Trail Creek Steelhead Report : 8/3/2009

I woke this morning at 3:30 a.m., headed down to the already packed car and got on the road. I arrived in Michigan City at a stretch of Trail Creek that I am familiar with. Unfortunatly the creek was not chalk full of eager fish like I had hoped it might be. After the recent rain I expect a new wave of Skamanias to be holding in the deeper holes, this was not the case. I saw 3 steelhead caught among the 15-20 anglers fishing there. Most were caught between 6:00 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. on worms or spawn on the bottom. Drifted spawn did nothing today, neither did spinners, spoons, or crank baits.

I was lucky enough to catch a few panfish while there, including one of the biggest bluegills I've ever caught. Above is a photograph of one of the more vibrant Pumpkinseed Sunfish I pulled from Kintzele Ditch, a place I thought would be full of fresh trout, but was quite dead upon wading the length of it all the way down to the mouth. That Sunfish was caught directly at where the water of Lake Michigan and the waters of the creek meet. The vibrant blue of Lake Michigan and the dark brown of the water seemed to be painted right on scales of this fish.

I stripped to my swim trunks and waded out into the surprisingly comfortable water to try my hand at surf fishing, there were some nice rollers coming in and I thought some steelhead might be holding in the cold waters in front of the outlet of the stream. I got this photograph of me fishing by setting my camera to shoot on interval and wading out in front of it. It was certainly a beautiful morning. I just wish I had taken a Steelhead to photograph as well.