The fish in front of me weren't big, and they weren't steelhead or suckers. They appeared on average to weigh from two to four pounds.

And then a fish moved out of the surface glare, and it was an even larger fish. Perhaps six to seven pounds, and then the white spot on the bottom tip of the tail became visible through my Polarized sunglasses.

It was a walleye, and fish larger than four pounds are females. The smaller fish were males, and then two or three other good fish were seen in a deep river hole.

Perhaps you are thinking these fish were seen in the Detroit or St. Clair rivers near Detroit or the Tittabawassee River near Saginaw, but you'd be way off base. If that was your guess, you are off by about 175 to 275 miles.

The fish were finning in the Platte River. About 10 years ago I caught one walleye in the upper Platte River in early April, and it was a three-pound male. It fought a little bit, and was quickly landed.

Given time, and a reduction of spring poaching of river walleyes, could produce walleyes like this one in Platte Lake.

Scattered reports of the occasional walleye kept surfacing from the Platte River, but based on the number of fish I saw yesterday while doing an early check for steelhead, showed there were more walleyes around than I knew about. More than most people knew about.

The Platte River opens April 1 above Platte Lake to steelhead fishing, and will be open up to the US-31 bridge east of Honor. There are steelhead in the river now as well, but the walleyes won't be legal to catch until the last Saturday in April.

Platte Lake has provided a sporadic walleye fishery over the past several years, and it also holds some big fish. A few jumbos to 12 pounds have been caught by winter ice fishermen in the past.

There is a small tale to tell about a once-great walleye fishery that died out because anglers caught and kept the big fish out of season.

Poaching caused the disappearance of big walleyes in the Betsie River.

Years ago, the nearby Betsie River hosted a big run of huge walleyes every spring as the little males and the huge females moved upstream as far as the old Homestead Dam. Conservation officers did the best they could, but hundreds of big walleyes were caught or snagged, kept, and after about 10 years the walleye run died out. The fish just disappeared, and have not returned.

Some of those Betsie River hen walleyes weighed 15 pounds, and there were many rumors of walleyes that weighed 18 pounds or more. Some would have been new state-record fish, but human greed erased those fish from the river in just a few short years.

Will the Platte River produce fish that large or not? It's a mystery that no one knows right now, and some might say I shouldn't be writing about these fish.

The more people who know about the walleyes, the better. The more eyes watching the river, and the anglers and fish, the more difficult it will be for meat-hungry slobs to catch or snag fish and keep them.

As I said, there are steelhead upstream in the water that opens April 1, and some of them may encounter a few walleyes. All I ask is that sportsmen leave the walleyes alone, and call the DNR with a solid description of anyone seen snagging a steelhead or a walleye. Especially take note of anyone who lands and keeps a walleye.

Platte River walleyes are protected until late April.

These fish are protected until the season opens the last Saturday in April, and by that time the steelhead and walleye spawn will have ended. If some walleyes are still in the river by then, they will be legal to catch and keep.

It's important to help build a good walleye fishery in Platte Lake, and that means protecting these fish during the off-season when they cannot be kept.

The Betsie River had a major walleye run, but thanks to the greed of some people, all of those big fish are long gone. Did some migrate downstream to Lake Michigan, up the big lake to the Platte River, and start to grow or are these fish from many Platte Lake plants made over the years?

I don't know, but it would fill me with pride if anglers turned in any scofflaws seen keeping and catching a walleye during this early season. Every angler can do their part to keep the outlaw anglers from ruining this spawning run.

If we protect the river walleyes we also will be protecting the Platte Lake walleyes that many people enjoy catching during the summer months. Together, we can do our part to keep the Platte River free of the outlaws.