After the winter season giving us a throwback to winters gone by with above-normal snowfall and below-normal temperatures, we can welcome April and its beautiful spring weather. Ahhh, springtime on Lake Michigan! Great to see it.

The southern shores of the “Big Lake,” being the shallowest part of the lake, will see the Indiana and Illinois waters first to warm up. This will usher in perhaps the best salmon fishing to be found anywhere on earth.

With the warming rays of the spring sun, the shallow waters of Indiana will be the first to warm up, shortly followed by the neighboring state of Illinois to the west.

Young-of-the-year alewives and shad will be in these shallow waters in big numbers, and the silver spring coho, averaging between two and three pounds, will be right in there with them for an easy meal. These coho will soon be followed by the silver, mostly three-year-old Chinook.

This is the time of the year when the salmon are at their finest condition for table fare, and you can quickly fill up the freezer for the months ahead.

The advantage at this time of the year is that they will be in close enough to shore to make them accessible to everyone, shore fishermen and small boaters alike. This is the time to load up before the fish start moving out to deeper water as the season progresses.

Although shore fishing accessibility is not as readily available as it was in the “good old days,” there are still spots available if you look for them.

In Illinois, shore fishing is available at North Point and Waukegan near the Illinois-Wisconsin state line. Chicago also has many areas open to shore fishing, including piers and breakwalls all along the shoreline, all the way to the Indiana state line at Calumet Park on the City’s far southeast side.

Fish the insides of most Chicago harbors including Montrose, Navy Pier, Belmont, Diversey Harbor, DuSable, 31st Street, Jackson Park-inner and outer harbors, 63rd Street and Calumet Park. Many of these areas require pier passes or parking permits, so it pays to call the Chicago Park District General Number (312) 742-PLAY (7529) to answer any questions.

In Indiana, shore fishing is available in Whiting, the Hammond Marina, East Chicago, Gary, Burns Ditch, the Portage River Walk, the Michigan City Pier, and the DNR Station at the mouth of Trail Creek, also in Michigan City. These should all be hot spots for spring coho this month.

Stream fishing is also available for steelhead and some brown trout in Trail Creek, Salt Creek and the East Branch of the Little Calumet River. Those spring steelies will present quite a challenge on spawn sacs, nightcrawlers and brightly-colored in-line spinners.

As far as perch go, I’m not going to discuss them in depth because of their unpredictability. Just as the winter perch move in, seemingly overnight in fall right before Thanksgiving, they will move to head to their spawning grounds in April. Once they leave, they are gone until next fall.

If you are looking for perch, try the spots we fished during the winter in the South Slips and the Calumet River. I’ve had some of my best days fishing for perch in April—as well as some of my worst.

If you don’t start catching perch in the first five minutes or so, pack up your gear and go home. Just as the perch move in during fall, they will do just the opposite during spring in April. If you stay, you would be wasting your time because they will be gone.

Reminder: If you plan to get in on some of the red-hot April action, don’t forget your fishing licenses from both states; Illinois and Indiana licenses expire at the end of March, and you will need new licenses and trout stamps on the first of April. There will be plenty of Conservation Officers out checking, so be prepared. It beats paying a fine.

During the month of April, small boaters will also be having a field day in shallow Illinois and Indiana waters of the “Big Pond.” Look for spring coho to be stacked like cordwood along the Illinois shore from the North Point/Waukegan area all the way to the Indiana state line.

Indiana waters, where I’ve always done the majority of my trolling at the onset of the season, as early as ice-out, usually hold the most coho because it features the shallowest water of the four Lake Michigan states. Having the shallowest water in the lake, it will be the first to warm up, and it will contain coho from all three neighboring states, which will be loading up on the abundant forage available in spring.

The Indiana shoreline stretches from the Illinois state line in Calumet Harbor all the way past Michigan City to the Michigan state line. Some of the best spots include Calumet Harbor right at the Illinois line (reciprocal waters that can be fished with either an Illinois or Indiana license), Whiting, Hammond, East Chicago, which includes the Inland Wall and the Pastrick Marina, the Gary shoreline along the U.S. Steel plant, the Gary Light, the blue water tower where the lake swings east to Burns Ditch, Portage, the old Bailey generating station, and finally, the Dunes and Michigan City.

As you can see, it is a vast expanse of shoreline, and it can be less crowded than along the Chicago shoreline in Illinois.

The key to finding hungry schools of early spring coho is water temperature. Always look for the warmest water you can find, which will usually be located near or on the surface. That’s where the fish will be.

If you don’t have a surface temperature readout on your fish locator, it pays to purchase a surface temp gauge, which can be mounted on your dash or wherever you steer your boat from. The digital readout unit will provide you a constant temperature reading of the surface water.

In case you are a cold-weather fan who doesn’t want to let go of winter, here are the winners in the Southeast Sportsmen’s Club Ice Fishing Derby held on the Illinois side of Wolf Lake:

Largemouth Bass:            2 pounds, 6 ounces          17.75 inches       Caught By: Ed Cote

Largemouth Bass:            2 pounds, 0 ounces          16 inches           Caught By: Jim McGrath

Kids Division:                10-year-old Matthew Culjack cleaned house in two divisions.

Largemouth Bass:            .4 pounds, 15 inches

Walleye:                        1.10 pounds, 16.5 inches

A tip of the MidWest Outdoors cap and congratulations go out to Matthew on a nice pair of fish.