What the hell are those guys fishing for? Empty beer cans?

uhhhh....... fish.

the chicago river, once home to fewer than 10 species of fish back in the '70s, is now home to more than 70 different species of fish!

and now that the MWRD is legally required to disinfect their outflows, the river just keeps getting cleaner and cleaner, with more wildlife coming back all the time.

“Cleaner”, sure. Clean, definitely not. But I guess it’s ok for catch and release.

of course.

no one who counts their IQ score on more than one hand would dare dream of actually eating anything caught out of the river.

there is way too much mercury and other nasty toxins still lingering in the ecosystem.

It's one of the most beautiful waterways in any major city. But......I'm pretty sure Blinky, the three eyed fish from the simpsons, can be found in there some place. Haha.

Including the ever present Coney Island Whitefish :rolleyes:

. . . I'll show myself out. . .

. . .

Crews were setting up sidewalk canopy / protection on Orleans this morning. This one will be above street level very shortly.

I fish the river every week. I was just telling a couple friends over lunch I have never seen the river as clean as I have this year. Visibility must be 4-5 feet in places, which if anyone ever paid attention at different times in the past, it was maybe 6 inches.

The fish I have been catching this year are also huge. I pulled out a 15-16 inch bass and a 12-13 inch crappie Monday afternoon, plus other good size fish. For people that love the outdoors, it's one of the best "secrets" of Chicago IMO.

:haha:

I did spot one specimen a few weekends ago when I was on the river walk. Amazing how resilient nature can be!

^

A bit off topic, but I once saw a fisherman pull a 3+ foot rockfish from the East River in Manhattan, right off the Financial District. It's amazing what can thrive in metropolitan waterways.

yeah people are pulling great fish out of the river downtown all the time now, improvements over the past few years are starting to show and the future is very bright.

the amazing part about this river quality report is it has been a wet may (wettest all time officially), which usually bodes poorly for water quality.

Phase 1 of the McCook reservoir is in operation now so not everything that would previously end up in the waterways is. Wish they could accelerate the 2nd phase given how attractive to development/recreation the river has become.

I don't think there has been a sewage release yet this year despite all that rain. The system is already working and will prevent releases up to and possibly beyond 100 year rainfall events when it's all online.

No, there have been overflows. Either McCook has hit capacity or the rate of rainfall overwhelms the system's ability to move water and goes right to the outfalls. I think the mainstream portion of TARP is now undersized for today's needs and they should focus on opening McCook phase 2 faster and getting as much load off the system as possible (disconnect downspouts, rain gardens, permeable surfaces, etc).

June 4, 2018

nice to see some people using those steps ^^ bodes well for the use of that space once the whole complex is finished--i know its wishful thinking but I'd love to see a snazzy pedestrian bridge cross from the west bank over to wolf point :D

Nah, we're good. And there's the Orleans bridge, too.

http://www.chicagodetours.com/wp-con...bridge-min.jpg

Lol except WP is still really isolated and that bridge is totally out of the way. A pedestrian bridge would be incredible and create an exciting, accessible public space. And unlike covering the tracks in Grant Park, this would be a project that a lot of corporations would actually benefit from bc employees would use it.

Anyway, glad to see this is rising. It's been forever.

I agree, it would be a good way to create a pedestrian corridor from Fulton Market to River North. (Too bad Hines took up the best spot for a bridge when they build Gibsons Italia).

The city is planning to rebuild the Chicago Ave bridge as a fixed span, so that will essentially turn the North Branch into a low-clearance waterway. Any pedestrian bridge at Wolf Point could also be built as a fixed span at a much lower cost than a moveable bridge.

WP isn't isolated. There are pedestrian walkways along bridges at Orleans, Lake, and Kinzie that surround the confluence and will all be completely accessible to the public once WPE and WPS are complete. A pedestrian bridge would be an expensive vanity project and redundant.