EdB

Good job Tom!

Looks like Asian Carp in the great lakes will be part of Obama's legacy. Asian Carp Found Near Lake Michigan http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/24011359/detail.html POSTED: Wednesday, June 23, 2010 UPDATED: 8:10 pm EDT June 23, 2010 CHICAGO -- A single Asian carp has been found for the first time beyond the electric barriers constructed to keep the dreaded invasive species out of the Great Lakes, state and federal officials announced Wednesday. Commercial fishermen found the 3-foot-long, 20-pound carp in Lake Calumet on Chicago's South Side, about six miles downstream of Lake Michigan, according to the Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee. While officials said they're concerned about the find, they need more information before deciding how significant it is. "The threat to the Great Lakes depends on how many have access to the lakes, which depends on how many are in the Chicago waterway right now," said John Rogner, assistant director of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Scientists and fishermen fear that if the carp become established in the Great Lakes, they could starve out popular sport fish and ruin the region's $7 billion fishing industry. Carp can grow to 100 pounds and 4 feet. Joel Brammeier, president of the Alliance for the Great Lakes, said the carp's capture highlights the need for a long-term solution that goes beyond the electric current. "Is it disturbing? Extraordinarily. Is it surprising? No," Brammeier said. Rogner estimated that the male carp was about three to four years old. It was caught live but has since been killed and will be sent to the University of Illinois for additional analysis. The carp is the first to be found in a Chicago waterway above the Army Corps of Engineers' electric barrier system. Officials said they'll use electrofishing and netting to remove any carp from the lake. U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin said he's confident in the effort to contain the carp. "Finding a solution that will protect our lakes, while preserving jobs and promoting economic activity in the region is essential," he said in a statement.

Yes you can. I use big jon mini diver disks off boards, not full size dipsey divers. They don't pull any harder than an in-line weight and I like the presentation. When you hit a walleye on a diver disk, it tends to pull them higher in the water column when reeling them in so you don't snag adjacent lines. Sometimes I think the diver disk 3 ft in front of a mini spoon works as an attractant, especially in murky water. You could use in-lines the same way, just a personal preference for me with the diver disks. My buddies run the same program too so we can also match presentations if they are hitting on something good. I use planer boards to spread out and run more lines. Didn't matter on this day since it was two of us and only 4 rods in Ohio. We ran one board with 2 mini divers and 2 riggers. If I was in Mi waters with 3 rods and a bigger crew, we can run 6-8 rods off our planer boards and I have 4 riggers on the boat if needed. We do sometimes run regular diver rods on occasion off the sides of the boat. Eric, the weeds weren't bad there on Sunday, lot's of mayfly husks. There was a very big pack of boats another mile or two farther east but we never got into it. Our numbers were 48's and 8's. Matt, I'm coming up to Ludington this weekend, been up there a lot working on my new place in Tamarac but I've been working and not fishing. Are you going to be up this weekend fishing? More of the same for me but the end of work is in site. It's crimped my spring fishing and walleye fishing but will be worth it. I'm bringing the boat up 4th of July or the following weekend at the very latest. Then it's all play and no work!

We fished in Ohio waters from NW to north of West Sister Island in 27 to 30 ft of water. My buddy any I got our Ohio limit of 12. We trolled copper backed spoons most of the morning on diver discs off boards 90 and 100 ft back and off riggers on the bottom. A green streak with pink dots was the best spoon. When we had a slow spell, I pulled a board line and put out a 3 color core with a 1/2 pound weight and blue and chrome hot n tot. I dropped the weight 20 ft off the rod tip and put it in a diver holder. It took 4 fish. When that started to go, I pulled a rigger and put a black and chrome hot'n'tot down 19 ft and it took a couple fish. Good luck!

Nice pics and catch!

Nice job Matt! I was up painting my place and my neighbors hit some real nice kings this weekend too. One more weekend of work and then I can get back to fishing.

Yeap, June is the month to hit Erie or Saginaw Bay. Have you taking a long west troll out past the 4000's in Ludington. That's where I head up there right now. It had been tough fishing for some of my buddies up there too.

Fishing was tougher today and we picked away. We had quite a few undersize, a good sign, and ended up with 9 walleyes for 3 of us. We hit 5 nice fish early when we stopped in 17ft of water out front. Then we trolled out to 26 ft of water and hit some more. Spoons on riggers on the bottom were the best. Diver disks out 65 to 100 ft depending on the water depth. Small Dreamweavers, Stingers and Streaks, copper back and purples were best. Lot of trash and weeds in the water from the storms, we had to fight the weeds on our lures all day. Less weeds inside than out deep. Some stable weather should set things back up. Good luck!

