Mulling things on my morning ramble

with Storm, the family's mixed Lab.

Billy Wilson sent one of those questions I get in a lot of forms, including one of my own: Do the same ducks or geese return to the same nesting spot, year after year?

Click here for my Sunday column on prospects for the openers for fishing at Heidecke Lake (including the temporary ramps) and for smelt netting on the Chicago lakefront.

If I had my Monday planned perfectly, I would fish Heidecke Lake in the morning for the opener, then hit the White Sox in the afternoon and finish on the Chicago lakefront for the opening night of smelt netting.

A legend in outdoors media

makes his final radio broadcast Sunday, after roughly half a century.

Mulling things on my morning ramble

with Storm, the family's mixed Lab.

With a 39-pound, 3-ounce common carp, one of the Chicago area's top carp fishermen rewrote the record books on Sunday.

It only seems apt to run the Stray Cast here.

More beginnings (``It has started'' is how Capt. Mike Florey put it) and unending winter lead this Midwest Fishing Report.

Mulling things on my morning ramble

with Storm, the family's mixed Lab.

Mulling things on my morning ramble with Storm, the family's mixed Lab.

Anaise Berry takes us on a journey of the Illinois River Road National Scenic Byway on ``Outside'' this afternoon.

Click here for today's column for the beginning of a two-day journey along the Illinois River Road National Scenic Byway.

Mulling things on my morning ramble with Storm, the family's mixed Lab.

Mulling things on my morning ramble with Storm, the family's mixed Lab.

I am headed back from Michigan today, but main Wild Weekend Wandering around Chicago outdoors will be going down to the Illinois River for the MWC on Sunday.

STEVENSVILLE, Mich.--Mulling things on my morning ramble with Storm, the family's mixed Lab, well, without Storm.

Frank Loye landed the only muskie at the 12th annual Ice Out Challenge held Saturday by the Webster Lake Musky Club in Indiana.

Mulling things on my morning ramble with Storm, the family's mixed Lab.

It only seems apt to run the Stray Cast here.

More ice fishing, the opening of more cooling lakes and a sputtering start to spring fishing on Lake Michigan lead this Midwest Fishing Report.

Mulling things on my morning ramble

with Storm, the family's mixed Lab.

FAIRBURY, Ill.--For those of us who live south around Chicago and use Route 24 to cut across from I-57 to I-55 on our way to Peoria or Springfield or farther Downstate, there has long been the mystery of what a growing line of hobby or carousel horses in a field.

Click here for the obit on Capt. Bob White, one of the early charter captains on the Chicago lakefront.

Mulling things on my morning ramble

with Storm, the family's mixed Lab.

IDNR director Marc Miller talks broader issues of conservation ``Outside'' this afternoon.

Mulling things on my morning ramble with Storm, the family's mixed Lab.

LEWISTOWN, Ill.--Click here for today's column on banding bluebills on the backwaters of the lower Illinois River; with a series of photos here.

At least Illinois released the 2013 consumption advisories for sport fish on a Saturday, the deadest of news times.

Ice fishing winds down, but nice northern pike keep coming.

Mulling things on my morning ramble with Storm, the family's mixed Lab.

My big doing for this Wild Weekend Wandering around Chicago outdoors will be hitting LaSalle Lake this afternoon for the opener.

Click here for my Post-Tribune story on Bobby Bergren and mentoring in the outdoors.

Mulling things on my morning ramble with Storm, the family's mixed Lab.

CANTON, Ill.--Notes from the lower end of a trip along the Illinois River Road National Scenic Byway.

Notes from the upper end of a trip along the Illinois River Road National Scenic Byway.

Mulling things on my morning ramble

with Storm, the family's mixed Lab.

t only seems apt to run the Stray Cast here.

Another opener, in LaSalle Lake, and more changes, in rivers and ice conditions, lead this Midwest Fishing Report.

Mike Conlin sent a reminder about the update and alert on the Illinois Fisheries Management Fund.

Mulling things on my morning ramble with Storm, the family's mixed Lab.

That Illinois is having applicant testing in April is a hopeful sign.

Mulling things on my morning ramble with Storm, the family's mixed Lab.

Click here for Sunday's column on the Illinois Taxidermist Association annual gathering in Springfield.

Norm Minas talks a range of Kankakee River topics on ``Outside'' this afternoon.

Mulling things on my morning ramble

with Storm, the family's mixed Lab.

Mulling things on my morning ramble with Storm, the family's mixed Lab.

Click here for my Post-Tribune piece on catching up with Capt. Ralph Steiger before spring fishing on southern Lake Michigan really kicks in.

Guilty pleas were announced today in several high profile poaching cases in Illinois, including of a buck in Cook County said to be worth $25,000.

I am taking Wild Weekend Wandering around Chicago outdoors in a different direction, as more of a personal journey.

Mulling things on my morning ramble with Storm, the family's mixed Lab.

It's a good packed stretch for the 10th week for outdoors shows around Chicago outdoors.

It only seems apt to run the Stray Cast here.

``Well, it is a good thing that my friend Pete Willy keeps his boat available,'' John Arlow emailed.

Mulling things on my morning ramble with Storm, the family's mixed Lab.

Some philosophy/river fishing advice from Norm Minas, the reopening of Braidwood Lake and ongoing ice fishing lead this Midwest Fishing Report.

Mulling things on my morning ramble,

with Storm, the family's mixed Lab.

I believe this would qualify as the first Shed of the Week.

Mulling things on my morning ramble with Storm, the family's mixed Lab.

Jeff Pals talks measuring deer antlers and the love of deer on ``Outside'' this afternoon.

Click here for Sunday's outdoors for some perspective on the expected discovery of white-nosed syndrome in Illinois bats.

Mulling things on my morning ramble,

with Storm, the family's mixed Lab.

Mulling things on my morning ramble with Storm, the family's mixed Lab.

Mulling things on my morning ramble with Storm, the family's mixed Lab.

Feeds and fundraisers are featured in Wild Weekend Wandering around Chicago outdoors, but we begin with the Braidwood opener.