Michigan Fishing Information
Newsletter

Published On January, 5, 2002

Dear Anglers:

The latest cold snap has covered most of Michigan's inland lakes with a coating of thin ice. I can definitely tell when people are thinking about ice-fishing, because I'm getting a ton of phone calls from people looking to book my guided trips later this winter on Little Bay De Noc. I'll be up there the last two weeks of February and as of this writing I only have one date that remains open.

I'm getting geared up for ice fishing having just finished customizing two more tipups. I've also respooled al my ice rods and tipups so they are all in tip-top shape. I also just ordered some new ice fishing electronics from Vexilar and can't wait to test it out. I'll let you know how these products work.

I just heard on the news last night though that two, elderly gents are in critical condition in the hospital after plunging through a Livingston County lake the day before. I tested the ice at two local lakes yesterday, and it only took two chops with my spud to punch through and the ice moved with each step. I think I'll wait a few more days before I venture out on the ice in southern Michigan. Be sure to check ahead for ice condition when planning an ice-fishing trip and for heaven's sake, be careful.

News and Commentary

The DNR announced many changes to fishing regulations that will be effective starting April 1, 2002. In fact, so many regulations have changed that I would call the DNR's actions sweeping and massive. Here's a list of the orders issued:

· FO-200 Statewide Trout, Salmon, Whitefish and Lake Herring Regulations

· FO-204 Spawning Closures

· FO-205 Michigan-Wisconsin Boundary Waters Regulations

· FO-206 Special Fishing Regulations for Coolwater Species on Select Lakes

· FO-214 Waters Where Northern Pike May Be Taken at Any Size

· FO-215 Statewide Coolwater Regulations for Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Northern Pike, Walleye, Sauger, Muskellunge, Channel Catfish, Flathead Catfish and Yellow Perch

· FO-217 Order to Restrict Spearing Season

· FO-219 Waters Open to the Use of Spears and Bows

· FO-220 Special Muskellunge and Northern Pike Regulations

· FO-221 Banning of Dip Net Fishing on Certain Michigan Inland

· FO-222 Restricted and Closed Waters for Fisheries Research

· FO-223 Protection of Sturgeon, Muskellunge, and Walleye on the Black, Indian and Cheboygan Rivers

I received a press release from the DNR about these changes, but instead of summarizing the changes; they simply listed the new/changed orders and let it go at that. Go to http://www.midnr.org/PressReleaseDetail.asp?LinkID=31&sec=main&ReleaseID=3342&imageid=3 to view the press release and the orders (Acrobat files) in detail. It's a real confusing mess.

After reading those orders, like most anglers in Michigan, I don't have a clue what most the new laws indeed are. You would think that the DNR would issue a press release to decimate the new fishing regulations simply without all the confusion and smoke screens, but we know that the DNR does not believe in simple. Instead we will all just have to guess what the new regs are come spring and hope we don't get a ticket.

I heard through the grapevine (not through the DNR) that snagging regulations were tightened significantly. The new regulations will make it illegal to use larger than a 3/8-inch point-to-shank treble hooks in all Michigan rivers. Also, single hooks are now restricted to 1/2-inch, although the new regulations still allow jig fishing and the use of spinnerbaits as long as the hooks fall at or under the 1/2-inch maximum requirement. I also heard that the DNR is now restricting lure weights to no more than one ounce. These changes were made because illegal, snagging activity has increased significantly in recent years. The 3/8-inch point to shank treble hook regulation equates to a #6 hook! I just looked through my bait box and measured several of the hooks on popular river baits and guess what, they are just about all going to be illegal come April 1. I also checked the hooks on my jigs and spinner baits and not one of my spinnerbaits had a hook even close to being under 1/2-inch. All of my jigs that weigh 1/4-oz. or more are over 1/2-inch. I'll be waiting with baited breath for the DNRs rule book this spring to see the official details.

Trophy Speicalists Fishing Charter News

I've been booking trips steadily for the 2002 open water, fishing season. In fact, about 1/2 of my available dates are already reserved by savvy charter customers who know that it's best to plan early to get the best dates. My boat just got back form the Lund factory. It was completely refurbished to "like new" condition. With new Mercury power, all new canvas, new electronics and other new assorted odds and ends, my boat will certainly be ship-shape come spring. I just updated my webpage for 2002. The online schedule and booking capability that I implemented late last year has certainly been popular. All you have to do is go to the webpage, check for available dates and you can make your reservation a slick as fish slime. Check it out at http://members.aol.com/tscharters

Website News

There is an all-new opinion poll on the Michigan Fishing Information site now. Go ahead and vote so your opinions can be registered. The last pole was sent to the DNR for comment and then I wrote an article for Woods N' Water News to summarize the pole and the DNR response. I've rounded up several new sponsors for the website. Bass Pro Shops, Vexilar and Cortland Line Company are now aboard as they join Trophy Specialists Fishing Charters, Cabela's, Church Tackle, Daiwa, D&R Sports Center, Fishing Hot Spots, Lowrance, Lund, Mercury, Minn Kota, Moor Electronics, Raymarine and Walker Downriggers. Please support these sponsors, because without their help, this website would not be possible. I'll be digging into a major overhaul of the website adding a long list of newfound links and other useful Michigan Fishing Information in the coming weeks.

