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Local Fishing Report
Most fishermen
seemed pretty happy overall with their outings this past winter and
spring. There were reports of Walleye being taken form Portage, Upper
and Lower Herring lakes, Platte Lake, and Long Lake, located at the
western end of Grand Traverse county.
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The Perch
fishing was also very good on Crystal Lake, with reports of some nice
jumbos being taken this spring. The big news about Perch fishing this
winter was the extraordinary bite on Loon Lake, located inside the
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore Park. On a few given days there
were reports of over 200 hundred people on the ice. If you are familiar
with Loon Lake, than you can imagine what a site that must have been!
These fishermen were not catching your average 4-6 inch perch either.
NO, they were catching Perch 10-14 inches long! Just some dandy Perch
being taken through the ice. The thought, is that these Perch came in
from Lake Michigan to spawn, and decided to hold in Loon for some time.
In any event it definitely lends some inspiration for a summer bite of
jumbo Perch on Lake Michigan. I have only heard stories of what it used
to be like out there in the summer. Lets hope for a strong return.
The major disappointment for the winter must be the Lake Trout fishing
on Crystal Lake. From all the reports it was spotty at best. I suppose
that is what makes fishing so interesting. One year you can not keep
them off of your tip-ups or jigging line, and the next you can hardly
entice them to nibble. It is understanding all the variable, and how to
apply them, is where the challenge lies.
The early spring has also had some interesting twists and turns. There
have been Walleye spawning in the Lower Platte River. This is a first
for Tom and Kathy Stocklen, owners of Riverside Canoes for the past 37
years. Never have they seen Walleye spawning off the docks in front of
Riverside. The local talk here is that the river is getting spawning
Walleyes from both Lake Michigan and Platte Lake. With some reports of
seeing Walleye over 10 pounds! I do not care who you are, or where you
fish a ten pound walleye will put a smile on your face.
The Brown and Steelhead fishing seemed promising in early April, but
quickly faded into frustration for anglers. From all reports people
picked up decent numbers of both early, but it soon turned into a
hard-core hunting match, with the fish winning most of the time. I
continue to scratch my head at where the spring Brown bite has gone. It
was fabulous a few years ago, but now it seems for the past three years
atleast it has been mediocre at best. There has been reports that they
are starting to feed on the invasive Gobi, so that should help with food
supply issues. In any event most things are cyclical, so lets hope we
are on our way back to good Brown spring fishing.
In conclusion, it appears looking back at the winter and spring fish
happenings, there is room for great optimism. I can tell you I will be
looking for some slab piles on Lake Michigan trying to track down some
of those tasty jumbo Perch. I also, may be so inclined to drop my boat
into Platte Lake some evening looking for one of those ten pound
Walleyes!
Whether I catch little or lot, I still will be pinching myself, thankful
for the opportunity to get out and fish in this paradise we call, Benzie
County!
HAPPY FISHING |
Benzie
Fishery Coalition
