Northern Lake Michigan Fishing Report: April 18, 2011
Manitowoc Co.
Heavy rain, strong winds, cold weather, and poor water conditions slowed angling pressure throughout the week. Early week temperatures in the low 50s dropped to the mid-30s with wind chills down to as low as 20 degrees by the weekend. Strong winds switching from northeast to northwest throughout the week at 15-25 mph with wind gusts up to 35 mph. Heavy rain on Saturday combined with the heavy rain last weekend has left the tributaries at their highest water levels this spring. Many low-lying areas continue to be flooded along the fast-flowing tributaries. The turbid, chocolate milk appearance of the tributaries has hindered angling success this week. Water temperatures climbed as high as 54 degrees on Tuesday, but dropped back down to 37-40 degrees by the end of the weekend in the tributaries. Success has slowed for steelhead in the East and West Twin Rivers this week. Only a few lucky anglers reported landing steelhead, with many anglers landing only suckers. Success has occurred using a variety of baits including spawn, flies, and grubs. Angling pressure has been very slow for steelhead on the tributaries due to weather and water conditions. The sucker runs are in full swing this week, but dip-netting success has been slowed due to the high, fast-flowing waters. In the Manitowoc harbor and the Manitowoc River near the mouth, anglers continue to have success using sucker guts to land catfish ranging anywhere from 6-13 pounds. The same can be said for the Two Rivers harbor with catfish, and a spring carp tournament over the weekend resulted in large numbers of carp landed. The boat ramps showed little activity this week due to strong winds, but the Manitowoc marina boat launch did open on Wednesday.