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Article: Higgins Lake Ice Fishing Potpourri

With a reputation as one of Michigan's most beautiful inland lakes, 9600 acre Higgins Lake is also ranked as one of Michigan's top ice fishing destinations. Yellow perch make up the brunt of angling effort on Higgins, however rainbow trout and lake trout are also rated as excellent fisheries as well. There's also a viable population of brown trout, northern pike, smelt, rock bass, splake and whitefish. With all these ice-fishing opportunities on one lake, the hardest part may be picking what fish to go after.

Last year, on my way home from a Michigan Outdoor Writers Association winter conference, I hit Higgins Lake for an evening of ice fishing action with Lake Trout on the agenda. Prior to that, my Higgins Lake ice fishing experiences were limited to perch outings. Before heading out on the ice, I stopped at Higgins Lake Sport and Tackle on West Lake Shore Drive for some live bait and hopefully some advise. While there I met Tina, the proprietor, who was very helpful indeed. She recommended an area about one mile from the bait shop in the north west corner of the lake.

Boot power was my mode of transportation. It took me about a half-hour to pull my Fish Trap II shelter loaded with gear to the fishing area. I used a portable GPS receiver to punch in a starting waypoint at the road-ending access point. I then used the GPS to navigate to the spot Tina had circled for me on my Fishing Hot Spots Map.

After drilling a few holes I set a tipup baited with a lively shiner. I then closed the lid on my Fish Trap and set up my Lawrance fish finder. Low and behold, I started marking fish right on the bottom immediately. I sent a white jig tipped with a shiner all the way to the bottom. I had barley gotten the slack out of the line when "wham," a fish smacked the bait. My little ice rod bowed sharply as I hauled up my first Higgin's laker. It wasn't a big trout, maybe 20", but it was certainly better than a stick in the eye.

Still ecstatic from my quick success, I looked out the plastic window of the shelter and noticed that my flag was flapping in the gentle breeze. After ambling over to the tipup, I carefully lifted it from the hole and started to reel up the line. The tipup was set in almost 110' of water, so it took a while to bring him up, but after a couple minutes another chubby, eating sized laker was flopping on the ice. I reset the tipup, but before I could return to the Fish Trap, the flag popped again. A few minutes later and I had caught my limit of lakers and I was heading back to shore. It was almost too easy.

As I was loading my junk into the back of the truck, an angler approached me and inquired as to how I'd done. His name was Bill Klowski; a middle-aged man with a whisker studded face and a curious gleam in his eye. Klowski is a local angler who lives within spitting distance of Higgins Lake. We chatted about fishing for a while and before I knew it Klowski invited me to go fishing with him at a latter date.

Rainbow Trout

I met Klowski at the bait shop at mid-afternoon and promptly headed out to one of his secret spots to try for rainbow trout. The shoreline of Higgins Lake is speckled with springs, creeks and seeps. These inlets tend to erode the ice away from shore, which draws the rainbow right into the shallows. Even though the ice was over a foot thick in the center of the lake, the ice in the area where we fished was only a couple inches thick with even thinner spots intermixed with open water. We were fishing in just one foot of water though, so if you fell through, it was no big deal.

Wigglers were the bait of choice and Klowski's rigs were quite simple. He uses short ice rods (3' long) with spinning reels spooled with 6-8 lbs. test, clear monofilament line. A small, #16 treble hook was tied onto the business end without any weight what so ever. The wigglers were dangled about half way down or about six inches below the ice and the bail was left open. Because the ice was so thin, we had to lay the rods down and stand back to avoid spooking the fish. When line started to go out, you carefully approached the hole, set the hook and hung on for dear life.

Just for fun, I decided to try a Slammer Tipup on those shallow water rainbows. A Slammer is basically a rod holder for a spinning rod that sets the hook automatically when a fish strikes. This rig allows anglers to stand way back for ultimate stealth. On the Slammer rig, I used a #6 treble hook, and dangled three wigglers from the barbs.

It didn't take long before the Slammer hammered a nice rainbow. Unfortunately, I didn't have the drag set light enough and we lost him as he slashed around in the hole. Loosing the fish didn't really matter though, because just minutes later and I was battling a five-pounder with my little ice rod. That fish managed to straighten the dainty hook when we missed him with the gaff and he was gone too. That one didn't mater either. We set up in the early evening and the fishing was fast and furious until dark. The Slammer worked great on those shallow rainbows and that rig accounted for the majority of our action that evening. Go to http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/slamcoinc/ to find out more about Slammer tipups.

Lake Trout

I was supposed to fish with Klowski the next morning for lakers, however a bad toothache forced him to see the dentist instead. Bill arranged to have Don Dickinson, a good friend of his, accompany me the next morning. As usual, we met at the bait shop. Bill Klowski met us there too, and before heading off to the dentist, he told us, "Don't limit out before I get out there, it shouldn't take to long to get this damn tooth pulled."

