By Louie Stout

Indiana Lake Michigan Biologist Ben Dickinson with coho catchIndiana Lake Michigan Biologist Ben Dickinson with coho catch

Steelhead have been pouring into the river, coho were biting on Lake Michigan, crappies were moving toward the bank and even a few bluegills were showing up shallow.

But that was last weekend. The forecast calling for calling for more cold temperatures, rain, wind and possible snow will put all of that on hold for a while.

But hey, it’s still March, right?

The good news is that fish in Michiana waters want to push the spring as badly as you do. Look for activity to pick up again with the next warming trend.

The cooler weather is good news for Indiana river trout anglers. If the water warms too fast, the steelhead spawning migration slows.

That wasn’t the case from March 8 through March 17, when 1,755 trout went through the South Bend ladder.

“And my guess is there will be another thousand push through this week due to the cooler, wet weather,” said Indiana Lake Michigan Biologist Ben Dickinson.

The biologist also said he’s heard of quite a few nice walleyes being caught in the river in Indiana. The walleye season currently is closed in Michigan.

Coho fishing on the big lake has been sporadic, although Dickinson, a buddy and two kids caught a four-person limit off the St. Joseph, Mich. pier in 40 minutes last weekend.

“They were some of the nicest spring coho I’ve seen in a while,” he said.

Darrin Schaap of Clear H2o Tackle said the boat he was on Monday caught several fish in close on a Thin Fish, Flicker Shads and jointed Rapalas.

However, the north wind will likely hurt the coho fishery until the weather stabilizes again.

The inland lake scene was getting good as well. Schaap added that before the cold front, some bluegills were moving up shallow and crappies were beginning to relate to structure.

“The fish were starting to move around,” he said.