Luckily for anglers, the successful steelhead stockings have continued year after year. In 2004, the DNR reported a total of 125,071 Skamania were released in the spring stocking at Trail Creek and the Little Calumet River, and an additional 62,841 fish were added in the fall. At the St. Joe, the spring and fall stocking efforts resulted in another 237,309 Skamania-strain steelhead.

Although it sounds like there are lots of fish out there, where are the best places for Hoosiers to fish for Skamania-strain steelhead right now? Based upon where the fish are stocked, the answers are not hard to predict. Read on to find out exactly where these spots are.

THE ST. JOSEPH RIVER
The Indiana portion of the St. Joseph River did not always host steelhead and salmon runs. The river empties into Lake Michigan at Benton Harbor/St. Joseph, Michigan, and before any migrating fish could get upstream to Indiana, dams in Michigan stopped them. Fish ladders were constructed by both states in the 1980s so that fish could bypass the dams, and by 1992, steelhead were entering the Indiana waters of the St. Joe.

Our section of the river (between the Michigan border and the Twin Branch Dam in Mishawaka) has been a steelhead hotspot ever since the last fish ladder was completed in 1991; the fish ladder allows steelhead to migrate a full 63 miles upstream from Lake Michigan.

Summer steelhead angling on the St. Joe is a unique endeavor. When the weather is cool and the water temperature is below 70 degrees, the trout are active and the fishing can be fantastic. During normal years, however, the heat of summer often raises the water temperature to 75 or 80 degrees (or even higher), and steelhead activity shuts down.

Although Skamania are a summer-run fish, they are still a coldwater species. Water temperatures above 70 degrees adversely affect them, and fishermen find that the best time to pursue them is early and late in the day when temperatures are a little lower.

Steelhead fishing guide Josh Lantz (www.rippleguideservice.com) fishes the St. Joe regularly; he knows that water temperatures are extremely important. "The main stream of the St. Joe routinely gets up above 80 degrees," he said. "That's about 15 to 20 degrees warmer than those fish would like to have it. Anything above 70 degrees puts them into a pretty serious state of stress."

When the water temperature goes up, steelhead look for cool spots to rest. "Steelhead will find any little tributary that runs into the river that's a few degrees cooler than the main stream, and that's where all of the fish will be," Lantz explained. "The creek mouths are the places to start for summer-run steelhead in the St. Joe River. Only a couple of degrees can make a big difference."

One of the nice things about the St. Joe is that it is big enough to accommodate both shore-anglers and boat-fishermen in large numbers. The river is wide and deep in many places, and there are logjams and root wads and undercut banks where the fish can find plenty of hiding places.

One of the more popular spots to find these hidden fish is off what is called the Isaak Walton League property, on the north side of South Bend. Unfortunately, you can only reach it by boat unless you are an Isaak Walton League member. That's also where Juday Creek enters the river. Steelhead will often hold right at the creek mouth or just downstream from it.

Another good spot to fish is at the Frank Zappia access site, located just downstream of the Twin Branch dam at Mishawaka. According to Josh Lantz, "There's a lot of great structure there. There's an island in the middle of the river, and when you have cool temperatures, the structure really holds the fish." Eller Ditch also enters the river's right bank here, which also draws fish.