Chicago Park District . Parks with lagoons in them
Posted by:
Anonymous User
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Date: May 15, 2011 10:26PM
Hi people I would like to Know How may Parks in chicago Have lagoons in them . Would anyone know what type of Fish do they stock in them . Has anyone caught fish out of them and what type of fish . I was wondering anyone caught a northern Pike out of one of them .
I heard In the past that The people would stock all types of fish in them I remember Some people back in the 1980's , that use to goto fox lake and take some fish and stock the lagoon in gompers park . What type I cant remember . So if someone can shed some light on this subject , I would not mine to know . Im just interested in this .
Well I know that Sherman Park (55th and Racine) and Marquette Park (71st and California) have lagoons. I know people have always fished at Marquette Park, but I have no idea what kind of fish.
13 Neighborhood Parks, not to mention the harbors and lakefront areas that are part of the Chicago Park District
Auburn Park
Calumet Park
Columbus Park
Douglas Park
Garfield Park
Gompers Park
Humboldt Park
Jackson Park - site of Worlds Fair 1893
Lincoln Park South Pond
Marquette Park
McKinley Park
Sherman Park
Washington Park
A majority of the "lagoon" parks were built not too long after the World Fair in 1893, as part of the 1909 Chicago Plan, by the Olmsted Brothers, and heavily influenced by the design of Jackson Park for the World's Fair. The whole idea was probably to create an urban oasis with fishing and boating in the working class areas of the city, which probably were, at the turn of the century, pretty rough grimy places.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/16/2011 02:51AM by captain54.
We used to "fish" in the lagoon at Mc Kinley park when we were kids back in the early 80's. The only thing we caught were crayfish LOL, we used a small tree branch, some string and some raw meat from the BBQ or gum. We keep some as pets in my cousins fish tank, I did not even realize you ate them til I moved to Louisiana!
Re: Chicago Park District . Parks with lagoons in them
Posted by:
Anonymous User
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Date: May 16, 2011 03:40PM
Yes I remember There being crayfish in there . I use to catch some very big ones in gompers park lagoon . When I say big I mean big , The way you can tell is the bigger ones are about 4 in long and have some red color on them . I use to catch some bass out of there . I heard that some man stocked it with northern Pike from fox lake . I dont Know how true that was , but I would guess they could survive in there off the bluegill population .
Some of the ones we got from Mc Kinley were big, all I know is here in south LA they would not have lasted 2 seconds before someone stuck them in a pot of boiling water! BTW they call them craw fish down here.
Re: Chicago Park District . Parks with lagoons in them
Posted by:
Anonymous User
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Date: May 16, 2011 06:36PM
Well yes in La that would be true . But up north they call them Crayfish . Craw-daddy Is what they call them in the south . very different saying down there . But The cajun is then name of it .
I remember fishing in Sherman Park Lagoon, but I do not remember ever seeing any crayfish. I believe that what we caught was some variation of carp. They were pretty easy to catch. I think that in later years most o f the lagoons were dredged to clean them up, and that was probably the end of the fish.
Also, off the beaten path so to speak, behind Peterson Park is the North Park Nature Center, which has a pond. It's technically not part of the park system, but it's easily accessible during business hours. But of course as kids, we'd sneak in at all hours. Never fished it though (fishing wasn't really a thing to do in my neighborhood) but we'd go back there and play capture the flag and stuff. And in the winter it'd freeze over and we'd walk out on it, my friend once fell through! Scary!