steeliebob

Rob, I am hoping things will be frozen by x mas. The Michigan side never freezes until late January but the Huron side freezes early. Call me before you come up (906) 643-8630 and I will let you know where the ice is. Good luck finding rabbits as there are far too many predators up here. Bring a coyote rifle and we will sit on the ice and thin the population a little. I know the steelies will be a hot winter item this year as there was too much rain in October and the population did not get thinned any.

I was thinking about hooking them up on the stackers and running them about 25 feet down about 100 feet in back of the boat with directional divers attached to pull them away from the boat. It should work but you are right about the big fish they can peel you in a hurry. My main concern is other boats, there are a couple of guys out there who wish I had a bumper hitch on my boat. There are days too that you just cannot get far enough away from the other boats.

Hi to all, I hope that you caught your share of salmon over the summer and fall now it is time to put your boats away for winter and do a little hunting or steelhead fishing. I am from St Ignace Michigan I own a 19 foot starcraft I/O for salmon fishing. We had a great summer putting 3 or 4 fish in the cooler on just about every trip. Now I am floating spawn bags with limited luck as the weather is not cooperating. When I can get out ice fishing I hope to catch the steelhead that I have been missing out on this fall. Looking forward to the day in May when I launch the boat and set the downriggers again.

I have the ice fishing gear ready to go not so for deer hunting gear yet. Does anyone out there ice fish for steelhead? I am probably a rare breed but in the UP pretty much everything freezes up when the cold sets in so it is difficult to catch them in open water. The perch and gills are difficult to find and you have to be out on the right day to get walleyes....not so with the chrome. As soon as the ice sets in with about a 4 inch base I am out there. When you have a 12 pound steelie on the ice fishing pole you forget about the cold. When I get home I cut my catch into boneless strips roll them in Drakes and fire up the fry daddy. Tastey Tastey Tastey. Until the ice is there I will be deer hunting and river fishing.

On the last trip out of St Ignace in September we rigged up 9 foot noodle rods with open bail reels loaded with 8 pound test line to the downriggers and trolled with green dolphin spoons. It wasn't too long and we had an 8 pound steelhead jumping 200 feet behind the boat, what a battle it was. I am considering using these rods next year on my stackers or mabey using steelhead rods and open bail reels on all of the rod holders. Does anyone else fish like this? Can you give me some pro's and cons or tips. I really think that with the lighter line and poles I will get more fish in the boat. I am also guessing that if I use smaller spoons mabey shad raps at about 25 feet on stackers I can put more steelhead in the boat.

Nothing wrong with a nice tastey doe. I have been fortunate to put a few of them in my freezer over the years. I hope to get one in a couple of weeks.

Don't fool yourself into thinking that salmon and trout cannot be caught through the ice. I target them and have quite a bit of success. My big one last year was a 12 pound steelhead fun fun fun. I hope to be on the ice in about a month or so doing just that trying to get a salmon or trout.