After the Storm...

Last Saturday, I approached the lake with caution after the previous week’s first bout with winter. November and December storms have usually left the most damage and scars to the lake front in the past. I’ve seen 5” pipe railings bent over, sailboats dashed on the rocks and smashed to smithereens, and in general it usually leaves everything with a coat of ice that lasts till April. Well, I was pleasantly surprised. Yes the lake was pretty riled up and green, but like a vigorously shaken snow globe, it all settles back down in a few days. I guess what surprised me the most was the lack of snow. Actually not one flake could be found. After reports of 8 to 17 inches in many locations, there was no snow at all along the lake shore.

Even with the lack of snow and calm seas on Saturday, there were signs that the lake was pretty angry a few days prior. In the attached picture you will see a large stump on the path behind the Marcus amphitheater. Just to see how heavy this chunk was I tried to roll it over. I could rotate it a few degrees but it had to weigh a couple hundred pounds. This chunk of stump was actually thrown over the railing and onto the path. The water’s surface is about 6-7 feet below the asphalt and the railing is another 3 feet above that. The waves IN the harbor were big enough to toss this stump up and over the railing.

The power of the lake never ceases to amaze me. As I mentioned before, I have seen it bend steel, undermine concrete and asphalt, destroy moored boats, and move boulders that could only

be placed with the heaviest of construction equipment.

Back about 10 years ago we had a massive December storm that left the McKinley pier covered with about ten feet of ice. This was the year that the pipe railings on the inside of the wall were actually bent over about 30 degrees. They attempted to repair them the following spring, but many of them couldn’t be completely straightened. Even now if you are strolling along the pier, look down the railings and you will see that they aren’t quite straight anymore. The Coast Guard navigation signs that are at the bend of the pier are about 18 feet above the water’s surface.

They were creased around the steel pole like tin foil. The scars of a winter storm!

What’s going on…..

Winter crept up on us silently and then hit us in the head with a sledge hammer. Some areas of the McKinley harbor actually froze but have since reopened. But, there are ice chunks floating around now making wind-blown areas unfishable at times.

It is probably time to start searching the inner harbor. It’s not my favorite fishery, but it beats not fishing all winter. Not fishing is not an option. I’ve always said that if you had to give the city of Milwaukee and enema, you’d put it in right around the areas we are fishing in the inner harbor. But again, I’ll take it over ice fishing any day.

On Saturday, I hooked and landed a 30 pounder……….. Carp that is. She hit a jigging spoon worked along the bottom right next to the sea wall. A Carp wouldn’t normally take a lure like this but when the gizzard shad are in everything becomes a predator. I actually had a couple Brown Trout follows on a fly rod but they wouldn’t hit and I had to leave before I could figure out what would trip their trigger.

The outer harbor isn’t done yet, but I haven’t seen a lot of activity there for several weeks.

The Oak Creek Power plant is reported hot right now, but the weather will determine how accessible this will be to anglers.

For now, tight line and smooth drags….
Marc