By Louie Stout

The crazy summer weather that hampered the Lake Michigan perch fishery and currently is delaying the steelhead run may have provided some positive benefits as well.

There is no question the summertime Lake Michigan perch fishery in Indiana was a stinker, due mostly to lake conditions, but there are signs of a brighter future.

More about that later.

Although the recent cool snap sent some trout and salmon through the South Bend ladder, we need rain to create more water flow and a drop in temperatures to draw more fall-run fish into the upper St. Joseph River and get them biting.\

Those were the opinions of Lake Michigan Biologist Ben Dickinson who noted the current warm weather and low water is delaying the run.

“The weather is the big thing,” he said when discussing the current trout and salmon fall run. “If the river is low and water temps are above 70, the fish don’t move upriver.”

South Bend fish ladder counts through Sept. 19 were 500 steelhead, 21 king salmon and 242 coho, most of which passed above the South Bend dam during last week’s cool down.

Trail Creek in Michigan City, that runs cooler, has produced better fishing. Dickinson said he has heard of anglers catching king salmon in Trail Creek although fishing has been hit or miss.

Good Perch Spawn?

Meanwhile, Dickinson’s crew has been running trawl and net projects in Indiana waters and picking up quite a few young-of-the-year lake perch, a sign we may have had a successful spawn.

“We’re seeing slightly above average numbers in our trawling project and well above average in our micro-mesh nets,” he said. “Early indications are that we may be in line for a crop similar to 2016.”

That was the last time the lake produced a successful perch spawn. That crop came on the heels of 2015, one of the biggest perch populations in recent years.

Perch have little trouble spawning, but ultimately starve to death when there isn’t a good plankton hatch. It’s a timing thing; if the perch hatch coincides with an abundant supply of the microorganisms, the young perch thrive until they’re big enough to feed on more prolific food sources.

Dickinson noted that recent growth rates in adult perch have been above average, likely due to lack of competition for food sources. When perch numbers are high, growth rates slow.

“Typically, males don’t grow as big as females, but we saw 10-inch-plus male perch this year,” the biologist said.

If this year’s crop continues to do well, they will be “keeper-size” in 7 to 9 years.
More Alewives?

Meanwhile, Dickinson’s lake research has indicated potentially more good news for salmon anglers.

“We saw more young alewives than we’ve seen since 2015,” he said. “It’s looking like a really good alewife spawn and we’re hearing similar reports from other biologists around Lake Michigan.”

Alewives are the primary forage fish for trout and salmon. The salmon fishery is dependent upon them.

“This is still preliminary, but we’re seeing a lot of good signs,” said Dickinson.