Hello, I am a longtime reader, and first time visitor to the Turtle. I will be up next week. I fish primarily out of the Port of Kenosha for salmon and trout on lake michigan, but i try to make at least a couple trips each year for inland lake fish. If anyone has questions or wants to fish on lake michigan with me, just let me know and i am happy to help!

My question is about artificial baits...i will be travelling the turtle with my girlfriend, and we will be canoeing to the various island campsites on the flowage. As such, we will have a small cooler but i would not expect the ice to last more than a day, so crawlers or live bait will be pretty tough to keep alive.

Does anyone have any good advice for catching 'eyes on artificials in this area? If not, i plan to bring my normal crank baits, and some jigs with gulp bait, but i will not be able to access much live bait, and we are aiming to eat fish while camping, so hopefully there is a chance to get some 'eyes or panfish on lures or jigs.

IF anyone has any insight into this, i would love to talk more or hear what you have to say. Thank you in advance, and i appreciate any advice! I know it is a huge lake and we will have to do some hunting to find active fish, but hopefully you can lend some advice about artificial baits...

Paul