1) The small-boat launch on the Chicago river system is open. It's a perfect time to explore fishing downtown for largemouth and smallmouth. I hope to sneak along with somebody on Saturday.

Westrec expects to staff the site from noon to 6 p.m. today, Thursday, July 3. and from 8 a.m.-6 p.m. on Friday, July 4. For this weekend, it will be staffed from 8-4.

Launch fee is the usual $20.

It's located on the southwest corner of Western Avenue and the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal.

I will try to post anticipated staffing hours for weekends, as I get them. But it should be open, though unmanned during the week.

With it, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources had emergency regulations ready to go today, Wednesday, July 2, 2008.

``We're not stupid enough to think we can stop it,'' said Mike Conlin, office director of resource conservation for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. ``They can transfer it from one fish to another. They can live and swim in the water and get it. I think it is inevitable that it will spread. Whether it will be devastating, we don't know.''

``The urgency is amplified by the fact that a significant amount of Lake Michigan water enters the Illinois River system through the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal,'' fisheries chief Steve Pallo said. ``These emergency regulations and the cooperation of anglers, boaters, and the aquaculture industry are keys to slowing the spread of VHS into other waters in Illinois.''

The important details are in the INDR release posted below. The Sun-Times news story is posted here.

In other words, a perfect fish for Fish of the Week, which tops the Midwest Fishing Report in the Sun-Times each Wednesday.

Frank Munizzi caught his, a 47-inch muskie topping 30 pounds, from Indiana's fabled Webster Lake on a stormy Thursday, June 26.

Downstream of the Stratton dam on the Fox remains closed to boating.

For updates, go here or call (847) 587-8540.

They sweep the deck.

A couple reopenings could provide fishermen with unexpected opportunities. And there's a few more days for adults to catch the perch for the base of this dish.

Come Saturday, the cooling lake near Pekin will no longer just be home to shore fishermen.

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Tom Grider at Riverside Bait and Tackle in Pekin just called and said the word floating around is the plant will be operating on a limited basis, so water temperatures should be low this summer. Traditionally smallmouth fishing at Powerton peaks in late spring.

With the fish not seeing pressure for more than half a year by boaters, it could be worth the drive.

His proud grandfather Ron Potoczny helped the 13-year-old unhook and release the turtle. And also ran back to the truck for a camera.

Oh, but there is more. FOTW tops the Midwest Fishing Report each Wednesday in the Sun-Times.

The proposal for smaller recreational vessels appears far saner than originally thought.

Note the meeting in Chicago on Thursday, June 26. It will be held Ave Hotel, 160 E. Huron St, Chicago, from 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

Below is the complete special bulletin.

If Storm or I stepped too close to water's edge, tell-tale splashes extended in a sequential row from the nearest out along the shore. It was something like my second boy playing a sequence on the bells.

This was the week when I am glad to be an outdoors guy.

The world opened up and expanded.

This week usually comes in late May or early June, but it's finally here.

And weigh it on a certified scale.

In front of witnesses.

FOTW tops the Midwest Fishing Report each Wednesday in the Chicago Sun-Times.

Campbell caught his flathead on May 31 while fishing with family and friends in East Dubuque, Iowa.

Rod Kloeckner of the Belleville News-Democrat reported Bryan Short caught a 64-pound bighead carp from Horseshoe Lake on Saturday. The 24-year-old from O'Fallon caught the fish on the last cast of the day while bass fishing.

The other three Illinois record fish in 2008 were caught by teenagers.

For the latest, go to www.foxwaterway.state.il.us or call (847) 587-8540.

But closed to boating doesn't mean closed to fishing.

As one of my smartass fishing friends, North Sider Todd Carlander, noted when he sent this photo: ``The Chain is closed to boating but it's still legal to fish tied off to the pier!''

Here's some other advice.