Plan to control Asian carp was fishy from the beginning

The search for my 2009 Scrooge Award recipient took all of 20-seconds this year.

The honor goes to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

A misguided Corps has given us a Christmas present we never wanted in the first place, with that being potential disaster for Lake Michigan as well as the entire Great Lakes.

I sought out 25 people and asked them if they were concerned about Asian carp escaping into Lake Michigan. Twenty three souls didn't have any idea what I was talking about, and the remaining people declared an infestation of these voracious carp could very well set Lake Michigan and the rest of the Great Lakes back decades.

Now in case any of you have had your heads buried in the Christmas ads and catalogs, please be aware the pot of controversy has been boiling with no end in sight.

Michigan State Attorney General Mike Cox is out to pin the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers along with the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago right to the wall. Cox filed suit in the U.S. Supreme Court in order to force the Corps to close all the locks of the Sanitary and Shipping Canal as well as establishing new barriers, electric or otherwise to stop the carp from expanding their playground to Lake Michigan and the other "sister lakes".

This heavy-duty litigation will probably cost the city of Chicago millions as the legal battle slides in to high gear.

And because it appears the Water Reclamation District and the Corps were asleep at the switch, so to speak, taxpayers will subsequently foot the bill for this massive misstep, all because know-it-all bureaucrats refused to listen to the knowledgeable people who at the outset said the Corps' electric barrier on the shipping canal would never work properly.

Asian and silver carp showed up in our waterways after a long and arduous journey from the southern climes of the country. These fish have been jokingly referred to as "freshwater piranhas" with appetites similar to some political bottom feeders.

The silver carp and some of its relatives, those Asian cousins, have been "thrilling" spectators on the Illinois River for a while with feats of aerobatics. Both species have been growing in size at an alarming rate and some biologists feared the entire piscatorial ecosystem of Lake Michigan would be decimated if and when these wolf packs of eating machines would sneak through a no man's land of contrived obstacles.

Great Lakes watchdog Ed Landmichael spoke out some time ago that the Army Corps' efforts to effectively control the spread of these fish by using an electric fish barrier on the Sanitary Canal would never work because of the low-yield current applied to the structure. Because Landmichael doesn't have a doctorate in bureaucratic and doublespeak, he was often ignored and criticized by the backroom shakers and movers who receive federal paychecks.

I suspect this recent history may not mean much to some who are content with catching six-inch bluegills from Busse Lake, but in reality what the Corps has done to Illinois taxpayers and the sportfishing industry is a crying shame.

Because the Corps "claimed" it didn't have sufficient funds recently to fix the barrier, the issue was dumped into the lap of an already cash-starved Illinois DNR. In the end that cop-out didn't fly.

So here we are, Christmas 2009, a time in our history when much of everything we love that's near and dear has taken on a more tarnished appearance, and there doesn't seem to be anyone around willing to offer to polish the silverware.

Yes Charlotte, there is a real Scrooge, in the form of the Army Corps of Engineers, which has managed to put a lump of coal into our stockings this season.

Angling Edge venture keeps Lindners together

The name has changed at least three times, but the heart and soul of what has been presented is still going strong after 40 years of being on television.

The brothers Lindner, Ron and Al, and their sons are celebrating their four-plus decades in the public spotlight. Their latest venture, the Angling Edge, continues the Lindner tradition of getting down to the basics of educating North American anglers.

This successful formula has inspired millions of fishermen as well as attracting well-known sponsors to help keep the ball going.

Fishing update

For those of you who have waited for a good time to get out on the ice, it's here.

Fox Chain: Try Pistakee Lake in 8 feet of water, and look to Channel Lake's south end for crappie and bluegill. Try Petite Lake for walleye during the period just before sunrise in 12 feet of water.

Lake Michigan: The perch bite is decent at Navy Pier. You can also pick up some fish by moving around at Montrose Harbor.

• Mike Jackson can be reached via e-mail at angler88@att.net. Mike's radio program is heard Sunday morning from 6-7 a.m. on WSBC AM-1240.