Some county residents might not recognize Raymond McKoski as he appeared in Lake Zurich on Saturday, wearing a golf shirt, blue slacks and running shoes and perfecting his fly-fishing casting technique from a lake-side pier.
That’s because during the week, McKoski wears the black robe of a Lake County judge, wields a gavel and sits atop a judicial bench at the Lake County Courthouse. On Saturday, he quipped, he felt better versed in the law than in angling.
“But it’s good to have other things to do than the law,” McKoski said, “at least on Saturdays, when I’m not being a judge.”
His honor and about 50 other county residents spent the day in Paulus Park in Lake Zurich, learning not only how to enjoy the county’s lakes, ponds, streams and wetlands but how to preserve them.
The occasion was the fifth annual Countywide Surface Water Management Workshop, sponsored by the Lake County Health Department, the Village of Lake Zurich, the Lake Zurich Parks and Recreation Department, the Lake Zurich Property Owners Association and the Lake Zurich Industrial Council.
“I live along a lake near Lindenhurst, and I’m interested in learning things to be kinder to the lake and hopefully educate some of my neighbors as well,” McKoski said.
The daylong workshop included presentations on topics such as preventing erosion; biodiversity, or the importance of a variety of plant and animal life in lakes; living with wildlife; and environmentally friendly lawn care.
Bob Kirschner, of the Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission, spoke of promising results from using water milfoil weevils to control the pesky aquatic plant in area lakes and ponds. Fox Waterway Agency Director Karen Kabbes discussed water-quality improvements and navigational dredging on the Fox River and Chain O’ Lakes.
With more than 200 lakes larger than 6 acres, including Lake Michigan, and an estimated 5,000 ponds, Lake County is aptly named.
“A lake is a reflection of its watershed,” or the surrounding land that drains into it, said Ingrid West, water-quality specialist at the Lake County Health Department. “If you have a lot of degradation of the watershed, you’re going to have more problems in the lake, such as algae and weeds.”
Hands-on lakefront demonstrations on natural shoreline stabilization and the Family Fishing for Fun event rounded out the afternoon.
Dick Schick, of the property owners association, provided pointers on angling equipment and technique.
Wearing a waist pack full of lures and fishing flies, and with a fish scale, water thermometer, Schick appeared every bit a man with a 50-year love of fishing.
“It’s worthwhile taking your kids fishing,” Schick said. “You always know where they are, and it’s something they can do all their lives.”
