Evanston Program Offers Fishing Expeditions

The three kayaks slipped from shore at evening onto the light Lake Michigan chop and floated out into the open harbor in Evanston. Adam Abajian, the supreme commander of lakefront operations for Evanston Parks & Recreation, waded knee deep into the water carrying the extra rods and a tackle-bag to haul himself over the stern of the 15 foot “run-about,” fitted with an outboard motor, and followed his students out at a distance.

Abajian, as a great enthusiast for the sport of fishing, wants more people to realize the opportunities on the lake, and he wants them to know they can be enjoyed for a reasonable price. It was for this reason he established the kayak fishing program for the city’s park service.

“The purpose of this program is to show people what’s possible on the lake,” says Abajian. “You can buy a motorboat and troll for salmon three miles out with all the electronics, outriggers and downriggers you want – and you’ll kill on salmon. But this is something different, this is something meant to get people on the water and hook them up to fish.”  

Abajian stood on the prow of the boat calling instructions to the three low-set figures casting lines and lures toward the boulder break-wall at the harbor’s southern end. A lone seagull stood along the spine of the rocks, watching carefully as flashing lures glinted toward him in the evening sun.

Earlier in the evening, Abajian rigged light and medium rods for the outing, five to seven feet in length, fitted with two, four, and six weight spinning reels, with an assortment of simple staple lures. There were tube baits, spinners, lip-divers, crank baits, and swimmers. The lines were 6 lbs test except for two, which were 8 lbs.

The two women and a man who made up the expedition that night each had a short, lighter rod for shallow water and a longer, stouter pole for the deeper columns of fresh-sea – no more than about 16 feet at the nadir in the harbor area. 

The break-wall didn’t produce any fish, so Abajian pointed the kayakers toward an orange ball-buoy marking a wrecked ship in the middle of the harbor. The wreck is the remnant of the George W. Morley, a wooden-hulled, propeller-driven freight ship built in Bay City, Michigan in 1888. In the winter of 1897, on a shipping run from Milwaukee to Chicago, she exploded in the night 100 yards off Greenwood Ave., and sank in 22 feet of water. 

The old ghost ship serves now as precisely the kind of structure-cover ambush-fish love to move through. If you pull your deep-diving swimmer or crank-bait along the rotten hull of the wrecked ship, you may learn what the savage attack and fight of the small mouth bass feels like. Or you may discover the subtler take-and-leave of the gentler lake perch and pan fish.

The fishers threw their lines and cranked, and still they hoped. The southern wind pushed them north across the 100 feet or so of sunken ship. When they reached the end, they paddled back and tried again. As evening became night the fishermen still were without a hook-up. They were instructed to point their vessels north-west toward the sheltered boat-launch ramp, and set-off.

As the sun set the harbor in Evanston became a lot like an impressionist painting. The waves flickered light and dark teal like brush strokes, and the sun made oily, pink and gold slicks across their shifting tops. The columns of trees darkened green in back of the corral tan beach, and the spires at Northwestern silhouette darkly against a flaming orange-blue sky.

The launch-ramp and dock zone was the night’s last chance at fish. Abajian rigged the rig of time immemorial, putting worms on colored harnesses and reassuring his charges they were going to catch something. And once more – eagerly, happily – they made their casts and hoped.

And then there was a bite!

“The fish are here!” shouted a woman who comes to fish each week the program is offered.

“What is it?” another participant wanted to know.

“I’m not sure” said Abajian.

Everyone came and peered in closely. It was a small fish, fork-tailed, golden and dark striped on the body with great big eyes. A consensus decision settled that it was an alewife. The fish was unhooked and set free to eat again; and the outing was deemed a success. The weather had been beautiful. It was that and the water, the paddling and pedaling, the casting, and the heart fluttering anticipation that made it. Everyone returned to shore with a smile on their face.

“Now we're developing the program and developing interest,” said Abajian in the darkening night on the ride back to the office. “I grew up fishing here, and access is getting harder and harder; so this is getting people thinking about other options to get on the lake. I started it about four year ago, and it’s been pretty successful.”

For more information on fishing, kayak rentals, sailboat lessons and rentals, and hours of operation, call the beach office at 847-866-4167, or visit them online at www.cityofevanston.org.