox slugger’s arm, he reached a tipping point.
“If you get hit badly, your career can end,” Abreu said through translator Billy Russo said Tuesday. “Your life can end.”
What this one started was a display of anger by Abreu never seen before, but not until he slid hard into second base moments later and words were exchanged. Benches cleared, and Abreu had to be restrained.
Manager Tony La Russa’s beef with his players getting hit — the Sox were hit 76 times compared to opponents hit by Sox pitchers 50 times Monday — is that too many pitchers rely on velocity and not command and therefore become dangerous when they pitch inside.
“It’s become more of a problem with young guys getting in the big leagues ahead of time, really relying on their stuff,” La Russa said. “There is a difference between pitching in and throwing in. Throwing in means you’re aiming it there but you’re not really sure where it goes. … That’s why the answer, ‘Hey we hit him but we were just trying to get the ball up and in we didn’t mean to hit him,’ well, if you don’t have command then you’re being irresponsible. That’s really the key.”
When order restored, a Sox team that wears FAMILY across its chests on gameday T-shirts jumped on a plane for home, bound together. It also might have added an edge to a team that wants to keep one in the week and half leading to the postseason.
La Russa called the win one of his top moments of the season.
“I think he was referring to how strong and unified we are as a team,” Abreu said. “It took us at that moment when I slid into second and the benches cleared, it was a really nice moment even for me to see the support of my teammates, everybody on the field trying to protect me. That meant a lot. It wasn’t the best moment or the best action, but that’s something that made me feel good and showed everybody how unified we are.”
Abreu, in fact, seemed embarrassed by his actions after seeing replays.
“That’s not the kind of action you want to see from a baseball player, especially since a lot of kids follow me,” Abreu said. “I don’t want them to think that’s how you play the game. It’s not.”
But Abreu couldn’t contain himself “because even when he hit me, he didn’t apologize or say anything. And that’s fine, but then I slid into second base and he started chirping. That’s not good, you don’t do that. You didn’t [apologize] and then you start talking to me? That’s not the way that we play baseball.”
Meanwhile, Abreu is playing baseball in pursuit of a few individual feats in the final week. With 113 RBI, he trailed Royals catcher Salvador by four RBI for the American League lead. He is looking to join Cecil Fielder (1990-92) as the only players to lead the AL in RBI in three straight seasons.
And he needed one home run to join Frank Thomas (eight) and Paul Konerko (five) as the only players in Sox history with five seasons with 30 home runs and 100 RBI. The numbers, though, take a backseat to “being at peace with myself.”
“Enjoy the game and keep working hard to bring joy to the fans and to the White Sox,” Abreu said. “Be ready for the playoffs. To be in for the second straight year is a huge accomplishment. The only prediction I can make is we won’t quit and we won’t rest. We are going to do our best.”
The block of tall trees and modest homes was quiet Monday evening as 8-year-old Demetrius Stevenson played in the front yard — as he often did since his family moved to Markham less than a year ago.
Across the street, two people hid behind a fence planning an ambush, according to police and neighbors. They had come from Chicago to settle a gang dispute with a man standing in the boy’s yard.
One of them, in a white hoodie, peeked around the fence and backed away, according to surveillance video. The other man, in a black hoodie, stepped up and fired six .45-caliber shots.
He missed his target and hit Demetrius in the head, killing him.
The sound of gunfire brought Demetrius’s mother running downstairs. “When I looked down, I saw my baby’s head hanging in that door and I screamed,” said LaTonya Stevenson, 43.
She grabbed a sweatshirt and placed it over her child’s wound. “And then I ran away because I couldn’t take it no more,” she said, crying.
Her older son grabbed Demetrius and placed him in a car to get him to a hospital, but he had already stopped breathing. “When they made it around the block, my baby died,” Stevenson said.
“He shot my baby in the head — my 8-year-old baby,” she said. “Why would you do that? Why?”
A neighbor in the 15700 block of Homan said he saw someone in a black mask shooting from the fence along his home. Then, from across the street, he saw Stevenson at the doorway screaming.
