Expert says fish are biting

By MICKEY ALVARADOJim Knutson has been selling bait and tackle for a long time now and when he says the fish are biting people start jumping and heading out to the lakes in and around Lenawee County.Knutson’s Sporting Goods in Brooklyn has a million dollar inventory and everyone from the novice fisherperson to the pro will be able to hook up with the equipment needed to haul in monster pike or bluegills. Jim said that for around thirty bucks a kid could get set up and be out fishing in a matter of minutes. And the fish are biting.“The number one thing is we had a late spring,” said Jim. “So the fish stayed on the beds longer. It’s been a lot better as far as fishing but people aren’t fishing as much.”Jim said that this year the numbers of people purchasing items for fishing is lower than it has been in the last two years or so but that offers opportunity to those who get out now. Deals are to be had in the way of equipment purchases and the fish can be more active with fewer people around.He, and his wife Jan, offer a selection of fishing lures but Jim stands by the ways of old, suggesting live bait be used for the best results.“There’s a lot of rubber out there and it is starting to hook on,” said Jim, “But seeing that I sell a lot of live bait, I still like live bait. I think it’s more reliable.”But nowadays a worm can be more than just a plain ol’ worm. It comes in a couple of sizes, night crawlers or wax, and in fluorescent green.“We’re one of the few that have green worms left,” said Jim.They sell minnows as well but Jim says keeping them in stock is becoming more of a problem due to viruses. But he sells a whole lot of them too.A picture board with some of the area’s biggest catches will attest to the wide variety of species caught in the area and of the potential in size. Some of the NASCAR drivers go out of their way to get a few hours on one of the lakes in the Irish Hills. One of the best lakes in the area is Sand Lake where the fish are almost jumping on the hooks thrown at them. Jim’s been stocking the public access lakes in his area with walleye and Sand Lake is one of the most successful in his stocking program.“Sand Lake is one of the best lakes around right now because of my stocking program,” he said. “It’s really a good one.”Also mentioned by Jim as a really, really good fishing lake was Evan’s Lake and another is, when boating traffic is down, Clark Lake.“There’s so many boats in the summer there’s no good time to fish,” Jim said of Clark Lake. “Other than that it’s one of the better lakes.”He also mentions that Lake Columbia has excellent fishing and said Loch Erin, a private man-made lake, is coming on good but needs to be more heavily fished for crappie.Not to be missed is Devil’s Lake where Knutson’s will host one of the largest winter Bluegill/Crappie fishing tournaments in the nation this year, according to Jim. When announcing last year’s tournament it was booked within hours with more than 300 fishermen wanting to drop a line wherever Jim told them. He said there were already a couple of tournament contestants in from Illinois over the weekend already testing out Devil’s Lake’s waters.Knutson’s, located at 164 Wamplers Lake Road, Brooklyn, offers live bait locally at locations including Pilot Market on Russell Road in Tecumseh.