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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.

By Louie Stout

Surfer behind a wake boatSurfer behind a wake boat

It doesn’t matter if you anchor to bluegill fish, kayak or use an electric for sneaking up on bass, today’s wake boats have replaced jet skis as the No. 1 nuisance.

They plow along, throwing big wakes designed so the attached skier can surf over the humps near the boat. However, those wakes carry for several hundred feet and can knock you overboard if you’re not paying attention.

Well, there’s good news! There is a bill in the Indiana Legislature that would offer control over where and how these annoying boats may be used. The bill passed through the senate and is now House Bill 1055.

By Louie Stout

Two nice Lake Manitou yellow perchTwo nice Lake Manitou yellow perch

Lake Manitou in Rochester, Ind. - once one of northern Indiana’s best bass lakes - continues to show recovery from the massive chemical treatments it received over a 10-year period.

The treatments, which began in 2006, were required after an infestation of hydrilla, a fast-spreading invasive plant, was discovered in the lake.

Manitou was the only lake in Indiana that contained the plant, so the boat ramps were closed and fish managers applied heavy doses of chemicals to eliminate the plant at its roots.

Although the chemicals used were designed to specifically eradicate the hydrilla, other plants throughout the lake were knocked back.

District fish biologist Tom Bacula said the recovery is slow, but he was encouraged when he saw multiple year bass classes while surveying the lake early last May and again in June.

The water temperature was 60 degrees in May and most of the bass turned up during four hours of electro-fishing were in the channels.

By Louie Stout

Robert Evans with a nice Diamond Lake walleyeRobert Evans with a nice Diamond Lake walleye

Anyone who fishes Diamond Lake or Michiana bass tournaments knows Robert Evans is a bass guy.

But did you know he’s also an avid walleye angler and has success on some of Michiana’s most popular bass lakes?

Evans says he’s learned how to catch walleyes on Diamond and Magician lakes and has no problem telling how he does it.

Evans admits fishing for walleyes can be frustrating on those lakes that don’t appear to have huge walleye populations.

But they can be caught and even on bass presentations.

“I know there are a lot more walleyes in Diamond and Magician than most people realize,” he says. “Most of the fish I catch are keeper-size and the biggest weighed about 7 ½ pounds.”

A Michigan DNR spring survey last year backs that up. Biologists say they captured a high number of walleyes. Michigan stocks fingerlings in the lake every other year in addition to some private stockings of larger fingerlings conducted by local groups.