"It's Called Fishing not Catching..."
Indiana Dunes/North West Indiana Fishing Trip
I’ll write this article from the heart—I am disappointed in my latest fishing experience. The summer run of Skamania Steelhead starts at the end of June in Northwest Indiana. Steelhead migrate from Lake Michigan to run into the streams from June through August. Naturally, I wanted to maximize my success, so for our fishing trip (with my brother, nephew, & son) we chartered a boat to cruise the mouths of the creeks in or near the Indiana Dunes National and State Parks. Our charter departed from the Portage port around 5 a.m., and the whole time, we didn’t even get a bite in five hours of fishing—I am still in disbelief, to be honest.
At that point, I wanted to catch a fish, any fish, so we located a local Indiana DNR office and spoke to a biologist about fishing in the area. The biologist had a wealth of valuable information about where people were catching fish and popular spots in the area for steelhead fishing. The biologist recommended fishing off the pier at the Washington Park Beach in Michigan City, Indiana. He said folks were “smacking” steelhead at the location. So, I checked my Fishbrain app, and I did see a monster steelhead caught in the location two days prior. We scouted the area in the afternoon and decided to return early the next morning.
The DNR biologist also showed us the public access points to a cold-water creek called Trail Creek. One of the main issues, at least in my theory, for our lack of success is the heat. The week before our trip, a major heat wave struck, driven by the phenomenon known as “corn sweats.” Nonetheless, the biologist said this creek has cold-water springs that fill it and will hold trout in the area. I brought two fly-fishing poles, so we took off for the creek.
We fished the afternoon in the creek and spotted a couple of fish staging in pools before fast currents, but they were not interested in any fly presentations. I tried a streamer, the wooly bugger, again, because at that point I wanted to catch any fish & I knew Bass were sometimes interested in a streaming buggers. And to be fair, my brother did catch a monster-sized creek chub on a piece of shrimp—the only fish any of our party caught on our fishing trip. Naturally, I started to look at the water to “match the hatch,” and there were winged bugs with longer legs, so I tried a dry fly that resembled a mature mayfly and cast it near the staging pool—no luck!
The next morning, on Saturday at 4 a.m., I woke everyone up, and we took off for Washington Beach Pier in Michigan City, IN. It was quite a sight; the entire pier was filled with anglers trying to catch steelhead at the mouth of Trail Creek. The method for fishing that was generally used at the pier was 6-8 feet deep, about 6-8 feet from the pier, with some variation in the type of shrimp used as bait. Our group, consisting of Brother, Nephew, and me, was on the pier for four hours, and with all the anglers, we only saw one steelhead caught the entire time. A DNR officer was at the pier and even commented, “Yeah, it’s a slow day.” Oh, and did I mention that the DNR biologist and this DNR officer both knew our charter guide by name and were shocked we didn’t get one bite—” Wow, that’s some bad luck.”
Our group trip was over at that point, as my brother and nephew were heading back home the next day. I was still going to give it a go a couple more times, but it proved to be unsuccessful again. I had a late start on Sunday after going to Mass and fished the pier again at the wrong time of day, but I’ve seen fish caught at the wrong time of day—the idea that if there’s water, there’s fish.
The day we were leaving to come back home, I decided to go back to Trail Creek. I figured that where I’m from, I don’t have a lot of places to fish a cold water creek, and I might as well practice my casting. I tried the same combo, a wooly bugger to a mayfly, but I couldn’t even see fish in the water, I just hoped there was one lurking in a pool I couldn’t get my eyes on. I parked, and two anglers were walking up from the creek. I asked them about fishing and told them where and what I tried at the pier and the other access point of the creek. I referred to the heat, but they didn’t seem to think that was the reason for everyone’s lack of success. The anglers told me that in the first week of July 2024, you could see an abundance of fish in the creek. They did mention a sea wall being built on the lake and asked if the noise was loud, but I didn’t notice it on the pier. I think the theory these two anglers were developing was that the construction on the Lake was keeping the steelhead from running.
I had four days of fishing with no success—I had never fished that much in a single period and came up empty-handed. Well, I did catch one of those tree fish while fly casting.
Anyway, as my brother tried to console me, “Well, there’s a reason it’s called fishing and not catching.” Are there many fishing articles written that talk about not catching any fish? But here’s a video with someone actually catching steelhead in Trail Creek below: