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April 29, 2003

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Spring Fishing on Lake Michigan's Tributaries
By Ken Liimatta

April 23, 2003

There is not much that can be said about the Spring of 2003, except it has been horrible. It has been cold, windy, rainy, snowy, cold and windy. Did I mention it has been cold and windy! A friend recently said to me that those few warm days we had in early April was our summer and now it is really the fall. I have a little more faith in Mother Nature, but so far shse has been less than cooperative. Poor weather and the fact that I have been really busy with other things has kept me off of the water so far this year (at least that is the excuse I am going to use).

Finally, a chance to get out and go fishing came up last Saturday. My good fishing and hunting buddy Joe said he got the okey-dokey from his wife to go. We were so excited to get out that we called each other several times on Friday just to chat. Depending on the weather we decided to fish the tributaries of Lake Michigan between Oconto, WI and Escanaba, MI. We were not even sure if the ice was gone yet, early reports still have ice blocking many of the channels to Lake Michigan.

On Friday night, I was like a little kid and it was my birthday the next day. I was anxiously preparing my gear, laying it all out for our early morning start. We decided to leave at 4:30 a.m. so we would be the first on the water and arrive before sunrise. Like clockwork Joe arrived at my door at 4:30 a.m. to find me ready to go with hot coffee already brewed. We hopped in his Jeep and headed north.
Arriving at the boat landing, there was one fisherman already there and we had passed five trucks towing boats leaving the landing. They must have had the same idea we did, but the ice was still blocking the channel. Joe & I decided to stay and fish the river itself. With hardly any boats on the water, we could troll with planer boards in the river itself and not run into problems. We launched his boat and went to check the channel, just in case there was a way to get out past the ice.

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Joe poses with a 27 inch walleye caught and released


The author poses with a 22 inch walleye caught and released

++REGIONS++
+ WISCONSIN
+ UPPER MICHIGAN
+ LOWER MICHIGAN
+ MINNESOTA
+ ILLINOIS
+ CANADA
+ NORTH DAKOTA
+ ISLE ROYALE

No luck, it was pretty locked up. We then kicked in to trolling mode, headed up river, and began laying out our lines with planer boards. Joe is quite experienced at this type of fishing, in no time we had six lines out with varying depths and color combinations.

The morning is just starting to break and it is cold, the temperature registers about 38 degrees. It has been a long time since I have done any outdoor activity and it feels great to be out in the fresh crisp air. The sky is cloud covered, although it doesn't look like it will rain. Either way, Joe and I are in for the duration as we both have full rain suits ready to put on in a moments notice.

The first sign of activity comes about 10 minutes into trolling, the outer planer board on the left hand side started swaying side ways and pulling towards the middle of the boats wake. This looks to be a nice one the way it is pulling. Joe grabs the rod as I take over steering the boat. Joe calmly says "it's a nice one". We are both pretty excited, but there is a certain calm in both of us. As the planer board comes up to the boat, I quickly release it from the line with no slack. Joe now has full control to bring the fish in. As the fish nears, it surfaces and we see it is a nice walleye. I grab the net and step to the back of the boat and get ready to haul this one in. As Joe reels it in closer, I can't believe how big it is. In one fell-swoop, I net the walleye and set it in the boat. We do a quick check on our direction and position to make sure we're not going to run into anything.

Joe grabs the big walleye and gets a quick measurement, 27 inches. I grab the camera, get a few good pictures and sploosh', the big guy is back in the river. Joe estimates it to be about a 7 pounder. As we settle back into the routine, I am sort of awe struck. Here we are first time out and in the first 10 minutes we already have a 27 inch Walleye. How is the rest of the day going to turn out?

No sooner had I settled down to pour myself a cup of coffee from the thermos and the same line started swaying towards the middle. I grabbed the rod and Joe readied himself with the net.

As I began to reel it in, Joe asked "So, is it a big one?

"It feels pretty nice, but I don't think it is as big as the last one", I replied.

I have to admit I was a bit nervous as I didn't want to lose this one. So, I took my time and slowly reeled the walleye in. About 20 feet from the boat it popped to the surface, and within seconds Joe had it in the net. We measured it and it came in at 22 inches. Joe snapped a picture and we decided to let this one go, hopefully we'll catch it in a few years when it is a monster.

So about an hour into the morning and already here we are with a 27 and 22 inch walleye caught and released. We continued to troll for awhile, but the river started filling up with jig-fisherman. We decided to head further north with hopes of getting on Lake Michigan and running into some Brown Trout. Joe stopped to talk to the Conservation Officer (CO) who was parked next to the dock to see if the ice was clear in the northern waters. The CO said he was not up there, but the wind was out of the North East and may have pushed all the ice further south.

Loaded up, we head north to find the next tributary. The next river boat launch we came across was full of ice, but the one after that is relatively clear. We decide to give it a shot. Heading out we have to wiggle through some small ice floes, but we find open water pretty easily. We start to troll, trying varying depths and color combinations. After several hours, we decide to pull off. The ice looked as if it was starting to block the channel and we haven't had a single fish on. The wind had also picked up, so by that time we were also feeling a bit numb. After loading the boat on the trailer, we decide to call it a day.

On the ride home, I have to admit that it felt pretty good to be out on the water and that we had some success. We both talked about schedules and trying to see if we could get on the water again. We will have to see if it works out. All I know is after a long winter, it felt great to finally get outdoors!