Why Shore Fishing?

The Report:

The Lake Michigan fishing was slow last weekend. There are a few migrating 4 year-old salmon around but they aren’t happy. The east winds have piled up a lot of warm water near shore and they are forced to enter water out of their preferred temperature range. The streams are low too.

I did manage to land a mature female fully loaded with spawn that weighed only 13.25 pounds. This follows my hunches that the returning Kings are going to run small again this year. They are solid healthy fish but don’t have the bulk that they have had in the past. I’ll wait to see the DNR results from the weirs this year, but I could expect these fish to average 3-5 pounds less than what we have grown accustomed to. The DNR is hoping to see weights up due to a reduced stocking. We will see.

For those of you heading out anywhere on a Wisconsin pier this weekend, get out early with some glow spoons and then work the deep areas after that. The warm water will have them in a funky mood.

The Lure of Shore Fishing Lake Michigan:

I mentioned in my last post that I’d talk a little about shore fishing Lake Michigan, or any of the Great Lakes.

Most people assume that we shore anglers fish in this manner because we don’t have a boat. In some cases that is true. For the rest of us pier rats it is because we love it. It’s a 12 month a year drug that gets in your blood.

I have done some trolling in my life and it just never tripped my trigger. I am not going to try to turn a troller into a shore fisherman here. There are thousands of boats trolling our lake every day and some love it. It’s very effective and there are some very good charter captains on the Great Lakes today.

But for me, dragging lures around behind a moving boat with heavy tackle just isn’t fishing. While trolling will catch more fish in the long run, I’ll take one salmon or trout casting over ten trolling any day.

Shore fishing gives you the opportunity to present the lure to the fish with a variety of creativity. They may want a spoon reeled quickly near the surface when they are chasing schools of bait. They may react to a crankbait worked erratically at mid depths to imitate an injured alewife. They may be hugging the depths and want a jig or jigging spoon presented along the bottom. They could be herding baitfish up against a harbor seawall and looking for a lure cast parallel and retrieved inches from that wall. They may be feeding on gobies hopping along the bottom and only bite something that mimics them perfectly. The scenarios are endless. As a caster, you have the ability to make all this happen. You are the puppeteer and the lure is your puppet.

The tackle is another huge difference. As a troller your gear needs to be heavy. Your lines are being clipped to downriggers, attached to divers or side planers, or pulling big license plate sized dodgers. It’s all part of trolling. Few trollers stop the boat (it tangles too many lines) when a fish is hooked and heavy tackle is also needed to land fish behind a moving boat. For shore anglers, this isn’t a problem. Light lines and rods can be used to enjoy the the battle. For most of the season I use 8 pound test. I have landed hundreds of fish in the twenty and even thirty pound range on 8 pound line. Tackle suited for Bass or Walleye can be used to catch these fish.

The biggest attraction is feeling the strike. When trolling, the rod is in a rod holder when the strike occurs. The first mate will remove the rod from the holder, set the hook, and hand it to someone to reel in. When shore casting, you feel the strike, you set the hook. It may be a slight tap. It may be the feeling that the lure is getting heavier and heavier. Or it may be a salmon crushing the lure going the other direction at 30 miles per hour nearly ripping the rod out of your hand. Once you experience this feel of the strike, you will never go back. Watching the line melt from your reel hoping that you have enough. Seeing a Steelhead vault from the water and fly four feet in the air right in front of you. Watching a 20 pound Brown follow a lure to the wall and eat it right before your eyes. Watching the line on a live bait rig start jumping as the alewife gets nervous because a big fish is stalking it. These are things that you can’t experience while trolling. These are the things that make shore fishing like a drug. Its’ one-on-one, you and the fish.

Next:
It’s like the 2000 pound elephant in the room. Actually, a 41 pound 7 ounce elephant in the room. How can I not comment on the new Michigan State record and pending WORLD record Brown Trout that was caught last week in Michigan’s Manistee River. What an awesome fish and great title for the Great Lakes region.

Till then, tight lines and smooth drags.