Closest to the lakefront parking lot is a high fishing pier, which is wheelchair accessible. A very long-handled landing net is required to scoop up the fish at this location. Jutting out from the beach, at the very mouth of the waterway is a long breakwall that separates the open lake from the water in the stream. This pier isn't so high above the water level, but a long-handled net is still in order.

The winter cold quickly entombs the rocks and concrete here in a thick layer of ice. The long net allows the hooked fish to be netted without having to venture too close to the edge of the ice. Regulars to this and other similar shoreline access areas include ice-fishing cleats that clamp onto their boots as part of their normal gear to ensure good footing on the icy surfaces.

In Lake County, shore-fishermen can access the warmwater discharges at the Commonwealth Edison plant and at the BP-Amoco plant in Whiting. Again, ice cleats are mandatory to be safe in walking on the ice-covered surfaces.

Besides the lakefront park in Porter County, winter shore-anglers can gain access to warmwater discharge effluents at the shore-fishing area inside the Port of Indiana and at the Bailey Power plant. Getting to the DNR's fishing site inside the port is simple. Just check in with the gate attendant, and drive right to the park. It's a different story getting to the Bailey plant.

It's a hike! There's no access to the warmwater area through the Nipsco facility, and though some anglers hike around the perimeter fence, up and down dunes and through thick woodlands on National Lakeshore land, then down to the beach, it's not a hike for the timid.

Others start walking from Dunes State Park. "It's several miles to the discharge from the Dunes and mostly hard walking because of ice and snow," said Bob Messleton. "When things are just right, a couple of friends and I make the hike maybe once each winter. We tote waders with us and once we get to the discharge, we actually wade out into the water to do our fishing. It's a strange feeling having the water temperature on one's legs being 20 or 30 degrees warmer than the air temperature."

In LaPorte County, winter shore-fishing anglers will line up along the shoreline owned by the Indiana DNR where their Lake Michigan headquarters is located on Water Street. Here anglers can fish the mouth of Trail Creek from the pier at Washington Park or hike to the warmwater discharge at the Michigan City Nipsco station.

No one knows for sure how many brown trout are at these locations, when they arrive or how long they stay there before they are caught. But the story I told at the beginning, as well as other clues learned from inaccessible warmwater discharge areas, points to some answers.

Brown trout aren't schooling fish. Sometimes bunches of browns can be located in the same vicinity, but each of them is acting independently of the others. The likely scenario is brown trout living out in Lake Michigan wander somewhat aimlessly until they detect a warm zone. Once they find one, they stay there the rest of the winter or until it gets caught and kept.

So, as the winter progresses, these areas never get "fished out," since new fish are finding the area to replace the fish that are caught and removed. However, the constant fishing pressure (at least at the easily accessible areas) means there are never a huge number of willing brown trout in the area at any one time.