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Outdoors: Angler just misses walleye record
By Louie Stout Dec 1, 2019


Five measly ounces.

That’s how close Ron Ryba came to breaking Indiana’s long-standing walleye record.

“If only that fish had eaten one more shad …” said the Michigan City angler.

Ryba caught the 13.96-pound monster walleye from Trail Creek harbor shoreline in Michigan City a week ago Friday. Had it eaten one more of the large shad schooling where Trail Creek empties into Lake Michigan, he’d have broken the record that has stood for 45 years.

The current 14-pound, 4-ounce record was set in 1974 on the Kankakee River and tied in 1977 on the Tippecanoe River.

All is not lost, however. After the official weighing and photos, the fish was released back into the creek mouth.

“I want another shot at her — when she’s bigger,” said Ryba.

The catch was no fluke. Ryba was targeting walleyes that have appeared in the harbor area the past few years. Last year’s Indiana Fish of the Year was a walleye caught in the harbor on Dec. 21. It weighed 11.88 pounds.

“I know the big walleyes move in there this time of year and I’ve been fishing for them for 15 years,” said the retired carpenter. “I finally got one.”

When he heard that Lake Michigan DNR staffers had netted a 12½-pounder during a lake trout survey at the Michigan City breakwall, he launched his boat and went out there to jig and troll for walleyes.

“Never got a bite,” Ryba said. “So I figured my best chance was to fish from shore. It seems like the walleyes move into the channel when the water gets dirty.”

So, two days later, he headed to the north bank of the channel across from the DNR station. He was casting a shad colored No. 9 Berkley Flicker Shad about 10 feet off the bank when the fish hit.

“I figured it was either a lake trout or a walleye, but realized it must have been a walleye because it didn’t pull like a laker,” he said. “When I saw her roll near the surface and saw that big belly, I knew I had a big one.”

It took him about 10 minutes to land the 31¾-inch fish on 8-pound Trilene monofilament and spinning gear.

A friend’s hand-held scales showed the fish bouncing around the 14-pound mark, so Ryba called Lake Michigan Biologist Ben Dickinson and asked him to bring official scales to check the fish’s weight.

Once they realized the fish just missed the state record, Ryba eased the big walleye back into the creek.

A combination of the abundance of shad, gobies and rocky structure seems to attract walleyes to the Trail Creek mouth each fall. For the past several years, the DNR captures a few big walleye in their nets set for a lake trout survey.

“We don’t see an abundance of shad around Michigan City, but when we do, it’s at the breakwall out in front of the creek or in the harbor area,” said Dickinson. “Lake trout are drawn to the breakwall this time of year and gobies and shad are high on the list of availability out there.”

His crew studied the stomach contents of a few of the lakers captured and nearly all were full of shad.

This year, four walleyes were captured in nets and released. The smallest was around 24 inches.

“I wouldn’t say there is a big population of walleyes around the harbor area, but it’s a lot like muskie fishing,” he added. “The anglers who target them and put in a lot of time have a chance to catch a trophy walleye. But you can’t go out there and expect to catch one every time you fish.”

Last years fish caught in the same location for those who missed it.
Outdoors: Lake Michigan walleye wins ‘Fish of the Year’
By Louie Stout Feb 10, 2019

Jakob Kintzele of Chesterton, Ind. shows off the 11.88-pound walleye he caught from Lake Michigan shoreline in Michigan City to earn the 2018 Indiana DNR Fish of the Year award.

Love it.

Congrats to Ron! Sweet fish. I am relatively new to the area and used to fish Lake Superior out of Duluth alot. 5 years ago, while fishing for lakers/coho, we had three rods go off simultaneously. All were set between 55' and 65' in 180' of water. We boated walleyes, 25",26" and 27". Sharing this surprise with the DNR guy at the ramp, he called over another fisherman who had boated a 41" muskie a mile further out than us, also 50' down. DNR speculation was that torrential rains in the spring had washed these fish from the St Louis river into the lake and they settled in following the schools of baitfish in the big lake. We were several miles from the river mouth. That year there were other reports of walleyes along the Wisconsin shore. Since that year, nothing.

This makes me wonder if the walleyes being taken in Mich City are creek fish moving to the lake to feed or vice versa? Anybody ever catch walleyes in Lake Michigan while fishing for lakers or silver?

grady1007 wrote:

Congrats to Ron! Sweet fish. I am relatively new to the area and used to fish Lake Superior out of Duluth alot. 5 years ago, while fishing for lakers/coho, we had three rods go off simultaneously. All were set between 55' and 65' in 180' of water. We boated walleyes, 25",26" and 27". Sharing this surprise with the DNR guy at the ramp, he called over another fisherman who had boated a 41" muskie a mile further out than us, also 50' down. DNR speculation was that torrential rains in the spring had washed these fish from the St Louis river into the lake and they settled in following the schools of baitfish in the big lake. We were several miles from the river mouth. That year there were other reports of walleyes along the Wisconsin shore. Since that year, nothing.
This makes me wonder if the walleyes being taken in Mich City are creek fish moving to the lake to feed or vice versa? Anybody ever catch walleyes in Lake Michigan while fishing for lakers or silver?

Grady, every year there are a few taken when guys are trolling for silvers. There have some been taken not only in trail creek but, some also have been taken from Burns Ditch and west to state line. Not many but when you do get one they are usually a very good one.

Every year in the spring, steelhead anglers will catch Walleye at the Allegan Dam on the Kalamazoo river. Some of these fish are huge, and probably live in Lake Michigan, and for years the Michigan DNR planted Walleyes in the St Joe river from Berrien Springs to the Mouth of the river in St Joe. Some of these fish must make it out to the big lake. If we could learn how to catch them consistently, we would be golden..