Visited a NW Lake Michigan pier tonight...because I do "requests"! Honestly, if you don't like fishing elbow to elbow and untangling lines every other cast you may want to wait till mid-week. There were at least 20 anglers on the pier head, and other ten between the light and the elbow, even after dark!
Here is a photo of the pier I was on. I tried to leave out any identifying landmarks:
Here is a shot of the water in front of me:
I was casting with this spoon and missed a hit on the drop about 9:15 p.m.
There were lots of sheepies still being caught but also some keeper species. On our pier head the hot bite was between 9:15 pm and 9:45. Three of these, one over 20 lbs.
I'm gonna try again later in the week when the fudgies have thinned a bit!
You guys are being too nice calling them fudgies. When my sons worked around the Silver Lake Sand Dunes back around 1990, they called them Tourons. Half tourist and 2/3 moron. I saw one of the campground owners a while back. He got a puzzled look on his face when I asked him how he was getting along with the Tourons. When I explained it to him. He said I was wrong they are at least 3/4 moron, getting worse every year. I said it sounds like it is time to retire if you can get your investment back. He agreed
To me a "fudgie" is anyone who walks on the pier with no intent to fish!
Top Ten Fudgie Questions:
10. Catching anything?
9. Are you fishing?
8. What are you fishing for?
7. Ever catch a swordfish here?
6. Catching anything?
5. Do you fish here everyday?
4. Catching anything?
3. Did you catch these? (Looking in bait bucket)
2. Can I take your picture fishing?
1. Catching Anything?
Y'know, sometimes its just nice to take a little stroll out on the pier, enjoying an icecream cone with the kids, take in the cool summer lake breeze. It is so frustrating to get out the end of the pier and there's some wild-eyed weirdo whipping around this giant pole with hooks at the end. Can't you see you are about to hurt somebody?? Or how about all those troll like specimens hunched on their bucket while their lines take up so much of the pier and completely ruin the view of a beautiful sunset that so many people want to see? And try talking to one of these guys, and you'd be better off on a farm...grunt grunt grunt. Yeah, when we take our walks, we refer to these guys as "cranks". As in "oh it looks like the water must be cold, all the cranks crawled out of the woodwork".
OK, I'm just kidding . Although if we do manage to catch one, my son loves nothing more than parading it around to all the fudgies and conelicker, just eating up the attention , explaining what all the fish are (they're gobies and are invasive and we don't eat them just feed the seagulls, that's a steelhead, etc).
To me a "fudgie" is anyone who walks on the pier with no intent to fish!
Top Ten Fudgie Questions:
10. Catching anything?
9. Are you fishing?
8. What are you fishing for?
7. Ever catch a swordfish here?
6. Catching anything?
5. Do you fish here everyday?
4. Catching anything?
3. Did you catch these? (Looking in bait bucket)
2. Can I take your picture fishing?
1. Catching Anything?
My favorite is when I am literally grabbing the fish out of the net and unhooking it. They ask, "Did you catch that here?"
Other notabale questions.
What's running right now?
There's salmon in Lake Michigan?
Do you eat these? (Pointing at alewives in bucket)
Are these your rods or are they out here for anyone to use?
I'm pretty sure fudgie is actually a Mackinac term for people who go to the island for fudge. I guess other lower penn people are having trouble coming up with their own terms? Y'all from Stronach area?
I miss pier fishing. Every 5 minutes you have tourists asking the same questions. After 20 minutes of that I am ready to go home. It feels like I just gave a Presidential speech.
I miss pier fishing. Every 5 minutes you have tourists asking the same questions. After 20 minutes of that I am ready to go home. It feels like I just gave a Presidential speech.
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