Outdoors: Fishing action improves throughout area

If you think the fishing season is over, you’re oh-so-wrong.

The cooler weather may mean it’s football season, but it’s also one of the best times to be fishing.

“Some people have given up for the year, but now is a really good time to be fishing,” said Bonnie Kelley of Kelley’s Bait and Tackle in Lakeville.

For example, coho are flooding into Indiana waters of the St. Joseph, bluegills are getting active, perch, some crappies and bass are starting to move shallow, and muskies are biting.

The fall trout and salmon run may be the biggest news. Mike McNulty of Midway Bait in Osceola said several limits were caught from the river earlier in the week, a reflection that a lot of fish moved up.

“Anglers are telling me the trout and salmon they are catching this year are bigger than average,” McNulty said.

According to Lake Michigan Biologist Brian Breidert, more than 1,600 coho were counted passing through the South Bend ladder during the first three weeks of September. In all likelihood, that number is even greater as conditions were right for continued movement the last week of September. Those numbers, along with this week, haven’t been calculated.

In addition, 1,249 Skamania steelhead moved into the river since June 1, with 500 of those moving up during September.

McNulty said spawn and nightcrawlers were accounting for the most fish being caught.

The reason for the higher count of coho right now is because they are eager to spawn. The steelhead move in throughout fall and winter and will spawn next spring.

“We will see more steelhead later this month and into December,” said Breidert. “Their movements are more water temperature dependent whereas the coho are driven to spawn.”

Good trout and salmon fishing is being reported on the lower St. Joseph as well with plenty of activity at Berrien Springs to Niles.

“Now’s the time to fish the river because you don’t have to deal with so many leaves falling on the water,” said Darrin Schaap of Clear H2o Tackle in Edwardsburg.

Panfishing has been equally good. Kelley said anglers were catching “really nice bluegills” on Pleasant and Riddles lakes earlier this week. Red wigglers and wax worms have been the hot baits in her area.

“I’ve seen several 10-inch bluegill and redears caught recently,” she added. “It seems like they are catching them shallower now than they were a few weeks ago.”

Jim Housman of the Tackle Box in North Webster said that bluegills remain suspended over deep water in his area lakes “but it should only get better after the first frost and water temperatures come down even more.”

Schaap sees a similar situation on his area lakes, noting that bluegills seem to be more active in the early mornings and late evenings.

“It’s kinda like it is during ice fishing season – the best fishing is early and late in the day,” he said. “But some fish are starting to move shallow.”

Bait shop dealers also report more perch being caught on shallow flats in those lakes that have good perch populations.

“That’s especially true at Wawasee and Lake Tippecanoe,” said Housman. “If the wind isn’t blowing you can look down and see them on the bottom.”

Housman added that muskie fishing has really picked up on Webster and nearby lakes that contain the giant

fish. Suckers work, but the hot lure has been the Shallow Raider, a jerkbait-style muskie lure.

Bass are also being caught both deep and shallow, but shallower water seems to produce the most bites. This is the time of year when bass are targeting baitfish that have moved shallow and the bass are trying to put on pounds before winter arrives.

Record sunfish

A St. Joseph, Mich. angler caught the state-record hybrid sunfish this summer from Lake Anne in Grand Mere State Park in Berrien County.

Joel Heeringa caught the fish July 9 while still-fishing with a crawler. The record fish weighed 1.8 pounds and measured 11.7 inches.

The previous hybrid sunfish state record was a tie between two fish: one caught in 1988 by Daniel Manville on Arbutus Lake in Grand Traverse County and one caught

June 1, 1988, by Lloyd Jarman, Jr. on Doan’s Lake in Allegan County. Both fish weighed 1.44 pounds.

The record was verified by Brian Gunderman, a DNR fisheries unit manager for southern Lake Michigan. Because the fish was believed to be a hybrid, additional identification was required, delaying final confirmation.

Gunderman said Lake Anne is an old sand mine lake that the DNR hasn’t stocked.

“We see a lot of natural hybrid sunfish during our surveys in lakes throughout southwest Michigan,” he said.

Hybrid sunfish often are created in private hatcheries but crossbreeding also occurs naturally when sunfish and bluegill or redear spawn together.