Bruce Brown, regular guy and damn-good fisherman, will be the featured
speaker at the June 10 meeting (7 p.m.. 121 Skwiat Legion Ave., Michigan
City). Brown fishes out of a 27' SeaRay (Color Blind) and is the current
HCC Salmon Slam champ as well as a consistent contender in all the Hoosier
Coho Club and Michiana Steelheaders' tournaments. His fish-catching tips
and tactics apply to any size boat.
June 10 is also awards night for the fourth annual Coho Capital Derby
presented by the LaPorte County Convention & Visitors Bureau. Top fish
going into the final weekend of the April 25-May 31 contest were a 27-9
lake trout pulled in aboard Gary Huffman's Holly Lynn and a 17-12
Chinook caught on Dan Messina's perch boat. Winning anglers will be on
hand to share their fish stories and answer questions.
A Fish Fry is on tap, too. Chef Jim Himes and crew will be cooking up
perch, bluegill, crappie, salmon and the sides to feast upon.
A bundle of Hoosier Coho Club THANK YOU's go to...
Tyler Kreighbaum (Tight Line) and Jerry Ross (Seeker) for taking Smolts
division youth fishing on May 21. And to Mark Marz (MCHS Fishing Club) and
Bill Wiesemann (charter boats) for coordinating the smolts. Next Smolt
outing is June 16.
Steve Kreighbaum for coordinating and doing the leg work on behalf of the
club for the Summer Fest Fish Fry on May 22.
Brian Briedert, Indiana biologist, for his report and question-answering
on the ups and downs with the Lake Michigan program and stocking policies
(see N-D story below) at the May meeting.
Upcoming events include a free fishing weekend in Indiana on June 6-7 and
Michigan June 13-14. Michiana Steelheaders Youth Tournament on June 13
(see
www.michianasteelheaders.com), Skamania Mania June 20-21 (see
www.nwisteelheaders.org for details on the free event), HCC Powder Puff
Derby on July 25 (rules will be up soon at
www.hoosiercohoclub.org), and
HCC Salmon Slam on Sept. 12.
The southend.org is a free site for Lake Michigan fishing updates and
information - and it has been very friendly to the Hoosier Coho Club.
Check it out, join if you like, then post your fishing results.
Keep in mind the details of poor outings are just as valuable to the next
guy as the good ones. Its a big lake with plenty of space out there and
fewer fishermen every year. Information sharing helps everyone in the long
run.
Club member Ed Erdelac is hoping to put together a outing for U.S. Air
Force members. Contact him at
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or see him at the
meeting.
Stocking news and more from the May 15 News-Dispatch...
A trout weighing twice his age
Ten-year old Roland Henderson of Seymour, Ind., landed a whopping,
21-pound, eight-ounce laker to claim top trout for Week 2 of the Coho
Capital Derby as well as the biggest fish to date in the free, five-week
contest sponsored by the LaPorte County Convention & Visitors Bureau.
"My arms were sore the next day," Roland said via telephone. "I was
expecting to just catch normal size salmon and trout."
Indeed, the bruiser trout is better than twice the size of the average
laker caught in Lake Michigan. Biologist Brian Briedert figures the fish
is likely 20 years old, twice Roland's age.
This was Roland's first big lake trip and he was with dad Rusty, uncle
Abraham and grandpa Russell who Is a regular customer aboard Steve
Kreighbaum's Crorkindill.
"I think Steve is a very good charter captain," Rusty, added.
Kreigbaum, Michigan City's senior charter skipper, says the behemoth
trout bit a Spin-N-Glo behind a dodger. Roland also reeled in Chinook,
coho and plenty of other lakers.
Roland wins the $100 weekly prize and could land an additional $500 if
the 21-8 holds up as the largest trout caught overall in the five week
contest. The CCD started April 25 and continues through May 31.
(Note; although Henderson's fish was the largest ever taken in the 4-yr.
CCD at the time, it was subsequently ousted from the top spot by a 27-9
laker a few weeks later.)
Chinook Casualty
A truck load of Chinook fingerlings destined for Trail Creek died in
route due to a clogged aerator line recently.
"It was 22,000 fish, accidental, human error, we're not hiding anything,"
Brian Briedert, Indiana's Lake Michigan biologist, said at the Hoosier
Coho Club meeting on Wednesday. "It is troubling, especially because they
were already tagged, had their coded wire implants."
Statistically, the loss is likely insignificant because Indiana's target
stocking is 200,000 Chinook annually.
Briedert also noted there are fewer Chinook in the lake this spring,
partly by plan and partly due to drought in the fall of 2012.
"Chinook stocking cuts (intended to balance with low alewife population)
went into effect in 2013 (lakewide reduction from 3.3 to 1.7 million
stocked)," Briedert said. "Additionally, in 2012 there were very poor
salmon returns (to natural spawning areas in Mich.) due to low water
conditions and the number of wild Chinook dropped way off, and it used to
be 60 percent of the fish (total Chinook caught) out there."
"Those Chinook are the seven to nine pounders that are missing from the
catch this spring. We're seeing the big 14 and 15-pounders and the small
fish, but little in between."
Also on the stocking front, Indiana released just 47,000 coho this winter
due to a disease problem as eggs hatched. Indiana normally stocks 240,000
coho. The impact of the shortage will be seen in 2016. The Indiana stream
fishery will take a hit, but the lake fishery should see little change as
the other Lake Michigan states met their coho goals and the majority of
all coho stocked around the lake end up along Indiana's shoreline in early
spring.
DNR personnel acted quickly to fill the coho void at the hatchery by
raising an additional 134,000 Skamania. The number of fall-release
fingerlings (undersized) was boosted from 50,000 to 184,000, so there
should be a bunch of extra steelies showing up in the catch, starting in
2016.
Steelhead and coho stocking schedules have been tweaked for the future,
too. The goal is to produce more large coho and steelhead for the St.
Joseph River, which has had poor returns of smaller sized fish. Trail
Creek came out ahead in numbers of steelies stocked. Complete information
about the new stocking order is at
www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/files/fw-lake_mi...stocking_changes.pdf 
