Grand Calumet River Fishing Spot

• Elevation: 594'
• Last Modified By: vinny60 on 09/09/09 09:49 PM
• Ask about Grand Calumet River in our Fishing Forums

The Calumet River refers to a system of heavily industrialized rivers and canals in the region around neighborhood of South Chicago in Chicago, Illinois and the city of Gary, Indiana. The Calumet River, on the south side of Chicago, originally simply drained Lake Calumet to Lake Michigan. A canal extending it, legendarily claimed to have been created by voyageurs at the site of a frequent portage, was dug connecting the two Calumet Rivers at the point where the name now changes from Grand to Little. The Grand Calumet River, originating in the east end of Gary, Indiana, flows 13 miles (21 km) through the cities of Gary, East Chicago and Hammond. The majority of the river's flow drains into Lake Michigan via the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal, sending about 1,500 cubic feet per second (44 m³/s) of water into the lake. Today, a large portion of the river's flow originates as municipal and industrial effluent, cooling and process water and storm water overflows. Although discharges have been reduced, a number of contaminants continue to impair the area. The Grand Calumet River is a U.S. EPA superfund site. Its waters are badly polluted. You should not eat fish caught in that river. You should not swim in this River. The river connects to several harbors in Indiana and can at certain places have barge or large boat traffic. The water flows from the Grand Calumet River into the Calumet River and into the Cal-Sag Channel. I've searched a bit for access points and have not really found any clean, public points to access this river from. There is a boat sunk across its mouth at the Calumet River. Burnham Park is completely fenced in and the area near the rail bridge has a gradual, wade thru the mud and muck sloping shore to the water.