TIN WHISTLES

One of the most effective tactics for catching lake trout in Southern Lake Michigan is now one of the least used. Properly called "sinker releases," a more popular term is "tin whistles."

When Jim Van Maas contacted me about a charter, he asked if he could bring some of his "old" gear along, left over from when he used to come to Lake Michigan with friends, fishing out of their own boat. Sure, I said. We can give it a try. When he showed up, last Friday morning, he hadn’t dug deep to resurrect any of his old Tadpollies, but I did! And, I dug out a tin whistle.

At this time of year lake trout swarm up from their customary depths to slurp on gobies just east of the Indiana Shoals. Besides the tin whistle, I dug a bit deeper for a container of one-pound disposable weights and tossed a wire-line rod and reel into the boat–one I usually use for fishing deep with Dipsey Divers in mid-summer.

The whistle has a line tie on each end. One end connects to the wire line, to the other end tie a monofilament leader. A snapswivel goes on the other end of the leader and is used to attach a likely-looking spoon. A special clip is located along the barrel of the whistle to which you attach a 3-foot length of mono with a one-pounder tied to the other end.

The rear line-tie to which the leader attaches is spring loaded. The weight of the lure pulling along won’t compress the spring, but the weight of a laker will. When the fish bites, compressing the spring, it opens the clip in the barrel of the whistle, the sinker drops off and you get to fight the fish without a heavy weight on the line.

Let out enough wire so as you troll along the one pound weight just maintains contact with the bottom. Dragging it along the bottom is better than not touching the bottom at all, but perfect is when it just skips along the bottom touching it every couple of seconds.

Out on the shoals, it didn’t take long for the tin whistle rig to connect. I don’t know if it was a "memory trip" for Van Maas, but it sure was for me.

UP THE COAST

One of the benefits of living at the south end of Lake Michigan is how our fishing gets started earlier in the year than "up the coast" on either the Michigan or Wisconsin side Okay, maybe when our fishing peps up we catch 2 pound cohos and when the northern ports start popping, they do it with double-digit kings. In my book, a 2-pounder now, is better than the hope for a 10-pounder later. Still, I look forward to heading up the coast to either state as spring transitions to summer. There’s a flavor, there–a feeling–a goal (and some 10 pound kings and more.)

Recently, I attended the Second Annual, Saugatuck/Douglas, Michigan area "Salmon in the Classroom" fishing outing, where local charter skippers and sportfishermen take the entire class of 5^th or 6^th graders from the Middle School for a morning on the lake. These kids grow chinooks from eggs to stocking-size smolts in their classroom "fish hatcheries" (and learn valuable biology lessons along the way.) The fishing trip shows them what their project can produce.

Jada with her first fish ever!

My "team" of anglers consisted of Clair Conley, Jada Mitchell and Zoie Driy, on board Capt. Dave Engel’s boat, the Best Chance Too. It was cold, it was slightly choppy and exciting enough that the fisher-gals didn’t much mind. We drew straws to see who would go first, but that didn’t much matter either since all shared nearly equal amount of rod time.

Did we make some future fishermen? Does the Salmon in the Schools program make future fish biologists? Only time will tell. I do know, it makes for a great chance for me to get "up the coast" just a little.

MY SPECIAL KIDS

"Okay, guys," I said. "When a fish bites you need to yell, ‘FISH-On’ as loud as you can, okay?" Both Joey and Luke shook their head. "Loud," I said. "So loud they can here you in that boat way over there. Okay?"

Less than a minute later one of the planer lines snapped free from its release and the rod folded over. I don’t know whether Joey or Luke helped, but in that boat way over there, I’m sure heads turned when they heard my own "fish-on" call.

I handed Joey the rod and he just held on. "Turn the crank," I coached. He’d never held a fishing rod before. I guess I should have coached a bit more in depth. Once he started cranking, Joey was fine and when we netted the coho and flipped it onto the deck, his smile went ear to ear!

Seconds later another coho struck a crankbait on the other side of the boat and Luke was onto his first salmon.

Each year Indiana’s North Coast Charter Association conducts a "Special Kids Gone Fishing" outing, where we take area youngsters with chronic or debilitating problems or disease for a morning on the lake. I’ll admit, it makes me feel like a special captain, as well.

At the photo session at the end of the trip, I think all the kids but one held up their hand when asked if they’d caught a fish. When they were asked if they had fun, I think heads turned in a boat "way over there" to see what the cheering was about.

A Fine Feast

People often ask me what’s the best way to prepare the salmon they catch on the Brother Nature. I always ask them if they remember the scene in Forest Gump when Bubba starts listing the ways to cook shrimp. It’s like that with salmon. You can broil it, grill it, bake, fry, poach, smoke, pickle and don’t forget salmon loaf, salmon cheese balls, salmon..... There’s no bad way. I also tell them to first cook it the way they prepare the walleye, bass, bluegills, catfish or other kinds of fish they catch. My theory is they know how that tastes, cooking their salmon the same way gives them a basis for comparison.

