Practical conservation and outdoors education earns McElligott a HOF spot

Rich McElligott showed a Ned fly at his table at The Early Show in November. It's an adaptation of the Ned rig, his homemade fly-fishing version of one of most popular lures smallmouth bass.

It comes with a twist, he makes it with a roofing nail. Before he ties the fly, he grinds one side of the nail flat, then ties the hook on and finishes the fly.

The idea came while doing a project, as he put, "I'm from Berwyn."

Practical ingenuity is a compliment to Berwynites.

McElligott came from Berwyn, but he's headed to the Illinois Outdoor Hall of Fame in the spring as part of its largest class.

Practical ingenuity shows in his work with the Shabbona Lake Sportsman Club, where he has been president off and on (alternating with vice presidents) since 1995. SLSC, founded in 1982, is one of the oldest fishing clubs for Chicago-area anglers. The club is noted for practical projects--Rockfest, habitat work, fishing leagues,fish rescues--at Shabbona Lake, the 318-acre centerpiece of Shabbona Lake Recreation Area in DeKalb County.

The club has a wide draw.

"One third of the members are within 20 minutes, another third half hour away and a third are an hour away," said McElligott Wednesday, just back from trying a new fly at a nearby pond kept open by geese. "The presidents come from within 20 minutes. It is easier to work with the park when have you have somebody local."

That really showed around 2000 when McElligott, who lives in nearby Lee, thought to try rock as cover and structure, particularly for walleye.

"Why not try it," late fisheries biologist Al Pulley agreed.

"That first year, it cost about $200 for a load of shot rock," McElligott said. "We had five truckloads the first year [other clubs pitched in]. First year it was about five degrees outside and we had over 75 people."

Shot rock is the rough stuff after quarry dynamite blows.

"We get the pieces," McElligott said. "We wanted microwave size and bigger. We had some three by three feet.

"Most years were the shot rock. One year they were picking apart a parking lot, all concrete. [The construction boss] fished there. The biologist approved it and we got about 300 tons."

For the non-fishing crowd, rock makes cover and ambush points for fish.

Rockfest is a cool event, but McElligott said getting kids and adults involved in fishing made him most proud.

"When I was growing up, it was like you had to have the magic lure and you could catch fish anywhere on the lake," he said. "That's not the way it is."

McElligott grew up in Chicago at 63rd and Oak Park. His family moved to Berwyn when he was in seventh grade and he graduated Morton West in 1975. After marrying, he moved farther out, first Carol Stream then west.

In teaching fishing, McElligott picked up a universal truth. "Get the father out with son, you're actually teaching the dad," McElligott said. "If you do a fishing clinic for kids, the kids will get dropped off."

So he aims to include parents. He had an example from bowling with his dad at Argo Bowl. They were good enough to win a Chicago father-and-son bowling event.

"I was in a bowling league when I was younger in Chicago and I said I wonder if that would work for fishing," McElligott said.

With fisheries biologist Karen Rivera, they started a a fishing league in 1997.

"That is probably one of the best things I remember," McElligott said.

Some league alumni went on to fish walleye tournaments and high school bass fishing.

McElligott became involved in fly fishing and teaching it to others. He has caught hybrid striped bass, walleye, perch, catfish, bluegill and crappie fly fishing at Shabbona.

He's also been previous president of the Illinois Smallmouth Alliance, but his mark is on SLSC.

"I enjoy all aspects of [the outdoors], the intertwining of the plants and animals and the fish and the changes of the seasons, and the cycles that go through," McElligott said. "I really like that fishing is not one tactic all the time. It keeps changing. I enjoy fly fishing, especially for bluegills. I do a lot of jig fishing, that's probably most of what I do. But I will go out there and have a fly rod and a spinning rod."

The ICF will formally induct the 2025 class at the ICF Gale in the spring. Other area people going in with McElligott area are Kankakee River teacher/advocate/guide Matt Mullady, Kankakee, and Thomas Foss, Wonder Lake, for his decades of preservation, conservation and environmental education.