“That’s too bad, a small child like that,” the neighbor said.
Several neighbors said they saw the older son place the wounded boy in a car and drive off, only to return minutes later and lay him in the middle of the street.
By then, paramedics had arrived but Demetrius was pronounced dead at the scene.
The neighbors spoke the day after the shooting. Bullet holes could be seen in the front of the home near the door, where there was a pool of dried blood. Gauze and a medical bandage wrapper lay in the front lawn.
Demetrius’ mother said the attackers had followed a friend of her older son to the home and were aiming at that man. She said Markham officials were wrong to say her older son was the target.
“The news and Markham city police are lying about my son,” she said. “He was not the target. They’re trying to say my baby is in a gang. My baby ain’t in no gang.”
The older son was taken into custody after the shooting on a separate warrant, according to city administrator Derrick Champion. Officials reported no one in custody for the attack.
Demetrius was in the third grade and was looking forward to the new school year, Champion noted “The school year just started and now classmates have to mourn,” he said.
Markham has recorded three other homicides this year, according to data from the Cook County medical examiner’s office. Last year, the town reported eight homicides.
PITTSBURGH — Right fielder Jason Heyward has been battling a concussion for the last two weeks and as he tries to recover, manager David Ross announced before Tuesday’s game that Heyward’s 2021 season is officially over.
Heyward has been on the seven-day concussion injured list since Sept. 11 after taking an inadvertent knee in the side of the head from Giants’ shortstop Brandon Crawford sliding into third base.
The Cubs’ right fielder traveled with the team to Pittsburgh and met with a local concussion specialist, who also helped Ross when he went through his bout with concussions in his career.
“He came today and there’s a specialist here that I’ve seen, [Michael] “Mickey” Collins, who does phenomenal work,” Ross said. “Saw him today. Really good feedback. He’s got a plan moving forward. I think he got a lot of information today and I think everyday has been better. I think he got a good rehab setup today from Mickey and I think that’ll be really good for him to bounce back pretty fast.”
The Cubs’ right-fielder had been dealing with some of the more serious side effects of his concussion, including nausea and dizziness. Those symptoms have subsided as the weeks have gone, but there have been some lingering effects that he is still dealing with as he tries to .
“I think [there are still] small symptoms, but I think that’s part of the process to get back,” Ross said. “It’s gotten better every single day. Sleeping better. Headaches, dizziness and fatigue is all kind of waning towards being non-existent.
“I know I talked with the trainers about today went, but I haven’t talked to him specifically. I’ve got a lot of questions, just because I know what that routine he had to go through today is like. I want to see what some of his thoughts and feelings [were] after going through that.”
Heyward finishes the season slashing .214/.280/.347 with eight homers and 30 RBIs in 104 games.
Heyward wasn’t the only player who’s season officially came to an end on Tuesday as the team decided to shut down right-hander Keegan Thompson and placed him on the 10-day injured list.
Thompson went on the IL with the same injury earlier this month before returning on Sept. 19 against Milwaukee. But following his most recent start on Sunday, the shoulder didn’t respond like the team would have hoped.”
“He’s got a little bit of some shoulder stuff. After that last start, just a little bit of soreness,” Ross said. “I think we’ll probably err on the side of caution and shut him down.”
It wasn’t a smooth transition for Thompson after pitching successfully in the team’s bullpen during the first half. He had a 7.11 ERA in five second-half starts and struggled with his command. But he closed his season on a high, striking out a career-high seven batters on Sunday – giving him something positive to go into the offseason with.
“Being able to talk to him today and just knowing that was going to be it, I thought there was a lot of power in there,” Ross said. “For him to go out and prove himself, knowing where he was, listen to some of the things he was going through mentally was very eye opening. And proving to himself that, ‘I can have success as a reliever and I can have success as a starter’.
“I thought it was really good stuff he showed his last start and to get him back to throwing the baseball the way we believe he can and going into the offseason with that confidence is huge for us.”
