After spending some time on St Clair and it's supporting river system I wonder why Chicago can't manage lake Michigan and it;s supporting river system in similar fashion? They have industry up and down the river like we have, they have depressed neighborhoods along the rivers and lakes like we do but yet the water is clean and filled with fish.
It's just a shame that the original wish of the original Mayor Daley to have Lake Michigan be an incredible fishery never really came to fruition.
Lake is filled with smallmouth, northern, largemouth even tiger muskie. Water is clear to 20 feet plus at times of calm. Try it you might like it.
Please release me,let me go.
Don't forget Fall and Summer run Steelhead (Rainbow Trout), Chinook, Coho, Lake Trout and Brown Trout with lake populations and river migrations. Sounds like a Sportsman's Paradise to me.Originally Posted by Kodiak16
The salmon is world class but not my cup of tea.
I think they just need to invest in some artificial reefs and other fish attractors For the bass fishing to get to that next level.
Nitro z21
I'm not trying to say that there isn't a population of Smallmouth. I have been smallmouth fishing lake Michigan and the Rivers since 1989 and yes there is a population of smallmouth but not even close to what St Clair, Erie, Huron, or Sturgeon bay have.. As for the other species same can be said for largemouth. I personally have never had a Pike or Muskie on the line.
My point is not directed to just the fish population but also the infrastructure. Why are our boat launches so limited and so expensive? Why do we not have the stocking programs other bodies of water have? Why are the communities that line the supporting river systems not developed as waterfront communities? For god sakes if Detroit Michigan can achieve this goal so can Chicago and the surrounding towns. Case in point : look how short a period of time it took to bring back to life the south shore.
Jason G,
I'm with you on the Salmon but even with that the city does practically nothing to promote and help the limited number of Charters Captains we have.
My point is not directed to just the fish population but also the infrastructure. Why are our boat launches so limited and so expensive?
Real Estate is expensive along the Illinois shoreline.
Simply catering to what I call the "beautiful people".
The "beautiful people" spend lots of money at the harbors and surrounding businesses for the day or weekends.
The small boat fisherman are just a quick in and out, considered a nuisance, people they have to clean up after, the Hoi polloi so to speak.
Those people just come to enjoy the resource without dropping large coin within their borders, so they cost more than they are worth.
As far as the bass fishing and structure, the southern basin is a giant sand basin from Chicago across to New Buffalo MI
The reefs that were put in over the years, have been completely covered over due to storm waves and surges from the big blows from the N and NE.
Nothing stays uncovered for long on the south end of the lake.
Chicago is a shit hole,I used to cringe having to tow my boat home after spending the day on the lake.94 is a shit show,between shootings and uninsured drivers it’s a train wreck.IL does not put back in it it’s natural resources that’s why I reside in TN now.
Both St Clair and Door Co have a tremendous amount of vegetation while the Lake around here is mostly a barren bottom. Curious if this affects fingerlings ability to hide from predators.
2016 Tuffy X-190
Yamaha F175, Mercury 9.9
Motorguide 80 lb Xi5
Garmim/Humminbird graphs and Talon
As far as fisheries management, the simple answer is that Lake Michigan isn't just Chicago. It's Milwaukee, Sheboygan, Escanaba, Ludington, Muskegon, South Haven, Michigan City, and Gary (amongst others). St. Clair is basically Detroit and Windsor, or more accurately, Michigan and Ontario. Obviously, the more governments that are involved, the more difficult is it to get said governments to cooperate on anything... if it were only up to Michigan and Wisconsin, there could be a chance of something happening, but the obstacle in our reality is that the two states which combine for <10% of the L Michigan shoreline also happen to be where 90% of the industry, and 90% of the multi-million dollar real estate, is located. In other words, not exactly an angler-friendly crowd (or at least a crowd that isn't going to be very amenable to democratizing access).
The other factor is the alternatives... what's the alternative to LSC as far as boating/fishing? I suppose there's Lake Erie and some lakes out in the W Bloomfield/Ann Arbor area (sorry, I don't know that area well enough), but there's hardly anything on the Canadian side. However, for L Michigan, at least in the Chicago area, there's the Fox Chain (not to mention several other smaller lakes throughout Lake & McHenry Counties that are great fisheries); Lake Geneva, "Lake Country" in Waukesha County, Lake Winnebago and Green Bay in Wisconsin; and just looking at the map, several bays and lakes up and down Michigan within a short drive from L Michigan shore. Point here is, there's a finite amount of resources out there to manage all of these lakes, and not only is LSC much more manageable at only 2% the size of L Michigan, there are many more alternatives around L Michigan than LSC, relatively speaking.
Finally, the equipment most bass anglers have at their disposal simply aren't built for bodies of water like the Great Lakes, i.e. a 20' bass boat certainly isn't going to survive the heavy chop when the wind on L Michigan gets going. I don't know what LSC looks like on a windy day, but - shot in the dark - it's probably not much worse than the chop on L Michigan on a typical day.
Does St. Clair's water get filtered with aquatic vegetation at some point. Does Illinois kill there vegetation like Florida does?
1996 Stratos 201 pro xl
1996 Johnson Faststrike J150GLEDB
Great points for sure. LSC for a note gets very nasty similar to SLM when the wind is a factor but clearly not as bad. My fast thoughts and questions are:
Does Illinois and Indiana Stock bass like the other lakes do?
Why don't we have affordable boat launches?
Why don't we develop our rivers neighborhoods to prosper off the access to the water?
There are other factors I'm sure . It's just a shame that we can't be a fishing community.
Not LSC for sure but we have descent fishing on the calumet going out to lake Michigan. I have not had much luck on lake Michigan itself.
Yes , Calumet is good but could it be better if it were managed well? Same for the rivers system. Also , There is no reason why there isn't a fairly priced public Launch on the lake side of the launch. 95 th street was a good option but neglect of the ramp has made it useless and the increase of launch fees to $20 is absolutely ridiculous .
The fishing in Lake Michigan is (usually) FAR better than it is in the river or Lake Calumet. The vast majority of the tournaments that go out of Waterfront Ramp (below the Obrien Lock) are won with Smallmouths from Lake Michigan.
I have not figured out the bite on the big lake. I've tried several spots that I thought would work but blanked.
Care to show me someday? Could you recommend some spots?
The gap between the big lake and Lake Cal has closed over the last couple years.
2016 Tuffy X-190
Yamaha F175, Mercury 9.9
Motorguide 80 lb Xi5
Garmim/Humminbird graphs and Talon
Tried the big lake again this morning. Went by clark point shoal and the water plant and couldn't buy a bite.
Mind if I ask where you launched your boat from?Tried the big lake again this morning. Went by clark point shoal and the water plant and couldn't buy a bite.
Thanks
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