Opening Day Trout in Grayling, MI

This is Doug's Big Fish so far, 17.5. We left Friday morning for Grayling. The fire they had in Grayling Thursday has been put out. The fire affected over 1000 acres, but was East of town. We are about 15 minutes West of town.

The weather is absolutely crummy! It was 55 Degrees when we got up for the morning fishing but by 10:00 am, it was already down to 42 Degrees. It is cold with gusting winds - very tough weather for fishing. We only caught three fish today.

Weekend over view: We have been fishing on opening day now for 30 years and this was by far the worst we have ever had. We were able to have our traditional Opening Day trout dinner but we had to go into town on Sunday to get dinner, the first time ever. The fishing was so bad we decided to cut our trip short by one day and come home. The last night night there (Sunday) the temp was 24 degrees and they were calling for temps in the upper teens for Monday night, just too cold to fish when the fish are not biting. We kept four Brown Trout between 12 and 17.5 inches for the weekend. I won big fish for the two days and big fish for the weekend.

Slow Morning

Fished with Daryl before he went to work, I'm still on a layoff. Temp was in the middle 50s with an east wind 10 to 15 knots. The waves were about a foot and the water temp is 55 degrees.

We fished the same area as Sunday but we were not having any luck. Thought of moving to the Radar Buoy where their was a small pack of boats but we just stayed in the general area. It was a good choice that we stayed because the pack of boats by the Radar Buoy all left. Saw one boat catching fish by us and the only thing different was they had no drift sock. We pulled in the drift sock and we started catching some fish, the only problem was we were running out of time. Kept 5 walleye between 18 and 24 inches. All the fish came off hair jigs tipped with a minnow.

Next planned trip: Opening day of trout fishing in Grayling for 5 days with Joe and John

First Limit This Year

Fished with Joe and Daryl. Temp was in the lower 50s all morning and the wind was out of the Southwest less than 10 knots. Waves were less than a foot, just a nice day to be on the Lake Erie. The water is starting to clear up finally and the water temp is 54 degrees.

Started fishing by Turtle Island (41 46 104/083 21 605) in 10 feet of water. Joe and Daryl started off using blade baits and I was using a purple jig tipped with a minnow. I hooked a fish and we lost it at the net and I started thinking of the last trip where the same thing happened and the fishing went down hill after that. Daryl then switched to a blue hair jig and minnow and he started to catch some fish. Finally Joe put on a jig and he started catching some fish. We kept working that same area and we caught or limit of walleye. Kept 12 males between 19 and 22 inches. The fish are starting to stack up pretty good in this area now so the fishing should be good for the next couple of weeks. On the way back to the marina there was a pack of boats in front of Otter Creek, so they must be catching some fish there too.

Next planned trip: Tuesday with Daryl and Dale

Tried, But No Luck!

Fished with Louie. Temp in the morning was in the upper 40s and when we quit it was in the mid 50s. The wind was out of the SSW 10 to 15 knots with waves 1 to 2 feet. The water is still very dirty and the water temp is 51 degrees.

Started fishing the same location as Tuesday, between Turtle Island and the Toledo Light House. After 15 minutes of jigging I had a fish on and we lost it right at the net, so we thought the fishing was looking pretty good for the day. That would be the last fish on for the day. Louie had a couple of quick hits but no fish. I jigged with the blades all morning and he used the blades and a purple jig tipped with a green plastic worm, which he had the two hits on. Saw a few boats netting fish and as we were getting ready to leave the boat behind us hooked 3 fish real fast. I have reports of people catching fish but we just cannot get them to go yet.

Next planned trip: Sunday with Joe and Daryl.

First trip on the Birds Nest for 2008

Fished with Daryl and Dale. Temperature for the day was between the lower and mid 40s. The wind was out of the southwest 5 to 10 knots with waves less than a foot. The water temp was in the upper 40s and the lake is very dirty.

Started fishing by Turtle Island and we did not catch anything so we made a move towards a pack of boats by the Radar Buoy. Fished here for an hour with out a hit so we moved back towards Turtle Island and spent the rest of the morning there. Dale caught his first walleye using a blade bait and now he is a believer.

The catching was slow for us all day and we only saw a few boats net fish. We were 3 for 6 and Dale caught 2 of the fish. The walleye were males between 19 and 22 inches. All the fish were caught using the blue blade baits. I tried a purple jig with a minnow for a while and never had a hit.

Next palnned trips: Thursday with Louie and Sunday with Joe.

Last of Dock Fishing

Fished with Doug Sowa on Grosse Ile and the Detroit River at Belanger Park. Temps were in the middle 30s with a ENE wind 15 to 20 knots. Kind of cold for this time of year.

