Winowiecki fought for the fishery
Whitecaps twinkle in the big water off the Leelanau County shoreline in their timeless rhythm, unmoved by the loss of three lives spent pursuing what lies beneath them.
But those lives, representing three generations of fishermen, are missed. They dedicated themselves to their craft, leaving legacies that live on just like Lake Michigan itself.
Leaving this world over the past couple of months were Bill Carlson, Bill Winowiecki and Griffin Arends — the Fishtown legend, a blue-collar steward, and a budding talent in the art of fishing.
It would be inappropriate to say goodbye to the trio without acknowledging their contributions.
William (Bill) Carlson
One might look at the second half of Carlson’s 82 years and assume he spent his life on easy street.
Not so. Not even close. His road to success started rocky, he explained to me in a 2023 interview. He earned his way through life.
Young Carlson, who would go on to build the Fishtown community of today, practically grew up on Lake Michigan. His father, named Lester but known as Pete, first sought Bill’s help setting and pulling commercial fishing nets when he was about 8-years-old. That would have been in the 1950s, when the Carlson family plied their trade in a weatherbeaten, wooden shanty directly across the mouth of the Leland River from the Carlson’s Fishery building of today.
It was tough times for proud commercial fishers with lake trout stocks decimated by overfishing and lamprey and whitefish difficult to find.
“I remember walking the beaches when I was young and finding 17 lamprey scars on one trout that had washed up,” Carlson, who late in life moved to Sarasota, Fla., recalled.
Pete Carlson had already been knocked down hard but gotten back up. Three years before Bill was born — on Aug. 21,1941, to be exact — the fish tug that held the livelihoods of Pete and his father, Will, caught fire over fertile fishing grounds known locally as “16 fathom shoal.”
It’s located between North Manitou Island and the Fox Islands — beyond sight of the few shoreline cottages built overlooking Lake Michigan.
The tug sank, and Will eventually succumbed to exposure. Pete hung on through the night and was picked up the next morning by a couple of fishermen who by chance saw him bobbing in the waves.
Pete was left a fisherman without a boat or a father. He had time to reflect, but that wouldn’t feed the family.
“The summer people plus people in the community bought him a boat that he named Good Will because of his dad, of course, but also because it was the goodwill of everyone who made that possible. It was a great story for the community,” Carlson said.
Great stories followed Carlson — through the ups and downs of commercial fishing, to his understanding that tourism would be the only way to preserve Fishtown, to finding and marrying his wife, Jennifer, who tenderly cared for him as cancer and its treatments took a bigger toll on his life.
Make no mistake, without Bill Carlson there would be no Fishtown. Tripadvisor lists the top tourist draws in Leelanau County as Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Pierce Stock Drive — which is part of the Lakeshore — and Fishtown. Carlson during the 1970s and 80s had the vision to purchase and repair dilapidated shanties along the Leland River, convert them to a block of living history, and eventually sell to the nonprofit Fishtown Preservation Society.
He took pride in his son, Clay — who wrote a stirring Facebook post about his father — and in knowing that his nephew Nels Carlson became the fifth-generation owner of Carlson’s Fishery in Fishtown.
Bill Carlson’s stories are stamped into the weathered fiber of Fishtown pilings. Close friend Al Rollings remembers Bill providing free fish to people in need of food — and dozens of similar stories.
Bill took me into his confidence 43 years ago when I didn’t know which end of a pencil was up to explain the plight of commercial fishing in the face of rising Tribal tensions and depleted fish stocks.
He was worried about the biology of the fishery. His own financial future didn’t come up.
William Peter Winowiecki Most sport fishers have never heard of Bill Winowiecki, which is a travesty. They should be thanking him for his tireless effort to ensure a healthy Lake Michigan fishery for this and future generations.
Winowiecki, a charter captain for 24 years, immersed himself in the biology and public affairs of the fishery. He served for at least five years as president of the Michigan Charter Boat Association, as a vocal trustee on the Lake Michigan Citizen’s Advisory Committee, and more recently as a director on the Michigan Coalition to Protect Michigan Resource (MCPMR) The later group, led by the Michigan United Conservation Clubs, filed a lawsuit alleging that a pact regulating Tribal fishing in Lake Michigan would harm the lake trout fishery.
Steve Schultz, an attorney who has been involved in lake trout harvest negotiations since the early 1980s, represented MCPMR.
“Bill was one of the more dedicated people I had a chance to work with when it came to treaty issues,” Schultz said. “Tribal positions are the Tribal positions, and they have every right to them. But he was all about the resources.”
Winowiecki attended scores of strategy meetings and court hearings, in addition to handling duties as the top official for all charter boats in the state and preparing for and attending meetings of the advisory committee.
Winowiecki was a working man’s activist, spending most of his career at Cone Drive in Traverse City while running Watta Bite charter service.
“He was a blue-collar guy who was completely dedicated to his craft and the fishery.. I’m no expert when it comes to fishing and charter boats, and Bill’s focus was always on the fishery and the fishing community. He and Tony (Radjenovich of Leland Township) were the members who were there every day, every season,” Schultz said.
Radjenovich credited Winowiecki with serving as a bridge between changes in MDNR policy and the sportsmen affected by them.
“He was big in stature, 6-foot-3 or so, and he could hang out with anyone. He was a blue-collar man who had a passion he shared. Big water, little water, he just loved to fish, and he wanted the fishery to last forever,” Radjenovich said.
William (Billy) Winowiecki Jf. recalls his father organizing a day of free charter trips for veterans out of Glen Arbor.
“That was him giving back. He was just involved in a lot of stuff. He gave away charters that were auctioned off for people with cancer. He was always helping out but under the radar. He never tooted his own horn,” Billy said.
Winowiecki, 63, died on July 15, also of cancer. A celebration of life is planned at the Hayloft Inn on Sept. 12 from 1-4 p.m.
