Are you looking looking for something to do this Father's Day weekend? How about taking the family fishing! This Father's Day weekend, June 14 - 17, 2018, Illinois is offering free fishing. Now, what does that mean? This means that you don't need a fishing license to fish on public water on these days. Here are some locations to check out:
- The Chicago Park District offers multiple fishing area throughout Chicago including:
- Gompers Fishing Area located at 4222 W Foster Ave, Chicago, IL 60630
- River Park located at 5100 N Francisco Ave, Chicago, IL 60611
- The Forest Preserves of Cook County also have many fishing areas throughout the county. There are a number of areas along the Des Plains River watershed, Skokie Lagoons and Busse Lake including:
- Schiller Woods-East located on W Irving Park Road west of N Cumberland Ave
- Axehead Lake and Chippewa Woods located on S River Road south of W Touhy Ave
- Belleau Lake located on Busse Hwy northwest of Oakton St in Park Ridge
- Big Bend Lake located on Bender Rd south of Golf Road in Des Plaines
- Beck Lake located on East River Road and Central Road
- Potawatomi Woods located at E Dundee Rd east of N Milwaukee Ave
- Erickson Woods located at Willow Rd east of I-94/Edens Expressway
- Tower Road Boat Launch located on Tower Rd west of Forestway Dr
- Forest Way Grove located at Forest Way Dr south of Dundee Rd
- Busse Lake Boating Center (part of Busse Woods) located at E Higgins Rd and Rte 72 east of I-290/Hwy 53
- And, of course, there are fishing areas along Lake Michigan including:
- Montrose Harbor located on W Montrose Harbor Dr and the lake shore
- Wilmette Harbor in Wilmette at the lake shore
This is by no means an exhaustive list as there are actually quite a few places to go fishing that are only a short drive away. Www.takemefishing.org offers great resources to help you locate places to fish, places with boat ramps, places to buy a fishing license (if you want to go on other days of the year), places to buy bait, etc. In addition, the IL DNR website will also help you with additional resources and regulations.
So grab your rod and reel and head outdoors for some great family fishing this weekend!
Macaroni Kid Skokie-Niles-Park Ridge-Far Northwest Chicago is a website and free weekly newsletter focused on family and kids events and activities in our community. We are delighted to help you Find Your Family Fun® not only in Skokie, Niles and Park Ridge, but also Harwood Heights, Norridge, parts of Morton Grove, Schiller Park and Rosemont as well as the far northwest Chicago neighborhoods of Edison Park, Forest Glen, Jefferson Park, Norwood Park, parts of Portage Park and other nearby areas.
