Back to the Tough Times Again

Fished with Joe and John. Temperature this morning was in the middle 60s and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 80s. The wind this morning was out of the northeast 15 to 17 knots which made for a long boat ride out to our fishing spot. Around mid morning the wind died down a little which made for better conditions. For the last hour the wind picked up again but at least the waves were to our back for the ride in. Waves were 2 to 3 feet for most of the day and the water temp is 68 degrees. After a long boat ride to our fishing spot (41 48 275 / 083 11 600) we set up with deep diving Jr. thunder sticks set at 75 feet back on one side of the boat and jet 20s and spoons set at 60 feet back on the other side of the boat. We were trolling around catching silver bass and then we heard a report on the radio that the hot set up was jet 20s set at 90 feet back. We pulled all the lines and set up this way. I'm sure it helped a little because we would catch a walleye every once in a while but the fishing was terrible. We tried different colors and different combos but nothing really seemed to make a difference. Kept 5 walleye, cleaned them up, stopped at the restaurant at Bolles Harbor and had a walleye dinner. All the walleye were between 15 and 16 inches.

Sticky Situation

Fished with Captain Daryl and Mark. Temperature this morning was in the upper 40s and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 70s. The wind was variable this morning and by the afternoon it was out of the east about 10 knots. With the light wind this morning the bugs were just terrible, probably the worst I have ever seen. It was even hard to breath. On the ride out the channel we were setting up the poles when one of them broke at the tip, not a good start for the day. Started fishing about 3 miles past McDonald's trolling southeast ( 41 46 250 / 083 13 150). We ran Jr. Thundersticks back 75 feet on one side of the boat and 95 feet on the other side of the boat. Caught a walleye off each side of the boat and then we had a double on the side set at 75 feet. We got the fish in and on the last walleye the fish jumped just when Mark put his hand in the net and he buried the hook in his left thumb. We talked about pulling out the hook right there but Mark did not feel comfortable with that so we pulled lines and headed in. On the ride in we talked about the emergency room and then Mark mentioned the urgent care centers, which sounded good. When we arrived back at the harbor we went and talked to Captain Eddie McMillion from Fish On II and he said he could pull the hook out with no problem. After a couple of minutes of calming down Mark the hook was out, we thanked Captain Eddie and out we went fishing again. We set up right where we left off but by now the wind was steady out of the east just over 10 knots which helped with the bug problem, which made us very happy. We set both sides at 75 feet and we just picked away at the fish. We were still catching silver bass but not as many as the last couple of trips. We lost at least 4 walleye halfway to the boat and we threw one back because it was too small. Kept 13 walleye which means it is fishing time. Just a little side note, I took the picture on the ride back in and that is the only time Mark smiled for a hour.

Still Slow Catching

Fished with Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the upper 40s and when we quit fishing it was in the middle 70s. The wind was out of the east 10 to 14 knots with 1 to 2 foot rollers. After an hour of fishing the wind started to lay down and it became pretty nice on the water. The water temp is 62 degrees. Started fishing in the dumping grounds drifting with crawler harnesses. We only caught a couple of silver bass so we started trolling with deep diving thunder sticks set at 40 feet back on one side of the boat and 50 feet back on the other side of the boat. Picked up two fish real quick and we thought we had a good program but the catching slowed down. We stayed in this area for the whole trip catching a few silver bass and the occasional walleye, just like the last trip. Kept 5 walleye.

Non Stop Action, of Silver Bass



Joe with a Double

Fished with Joe and Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the upper 50s and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 70s. The water temp is 61 degrees. The wind was out of the north east around 5 knots with hardly any waves. Just a great day to be on the water!! Started fishing by the C Buoy trolling towards the E Buoy with bottom bouncers and crawlers set at 45 feet on one side  and bombers and jet 20s set at 55 feet on the other side of the boat. The silver bass were so thick that you could not keep them off the lines. We actually caught 2 silver bass on one crawler harness 2 times today. We stayed here for about 2 hours trying different set ups and we only caught silver bass and 1 Smallmouth Bass. We finally made a move to the other side of the River Raisin Channel (41 53 600 / 083 17 100). We set crawlers on one side set at 75 feet back and deep diver Junior Thunder sticks set at 120 feet on the other side. Caught the first walleye off the crawler so we switched the other side to crawlers. We still caught a lot of silver bass but we would catch the occasional walleye. Trolled around here for a couple of hours and we ended up keeping 5 walleye and lost one right at the net. Good day of fishing but a bad day of catching. 

Captain's Mistake

Fished with Daryl, Doug S. had to work. Temperature this morning was in the lower 60s and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 70s. The wind was out of the south less than 10 knots with waves less than a foot. The water temp is 55 degrees and the water is very clean for this time of year. The game plan was to start fishing at the E Buoy and head northeast until we found some fish. We ran dipsy's set at 50 feet with spoons on one side of the boat and jet 20's with spoons set at 55 feet on the other side of the boat. We were catching a lot of silver bass and Daryl said lets set the lines further back. We did that and it only took about 15 minutes and we had the first walleye on off the jet 20 set at 70 feet back. Trolled around for a while catching silver bass and no walleye so we made a move towards Turtle Island. All the boats fishing there were anchored fishing for perch so we headed towards the Toledo Light House and set up a troll heading for the dumping grounds. The reports on the radio said they were catching fish trolling with crawlers. We had the crawlers but no bottom bouncers to fish with. My mistake. We trolled towards the dumping grounds only catching silver bass so we decided to call it a day. Kept one walleye!!

2012 Trout Fishing Results

The 2012 trout fishing season started pretty good and then it went down hill from there, but not from lack of trying. The weather was pretty nice. Cold temps at night (25 to 35) and the day was just about average or a little above average (50 to 65). We had a rain storm blow through on Monday morning around 1:30 AM and it was gone by Monday morning around 8:30 AM. We did all of our fishing on the Pine River at 2 locations, Walker Bridge and Skookum Bridge. For bait we used salted shiners, large trout worms and spawn sacks. Most of the fish were caught off the shiners and 2 were caught using the worms. We had quite a few bites but we did not catch very many fish. We were told that the Pine River is the fastest flowing river in Southern Michigan and that could be the reason for so many missed fish. All the locals use fresh steelhead spawn for bait and next year we will have some also. We were able to have two trout dinners which are always excellent. We all had a great time, told a lot of stories, some sad and some very funny. We caught 10 trout and kept 9 of them, six Brown Trout and 4 Rainbow Trout. Joe is the Trout King this year with a brown trout that measured 16 1/4 inches.