I have fished numerous tournaments on Lake Michigan near Escanaba and out of Green Bay. Back in 2004 we lost five boats out of 250 on the second day.
Back in 2008 or so at Green Bay we lost a couple. I made a run from Green Bay up to Oconto. The wind was forecasted to be 13, it ended up around 20-22 mph. For reference, the pro's consider winds of 17 MPH and above to be deadly on most of the Great Lakes. In the 7 days I fished there, we nearly had to call the Coast Guard twice because the forecast didn't match what happened on the water and we had a breakdown one day (came in on the 9.9).
I LOVE big water, but pray for those guys even if it's calm when they leave.
It's really hard to describe the amount of destruction I saw to boats out there - seat bases torn out of the floors, motors hanging on cables, bow caps on boats torn apart where trolling motors were mounted, windshields or bubbles torn off.
As to the fishing, they'll have tons of options and I'm curious what the boundaries will be. They will be able to fish all kinds of structure in the bay itself - manmade signal light islands, shorelines, marina's, huge rock reefs, weeds, river and creeks, you name it. IF they let them, I could see some contestants run all the way around the tip back to the lake side of the bay in Door County to fish. Straight north back into Michigan there are huge weed beds.
The water is often crystal clear, zebra mussels are prevalent and the bass are mostly unbothered. They are, or can be huge smallies. You'll also hear stories about accidental catches of salmon and trout up to roughly 20 lbs. The crazy fish to hook into are the 15-18lb drum.
The docks and other areas will be full of goby's too.
It definitely sets up for KVD I would think.
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