Mike Schoonveld, Author at Outdoor News

Tribal gill netting bad news for Michigan fisheries

Featured, Fishing, Michigan, National Fishing, Opinion / Mike Schoonveld

Several years ago, I was fishing for walleyes on an inland lake with a well-seasoned guide (meaning he was probably 20 years older than me) and in casual conversation I learned he’d come from a family with a long history of commercial fishing in Lake Superior.

He told me he’d started accompanying his dad, uncles and cousins on the netting boats in the 1950s. One sentence in our conversation stayed with me through the years.
He said, “Once we switched to nylon gill nets, our catches were incredible. If they (the Michigan DNR, then Conservation Department) hadn’t shut us down, we could have caught the last fish in Lake Superior – they were that effective.”

Tribal gill netting bad news for Michigan fisheries Read More »

Great Lakes river mouths are transition zones for salmon

Featured, Features, Fishing, Home Page News, Michigan, National Fishing / Mike Schoonveld

It’s easy to understand why Great Lakes salmon and trout gravitate to the places where streams or rivers flow into the Great Lakes in late winter or early spring.

The lake’s water may be hovering near the freezing point while the water flowing into the lake is often warmer by 10 degrees or more. It’s more comfortable for both predators and prey.
So why, in late summer and early autumn, do salmon gravitate to the waters near Great Lakes pierheads and the mouth of some Great Lakes tributaries? The water temperature in these nearshore waters is seldom salmon-suitable and even if there are baitfish in the area, the salmon are no longer actively feeding.

Great Lakes river mouths are transition zones for salmon Read More »

Making sense of GPS lingo among Great Lakes anglers

Featured, Features, Fishing, Home Page News, Michigan / Mike Schoonveld

Due to the unprecedented spike in the birthrate after World War II, the next decade or so after the war was called the “baby boom.”
It could be that the boating industry someday will view the years starting with the COVID pandemic and immediately after as America’s “boating boom” due to the unprecedented numbers of newly minted boats and boaters that were an offshoot of the upheaval caused by the virus and the attempts to bring it under control. The boating boom has resulted in a surge in Great Lakes boating and fishing, as well.

Making sense of GPS lingo among Great Lakes anglers Read More »

Bulging costs cloud carp plan outlook as threat to Great Lakes continues

Featured, Illinois, Michigan, Nature Page & Night Sky, Opinion, Opinion / Mike Schoonveld

It’s nearly unanimous.
Invasive Asian carp shouldn’t have ever been allowed to be imported into the United States. Once they were imported, safeguards should have been in place to make sure they couldn’t escape. Sadly, now that they’ve escaped, something needs to be done to curb their expansion.
Something must be done! The problem is that the word “something” seems to have different meanings.

Bulging costs cloud carp plan outlook as threat to Great Lakes continues Read More »

Here’s how to rig up double duty diver reels

Featured, Features, Fishing, Michigan, National Fishing / Mike Schoonveld

Anytime I can get dual service (or more) from any of my fishing tackle, I’m a happy camper.
If I can use the same rod to troll using planer boards and then switch it to trolling with downriggers, great. It saves money (rods are expensive), and it reduces clutter on my smaller-sized boat when my rods are multi-taskers. The same thing goes for the reels I use for fishing with directional diving planers, like Luhr Jensen’s Dipsey Divers, Dreamweaver’s Deeper Divers, and other brands.

Here’s how to rig up double duty diver reels Read More »

Big groups, big fish, big fun on Michigan’s Great Lakes

Featured, Features, Fishing, Michigan, National Fishing / Mike Schoonveld

Fishing is many things to many people. That’s one of the allures of the sport.
For some, the solitude of the game is what’s important. It’s man against fish. The angler chooses when, where, and how to fish, and success is a quiet joy.
But occasionally, fishing can be the star of the party and even become the party. With a little work and planning, a summer fishing outing on one of Michigan’s Great Lakes can be a memory maker.

Big groups, big fish, big fun on Michigan’s Great Lakes Read More »

Offshore wind energy isn’t for the birds

Blogs, Michigan, Opinion / Mike Schoonveld

The first negative thing I heard about wind energy turbines was that they were bird killers.
This was more than 20 years ago when wind energy production was in its infancy. I’d watched some of these prodigious wind turbines go up in a few locations and had seen more than a few grinding out kilowatts in roadside farm fields as I traveled.

Offshore wind energy isn’t for the birds Read More »

Know your emergency contact possibilities when on the Great Lakes

Featured, Features, Fishing, Fishing, Fishing, Home Page News, Michigan, Minnesota, National Fishing, Ohio, Opinion, Opinion, Opinion / Mike Schoonveld

I came out of a popular Lake Michigan harbor a few weeks ago and spotted a person in a boat a few hundred yards away waving a boat cushion.
“Something’s wrong,” I said to the people with me and headed my own boat closer to see if this was an emergency situation. I stopped near the distressed boater and learned his motor had unexplainably conked out. “Could we help,” he asked?

Know your emergency contact possibilities when on the Great Lakes Read More »

SPF, the FDA and the best numbers to keep you protected from the sun

Fishing, Fishing, Michigan, Minnesota, National Fishing, Opinion, Opinion / Mike Schoonveld

I pulled a tube of sunscreen from my boat’s glove compartment to slather on a layer of protection for my lips, face, ears – about the only portion of my skin exposed to the day’s sunbeams since I was wearing long sleeves, long pants and a wide-brimmed hat.
I asked a friend fishing with me if he wanted some. “Yes, please,” he said. Then when he looked at the tube he said, “I don’t think this stuff will work for me.”

SPF, the FDA and the best numbers to keep you protected from the sun Read More »

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Mike Schoonveld

Tribal gill netting bad news for Michigan fisheries

Great Lakes river mouths are transition zones for salmon

Making sense of GPS lingo among Great Lakes anglers

Bulging costs cloud carp plan outlook as threat to Great Lakes continues

Here’s how to rig up double duty diver reels

Big groups, big fish, big fun on Michigan’s Great Lakes

Offshore wind energy isn’t for the birds

Know your emergency contact possibilities when on the Great Lakes

SPF, the FDA and the best numbers to keep you protected from the sun

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