Muskie hits just keep on coming
Add an Indiana muskie to the tales of muskie and big northern pike in 2016 on southern Lake Michigan.
This one comes courtesy of Tim Morris and his Just 4 Fun Charters out of East Chicago, Indiana.
Earlier this month, customer Dan Chick landed a 34- inch muskie, 2 inches short of the minimum to be kept. It was released to swim again.
They were trolling near the ‘‘ Hole- in- the- Wall,’’ just outside the East Chicago Marina, for fall Chinook. The fish was caught on a J13 Rapala, a classic bait for fall kings.
‘‘ Dude, I caught a [ channel] catfish, a smallmouth [ bass] and a muskie, all on the same J13 Rapala,’’ Morris said.
He had been doing better for other fish than kings this fall with the J13.
‘‘ This doesn’t happen very often,’’ said Morris, who has been fishing Lake Michigan for a half- century and chartering since the 1990s.
‘‘ Muskies are pretty rare on this end of the lake, but not unheard of,’’ emailed Ben Dickinson, an assistant Lake Michigan fisheries biologist for Indiana. ‘‘ We sampled one in the Michigan City harbor about 10 or 15 years ago, and there have been one or two caught in the Port. Occasionally, people catch them trolling the open lake, as well.’’
There have been numerous reports, rumors or sightings of muskie and big pike this year around southern Lake Michigan. Why or from where are the real questions.
‘‘ The ones down here could have come from Wisconsin stockings, could be natural fish or could have come from the [ St. Joseph River],’’ Dickinson emailed. ‘‘ There are a few muskies in there, and it is probably the closest population of known muskies to Indiana waters.’’
When I first heard murmurs of muskie on our end of Lake Michigan, I didn’t put much stock in those reports, other than as incidental. Maybe, there is a bit more than incidental to it. Time will tell. Until then, Morris summed it up well.
‘‘ How bizarre is that?’’ he said. ‘‘ I am glad I am involved in the bizarreness.’’
Seen to be believed
The Illinois Department of Natural Resources already is offering camping reservations for the days around the solar eclipse on Aug. 21, 2017. The eclipse will be in full view in southern Illinois. Normally, the IDNR only offers reservations six months in advance. Check
Stray cast
Mike Ditka’s opining is to 21st- century thought what Grosse Pointe navigation was to 19th- century Lake Michigan.