| Story by Meghan McMahon |
6/6/2019
Fishing is one of the most popular activities within the Forest Preserves, but that doesn’t stop some visitors from complaining that the fish don’t bite at Monee Reservoir and other top fishing spots.
“Anybody who doesn’t catch a fish says there’s no fish here,” said Mark Loekle, a former facility concessions manager at Monee Reservoir.
Loekle, however, sees evidence to the contrary every day as fish at Monee Reservoir are reeled in by anglers of varying experience levels.
He said he often hears from people that there are no fish at the reservoir, but he tries to use it as an opportunity to start a conversation, asking about where they are fishing and what kind of bait they are using. He said people will often tell him they’ve been in the same spot for an hour or more with no luck. In those cases, a change of scenery may be in order, even if it’s just moving a short distance away.
“Fish won’t come to you, you need to go to the fish,” he commented, adding that he often tells people to change locations after 10 or 15 minutes without any luck. “The big thing is to move around.”