Airport Bay, Done for the Year

Fished Airport Bay with Doug S. and Daryl. Temperature this morning was 25 degrees and when we quit fishing it was in the low 30s. The wind was light out of the southeast and we had sleet and snow for most of the trip. On the way to the canal Doug S. slipped on some ice and fell on the sidewalk, not a good start for the day. Walked down the canal to the bay and the ice looked pretty iffy in the center of the canal. Started fishing where we left off on Saturday and we caught no fish. Made about 4 moves and still nothing. Talked to some other fisherman and they had no fish. After a couple of hours we decided to call it a day on the bay and try to fish the Trenton Channel. On the way up the canal the ice looked even worse so we were hugging the east side of the canal. About half the way back I fell through up to my knees. Another 50 feet down the canal and Doug fell through with one leg up to his knee. We had to walk the shore line back for a while and the branches and underbrush are very thick on shore, which made for a tough go. This will be the last trip in that canal this year. After all this we came home with no fish, and we thought it was going to be a great day!!

Fishing the Big Pond

Fished with Joe out of Lake St. Clair. Temperature this morning was 26 degrees and when we quit fishing it was in the middle 30s. There was no wind today and the skies were partly sunny, just the perfect day for ice fishing. The ice is at least 16 inches thick. Had a report that they were catching some fish between the day sail ramp out from the Metro Park and Geno's, so that is where we headed. Started fishing in 3 foot of water and we only caught dinks. Made some moves further out and we caught a lot more dinks and 1 keeper perch (8 inches). Kept on moving towards Geno's and it did not help. Ended up having 2 perch that we kept, one that we gave away and one that we put back. I made the wrong choice today, we should have went back to Airport Bay.

Gander Mountain Tournament

Fished the tournament with Doug S. on Airport Bay. Temperature this morning was 25 degrees and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 30s. The wind was light out of the west and we had sunshine again today. We were hoping to fish from the same holes that we used yesterday but someone beat us to them so we set up right next to him. Lesson learned, next time we will cover our holes up so no one can find them. We caught a few fish here and then I decided to hole hop for a while. Hit about 25 holes without any luck so I came back to our original spot and spent the rest of the day there. Changed lures a few times and then we started to catch some nice fish. The best setup was a chartreuse Ken's spoon tipped with a minnow head. From the reports we had, the fishing was slow for everyone except one kid who had about 20 fish. We just stayed put and pecked away at the fish. At the weigh-in we held first place for biggest perch and heaviest catch for about 8 minutes and then we were eliminated from both categories. Our biggest perch was 15 ounces and our total catch was 5 lbs. 12 oz. When I get the final results I will post it.

The Day Before

Fished Airport Bay off Grosse Ile with Doug S. Temperature this morning was 22 degrees and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 20s. The wind was out of the west at 10 knots and the sky was pretty blue. The ice is about 10 inches thick. We decided to fish the Gander Mountain Tournament that is going to be held on Airport Bay tomorrow and so today we thought we would pre fish the area and figure out where we would start fishing in the morning. The water on the east side of the bay was dirty and towards the airport it was shallow. We moved around a lot and the fishing was slow. Everyone that we talked to had no fish, so it should be interesting tomorrow. We kept 3 perch and the largest was almost 13 inches. Today we parked at the airport and walked to the bay from there, almost a 1 1/2 mile walk. Tomorrow we can park by the bay and hopefully catch some more fish. I went to Florida for almost a week hoping to get some deep sea fishing in but the weather was windy and cold everyday. Talked to a lot of fisherman down there and the fishing is just terrible for this time of year. The water temp in the Gulf Coast is 57 degrees!!

Cold/Warm Day at Bolles

Fished with Doug S. at Bolles Harbor. Temperature this morning was 12 degrees and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 20s. The sun was shining bright and there was no wind. After a couple of hours of fishing I took off my hat and coat and enjoyed the sunshine, just a nice day to be on the ice. We started fishing where we left off on the last trip. Caught a few small fish but no keepers. We moved up and down the canal and we ended up not keeping any fish. There were only about 12 guys fishing and we talked to at least 7 of them and they had no fish. We decided to head out towards the lake and fish in front of the park, but as we were walking down the canal we noticed all the ice was gone in front of the park. We fished in front of the boat launch for a half an hour and then called it a day. Down by the Monroe Boat Club the ice is 12 inches thick but up by the boat launch the ice is only 2 to 3 inches thick.

Bolles Harbor Again

Fished with Doug S. out of Bolles Harbor. Temperature this morning was in the upper 20s and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 30s. The sky was overcast and the wind was out of the northeast 5 to 10 knots. We started fishing at O Dark Thirty, roughly 7:00 AM. I don't think it made a difference that we were there so early today, because once the wind started to blow off the lake the bite slowed down. We started fishing in front of Monroe Boat Club and had no bites. Made a move towards the far end of the boat club and we started catching some fish. We had the camera again today and it showed fish for most of the trip. The only problem was, we both missed quite a few large fish - just could not keep them on the hook. Kept 11 perch today and we had a great time. We caught a lot of perch but most of them were small. Doug's Dad surprised us by coming out to see how the fishing was going - it was great to see him and I know he's looking forward to fishing with Doug next week!

Slow Day at Bolles

Fished with Doug S. out of Bolles Harbor. Temperature this morning was 30 degrees and it was snowing very lightly for the whole trip. The ice is about 10 inches thick and the water is very clear. The wind was out of the west 5 to 10 knots. Lake Erie Party Store was not open so we had to buy our bait from Jeff's on Dixie Highway. We started fishing in front of Monroe Boat Club and only caught a few small fish. Started hole hopping for the rest of the morning and we still only caught small perch. On the way out to fishing this morning we made a comment how we never catch any small perch out of Bolles, well, today changed that story. Everyone that we talked to either had a couple of small perch or nothing at all. We caught 8 perch and the largest was only 4 inches, and that's the one in the picture!!! Saw John A. heading out fishing as we were heading in.