By the late 1800s Leland was home to a small fleet of fishing vessels. These early fishermen set their nets offshore in open wood mackinaw boats rigged with sails. By 1905 the fishermen began to replace the sails in their mackinaw boats with gas-powered engines. The new engines and the addition of protective cabins enabled the fishermen to fish farther from port, in more inclement weather, and for more of the year.
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Diesel eventually replaced gas and new machinery was added to newly built tugs that made the fishermen increasingly efficient at catching fish, but wood tugs still reigned in Fishtown until the late 1950s. In 1958 the Steffens and Stallman families dedicated two new fish tugs in Leland. With these boats, the Janice Sue and the Mary Ann, commercial fishing in Leland left the world of wood boats and entered the world of steel, with hulls specially designed for the rigors of this part of the Great Lakes. Janice Sue has served in Leland ever since. Trap net fishing began in Leland in 1982, with the launch of the hand-crafted steel tug, the Joy.
This is the first summer of my life where I’ve been out on Lake Michigan this many times. Four trips in total so far, and while that might not be many for some, I take it as such a blessing. Lake Michigan is so deeply embedded in who I am, from summer days spent swimming […]
Reading has been a constant in my life ever since I was little, and in the same way people talk about the core memories that shaped their youth, I have core books that made me the person I am today. I recall my favorite part of kindergarten was read out loud time, and as I […]
Summer is officially in full swing here in Leland, Michigan. With the summer solstice having come and gone and July peeking around the corner, we have officially entered the busiest time of the year for Fishtown. My weekend was happily spent on Vans beach getting absolutely ROASTED by the sun, and if this summer has […]
If I’ve learned anything in the last month, it’s that there’re people in Fishtown who love the sport of fishing, those who find it boring and can’t get far enough away from the smell that comes with it, and then there’s Joel. Joel Petersen, Captain of the trap netter Joy, eats, sleeps, and breathes fishing, and […]