We stopped and dipped for minnows at Smitty's on Grosse Ile before we went perch fishing. Started fishing on the Trenton Channel and Doug began catching fish right away. Fished here for a hour and Doug had 3 nice perch and I only had 1 so we headed to Belanger Park.

When we got to the park the wind was blowing right in our faces and it was brutal. With the wind and the cold temps we only lasted a hour and we called it quits for the day. Kept 6 perch between 7 1/2 and 12 1/2 inches. That will be all the dock fishing for this spring, we can get to our boats this Tuesday and will start fishing Lake Erie for walleye.

First Trip of 2008 on Lake Erie

Fished with Captain Booth and his friend Tim. Temperature at 9:00 AM when we started fishing was in the middle 30s and the warmest it got was the upper 40s. The wind was out of the SW in the morning and rotating to the SE. Waves were less than a foot all day. Surface water temperature was 41 Degrees.

Started fishing at the S buoy and headed towards the dumping grounds trolling smithwicks, bombers and deep diving thunder stick juniors. Stayed in this area for a couple of hours without any luck so we decided to head towards the Light House. On the way to the Light House the water started getting dirty and the further we traveled the dirtier the water was getting.

Made it to the Light House and the water looked like chocolate milk so we turned and headed towards the swamp. The water was still dirty there so we made our way back in front of TBM and started trolling in 12 feet of water heading towards Otter Creek. Fished this area for an hour and then we headed back to where we started. Stayed out there until 4:00 PM and then we decided to call it a day. All this fishing and we had only one hit. The first trip was not very successful but everyone had a great time and it was a beautiful day on the lake.

We did not mark very many fish today and the radio talk was a few boats had a couple of fish that were jigging. We only saw one fish caught.

Welcome Spring!!

It's finally beginning to feel like Spring! This is one of our frogs trying to fatten up. He caught the bird and held it under the water, then must have decided it was too large for him to eat! He certainly looks proud of his trophy catch. Karen heard the bird flapping around in the pond and went to get a net to fish it out, assuming it just fell in the water. She saw the frog holding it under the water and grabbed the camera. After the bird stopped moving the frog hopped up onto the stones surrounding the pond.

Planning on fishing Lake Erie out of Toledo Beach Marina tomorrow. Booth is bring his boat in from Flint. Got a report they are marking a lot of fish, but the water is dirty and they are not easy to catch. Thanks Stan, for this info.

Good Luck on Last Ice!!!!!

Got a call from Doug Esch and he invited me out to a lake north of Chelsea, said he has been doing very well on it. Fished with Doug, his cousin Ted and his friend Lou. Temp this morning was in the lower 40s and when we quit fishing at 10:00 AM it was in the upper 40s with lots of sunshine and no wind, another great day on the ice.

Doug likes to start early and we did, he calls it O Dark Thirty. We were on the ice and fishing at 6:45 this morning, over an hour before sunrise! Picked up a crappie after 15 minutes fishing and then as the horizon started to get some light the gills started to bite. That bite lasted for less than a hour and things started to slow down. We did some hole hopping and that seemed to help quite a bit as we would pick up an occasional fish. I was using wax worms and those guys were using mousies. We kept 52 gills between 7 1/4 and 8 1/2 inches and one crappie 10 inches.

I took some pictures of the guys fishing on the ice today but when I got home I noticed that there was no memory card in the camera, my mistake. I wanted to post a photo, so when I got home, I took a picture of some of the fish we caught. Lou had a rough time catching fish today so Ted and I gave him some fish to have for dinner tonight. The ice is 10 inches thick and the shore ice is still good. Those guys should have 3 or 4 days of excellent fishing yet.

Last Ice?

Did some running around this morning and I was all done at 3:00 PM so I decided to go ice fishing at Airport Bay. Temps were in the lower 40s with lots of sunshine and a slight wind out of the southwest, which made for a beautiful day.

When I got to the canal to Round Island the 2 by 12 plank was moved to the last possible spot to cross, and the ice was deteriorating pretty fast. Once I was able to get on the canal I noticed that the canal was not in very good shape either. I figured that I would only fish for 3 hours and call it quits because of the bad ice conditions. Once on the bay I talked to 3 fishermen that had been out all morning and they said the fishing was terrible. Fished five feet of water and it was cloudy today, could only see the lure for the first two feet. I fished 5 or 6 holes without a bite so I decided to leave because the crossing at the canal had me worried.

Stopped and fished the Trenton Channel at a couple of places and did not even get a bite so I called it quits for the evening. That should be the last ice fishing trip for the year, now it's fishing off the docks until we can get the boats in mid April. No fish caught today.

