The Gentlemanly Harbor Angler

I have evolved into a “Gentleman Angler”. Meaning that I tend to target fish who have the good sense to actively bite during a reasonable time of the day. I typically am not out on the water until I have had time for a cup or two of coffee at home and have made my way to the lake at a rather leisurely pace. I’ll spend many hours fishing but do like to be home for supper or at the very least before I need to turn on the running lights. I was not always this way. 

During much of my misspent youth and early adulthood, I would be anxious to be on the water, rod in hand well before the first rays of sunlight streaked across the morning sky. As a young lad in northern Wisconsin, the opening day of the trout season was my Super Bowl. (Well, this was before there WAS a Super Bowl, but you get my point.) I planned and fantasied all winter about the opener when I would be standing in a local trout stream dangling a tasty crawler tempting an elusive brook trout. My buddy Howie and I would convince one of our parents to get up in the pre-dawn darkness and drop us off at a nearby stream. Usually it was Howie’s dad, who was the local game warden. We would slog through bitter cold wetlands, fingers numb, to sneak up on the unsuspecting brook trout. Hindered by the darkness, we would eventually stumble aimlessly into a tree, tangle our lines in the branches and send any nearby fish scattering to the deepest hole to hide. We typically did not do very well on opening day. Our youthful enthusiasm was no substitute for knowledge and experience, but what I would not now give for a taste of that ignorance of youth. 

I used to fish late into the evening as well. I recall one night on a lake in Ontario where a group of us boated several nice walleyes under a sky lit only by the red, greens and blues of a shimmering Aurora Borealis. Or trolling so late into the night that we had a tough time finding our way back to our wilderness camp. One muskie opener on Lac Vieux Desert on the Wisconsin-Michigan border, a group of us decided that midnight would be the perfect time to get a big fish. Astonishingly we hooked into a nice muskie in the pitch-black darkness. In our haste to get out on the water, we had failed to bring the landing net and I ended up hand landing the hefty muskellunge for my fellow angler, Steve.  I also vaguely recall spending an all-nighter dipping smelt off Wisconsin Point on Lake Superior. Ah, good times.

I don’t spend much time fishing in the dark anymore. There are good reasons for this. First, I don’t need to. When I was working and raising a family, my time to fish was limited and precious. If I had a day to fish, I wanted to milk every minute I could out of the opportunity. I would be out there early, and I stayed late. I have more time to fish now. I can fish almost every day, and I often do. Turns out, I can catch plenty of fish and still be home in time for an Old Fashion before supper. I find less motivation to “catch my limit”, if I know I’ll be out on the water the next day. Further, many of the reasons I enjoy fishing and being out on the water are lost if you do it in the dark. Tough to enjoy the surrounding scenery when there is no light or bask in the sunshine when there is no sun. Fishing is harder at night. Harder to find things, more difficult to move around, tougher to boat the fish. Those who are successful night anglers have my admiration. I know I pay a price in fish caught by eschewing fishing in the dark. It is well known that many species, such as walleye and salmon, famously bite better at night. The brown trout tournament anglers who get out on the water in the early morning hours before many of their competitors typically do much better. In the heat of the summer, the early morning and late evening anglers can benefit from more active fish in addition to avoiding the fishing pressure from other, more leisurely, anglers. So, I know I would catch more fish if I fished in the dark. I just don’t want to. I will gladly sacrifice catching one or two less fish in exchange for fishing on my terms and on my schedule.

That said, I can be found out on the lake when the sun don’t shine. I still enjoy getting up in the pre-dawn to target salmon in the mid-summer. It is a thrilling experience to be out on the expanse of Lake Michigan under a blanket of stars, setting lines and waiting for the first rays of sunlight and the first strike of a big Chinook salmon. I will linger late into a balmy summer evening if the walleyes are biting, or I just want to enjoy the last glow of the day wither away in the western sky. I do have running lights for the Maggie Leigh. Just in case. 

However, there are plenty of fish available in Door County that are more than willing to bite I the middle of the day. Smallmouth bass are a good example. I have had some of my very best outings in the middle of a blue-bird, sun-splashed afternoon. Often, bass activity will increase later in the afternoon as the waters warm, particularly the early summer. Northern pike, perch, bluegills, even whitefish through the ice all can be caught in numbers under a sunlit sky. No need to lose any sleep. I have also caught my share of salmon and trout without having to set my alarm for 4AM. 

So, I happily accept the mantle of the gentleman angler. I am content to wait until the landings are clear of the more aggressive, albeit more successful, anglers. Even though I often feel that I want to catch “just one more”, I have found that happiness can be found when you realize that the number of fish you catch is enough. No matter how many that may be. 

So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish, Bruce

Questions or comments to bsmith733@gmail.com