The Not-So-Great Fisherman’s Guide to Trying Anyway: Maybe I Should Have Took the Fish Tour

An idea for a floating 
fish tour and fish lunch 
business. People go fishing
for a few hours and have a fish
sandwhich or meal.

Maybe support local
stores and homes
with a native protein source
from the Great Lakes. 
Commercial fishing is in high
demand and can be explored
but we have to improve
the environment, fish stocks,
sustainable funding.
Perhaps tourism can help.

More free ideas! Stick it on a hook!

 Finding the best places to catch fish with the right rig is basically a never-ending science experiment—except my lab coat is a hoodie, and my research assistants are seagulls judging me from the shoreline. Catching fish is unlikely to make even the tiniest dent in my grocery bill, but it does give me time to catch up on the news and do a little reading while my bobber lazily floats around like it’s on vacation. Every now and then I reel it in, change the bait, and toss it back out like I actually know what I’m doing. If I get really ambitious, I’ll jig the line a little to see if motion attracts fish—or at least scares off the ones already laughing at me.

Ice fishing is coming, too, and since my success rate isn’t exactly threatening the local fish population, I figure I should read up on what fish like to do during the winter. Pretty soon the ice will form on my usual spots, and I’ll have to wait until it’s thick enough to stand on. Although, let’s be honest: if I’m perched on a dock or a deep edge, I might just chop a hole and drop a line in without actually stepping onto the ice. Call it “lazy man’s ice fishing”—safer, warmer, and demands zero bravery.

Either way, it’s just nice to be outside. You just have to dress warm enough to survive that wind, which has the personality of a grumpy old man yelling at you to go home. I usually throw on my insulated garage duck bibs—they slide on and off easy, which is important since I’m often on my way to the grocery store or running errands. This way, I can stop for a quick cast like a fisherman who refuses to let adult responsibilities steal all the fun.

We had snow last week that
melted fast. The cold
weather is coming.

I found two articles that break down fish behavior and the kinds of lures they supposedly can’t resist. I don’t pretend to be the world’s greatest fisherman—if anything, the fish are probably sharing tips about me—so I keep reading and trying to figure out how to convince them to hop on my hook. There are endless tricks, and I’m sure the seasoned anglers out there have some of the world's best kept secrets. 

Side note: it’d be great to see places in the U.P. and beyond consider setting up fish nurseries funded by hobby-level commercial fishing licenses (I'm not in that position to encourage someone to look into more fisheries or using tourism to fund them. I'm way down the chain....one of the little people). Kind of like recycling fishing and tourism revenue back into boosting native fish populations and supporting local ecology. It could help sustainability, tourism, recreation. Just an idea—might work, might not, but it’s worth chewing on. For now I'm just working on the right bait to catch the right fishes.

You can view the ice forming.

Ice Fishing the Upper Peninsula

5 Baits for Ice Fishing Yellow Perch