The year: 2000.
The place: Borders, at the corner of Clark and Diversey.
The time: Thursday evening.
The scene: A Chicago Reader truck pulls up to the curb. The driver unloads hundreds of fat, four-section broadsheets, building a miniature battlement of newsprint in the lobby. By Saturday morning, they’ve all been snapped up, tucked under the arm of every ‘L’ rider on the way home from an office job in the Loop, and into the backpack of every thrift-store dude on a one-speed bike.
At the turn of the century (we can now use that phrase to refer to 2000), the Reader was the newspaper of record for Chicago’s underground scene: the source for music listings, apartment classifieds, and personal ads. Starting on the cover, and winding through the ads, was a long, reported-to-the-pencil-nub tale about a Patti LaBelle superfan or corruption in the Tollway Authority. It was so hip that the movie High Fidelity featured a Reader music critic named Caroline Fortis.
“You’re Caroline Fortis?” John Cusack says, incredulously, when she walks into his Wicker Park record shop. “I read your column. It’s great. You really know what you’re talking about.” He’s so smitten, he makes her a mix tape.
The Chicago Reader turns 50 this week, an age I never thought it would achieve. I feel the same way about that birthday as I did when the Rolling Stones turned 50: You ain’t what you used to be, but when you were what you used to be, you were the best.
The Reader was launched in 1971. At the time, the paper’s lakefront stronghold was populated by a mix of gays, artists, musicians, actors, and young professionals skeptical of the first Mayor Daley’s political machine. The so-called Lakefront Independents were key swing voters during Harold Washington’s 1983 campaign to become Chicago’s first Black mayor. Right before the election, the Reader published an article aimed at reassuring white voters about Washington’s credentials. Widely copied and stuffed under apartment doors, it helped him squeak to victory. Throughout the Council Wars between white aldermen and Washington’s minority allies, the Reader remained in the mayor’s corner. Its star reporter, Gary Rivlin, went on to write Fire on the Prairie, the definitive book on that divisive era in Chicago. John Conroy’s decades-long investigations of police torture helped lead to the conviction and imprisonment of Detective Jon Burge.
In its heyday, the Reader was the finest publication I’ve ever read, or written for. I first picked up a copy in 1993, when I was a newspaper reporter in Downstate Illinois. On the cover was Lee Sandlin’s “The American Scheme,” a 20,000-word essay on how the post-war quest for success consumed and killed his father. As soon as I finished Sandlin’s story, I decided I was going to move to Chicago and write for the Reader, which seemed like a place where a journalist could write about any subject, at any length, in any style.
Four years later, I broke in with a long narrative about learning to play the horses from a professional tout at Sportsman’s Park. Eventually I worked my way up to staff writer, turning out only-in-the-Reader pieces on a teenaged Frank Sinatra impersonator, a man who sold socks by the freeway, and the “callers” who drummed up business outside hip-hop boutiques in Roseland. I was also sent to the South Side to check out a state senator with a funny name who was running for Congress against Bobby Rush. That cover story became the basis of a book, Young Mr. Obama: Chicago and the Making of a Black President.
By the time I left in 2005, the Reader’s heyday was over. The paper wasn’t thriving in the internet era. Craigslist poached its lucrative classified ads, taking over the Reader’s role as the place to find a job, a date, or an apartment. The advent of blogs was changing the definition of “alternative journalism.” When the Reader was founded, it was the alternative to the Sun-Times, the Tribune and the Daily News. Now, it was one of dozens of voices, competing with the likes of Pitchfork as the city’s definitive outlet for music criticism.
When a potential new audience was moving onto the internet, the Reader declined to post its stories there. In 2004, the Reader came out with a new design that finally brought color to the front page. The Trib’s media critic snarked that it brought the paper “into the late 1990s.” On the day the new cover debuted, I handed out copies at the Fullerton ‘L’ stop. Gray-haired men and women rushed to grab copies. No one under 30 was interested.
