When it comes to using small boats on big water, Marc Wisniewski reminds us to think safety first while you get in on summer trout and salmon action.

For decades, there was a stigma that if you wanted to fish on Lake Michigan, you had to own a giant boat or hire a charter. That’s probably still true if you want to venture out three or four miles. But to get in on this fishery without going far offshore, the boat you own is probably big enough. In fact, in some larger, deeper harbors, you may never need to leave the safe confines of the harbor walls to take advantage of this great fishery.

Before I get you all fired up about taking a small boat or kayak onto the Great Lakes, let me begin with some discussion on safety. The number one point of discussion when planning a trip in a smaller vessel is safety! Check and constantly monitor the weather. Conditions need to be favorable and predicted to be consistent. You don’t want any chances of pop-up storms or sudden wind direction changes. Small vessels may be able to handle 1- to 2-foot waves, but when they get bigger than that, it could get sketchy. Light onshore winds or offshore winds are the safest.

The other safety issue to monitor at all times is other boats. Some larger boats throw off huge wakes, and no matter what your directional plans are, you need to redirect and head into a wave at a slight angle. Even bigger wakes are created by large, ocean-going ships. They may be a mile from you, but eventually, that push of water will find you. Unless you are really close to the ship, you won’t notice much except a rise and fall like an elevator ride. The main issue from long-range waves comes when they meet the shore or breakwall. If you feel one coming, get away from a seawall, because you will get caught in the rebound from the first wave colliding with the second and third wave. If you just get away from the wall, you will be fine.

Add the local U.S. Coast Guard phone number in the contacts of your cell phone and contact them to find out the requirements of your boat to be in federal waters. There are a couple different pieces of equipment that you will want to have to be legal. 1) Lifejackets, including a lifejacket that fits for everyone on board. 2) A throwable PFD, like a life ring or boat cushion with handles. 3) A sound device like an air horn or whistle. 4) A working fire extinguisher. 5) A visual warning device. Most boaters carry three red flares. A distress flag is also a great additional daytime visual device, but it does not replace flares.

Those are the items that the Coast Guard will look for if you are boarded to check for compliance with safety gear. Additional items to keep you safe are an anchor with a rope that is twice the depth of the water you will be fishing. If you are staying in or near a harbor, a 100-foot rope will be great. If you lose power, the more that you can hold your position, the easier someone will find you. A marine radio or a cell phone is not on the Coast Guard list of requirements, but to me, that is the most important. Being able to call back to land for help if something goes wrong will solve problems quickly. It’s not a bad idea to have a phone charging device along like a Halo charger.

All that safety stuff out of the way, let’s talk fishing for Lake Michigan trout and salmon.

You can rig your boat without spending a bunch of money and buying a bunch of new gear. Keep it simple!

I’m not a huge trolling fan, but it’s a good way to search for fish and cover water till you can stop and cast or jig. For trolling, you can use a heavy spinning rod, or I prefer a medium-heavy baitcaster. I’ve used bass “flippin’” type rods for a long time and they work great for this application.

We are in the summer pattern right now, so getting deep is probably a key component. Most of these harbor areas are 20 to 25 feet deep, and there are plenty of deep-running crankbaits that will troll to those depths. I love Deep ThunderSticks or Bandit Deep Walleyes. Rapala DT-14s will get a little deeper than 14 feet with 100 feet or more of line out. All three of these are really proven search baits for summer salmon or trout, as well as the fall run of kings.

Spoons are also super effective when trolled, but you need to add some weight to get them down. The easiest way is adding a 1- to 2-ounce Bead Chain trolling sinker with a leader (the length of the rod) out to your spoon. I like to let out enough line to let it tick bottom, then reel it up a bit to get it 4 to 6 feet off the bottom. You need a little wiggle room for variations in the bottom and for turns where you lose a little speed.

When you think of trolling, you probably picture a bunch of lines in the water, and rod holders for all of them. That’s fine, but you don’t need that, either.

If you are reading this, you probably have a 16-foot boat and you can’t run 9 lines effectively, anyway. But you can run one really well. Pump the rod to give the crankbait or spoon action. Pull it forward, then drop the rod back to cause a pause. It’s the stop-and-go retrieve for trollers. Take the motor out of gear, allowing a spoon to fall, and a crankbait to rise. Often, when you put the boat back in gear, a fish will hit.

So, hopefully you locate a few fish by trolling and can stop and get a few more by casting or jigging. A little wind is your friend if you can catch a drift through either a pod of fish, or a harbor feature like a breakwall gap where fish are moving. This is where it can really be fun.

The jigging and casting bite can be broken down into three groups: jigging spoons, blade baits and jigs.

Jigging spoons include baits like the Kastmaster, Krocodile, Crippled Herring, Swedish Pimple, Hopkins Spoon and an old favorite, the budget-friendly Bass Pro Strata Spoon. Drop them to the bottom, reel up a couple of turns and work them with a quick snap of the wrist. If nothing happens, reel up a few cranks and snap a couple more times. Repeat up and down to cover the lower half of the water column. Spoons in the 3/8- to 3/4-ounce range are perfect for depths from 15 to 40 feet.

Blade baits are fished the same as jigging spoons. Everyone knows the original Heddon Sonar, but blade baits have really taken off the past 10 years, primarily due to their productivity in the walleye world. Sonars are still good, but also look at Zip Lures, Big Dudes, Binskys, Acme V-Rods and Steel Shads. There are so many great blades out there! Find one you like and look at colors of silver, gold, pearl white or glow. Always use a Duo-Lock snap for blade baits.

Jigs can cover a lot of options from lead heads dressed with plastics to hair jigs. Three- to 3.5-inch swimbaits on a 3/8- to 1/2-ounce heads are good options. What has become more popular and effective is a 3- to 4-inch fluke-type bait rigged on a bullet head. You get a wild, darting action out of this combo that trout and salmon can’t seem to resist. Kalin’s Jerk Minnows, Zoom Flukes and Lunker city Fin-S-Fish all work well. And I can’t leave this subject without mentioning tubes. A white tube fished on a 3/8- to 1/2-ounce tube head is just a killer out there, all season long.

July and August sometimes mean that you need to venture out into deeper water to find some action. If you have a seaworthy 16- to 18-footer, you can get to that deeper water and fish with the big boys without spending a bunch of money.

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