Sportsman Spotlight
Hometown: Michigan City
Occupation: Retired postal worker
Favorite fish species and biggest: Steelhead, a 22 pounder, caught in the early 1990s
Favorite Michiana lake: Lake Michigan
Favorite rod and reel: Pflueger President reel and Berkley Lightning Rod.
Hobbies when not fishing: Waterfowl hunting
If you only had one lure: A No. 3 Mepps spinner with fluorescent orange blade for stream steelhead.
Best tip for Michiana Angler: When fishing for stream steelhead, slow down and make sure your bait is moving naturally. And remember, fish are fish; what works for a bass can work for a steelhead or perch.
By Louie Stout
If you live outside the Lake Michigan trout and salmon world, you may not have heard of Mike McKee.
But in northwest Indiana, he is known as one of the best creek steelhead fishermen and a darn good first mate on salmon boats.
But you can’t pigeonhole him as just a salmon guy. He fishes for all kinds of fish and has become an accomplished yellow perch, bass and bluegill angler.
The 67-year-old Michigan City resident has been working salmon boats since the 1970s and terrorizing stream steelhead for decades.
A former Michigan City News-Dispatch outdoors columnist, he has been the backbone for the city’s annual Skamania Mania contest initially started by the former Northwest Indiana Steelheaders.
His blue-collar angler approach to fishing is to keep it simple. You don’t need sophisticated electronics or high dollar tackle. Here are his tips and views for catching everything from steelhead in the streams, yellow perch in Lake Michigan and bluegills and bass from ponds:
MON: You say the steelhead is your favorite fish but a bluegill is a close second. That’s somewhat unusual for a guy who grew up fishing trout and salmon.
McKEE: I probably spend more time bluegill fishing than anything else. I definitely fish the streams when the steelhead are in, but I like walking the banks of area lakes and ponds to catch bluegill and a bass or two.
MON: You like to say, “a fish is a fish.” What do you mean by that?
McKEE: I’ve found that similar baits and tactics work for all fish. I’ve caught steelhead from the stream on Senkos (bass lures). What works for walleyes works for yellow perch. You may have to adjust the size of the lure and maybe the color.
MON: How did you catch a steelhead on a Senko?
McKEE: I was fishing a pond one day and Trail Creek ran behind it. I looked over at the creek and saw some steelhead moving. Since I already had a Senko tied on for pond fishing, I tossed it into the creek and let it drift into a brush pile, same way I would a spawn bag. A steelhead ate it.
MON: You list a Mepps Spinner as your favorite for steelhead fishing. Talk about that.
McKEE: I like a spinner with a fluorescent orange blade and fish it on 12-pound monofilament. I’ll cast downstream, let the current catch the blade, and pull it so it swings close to a log or brush. The key is to keep the blade spinning. If that doesn't work, I’ll bring it along the other side of the cover and make several casts. I realize it doesn’t look like anything the fish see naturally, but I think of it as a person being on a porch and being annoyed by a fly. Eventually, you’ll swat at that fly to get it away from you, and I think that’s what a steelhead does. Also, places where you can’t see the bottom of the stream will likely hold a steelhead if there is current there. Now, if it’s winter, they prefer those deader water areas.
MON: What’s your favorite bluegill set-up?
McKEE: I’ll rig a 1½-inch grub on a micro, 1/124th-ounce jighead and thread silicone legs through the grub to make it look like a rubber spider, one of the greatest bluegill baits ever made. I’ll put two of them on my line about 6 inches apart. It has a slow fall and is deadly for gills when they’re off the beds. If that doesn’t work, I’ll put a maggot or two on the hook. It catches bass and crappies as well. I fish it on 4-pound braid with a 4-pound fluorocarbon leader and work it back slowly. You could probably do the same with a fly, but this is the easiest way for me to catch them.
MON: You told me you catch yellow perch by trolling on Lake Michigan. Tell me about that.
McKEE: Dan Messina (Michigan City) and I got onto this. He’s a well-known perch fisherman over here. We rig up tiny spoons (2 ½ inches) to 12-ounce torpedo weights. We attach the spoon to 10-pound monofilament leader about 6 feet behind the torpedo weight, then troll at about 2 to 3 mph in 25-45 feet of water. Small Rapalas will work, too, and we catch limits that way on days when the livebait anglers are struggling. Last year, we caught a lot of perch and never bought livebait. We put out four rods and sit them in rod holders. When you see a rod shake, you reel it in and swing it into the boat lake a cane pole angler. It’s something they do on Lake Erie.
MON: What kind of spoon?
McKEE: It’s the Stinger Scorpion. Color can change from day to day, but plain silver is good and so is the wonder bread color.