Riding with Mike Norris while he searched for walleye on southern Lake Michigan, I learned to appreciate his analytical approach to fishing and ability to explain his thinking.
He’s shared that with thousands.
Norris will enter the Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame in Hayward, Wisconsin, with four others in the class of 2025, in the Outdoors Communicator category.
I met Norris prefishing the Masters Walleye Circuit on the Illinois River. He helped my jigging without making me feel like a schmuck. He had done a fishing show on The Score and was writing weekly columns for the Aurora Beacon and Elgin Courier (1994-2006).
We built a relationship. For years, he has contributed an erudite weekly fishing report from the Big Green Lake area in Wisconsin, where he now guides, for the sprawling raw-file Midwest Fishing Report. When he did “Outdoors with Mike Norris” (1993-2005) on WBIG-AM, I did a weekly hit.
He wrote for and did video segments for Midwest Outdoors. His work appeared in the Badger Sportsman Magazine, Fishing Facts, Heartland Outdoors Magazine, Michigan Fisherman Magazine, and Musky Hunter.
He pushed for catch-and-release zones along the Fox River. As the President of Region Four of the United Sportfishing Association of Illinois, he advocated for interest earned on Illinois fishing licenses to be returned to the general fishing fund, instead of the general revenue account.
He won five bass tournaments in southern Wisconsin, largely with a unique ripping technique in his early years. He fished the MWC and Professional Walleye Tour (’86-05) with four top-10 finishes.
In 1995, he founded the Walleye Masters Institute, packing classes around Chicago and Sioux Falls, S.D., partnering with HOFer Ted Takasaki. Norris continues to be a much sought speaker around Chicago.