By Louie Stout

The early spring has been good to Lake Michigan and St. Joseph River trout and salmon fishermen, but not so good to those fishing inland lake waters.

The cold nights and intermittent rain/snow has fired up steelhead in the St. Joseph River around South Bend and the coho on Lake Michigan.

However, it’s been a drag on crappie, bluegill and bass fishing. The yo-yoing water temperatures can’t seem to climb into the magical low 50s which has keep warmwater fish as confused as the anglers.

Trout and salmon

Steelhead continue pouring into South Bend and Mishawaka. During March, 7098 swam above the South Bend Fish Ladder, the best March run in 21 years!

April numbers weren’t available from the Indiana DNR due to a computer glitch, but Lake Michigan Biologist Ben Dickerson said several more have moved up since the last fish count at the ladder.

And they’re being caught.

“I’ve been hearing of guys catching 2 to 4 fish routinely and some are catching 10 or more,” he noted. “Most of the fish are running 5 to 8 pounds but quite a few are in that 9- to 15-pound class.”

Meanwhile, coho fishing on the southern end of Lake Michigan has been fantastic.

“They are running really big, like 3 to 4 pounds, which is large for this time of year,” said Dickerson. “Body baits are producing most of the fish but a few are catching them on dodger and flies.”

Dickerson speculated the coho are running bigger because there are indications of a good alewife spawn last year and a record-setting bloater chub spawn.

Most of the fish are being caught by boaters. Although the coho have been in close, they have been out of reach of shore and pier anglers.

Dickerson said a few nice kings also are showing up in creels, but the good king fishing is probably a week or two away.
Inland waters

While crappie fishing has been heating up in some northern Indiana lakes, the bluegill and bass fishing has been slow throughout the region.

“The water temperature just hasn’t solidified,” explained Darrin Schaap of Clear H2o Tackle near Edwardsburg. “Things really ought to improve once we get the water temp moving upwards and holding in the 50s for a couple of days.”

Joe Denton of the Tackle Box in North Webster, Ind. said the weather has plagued fishing on Kosciusko County lakes although the crappie fishing has been “on fire.”

“I caught my limit in 20 minutes the other day,” he said. “The crappies are starting to move up into the channels. I’m getting good reports from all of the lakes around here.”

Denton said the weather has hampered muskie fishing as not many guys are getting out. Muskies tend to like colder water but the lack of stability has hurt fishing.

Both Schaap and Denton said very few anglers have been talking about bluegill, indications that those fish are still holding out in deeper water.

Bass anglers have been having some success shallow but the windows of opportunity are short-lived. Jerkbaits, bladed jigs and some lipless crankbaits are catching a few.