steeliebob

Caught 2 nice chromers and lost 6 so far this winter. Most of the steehead are still out in deeper water and won't be cruising the shoreline for about another two weeks to a month yet. It is still fun picking up the stray ones on tip ups. When the pre spawners hit the shoreline the flags will be flying faster than you can keep up with them. Getting the gear ready now to chase them again this weekend. I have caught & released about a dozen small trout, they keep things exciting.

Way to go on the chrome!!!! Looks like some nice fish there. I have got a couple of nice ones on the hard water this winter

If you can get some crawlers, try them I used to do really good on them in the rifle river during the winter. Right now I am catching them through the ice on spawn and a tip up. This works really good if you have ice near the river or stream mouths. Be careful and know your ice conditions. We don't have too much open water in the UP during the winter so I have learned to catch them under the ice.

I will try that with a batch of steelhead spawn.

I got the picture posted in the trout and salmon galleries. Smoked him up this am boy what a tastey fish too.

I will check it out. I tried the Borax a couple of times and was not impressed mabey I did it wrong.

Nice chromers from the soft water.

I had a close call once, now I hug the shoreline.My brother in law disappeared through the ice on Huron so I give the ice alot of respect.

I managed to find some good ice. We just could not manage to put the hook to the fish that hit. We missed out on a couple of nice screamers and had two break off. Right when we were going to call it quits the pole sitting on the bucket started bouncing. I put the hook to it and it was another screamer. This time the fish lost after a 40 minute battle. What came through the ice hole was a 34" 14 pound steelhead. About 10 minutes later my fishing partner caught & released a 15 inch brook trout. Catching that big fish on an ice rod felt like a 20+ pound king on the rigger. I will post a picture later

Over the years I have tried everything to preserve spawn. I freeze some, I use pro-cure and refrigerate it, I also use a combination of salt and sugar and refridgerate it. I am looking to try to get a firmer egg out of the batch. The pro- cure probably results in the best natural egg and seems to be working real well. Does anyone have any good recipies for curing spawn??? I usually cure about 25-30 pounds of it so I have a little to experiment with.

Thanks for the pictures, now I know what a brown trout looks like. We just don't catch them in the St Ignace area anymore. Petoskey and Harbor Springs used to be real good for Brown Trout but I think that area kind of died off too. I will say that they are real nice pics though.

No ice on L Michigan, I am going to try Huron this weekend again. If this keeps up I will need my waders soon. Mabey I should uncover the boat and put the riggers back on it. The bright side of things is that my heat bill was only $68.00 this month, I guess that is not bad for a 2000 square foot home

There is some safe ice on huron in the UP but it changes from day to day. I have been out a couple of times this winter but no luck as of yet. I came close yesterday as I had a screamer on the tip up but missed that one. If the ice ever forms good I am looking at February and March to be good fishing months. It is bad when you live in the UP and cannot find good ice. A few years ago I was catching my limit in January on Lake Michigan out of one hole quicker than you could drink a cup of coffee. No shanty just go out drill a hole and you were back at your car 45 minutes later with a meal of nice chromers

If anyone would be interest in fishing in a Trout & Salmon tournament out of St Ignace I am looking at running two of them this year on July 3 and August 7 to benefit March of Dimes. Please let me know as I am trying to get an idea how many boats will be entered for prizes. You can email me at [email protected] or call me at 906 643 8630. I have a few interested boaters now just looking for more.

That is a real nice ride there. We live real close and get to take it several times a year. We also try to get through there at night a couple of times during the summer. You see loads of wildlife on that road at night and the lakeshore beauty is still there. If you get up here again look me up I can try to get you on some fish up here. Nice picture of Lake Michigan from the Bluffs

Tastey Tastey. I got one on a hunt last March. Filled up the big salmon cooler with meat. Congrats I am sure thet you will have some on the BBQ Grill soon.

Those shacks look nice and the coffee and baileys sounds too good but I tough it out. I will be walking in tomorrow which also means walking out 1.3 miles each way so I have to go light which means no shack. Good luck guys and stay warm. When the holes are drilled it is fish or no fish I don't move much.

For those interested in the Reel Crazy fishing contest please e-mail [email protected] I will reply to all with the contest rules and an entry form. All proceeds less the prize cost will be donated to the March of Dimes. I have kept this pretty simple and liberal so everybody can at least enter one fish. Everyone who has fish entered prior to May 1 will stay in the draw for Nov 1

I have been going to you tube and typing in wisconsin ice fishing....They catch brown trout over there the size of king salmon through the ice. They catch nice steelies through the ice too but so do I so that is not so exciting to watch. Then I watch all of the salmon fishing on you tube. Looks like fishing is goood on the other side of the M pond

If you are interested in the salmon tournament as a rider I will have a couple of seats on my salmon boat or I can probably find you a seat on a local boat. I have arrangements to purchase 4 - $250 gift certs from Wehrs Mackinaw Outfitters in Mackinaw City for two salmon tournaments and two draws for the Reel Crazy contest. I have to get the Salmon tournament details worked out yet. I am looking at July 4 and the first Saturday in August. If anyone is interested in the Reel Crazy contest e-mail me at [email protected] I will forward the information. You can enter for $5.00 up to $15.00 depending on how many fish that you want to enter. I have a variety of fish that qualify and the qualifying size is pretty liberal. You can e-mail a picture of the fish next to a yardstick to get it entered. If you live in Grand Rapids and want to get into this contest I will make it easy for you. If you are coming up fishing for a couple of days or a week I can make it easy to get into the contest too.

I am working with Farmers Insurance of St Ignace and Jim Wehrs Mackinaw Outfitters to provide two fishing contests and two salmon tournaments for 2010. The salmon tournaments will be held at the St Ignace launch site. The first will be held July 4 2010. The first fishing contest will be held starting 01-01-2010 and it runs to 05-01-2010. All proceeds above the cost of prizes will be donated to the March of Dimes. If you are interested in information please call me at (906) 643-8630. I will have contest information posted at Jim Wehrs in Mackinaw City. You can enter the Reel Crazy Contest for as little as $5. I will have more information in the next couple of days.

Just Hookin. I like that coffee and bailey's then just sit & wait. I have my spots that are always productive every day all winter long. I fish steelhead through the ice so once you get a few you just wait and a few more will show up. This year once the ice gets on good I am going to move a little once the bite lets up. I hate all of that taking down and re setting though. I usually move one tip up at a time instead of everything at once. On a good day you can watch flags from 200 yards out too. I have had days where you drill one hole and you are done fishing in 20 minutes, so much for coffee on those days

Thanks for letting me know Mike. I have participated in this before and have turned in 6 salmon a couple of years ago. Three were planted in Rogers City and three were planted in Charlevoix. All six fish were caught off from the Coast Guard dock in St. Ignace. I catch very few planted steelhead so I have not submitted any of them yet. Still waiting to catch a planted brown trout. They were taking the heads at the state park in St Ignace before. I have also given them to the creel census employee, she also takes them. This past year they were taking the stomachs for stomach samples and I was able to contribute a few.

Let the snow melt a little first. I would consider it driving downstate and hitching a ride on someones boat. My Jeep uses way too much gas to pull the boat 500 miles for a weekend plus the other expenses. But it does sound like loads of fun, if I can hitch a ride. On the other hand if St Ignace is a port that you would want to launch out of I can offer some members a ride.

If that is not a limit it is one fish shy good job.