When my cousin Jim Stresing called and suggested ice fishing inside McKinley Marina, I grabbed my bucket of ice fishing tackle and tip-ups. Below-zero weather had formed about one foot of safe ice, and he had reliable information that rainbow and brown trout were being caught around the piers. I met up with Jim and his buddy Marty at the parking lot on a balmy, February day with temperatures in the low 20s. Fishing the harbor at McKinley allows me to fish tip-ups with a reasonable chance of catching fish within an easy 20-minute drive from home. Other Lake Michigan harbors and marinas like Racine and Kenosha also offer good fishing.

The parking lot and fenced, inside area of the marina are normally off-limits to the general public. They are opened to the public in late winter/early spring after freeze-up for ice fishing. The marina uses pumps to circulate water between the piers, and the slightly warmer, moving water draws baitfish. We found about 6 feet or so of water below the ice. Be careful. The water being circulated leads to thin ice in some spots, as well as “overflow” and soft spots on the ice. I suggest testing the ice with an axe, ice spud or steel pole as you go to make certain that you are standing on good ice. The thickness of the ice even varied from hole-to-hole. I stepped on a spot that looked like snow-covered ice only to have my boot sink down almost a foot into slush.

You can also fish out in the inner harbor provided there is safe ice. Several years ago, I set tip-ups and jigged for trout out there. The water in the inner harbor is deeper, running 12 to 20 feet deep. Use extreme caution, as wind and currents from the lake can lead to thinning or shifting ice. We noticed anglers by the piers having better luck, so we now fish there instead. The ice inside the harbor by the piers seems to be a little more stable.

Fishing for trout with tip-ups or jigging rods can produce fish. We opted for tip-ups baited with live shiner minnows. We picked out an area between two piers and set tip-ups in a staggered pattern along them. We also set tip-ups out at the ends of the pier. Our tip-ups were an eclectic mix of round Frabills, classic Beaver Dams, and a couple of Russian copies. We set our minnows anywhere from a foot below the ice, to 6 inches to a foot off the bottom. It’s always a good idea to scatter your baits around the area to find where the fish are, and at what depth they are feeding.

As mentioned, we opted for live minnows. Spawn sacks are also a popular bait, usually used on rods rigged to set the hook when hit by a fish. Spawn from some species works better than others. Brown or lake trout spawn seems to work best, with rainbow close behind. Salmon eggs will work, but don’t seem to get as many hits. I have also used whole smelt, suspended level, hooked on a quick-strike rig like for pike. In a pinch, try wax- or red worms on a jig, or cut bait like chunks of smelt or lake trout belly on a treble hook.

The day we fished was sunny, and the beginning of a high-pressure front. Out of nine tip-ups set, we only had two flags. Both fish dropped the minnow after pulling out maybe a foot of line. Maybe one of those rod holders that automatically set the hook would have hooked them, but I that suspect they were smaller fish. Use caution, be safe and good luck!

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