We accessed the lake at the DNR boat ramp along West Shore Drive. We headed northeast across the ice and set up in about 100' of water. We used tipups baited with live smelt that Bill Klowski had caught the day before. We also brought along some shiners because some days they seem to prefer them.

Don Dickinson turned out to be a great guy that was more than willing to share his considerable experiece with a novice on Higgins Lake like myself. His tipup rigs were specially geared for Higgin's lakers. They featured a large spool with a line guide at the bottom of the spool for easy reeling. Dickinson uses tipup line with a 6-lbs. test, clear, monofilament leader. A 3/4 oz., egg sinker is slid on above the barrel swivel, which connected the main line to a rather long leader. He used a diminutive #16 treble on the business end.

Dickinson told me, "The small treble hook is impaled just under the skin of the bait near the tail. The small hook doesn't weigh the minnow or smelt down allowing it more action. The lakers don't seem to feel the small hook either, which results in a better catch ratio."

Being a little stubborn at times, I stuck with my larger, #6 treble hooks and watched as Dickinson caught fish after fish while my tipups just sat there like sticks in the ice.

Klowski roared up on his snowmobile about noon and I still hadn't caught a trout. With his jaw still numb, he mumbled a little, but was ready to fish none-the-less. I re-rigged my tipups like Dickinson's and in short order we all limited out with many throwbacks for good measure. Dickinson said, "On some days, just about anything will catch lakers, while on other days, like today, a precise presentation is needed to bring home some trout." All of the lakers that we caught were in the 16" to 25" range, but Klowski says, "I've seen several huge lakers taken by ice anglers that surpassed 30-lbs." Brown trout cruise over the same deep waters where lakers are found. Klowski advises, "Set a tipup baited with a shiner in the top 30' of the water column to target browns."

Besides tipups, jigging is another productive tactic for lakers. Heavy lead-head jigs and big jigging spoons are popular in the deep water that lakers call home. Most savvy anglers tip their jigging lures with a minnow.

Some of the best areas for lakers are along the drop-offs in 70' to 130' of water. For lakers, Klowski recommends the break out from the North Higgins Lake State Park south to the DNR boat launch along West Shore Drive. The deep waters off Hillcrest and the break to the north and south of Flag Point are also prime spots for winter lakers.

Perch

Perch fishing was really happening on Higgins last year with most of the fish running in the 8-10" range. I've had good success catching perch using tinny teardrops baited with a wiggler. Pinch a split shot a foot above the teardrop to help get the bait to the bottom where most of the perch action occurs.

Klowski recommends trying for perch in water over 25' deep along the drop-offs. His favorite spots are off the North Sunken Island, north of the South Higgins Lake State Park and east of Big Creek. Some other good spots are the 25-50' depths along the drop-off from Flagg Point all the way to the Cut River and the drop-off to the south and north of the DNR access on West Shore Drive. The drop-off straight out from the South Higgins Lake State Park is also good for perch at times. It often pays to run and gun for perch. If they aren't biting in one spot, pick up and move until you strike gold. Klowski likes to Suspend small minnows near the bottom on a spreader rig for perch.

Pike

"Northern pike are largely ignored on Higgins Lake," Says Klowski. For good pike action, he recommends the weed beds just west of the South State Park and the 15' to 20' depths off Sam-O-Set Road. With the ultra clear water, spearing pike is popular on Higgins. "Pike up to 20 pounds are taken every year," remarked Klowski.

Smelt

Smelt are targeted mainly at night. Locals typically suspend a light in a hole to attract smelt to the area. The smelt will usually be suspended somewhere in the water column. Here is where a fish finder can be invaluable to determine what depth the fish are holding at for an accurate presentation. Small ice jigs tipped with a wax worm are typically most productive on Smelt.

Klowski recommends trying for smelt in 15-25' of water south and north of the DNR Access on West Shore Drive. He says another good areas are the same depths off the North State Park and out from Roosevelt Ave. If you don't have a fish finder, Klowski advises to focus on the top portion of the water column, as smelt will often school just under the ice.

Whitefish

Try fishing waters 90-100' deep for whitefish and put the baits right on the bottom for best success. Most consistently successful anglers use small Swedish Pimples tipped with a small minnow or wiggler for whitefish. Whitefish have soft mouths, so when one picks up the bait, just reel him in gently without jerking to set the hook.

For good whitefish action, try the waters south of Beaver Creek Park, straight out from the DNR Access on West Shore Drive and the 80' depths out from the South State Park.

Whether it's perch, lakers, rainbow, browns, smelt or whitefish you're after, Higgins Lake is the place to head during the winter. I'd suggest calling or visiting Higgins Lake Sport and Tackle (517-821-9517) for fishing information and for all your bait and tackle needs. The owners are truly friendly people that know how to put anglers onto some fish. Higgins Lake is truly big water fishing on an inland lake. A quality lake map like the ones offered by Fishing Hot Spots (800-338-5957) would prove indispensable for serious angling.

For area lodging and other information contact the Higgins Lake/Roscommon Chamber of Commerce at 517-275-8760.

THE END

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