Anglers are hoping it won't be too long before they can be back in their boats.
File photoBIG RAPIDS – Area fishermen report of certain locations which are still productive .
In Mecosta County, “it’s been kind of slow this week,” Tanner Havens of Frank’s Sporting Goods said. “The water is high right now."
In Osceola County, “There’s not much going on right now except for steelhead people,” Brad Cox, of Big Buck Country Shop in LeRoy, said. “Everyone is waiting for that ice to come off. Trout season starts the end of this month. Things will pick up then. We still have some ice but I wouldn’t suggest you go on it.”
In Manistee County, the DNR points out at Onekama, there was still ice build-up on both piers which restricted anglers from venturing all the way out. Anglers were reporting slow activity.
“We have steelhead fishing up to Tippy Dam with a high flow so that’s a little less than desirable,” Rob Eckerson of Pappy’s Bait Shop in Wellston said. “Water temps are around 39 and we’re at pre-peak. Manistee is pretty much in the same boat. We’re still early in the steelhead run. They’re getting a few perch out of Manistee Lake. People have been going up to Portage Lake. The ice is now just leaving Portage Lake.”
The DNR adds at Portage Lake ice covered about 60 percent of the lake with no access from the city launch. The DNR launch was free of ice and there was access.
At Don’s Sporting Goods, in Manistee, a spokesman said people are catching fish in the channel. “The guys coming in are tight lipped about what they’re catching,” he said.
Anglers at Manistee trolling for brown trout caught a few near the harbor and along the coastline north and south of town; a couple lake trout and coho were brought in as well. Pier anglers, the DNR said, caught a mix of trout and salmon including a couple steelhead and whitefish, but the bite was slow at times.
