The Big Lake and It's Tributaries

by

Chris Matthews

If you live in the Midwest like I do, it’s hard to ignore the expansive bodies of water that would be within a few hours drive for most that live here, in the form of the Great Lakes. These lakes enormity can obviously be very daunting to think about how they can be fished effectively. Lake Michigan is the closest to me living in central Illinois, coming in at a whopping 14.3 million acres, would truly fit the ‘Inland Sea’ mantra in every sense of the analogy, unless you’ve seen them in person it’s tough to truly describe how insignificant you can feel standing next to one of them.

However, the tributaries and harbors can offer shelter, spawning grounds, features and some piece of mind that you’re not going to be sitting on your hands all day hoping for a bite as these venues offer some sense of normal when it comes to targeting carp. At the right time of year these venues and carp highways can offer some of the best fishing around.

I usually target these venues from mid-May through mid-June, while fish can be had all year round, this would typically be when they are most active, at peak weights for those that care and are actively feeding heavily before the spawn starts.

Downtown Chicago offers some great fishing if you can bear the traffic, parking costs and lots of inquisitive passers by asking what we could be fishing for when we are on the bank with all the carp gear that we are known to bring as an angling community (everything but the kitchen sink eh?). The most productive of these particular venues and well known over the years the Lincoln Park lagoon and Montrose Harbor. These two spots can and do offer their own unique challenges when fishing them, at both you will experience lakes swells which will push the water in and out with such force it is comparable to fishing a river complete with weeds and zebra mussels! At the Lagoon, the annoyance of the local rowing clubs going up and down with no reservations going past a foot off the bank and at many times, having to resort to using back leads.

However, these struggles can be well worth working through to enjoy the spoils that these bodies of water can offer. Tackle and setup is usually the same for me here as it is most other places I fish, no need to over think it. However, it can be beneficial at times to use long leaders of heavy abrasion resistant mono to help combat the mussels as best as possible.

Although I had talked with Wayne Boon a lot over the year or two prior in 2019, I had up to that point never met him in person, I had the pleasure of meeting him at Montrose harbor ahead of the ill-fated CCC due to heavy rain fall which was due to be held at Joliet on the Des Plaines river the next day… The event did go ahead as planned but the river was moving at 17,000+ cfs most of the day, making it next to impossible to fish (Wayne in fact went on to win and I had the honor of being the weigh marshall in his section at the time as his alarm sounded and interrupted the couple of beers we had just opened).

I’ve also found myself over the last 4-5 years traveling up to Michigan a lot more and fishing some of the river tributaries a half mile or so upriver from where it spills out into the lake. While I don’t really believe these locations to be holding grounds for them but more passing lanes to spawning grounds upriver, I’ve found baiting heavily to slow down their migration too and from the lake helps get them interested and increases the chances of getting more bites.

These places are typically deeper channels anywhere from 13 to 20 feet deep right off the walls. As these are rivers flowing out into the lake you can expect your usual river flows and at times notice the water change direction due to the lake swells, nothing a 3-4oz lead can’t typically handle as it does in your everyday fishing.

I have also noticed over the years especially on the Michigan side that I fish, that chances of a mirror seem significantly greater at these locations than the standard Illinois spots that I fish throughout the year. Not a massive chance, but a chance is all you need, and I’ve seen and caught my own fair share of them.

I have only fished this next location the one time, an iconic swim in the Midwest made famous by Austin & Brendan Pass and Brian Daugherty when it featured in the Carl and Alex film some 6-7 years ago now, and for myself like many others, it became a bucket list spot to fish. ‘The Sub’ as it is aptly named for some reason…

I’d be lying if I said this wasn’t one of the more surreal spots I’ve ever fished, set on a channel between lake Michigan and a big shipping port inland that runs up the Muskegon river, it’s a spot that I feel everyone with access to needs to experience at least once in their lifetime, it’s not every day you get to fish with a WW2 submarine as your backdrop.

Unbeknownst to me at the time of travelling up there, we had spent the day fishing a social event at lake Macatawa in Holland, MI some hours or so drive south of Muskegon. When we got there, the sun was setting and we found out the sub actually offers boy scout groups the opportunity to sleep on the sub overnight.

We had a busy night with consistent action as the fish moved into our spot, that action carried over well into the following morning hours. The kids had been watching us from on top of the sub for most of the morning, so when the parents came by to pick them up and I had another fish on and they gathered round, I passed my rod off for one of the kids to experience catching his first carp and, in his words, ‘the biggest fish I’ve ever caught!’(12,13)

There are so many unknown spots along the sides of lake Michigan that probably offer similar fishing to the spots I have talked about here. I know there are some long standing tournaments up in Wisconsin that draw carp anglers year in year out, and when timed right produces lots of good sized fish. I believe a few years ago there was a 40+ that came out during one of them. A lot of focus stays on the Michigan side as that side is more heavily populated with like minded folks as myself so spots filter through word of mouth. Wisconsin is a state on my radar for the future that I really need to explore more and put in time to see what the west side of the lake offers too.

Thanks for taking the time to read, I hope my words here would encourage you to explore if you have somewhat easy access to one of these great lakes and it’s tributaries…to go out and enjoy it’s spoils when the time comes knocking!

Good Luck out there,

Chris