Indiana's summer-run strain of steelhead, called Skamania, want to move into the tributary streams where they will spawn during June, July and August. If the water nearshore is too hot, they'll stay out in the lake waiting for it to cool off. If the nearshore water is suitable in temperature, but the streams are running with warm water, they'll stack up just off the mouths of the tributaries and wait for the next rainstorm to push a cool load of water down the creeks. If both the lake and the stream are running with cool water, they'll head into the streams and a boat-fisherman has to be in the right place at the right time to intercept them.

The most consistent fishing for steelhead is during the summer months, far offshore where anglers are trolling over deep water for salmon and lake trout. Incidental catches are made almost every day and provide a welcome and wonderful surprise for the angler who lucks into one.

LAKE TROUT
There were more lake trout taken last year than have been caught for a decade or more. Once the staple of the summer offshore fishery and easy to pattern and target, in the late 1990s, the lakers changed their habits and nearly dropped off the radar screen. Instead of easy limits of two per person almost on demand, some years, avid anglers only boated two fish per year.

Most theorized when zebra mussels adapted and colonized the lake bottom in the prime summer lake trout depths of 100 to 125 feet, the lakers moved away. Or perhaps it was just that the lures being trolled right at the bottom where lakers lurk spent more time running fouled with zebra mussel clustered than running clean and tempting to a trout.

Perhaps the lakers came back; perhaps they were always there but wanted a change of tactics to lure them onto the hook. And that change is adding bait to your lure. These days, trolling lures dressed with strips of herring or other natural bait is the way to catch 'em. The usual setup involves putting a large 12- or 14-inch-long rotating flasher at the end of the line. A long leader often dressed with hookless tinsel flies trails behind the flasher and a hybrid combo of plastic and herring strip is the actual lure or bait the fish bites.

The plastic part is called a bait-head. It's specially designed to spin or flip as it trolls through the water, enhancing the action imparted to the rig by the flasher. The bait-head also holds the bait.

These rigs are normally run close to the bottom, but skippers strive to keep them from actually hitting the bottom where they might be fouled by mussels or other debris. It pays to check the baits often to make sure they are clean.