In 2000, the average 28-year-old Chicagoan would tell you: “The Reader is my Bible!”
In 2010: “I haven’t read the Reader in awhile.”
In 2020: “I’ve never heard of the Reader.”
The Reader’s hippie founders sold out to an alternative newspaper chain called Creative Loafing, which fired four staff writers who specialized in long-form journalism. The model of turning a reporter loose to spend months investigating a story — the heart and soul of the classic Reader — had become “economically unsustainable.” In the years to follow, the Reader was passed around to the Sun-Times, then to a consortium headed by former Ald. Edwin Eisendrath, a group led by the publisher of the Chicago Crusader, before finally establishing itself as a non-profit 501(c)3 known as the Reader Institute for Community Journalism.
Despite the Reader’s 21st Century struggles, it has outlasted many of its alt weekly peers: Boston Phoenix, Village Voice, Minneapolis City Pages. Although its corpus has been reduced from a fat broadsheet to a slim tabloid, the Reader continues to occupy its own indispensable niche in Chicago journalism. Last year, it published a lengthy article by Maya Dukmasova about ex-cops evicting a problem tenant in Rogers Park. Part investigative journalism, part personal essay, it was the kind of story that could only appear in the Reader, the kind of story that would make a young reporter think, “Wow, you can do that in print? I want to do that, too.”
Tyler Johnson assumed his trade from the Lightning to the Blackhawks would increase his playing time.
But he had no idea he’d arrive for the first day of training camp and find himself immediately on the first line, centering Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat.
“Coming in, with conversations I had with [Hawks management]…we never really got to the nitty-gritty as far as where I’d play and who I’d play with,” Johnson said. “[Kane and DeBrincat] surprised me, but it’s worked pretty well so far. I’m excited to be in some games with them.”
Kane, DeBrincat and Johnson would be one of the smallest lines in the league, with all three shorter than 5-10 and averaging 176 pounds. But it’d also be one of the more offensively dangerous, representing 1,678 combined career NHL points and counting.
“There’s a difference between being small and being relentless,” Johnson said. “You look at the way ‘Cat’ plays. He’s a smaller guy but he works extremely hard — he’s bumping into guys, he’s taking the puck off their stick. To be honest, that’s harder to play against than a big guy who’s looking to take you out.”
In a vacuum, Johnson is probably over-slotted as a first-line center. He’s 31 now and had fallen into a bottom-six role in Tampa the last few years.
In the Hawks’ current situation, however, it makes sense. The other center options are either working their way back to full health and fitness (Jonathan Toews and Kirby Dach) or buried deep within coach Jeremy Colliton’s doghouse (Dylan Strome).
Johnson’s skills fit well in the role, too, much like Pius Suter’s did last season. The Spokane, Washington, native has always been an efficient finisher, as evidenced by his career 13.1% shooting percentage. And playing with Nikita Kucherov for years taught him how to operate alongside a superstar winger.
“Kane plays very similar to ‘Kuch,” Johnson said. “They are guys who like to have the puck on the stick. They move it around, they find those open areas and they can make plays. They don’t need you to be right next to them, helping them all the time, because they’re able to get out of trouble themselves. It’s really just about trying to get open, trying to give them a passing lane and honestly just being ready to score.”
The data backs that up: Johnson indeed adapted his style to complement Kucherov. Over their last three regular seasons together, Johnson averaged 1.35 goals (per 60 even-strength minutes) with Kucherov versus 0.99 without. He averaged more shot attempts (13.3 vs. 12.8) yet fewer assists (0.61 vs. 0.96) with Kucherov, as well.
Johnson will likely employ a similar strategy — hopefully with equally effective results — alongside Kane, if that line does stick around through opening night.
Johnson brought more than the Kucherov experience from Tampa, though. He also brought a scouting report: the Lightning last season knew the Hawks had “a lot of skill,” but considered them “not necessarily the most gritty of teams.” (Unsurprisingly, the Lightning beat the Hawks seven times out of eight.)
