Sarley: When it comes to fishing, we’ve got it good in Illinois

I had a wonderful time at the Chicagoland Fishing Expo in Schaumburg last weekend. I heard from a lot of you by email talking about memories of going to the fishing shows in their younger days.

I got a letter from a reader talking about going to the show as a kid and remembering how good the sloppy joes were that his dad bought him at the concession stand. Isn’t that marvelous? Everyone has different memories that are special to them and that is how life should work. I hope everybody has a special memory from the fishing shows.

I was astonished and humbled to be greeted by so many people that recognized me from the photo that runs with my column here in the Daily Herald. Thank you so much. I laughed so hard when one reader came up while I was talking to Hall of Fame fisherman Mike Norris. The man pumped Norris’ hand while he told him how much he liked his column in the Daily Herald and that he was his favorite writer in the newspaper.

Norris roared and told the guy that he was mistaken. He pointed to me and said that I was actually the guy from the newspaper. The man walked away shaking his head. I don’t think he thought that I was his favorite writer. Well, I guess all of us old gray-haired guys look the same.

I love conversing with people and getting their opinions regarding the state of outdoor recreation here in Illinois and how good our fishing situation is.

I swear that I didn’t hear a single complaint from people about the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and the fine job that it does. If anything, the IDNR folks are overworked and underpaid. That’s something that I don’t see changing in the near future.

I used to hear people complaining about the IDNR conservation police. I haven’t heard that in quite a while. I think that people realize how hard the job is to be a conservation police officer. I do hear that people say they are hardly ever checked for licenses anymore. I think folks realize that checking for licenses is a big part of making sure we have fish in our waters. I think that people think we need more conservation police officers checking up on us. I agree with that.

Generally, people believe that Illinois fishing is good, and I agree with them. Illinois does a magnificent job in managing the fisheries under state control, and the job done by our Northern Illinois counties is exemplary. It’s hard to believe how many, and how many different kinds of fish, can be caught in the Cook County Forest Preserves. The same goes for the collar counties. Keep up the good work.

I don’t want to jinx anything, but when was the last time the price of your fishing license has gone up? Illinois has the most economical licenses for fishing and hunting for Illinois residents than any other state around. We are getting a bargain, my friends.

A question for you, folks — when does walleye season open this year? That’s right, it doesn’t have an opening day because there is no closed fishing season. It’s 365 days a year of fishing. Isn’t that great? It’s because of the great job our IDNR is doing at managing our fish populations. There is really no reason to ever cross a state line to go fishing. Illinois has everything you need.

Illinois has so much tourism money leaking out of our wallets to other states and there is no reason for it. There is no reason to spend a lot of money to go fishing. Let’s keep our recreation dollars at home. Let’s support our state and the IDNR. They are working hard for us. We should be working just as hard for them.

• Daily Herald Outdoors columnist Steve Sarley can be reached at sarfishing@yahoo.com.