All that being said, the Wadas family (mentioned in my previous blog) didn’t follow that advice when preparing the cohos they caught for the main course for their Easter meal. Here’s a photo of the main course, just out of the oven.

Looks good to me!

FISHING FOR DINNER

I hate beating up customers so I elected to stick close to shore yesterday instead of heading out to laker-land 7 or 8 miles offshore and risk the prediction for stiff winds a'comin'. Storms and strong winds had muddied the nearshore areas and put the shallow-water fish on hold the last several days.
Pressure was on since the family told me they were planning salmon for their Easter menu. Three hours into the trip, it was looking like perhaps a trip to the supermarket for some farm-raised stuff would be needed. An Storm Rattlin' ThinFin saved the day down by the 3rd light out of the East Chicago Marina. Then another coho hit a dodger/fly on the way back to the second light, followed by a 3rd, between there and the first light. "Good," I told them, "We've gone from a 'couple' in the box to a 'few' in the box. One more fish and we can say we did okay and 'caught some'."
I'm happy to report, we caught some and some more and the Wadas family ended up with enough for Easter and another meal in the future.

Pictured here is Michael Wadas and friend, Ally Ylo with her first fish ever!


I don't know if the sunny skies helped, the fish just turned on (a little) or it was the fish-god smiling.
I have a group from Iowa for the next couple days. They always bring foul (fowl?) weather so we will be answering the radio as the "Gore-Tex" team.
Wish us luck. Only 2 inches of rain predicted......

BEATING THE STORM

I should have known the "Perfect Storm" would be a-brewin’ this weekend. Doug Wheelock and he Iowegian Team of fishermen were scheduled to make the drive from Sioux City, Iowa for 3 days of Lake Michigan fishing. Not that we have never had nice weather when the Iowa-guys have come for the last couple of decades. We’ve experienced the rare day of calm seas and warm sun. Usually, however, they bring wind. Often lots of wind and then think back to the rainy days, the snowy days, the hail storms and other weather anomalies. So it’s no wonder I’m writing this instead of just leaving the harbor for another day of adventure on the Brother Nature.

The wind is howling at 30-knots–due east. When we quit, yesterday it was 21knots northeast and we climbed over a few 8 foot waves heading back to Hammond Marina.

Calumet Harbor, built prior to WWII, offers several miles of protected breakwall for a northeast wind. So that’s where we went on day one of the Iowegian visit. It took about 15 minutes to bounce the two miles from Hammond to the detached breakwall and about 5 minutes to hook up with the first coho.

I’d like to report the action stayed that fast but it didn’t. It never died completely and actually, as the day progressed the bite got better. Perhaps as the waves outside the breakwall intensified, it pushed more fish to the inside. Our last 5 fish came in about 15 minutes.

When Wheelock and I fished in Ludington last summer, our best lure was a "Wonder Bread" J-Plug and so with rumors of kings being caught, recently, we put one of them out, mid-morning. Lucky for Roger Gruber, Wheelock was playing a coho when the downrigged J got bit. Doug knew it was the "big-fish" rod and has been known to jump the rotation at the sound of a reel’s drag being tested.

Gruber wrested the rod free and ended up with a trophy brown trout to score top honors for the day. Of course, with 19 cohos to go with it, no one went home with empty hearts.

So we are sidelined today and with the winds predicted to veer to southerly quadrants tomorrow, dawn will find us, slickered against the rain, ready to do battle.

TWO VIEWS OF TEXAS

I don’t deny being a fisherman. I don’t deny choosing travel destinations on the quality and quantity of fish which swim in nearby waters. But don’t think I can’t participate in other adventures (in addition to catching some fish) when I’m away from home.

I just got back from several days at Canyon of the Eagles Resort on Lake Buchanan west of Austin, Texas. Sure, I caught some fish. Nice ones! Purebred stripers, white bass and man-made hybrids of these species. But let me show you a couple of the other "views" of Texas I was able to see on the trip.

Paddle Sports are all the rage, these days. Canoeing, kayaking and paddle boarding is booming. I’ve canoed plenty of times, so when the opportunity to jump into–or is it onto–a kayak, I jumped. Fun stuff and an interesting view of Texas and Lake Buchanan--over my toes and the pointed bow of the kayak.

The next afternoon, I met William. I called him Willy and he was the horse I was assigned at the Post Oak Farm a short distance away from the Canyon of the Eagles. On Willy’s back, I got a more traditional view of Texas as we meandered through the scenic pastures and woodlands, not much changed from the days of the cowboys.

My thoughts? I may buy a kayak–I can see the fishing potential. Willy will remain a resident of Texas.

Canyon of the Eagles: www. canyonoftheeagles.com

Post Oak Farm: www. postoakfarm.com