I do enjoy my small outdoor pleasures.

The cicado killer was dead on the sidewalk. I stuck it in a small plastic container so the kids could be properly amazed, and, to their credit, all four were.

On a wider scale, I was more curious this week about the possibilities of the remnants of Gustav. It brought 3 inches of rain and some interesting reports on IBET, the birding network for Illinois.

In essence, he suggests, for example, that Alex Tuccori, 12, and his 30-pound-plus carp is more worthy of a FOTW because it was caught from South Ridge Lake in Hoffman Estates,

than say J.J. Phillips, 13, with his 42.5-inch muskie from Lake of the Woods.

Below is Planthaber's question/suggestion, followed by my reaction.

Instead, we have three fishes of the week, beginning with J.J. Phillips.

Normally, FOTW tops the Midwest Fishing Report on Wednesdays in the Sun-Times.

Here's the extended stories and photos online.

First J.J.'s story given by his Dad, John Phillips of the Field Museum, below.

This is the second posting of an extended online Midwest Fishing Report, which appears in the Sun-Times on Wednesdays. If you have suggestions, post in the comments section or let me know at outdoordb@sbcglobal.net.

Change is coming today in terms of a cold, wet front. Unfortunately, some of the change is several days of north and northeast winds, likely to pile up warm water on the Illinois shoreline again and hamper the fall rush of kings.

John Hochberg lands a smallmouth on an outing with Bob Long Jr. on the Fox River Saturday. Rivers--Apple, DuPage, Fox, Kankakee, Vermilion--are in good late summer/early fall wading shape, some are even very low, unless the remnants of Gustav dump on us.

With school underway, far fewer are fishing until the shoreline salmon run begins.

The report follows.

OVERALL OUTLOOK

My hope was to have an updated photo of a plate like this one (a dove breast and jalapeno slices wrapped in bacon plated with fresh tomato, sweet corn and grapes) from the opener a couple years ago. Unfortunately, I opted for Iroquois County SWA, where I was lucky enough to draw a stake, but I did not even fire my gun.

Here's the opening numbers in order for select public sites. (I updated again with the new apparent state public leader, pulled from PrairieStateOutdoors.com.)
Site: hunters, doves bagged, dph
Madigan SP: 30, 427, 14.2
Sangchris Lake SP: about 50, about 650, about 13
Shelbyville SFWA: 108, 1,196, 11.1
Jim Edgar-Panther Creek SFWA: 152, 1,509, 10
Matthiessen SP: 116, 919, 7.9
Kankakee SP: 87, 648, 7.5
Des Plaines SFWA: about 115, 700-plus, 6.1-plus
Green River SWA: 146, 841, 5.8
Shabbona Lake SRA: 60, 276, 4.6
Silver Springs 127, 234, 1.8
Chain O'Lakes SP: 25, 8, 0.3
Iroquois County SWA: 58, 17, 0.3

All I can say about the opening afternoon of dove hunting at Iroquois County SWA on Monday is ouch.

If the best photo I have is of a guy setting spinning-wing decoys, you know things were tough.

Should have more details tomorrow on other sites.

And I said, ah-ha, that's what those things are.

A few days earlier my 3-year-old and the neighbor's 3-year-old excitedly came to get me to show a huge wasp/hornet flying around the neighbor's porch.

I looked everywhere and could not figure out what they were. So I googled up images of the Asian giant hornet and that wasn't quite it either.

Fortunately, I knew Carl Strang loves bugs. His day job is naturalist for the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County. His love is bugs and insects.

And I sent him Chris' email.

Some of you can guess already what it most likely was, the rest of you will have to wait until the end to find out.

Here's a hint from Gail Kramer in Lockport, who were kind enough to send this photo Monday evening.

First Chris's e-mail.

But with the Labor Day weekend coming, I think it matters to post some more stuff on the small-boat launch at Western and the Sanitary and Ship Canal.

This ``Borrowed hooks & other looks'' comes from Jack Burns and Joe Kalas about the vandalism at the launch (see the glass piles in the pictures).

Signs like this will be permanent instead of seasonal at 10 state parks and a state forest, as of Nov. 1, according to the IDNR. The 11 site closures would come with a cut of 39 positions.

Here are the 11:
Castle Rock State Park, Oregon
Lowden State Park, Oregon
Hennepin Canal Parkway State Park, Sheffield
Illini State Park, Marseilles
Channahon Parkway State Park, Channahon
Gebhard Woods State Park, Morris
Hidden Springs State Forest, Strasburg
Kickapoo State Park, Oakwood
Moraine View State Park, Leroy
Weldon Springs State Park, Clinton
Wolf Creek State Park, Windsor

The original listed posted at www.pantagraph.com was inaccurate.

I think Brent Manning, the former director who headed the old DOC and the IDNR the longest, put it best, ``There is no rhyme or reason [to the sites].''

This is a deadly serious political game being played by Blagojevich, and we all could end up big losers.

I promised more and below are other takes.

OVERALL OUTLOOK

In a perfect year, we would see even more doves on lines like this. Obviously, the big news this week is opening day on Monday, Sept. 1, for dove and early September Canada goose, particularly the opening of dove season.

I added a couple sites to the dove preview and may add a couple more later today.

The latest is the deer meetings around state by the IDNR and the Joint Deer Population Control Task Force.

None of the six meetings are remotely close to Chicago or the suburbs, where many deer hunters are from.

The closest meeting is the one at the Peru Eagles Lodge, 830 Harrison St. (just off U.S. Rt. 6), Peru, on Tuesday, Sept. 2. Or the one at the Rockford Public Library, 215 N. Wyman, Rockford (use Mulberry St. entrance), on Wednesday, Sept. 3.

All meetings are from 4-7 p.m..

The complete release is below.

The Blue Island man was casting a Zara Puppy topwater when he caught an 18.5-inch largemouth bass . . . and a 9-incher on Round Lake in Sister Lakes, Mich.

So make it Fishes of the Week.

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

Let O'Leary tell his story.

I probably should have been doing this a couple months ago, but here is the first posting of an extended online Midwest Fishing Report, which normally appears in the Sun-Times on Wednesdays. If you have suggestions, post in the comments section or let me know at outdoordb@sbcglobal.net.

It's catfishing time. Michael Bader, 20 of Hegewisch on the Southeast Side, caught these from the Kankakee River. He said it has been one of his best fishing years.

The expanded report follows.

But I got sidetracked and this shot of another voyageur canoe making its way through the cattails on Thompson Lake will have to do.

Sometimes, I get too caught up in my job.

On Saturday, I had my first tour of Emiquon, the flood plain restoration project on the Illinois River near Lewistown, about an hour south of Peoria.

The Nature Conservancy project is stunning on many levels.