By Louie Stout

Steelhead – fresh chrome ones – are on the move in the St. Joseph River, an indication that good fishing is but a few days away.

“They’re catching quite a few fish below the Berrien Springs Dam,” said Darrin Schaap, an avid steelheader and owner of Clear H2o Tackle in Edwardsburg.

They’re moving fast into Indiana waters as well. Lake Michigan Biologist Ben Dickinson said yesterday that warming river temperatures lured more than a 1,000 fish through the South Bend ladder last week.

“And these are fat, very healthy steelhead,” Dickinson noted. “They’re very chrome looking, an indication that these are fish that just moved in the river from the lake.”

Those fish, in addition to holdover steelhead that moved into the river last fall and early winter, should create a good fishery in the coming days.

Despite Friday and Saturday’s cold forecast, you can expect even more fish pouring into the system next week when Michiana will be greeted with 40s and 50 degree temperatures. River temperatures were in the 40s earlier this week and that’s key to triggering the migration.

Dickinson anticipates a good spring run that will carry into April.

“The pattern over the past few years is the steelhead run is heavily weighted toward the spring,” he said. “Due to warm temperatures last year, the fall run was not as good as we expected.”

Lake Michigan is open, he added, and some boats are getting out. However, the best fishing seems to be in the harbors or around the warm-water discharge in Gary, Ind. He says some anglers are catching lake trout and a few coho and browns have been taken in Northwest Indiana tributaries.

Because of the St. Joe’s size and the fact that Michigan and Indiana stock steelhead there, the river often provides the best steelhead fishing in early spring.

Schaap said spawn, wobble glo’s and flies tend to work best this time of year.

Inland scene: At the time of this writing, several lakes remained ice covered but that should change next week. In the meantime, the St. Joseph River has provided inland lake bass, walleye and panfish fishermen the best fishing opportunities.