Got a report from Louie tonight that he and Kenny did very good on Lake St. Clair today fishing at Compau Bay in front of Candles. He also said the ice is getting bad there.

Next Planned Trip: Friday with Doug E & Ted, in Chelsea

A Foggy Start

Fished Airport Bay on Grosse Ile with Doug Sowa. Temp this morning was in the upper teens and by lunch time it made it to the middle 30s. There was no wind at all today and when we arrived at the bay the fog was so thick you could only see about 100 feet. After an hour of fishing the sun started to break through the fog and it turned into a perfect day for fishing. We started fishing 150 yards east of Round Island in 3 feet of water and we caught nothing. Moved another 50 yards to the east and we started to catch some perch. The fishing was very good for 10 minutes and then the bite just quit. Doug saw one of his fishing buddies, Dale, at the bait store who said the fishing was pretty good yesterday but after 8:30 AM the fished just quit biting. I'll be damed if the same thing happened again today. I looked at my watch, it was 8:40 and we hadn't had a bite for 10 minutes. We thought about moving towards the pack of people by the point and as we watched them they were just standing around not doing very much so we decided to stay put. We would catch a fish every so often but the fishing just shut right down. We kept 20 perch between 7 1/2 and 10 inches.

When we got to the canal to cross over to the Bay someone had put a 2 by 12 that was 10 feet long over the broken ice so you could get across to the canal. When we came back from fishing the weather was warming up and the crossing was getting worse. It might only last a couple more days. If we decide to go back, it just might be a little earlier in the morning. The ice on the bay today was 9 inches thick.

Next Planned Trip: Don't know yet, maybe Wednesday morning since I'm off this week.

Sunrise on Lake St. Clair

Fished with Joe on Lake St. Clair today. Went back to our favorite spot on the Salt River access. Temperature this morning was 13 Degrees and by noon it was in the lower 30's. Wind was WSW 10 knots with lots of sunshine which made for a beautiful day on Lake St. Clair.

We started fishing in front of the yellow seawall in 4 ft. of water. The ice was around 15 inches thick. Stayed here for an hour, then moved 200 ft. towards Cotton Road and fished in about 5 ft. of water. Visibility was pretty good, you could see the bottom and the fish coming towards the bait. Although there weren't many fish they were quite aggressive. I had a large pike (28 inches?) staring at the minnow, but after 30 seconds he moved on. Also had a large bass come in to look at the same minnow, no interest from him either. Joe caught most of the fish today by using a wax worm and a green glow jig. I ran mostly rapalas tipped with mousies and minnows on jigs. We kept 9 perch between 7.5 and 10 inches, 6 of which were over 8.5 inches, enough for Karen and I to have a very tasty fresh perch dinner tonight!

Next Planned Trip: Tomorrow with Doug Sowa at Airport Bay, Grosse Isle

Snow Day

When I got done clearing the 7 inches of snow from three houses we built Shiloh a Snow Bunny. She seemed to like it.

Too much work before going to work!

Sardines Again?

Fished with John this afternoon. Temperature was in lower 30's with lots of sunshine. The wind was out of the west 15 knots, but because we fished in the canals, it did not affect us.

Planned on fishing the Salt River area but I had bad reports from Doug Sowa, who was out there this morning, and John had bad reports from his friends at work who were fishing Selfridge. We drove by Campau Bay where there were only around a dozen people fishing in the middle of the bay. There didn't seem to be any activity when I checked it out through the binoculars. No one was fishing by the flagpole at Candles, which is where we usually fish. Drove by one of the canals we fish on South River Road and it was pretty crowded so we stopped to see what was going on. Talked to a few guys who were catching some fish, so we decided to spend the afternoon here. The ice here was 14 inches thick. You could barely see the bait on the bottom or the fish hitting it.

Today's bait was minnows, waxworms, spikes, wigglers and mousies. Every bait of choice for ice fishing. Caught a couple of perch right off the get-go and thought we had hit into a lucky spot. Things came to a quick stop so John decided to experiment again with his can of sardines. His fishing pole stunk, his hands stunk, the shanty stunk, and when he went for the potato chips, I grabbed them first. After twenty minutes of smelling sardines we moved the shanty twenty feet away so we wouldn't have a smelly, oily hole in the shanty.

Caught quite a few small fish, but we only had five keepers between 7 & 8 inches. We gave them to a person we met on the ice today so he would have enough for a fish dinner tonight.

Minnows seemed to work the best today even though we didn't catch very many fish.

Next Planned Trip: Next weekend with Joe

New Auger Adapter

The IceMaster Drill Adapter works just fine! Drilled 12 holes today through a foot of ice and still had a good charge left. The video shows holes 9 through 12 being drilled. Four (foot deep) holes in 40 Seconds! You should have seen the ice and slush flying around with the first 4 holes that were drilled!