The Hawks are hoping to disprove that reputation this season. Johnson has already noticed his new team playing with a “little more sandpaper.” The coaching staff has harped on physicality repeatedly during the first week of camp.
And Colliton, fittingly, sees the Lightning as a model for the Hawks in that regard.
“They went through that [change] themselves, right?” he said. “They had a high-powered team offensively, but couldn’t get it done in the playoffs for a couple of years… Then they, as a group, decided they were going to play a little bit different, and now they have two Cups.
“So yeah, that has an effect, [Johnson] coming in. He’s been through that transformation and understands the payoff for it.”
Starting Justin Fields against the Lions on Sunday should be a no-brainer.
Not only does Fields need to get back on the horse after getting sacked nine times in a miserable starting debut against the Browns last week, but the Lions have been Matt Nagy’s lone punching bag in his first three seasons as the Bears head coach.
The Bears’ passer rating against the Lions under Nagy is a gaudy 118.4 (15 touchdowns, one interception). That’s easily their best against any opponent they’ve played more the twice under Nagy — ahead of the Saints (90.9), Vikings (78.5), Packers (77.1) and Rams (60.6).
Statistically, you couldn’t handpick a better spot for a quarterback to build up his confidence than against the Lions at Soldier Field. In the Lions’ last nine games, quarterbacks have averaged a 133.4 passer rating against their defense (24 touchdowns, one interception), including eight straight 100-plus ratings before the Ravens’ Lamar Jackson was held to 81.0 on Sunday.
Cornerback Amani Oruwariye’s fourth-quarter interception of Jackson in a 19-17 loss at Ford Field was the Lions’ first pick since Week 11 of last season against the Panthers and first-time starter Phillip Walker. It ended a string of 265 consecutive passes without an interception.
The Lions’ defense might not be the easy touch they’ve been for the Bears and Nagy. Sunday’s game was the most tangible sign of improvement under first-year coordinator Aaron Glenn. And as bad as the Lions have been, they’ve been better against quarterbacks with Fields’ skill-set — Jackson this year and Kyler Murray (72.3 rating, three interceptions) last season.
The Lions still are last in the NFL in passer rating defense — 123.2 (seven touchdowns, one interception. But they’re seventh in sacks per pass play with eight sacks to 84 pass attempts — they were 27th last season — and sacked sacked Jackson four times Sunday. And veteran coordinator Dom Capers — a Bears nemesis with the Packers — is a senior adviser to Glenn, which figures to further help get that defense off the mat.
After subjecting Fields to an onslaught in Cleveland, Nagy has an increased responsibility to avoid getting his prized quarterback prospect injured. But the timing against the Lions at Soldier Field couldn’t be much better. It’s up to Nagy and offensive line coach Juan Castillo to find a way to give the kid a chance.
2. Here’s how it’s done: A week after Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow was sacked five times and intercepted three times against the Bears, Burrow was not sacked and had a 122.9 passer rating (three touchdowns, one interception) against the Steelers at Heinz Field. Burrow threw just 18 passes in the game — 14-for-18, 172 yards — and won, 24-10.
3. It’s rarely a good sign when the best things about a quarterback’s performance is that he didn’t flinch or point fingers. “One of the things I was most proud of was his temperament,” quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo said. “Not only after the game, but during the game.”
But DeFilippo also pointed to one positive Fields statistic that had particular merit — Fields had no turnovers (or concussions) despite getting sacked nine times and being under siege throughout.
“You didn’t see Justin throwing the ball into double-coverage,” DeFilippo said. “You didn’t see him putting the ball on the ground. To me, those are good things. There were no sack/fumbles. I didn’t think he put the ball in harm’s way very often. Those are things you can point at where you just don’t pile it on a guy and say ‘This, this and this.’ Part of the deal is it’s a learning curve.”
4. Fields got a huge break that kept his giveaway ledger clean when Browns safety John Johnson’s interception on a deep pass was nullified by a really tacky-tack pass interference penalty that the Bears would have been howling about had it happened to them.
