It’s simple math really: Zero eggs equals zero fish for future stocking programs.
So, the spring walleye and steelhead egg collections by the Michigan DNR are critical components of the strategy for maintaining world-class fishing opportunities in the Great Lakes State.
Nearly fifty years have now passed since the first paddletail swimbaits splashed down in U.S. waters, the earliest designs having likely originated in France. Today, paddletails have almost singlehandedly rewritten the rules of soft plastics engagement. Fans of catching bass, crappie, walleye and inshore slams nearly always cast these ingenious tail-driven baits, each version capable of different retrieve speeds, actions and the almighty thump.
Gamakatsu has announced a proprietary new finish for their most popular hook styles.
The avid Chesterton angler, who currently owns the Indiana whitefish record, has added the burbot to his list of fishing accomplishments.
Duracz was fishing Lake Michigan near Gary with his 14-year-old son Hunter Jan. 10 when he hooked the state record around 7:30 that evening.
“We caught six other burbot prior to that, including a few that might have been close to the record,” Duracz said. “But when Hunter netted this one, he said we might want to get it weighed since it was bigger than the others.”
It weighed 11.4 pounds, breaking the former record that was set in December in Porter County Lake Michigan waters at 10.2 pounds.
Burbot, also called eelpout or lawyer, are the only native cod species of fish in Lake Michigan. They are good to eat and often called “poor man’s lobster.”
By Louie Stout
Three Rivers High School Principal/Three Rivers Bass Fishing Team Captain Carrie Balk poses with Kale Parr (left) and team partner Collin Balk after they won the Michigan TBF Junior State Championship.
It was the school's first year as a bass fishing team.
Not all kids want to sit around and play video games, says Carrie Balk, Three Rivers High School principal.
She found out first hand. When her son Collin approached her last year about starting a Three Rivers High School fishing club, she decided to investigate the possibilities.
“I sent out a survey to gauge students’ interest and heard back from more than 90 kids,” said Balk. “That’s three times as many that are on our football team so I decided I better look into it.”
Not only was the Three Rivers Wildcats Bass Fishing Team formed, but 40-some kids stayed active throughout the summer.
If that weren’t enough, son Collin and buddy Kale Parr won The Bass Federation Junior Division State Championship at Wampler’s Lake. That earned them a spot in The Bass Federation Junior World championship at Kentucky Lake where they finished fourth.
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