Enjoyable Day, But No Fish

Fished with Joe Pennebaker at Lake St. Clair. Temp this morning was in the upper teens and as the day progressed it made it up to the lower thirties. A breeze out of the southwest of 5 knots with lots of sunshine made for a perfect day of ice fishing.

The ice was over a foot thick. Started fishing around a mile out from the Salt River in approximately 8 ft of water. We decided on this spot because when we arrived it was daybreak and there were already about 25 people here. Visibility was around 4 feet and we only picked up a few small fish. Decided to move so we headed back towards the Salt River a half mile and fished in 6 ft. of water. Visibility was still not very good. Didn't pick up any fish, so we headed towards the yellow seawall and started fishing 500 feet from shore, in 4 ft. of water. Visibility here was excellent and we could see the fish on the bottom. Fishing wasn't hot and heavy but the fish were agressive on the bait. Minnows were the preferred choice, although after an hour the fish were totally disinterested in our offerings. Fishing is a lot more fun when you can see the fish in the hole.

We kept 7 perch between 7.5 and 9.5 inches. I did catch a large rock bass and Joe lost a largemouth bass of at least 18 inches at the hole. Talked to several other fishermen on the ice, one of whom had a couple perch over 14 inches fishing in the shallow water. Guess we shouldn't just follow the crowds.

Lots of Ice Today

Fished with John Hiltz today. Temperature was in the lower 20's with the wind 10-14 knots out of the South.

Talked to Louie this morning before we went fishing and Louie said they were catching a few fish in front of Gino's, but he also heard they were catching fish at Metropolitan Park at the Day Sail Ramp. We decided to go to Metropolitan Park.

Talked to a few guys at Metropolitan before we headed out who said they were catching a few fish. We headed out towards the left and 300 yards out. Fished in about 7 ft. of water and all we caught were dinks. The ice was a foot thick and the water was cloudy with visibility of about 3 ft. Made another move 200 ft. further out and the first fish we caught was 9.5 inches, so we figured we had a good spot. The water was a foot deeper here. We decided to stay in this spot for the rest of the afternoon as it was getting late.

Fishing was more productive when we were jigging, rather than just letting the bait sit there. We used mousies, spikes and minnows today. The minnows caught the larger fish and the mousies outproduced the spikes. Caught a lot of fish today, but only kept 9, between 7.5 and 9.5 inches, enough for John's Mom to have for dinner.

Next Planned Trip: Sunday, Feb. 24, with Joe at Lk. St. Clair

The Polar Plunge

Planned on fishing Lake St. Clair with Joe this afternoon. Temperature was in the lower thirties with a breeze out of the southwest at 10 knots. Since we were going out later, we planned on fishing until dark.

Drove by Cotton Road and the parking lots were crowded with a lot of people on the lake. We decided to try Salt River because it would be a shorter walk, and from past experience, better fishing. When we arrived at Salt River we talked to another fisherman who was heading out. He said he did good last weekend but as he was talking to his buddies on his cell phone they said the fishing was not that good and the water was a bit cloudy today. We watched him leave the canal heading towards the Salt River and walk out onto Lake St. Clair.

We got our gear together and made our way towards the lake. I was about 15 feet onto the canal when I fell through the ice. After several tries of falling backwards, I finally made it on to solid ice. As I was soaking wet from my feet to my waist, our fishing trip came to an abrupt finish.

On the way back home we stopped and talked to a few fishermen at Cotton Road who said the fishing was not that good.

It sure seemed as though it would have been a good afternoon for fishing as far as the weather went, but I guess when you're soaking wet you don't want to stick around and find out.

Guess I should have just gone to Belle Isle where they held the Law Enforcement Torch Run Polar Plunge into the Detroit River today! By the way, we didn't catch any fish today. P.S. No photo today since I was otherwise occupied!

Planning on fishing next weekend with John Hiltz.

Fun With Fish

Here is a video of our fishing trip on Superbowl Sunday, featuring Dale and fish. (Note: You may need to click on the arrow twice to start the video)

Big Gills Again!!

Fished with Daryl and Dale again on the canal to Woodburn Lake. Temp was in the lower to mid 30s all day with hardly any wind. Just another good day for ice fishing.


We fished the same area as last weekend but we did not do as well. Dale caught half as many fish today compared to last weekend and Daryl caught about the same. I finally caught some fish today so those guys did not have to donate to my pile of fish, even though Daryl tossed a few small fish in my pile.

Daryl and Dale think that the glow jig with a little green work best on this canal. We kept 37 bluegill between 7 and 9 1/2 inches and 1 crappie at 10 inches.