That play captured the Fields first-game experience like no other. It was one of the few times Fields moved the pocket while not under pressure — and he had Darnell Mooney open downfield for a big play. But he missed the moment of opportunity, which gave Johnson time to make the play. It took an Aaron Rodgers kind of fortuitous call to bail him out. Not bad for a rookie.
5. Fields’ 41.2 passer rating is the third-worst for a first-round pick in his first NFL start in the last 10 years, behind the Browns’ Brandon Weeden (5.1) in 2012 and the Browns’ Johnny Manziel (27.3) in 2014. All three of those dubious first starts happened at Cleveland Browns/FirstEnergy Stadium.
6. What does it say that the best performance for a Bears back-up quarterback in his first start under Nagy is by Chase Daniel in a short week? In 2018, Daniel replaced an injured Mitch Trubisky against the Lions on Thanksgiving Day and had a 106.8 passer rating (27-of-37, 230 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions) in a 23-6 victory at Ford Field. With 10 days to prepare for his next start, he was worse (75.3 in a loss to the Giants at the Meadowlands).
The other back-ups to start were Daniel against the Raiders in London in 2019 (89.7), Nick Foles against the Colts in 2020 (76.4), and Trubisky against the Packers in 2020 (74.7).
7. An additionally disconcerting aspect of Fields’ disastrous first start is that the Bears are supposed to be so much better equipped to manage a young quarterback with offensive coordinator Bill Lazor and DeFilippo on the staff.
The Bears had much less NFL experience when Dowell Loggains and Dave Ragone were in charge of Trubisky’s development in his rookie year in 2017. And while it’s still Nagy’s show, Lazor and DeFilippo have significant input. “He’s one of the best head coaches I’ve been around in terms of taking new ideas,” DeFilippo said.
8. Bits & Pieces: The Bears’ 20-point loss to the Browns was the largest for a team with five sacks since 2015, when the Cowboys sacked Tom Brady five times and lost to the Patriots 30-6. … NFL teams that get five sacks are 133-41-1 (.763) since 2015. … Fields’ 41.2 passer rating was the second-lowest without an interception in a complete game since the Lions’ Joey Harrington in 2004 (39.6 — the lowest rating possible without an interception). … Cairo Santos has made 31 consecutive field goals (32 including the postseason) after connecting from 47 and 22 against the Browns. With two more he would tie the 49ers’ Robbie Gould and the Ravens’ Justin Tucker for 10th on the NFL’s all-time list. … The Bears have had no three-and-outs in Andy Dalton’s 11 drives. They have eight in Fields’ 15 drives.
9. Josh McCown Ex-Bears Player of the Week: Texans wide receiver Anthony Miller caught a one-yard touchdown pass from Davis Mills that gave the Texans a 7-6 lead in a 24-9 loss to the Panthers. Miller, active for the first time this season, had four receptions for 20 yards in the game.
10. Bear-ometer: 4-13 — vs. Lions (W); at Raiders (L); vs. Packers (L); at Buccaneers (L); vs. 49ers (L); at Steelers (L); vs. Ravens (L); at Lions (L); vs. Cardinals (L); at Packers (L); vs. Vikings (W); at Seahawks (L); vs. Giants (W); at Vikings (L).
Notre Dame and BYU will play each other at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas next season.
The Fighting Irish and Cougars said Tuesday they will play Oct. 8, 2022, in a Shamrock Series game for Notre Dame. This will be the eighth location Notre Dame has played one of its home games away from South Bend, Indiana.
This past week, the Irish had a Shamrock Series game against Wisconsin at Soldier Field. Notre Dame improved to 10-0 in series games. Fox Sports said the game with the Badgers drew 5.37 million viewers and was the most-watched college game of the weekend.
For BYU, the game with Notre Dame completes its schedule for 2022, which will be its last season as a football independent before joining the Big 12 in 2023.
Notre Dame leads the series with BYU 6-2. The teams last played each other in 2013 at Notre Dame Stadium.
