By Louie Stout
The weather has played havoc with spring fishing for trout and salmon, but there is good news – the fish being caught are not only healthy but of good size.
The steelhead run on the St. Joseph River is ongoing thanks to rise and fall of water temperatures and rain. However, high, dirty water has plagued anglers.
After a big push in March, there has been 5,460 steelhead go up river through South Bend ladders, including 210 that moved up the first four days of April.
If that seems a bit low, keep in that there were no fish stocked by Michigan in 2020 due to the covid lockdown. Most of the fish moving up now are three-year-olds.
“I anticipate more coming with the current weather,” said Lake Michigan Biologist Ben Dickinson. We’ve got fish moving in, fish that are spawning, and fish that have already spawned and moved back to the lake. It’s been a weird spring.”
Meanwhile, coho fishing on Lake Michigan has been nothing short of spectacular – when the wind and weather is suitable for boaters. Unfortunately, shore anglers haven’t had a good year.
“The fish didn’t show up early and when they did come, harbor and near shore waters were warmer than they prefer,” said Dickison.
However, boat anglers were finding excellent coho fishing from Chicago to St. Joseph, Mich. Fish were being caught in 20 to 40 feet prior to the recent wind and weather.
“The coho were big this year, averaging 19 to 20 inches and 2 ½ to 3 ½ pounds, with a few 4 pounders,” the biologist added. “A few kings have showed up and appear nice and healthy.”
Another bright spot has been the brown trout fishing, which Dickinson says has been the best he’s seen in the 11 years of working for the Indiana DNR.
“Anglers are doing very well on browns when fishing around East Chicago, Hammond and Portage,” he noted.
Some anglers around Gary continue to catch perch when they can get out, but nothing like they were during winter. Perch will be spawning soon and the summer fishery will be dependent upon whether the lake gets an abundance of south winds.
“It can’t be worse than it was last summer when it was really bad,” he said.