Think about the last time as an angler you didn’t see winter show up. Ice fishing just really did not materialize.
If there was ever a time to have your boat ready it was this winter. The guys at our shop were busy rigging boats to go out fishing all winter. Temperatures allowed for many of us to fish 12 months in Michigan from our boats.
Anglers were out in force targeting walleye all over the state. Both Saginaw Bay and Lake Erie have provided steady wintertime relief to anglers trolling and jigging. The Saginaw and Detroit rivers were actively fished the entire winter with decent action.
Here in our corner of the mitten state anglers have been out after trout, perch, ciscoes, steelhead, bass and also some salmon. The Grand Traverse bays have been great for action. Both bays have been good fishing, but again access can be tricky. The launch docks should not have ever been removed by the Department of Natural Resources this year on the bays. Even with the windy days there were plenty of places to wet a line without it freezing.
As spring has already sprung the fishing in many places seems to be slightly ahead of schedule. Anglers along Lake Michigan’s coastline have reported seeing good numbers of silver fish. Rivers have been better for steelhead this past couple months also.
With the mild winter, anglers are hoping for great gamefish and baitfish survival rates. Over the past several years the local smelt population has shown up more frequently, although still not near historical levels.
Smelt are generally spawning this time of year and a 42-degree shore temperatures has been my queue to troll the shoreline for brown trout and the other Great Lakes favorites. Over the years, that temperature has been the magic number. All of our trout and some salmon target these schools during their spawning run.
As more anglers are preparing their boats for the year, remember it is battery season too. Up and down temperatures typically are tough on lead acid batteries. Avoid having electronics fail during your trip. Modern electronics and trolling motors require 12.0 volts minimum under a load to work — 11.9 and below are a bad deal. Test your batteries now and save the drama on the water!
Best regards and good fishing!