Glad everyone was safe and you had a great trip.

Good job!

Nice catch!

Nice job Adam! My buddies said fishing is kind of slow at Pentwater, good luck in Manistee.

We fished off Fermi today and got our limit trolling spoons. Riggers were best right off the bottom and we also ran mini disks off the boards 65-75ft back. We worked 21 to 26 ft of water. We ran mostly dreamweaver walleye spoons-copper back oil slick, cat/dog and a streak scarlet fever were the best. Hex flys are starting to hatch. Good luck!

Nice job Tom, headed there this weekend.

I'm maybe fishing Friday, definately Sat AM and maybe Sunday. I'm going out of Bolles Harbor. Do you have a cell phone? Ed

Nice catch, sounds like you had a fun weekend.

Nice job, wish I was out there today.

Nice job, those are some great memories with your daughter!

We fished the afternoon at St Joe. 3 of us got 15, we hit over 20. Lost our first 4 fish in row. It was never hot, we only had 1 double, but it was steady all afternoon and we got our last fish pulling lines as the sun went down. Our best was DW super slim blue dolphin on a half core and a DW mag chrome frog on a full core, a mag stinger carmel dolphin on a 150ft copper. These all took multiple hits. We also got a couple on a blue bubble spin doctor on a rigger at 66 and a DW mag dolphin on the other rigger at 55. A super slim monkey shine went twice on a half core. Never had a diver bite. We fished 90 to 130 ft of water with 95 to 100ft being the best straight out. Good luck.

Congratulations to both of you!

Nice bird, congratulations!

The title sums up my season with another Waterloo Rec Area gobbler over my shoulder to end it. I had the 2nd general hunt period. Monday and Tuesday were 2 of the slowest hunts I've had in a long time. It was cool and windy and the birds didn't gobble much from the trees. They shut up when they hit the ground. I never heard a gobble after 7:00AM both days. A very discouraging 2 days given all the birds I found scouting this year. The weather turned for the better Wednesday and so did the hunting. I got in extra early to set up close to a roost that held 3 gobblers the previous 2 days. My heart sank as birds were gobbling hot in the distance but there were no birds in the roost by me. I made a move across a swamp and the birds were still ground gobbling. A gobbler was quickly answering and coming to my calls. It looked like it was going to happen and it was exciting until I spotted him. He was jake that gobbled well and I let him walk. He moved off and 2 hens moved in. They were very vocal but even they couldn't call in the 2 groups of toms that were henned up 350 yards out of sight. They moved off and another hen came in with another jake in tow. They slid by at 30 feet. Later, another hen snuck up 10 ft behind me, busted me reaching for my call and started putting. Time to make a move. I got on one more ground gobbling tom that hung up at 120yrds out of sight. He was still gobbling when I had to pull out at 11:30 to get to work. Overall, it was a very vocal morning with hens and gobblers talking off and on for all of it. The weather was going to be perfect again Thursday. I got set up and had 2 birds 130yrds away, 2 more 400 yards away. They were as hot as they can be from the trees erupting in gobbles to blue jays, wood ducks, crows, geese and the one barred owl in the woods. I didn't call until the close ones hit the ground and they responded. 10 minutes later, they boomed back to a few clucks and were coming in. I made one more call, one gobbled back and was getting very close. I shouldered my gun and he appeared 50 yards out a couple minutes later. He kept coming, I drew a bead and was ready to shoot when he turned and ran. My dumb mistake cost me a bird, I left my sunglasses on the brim of my hat and I'm sure he saw them from his reaction. I meant to leave them in the truck and forgot them. The other close birds were still gobbling across a small pothole. I made a move to get around it. Dumb mistake #2, I went too far and bumped both of them. I was dejected at that point and decided to hit the road to a new spot and a fresh start. That is why I love general permits and the awesome land we have around here. I made a move to a big tract of land covering both sides of the road with a nice 2 track I could use to cover some ground looking. I went in a couple hundred yards and laid out a soft yelp, nothing. I laid out a loud yelp on my box call and I heard one way off in the distance on the other side of the road. I headed that way, got in a couple 100 yards and called again. He answered, still a long way back. I kept going and he started gobbling naturally. He gobbled 6 times on his own as I approached, letting me move in closer than I expected. It doesn't get any better than that. It sounded like he was on the same 2 track around a bend 150 yards ahead. Time to set up. I plopped down next to a big oak, no decoys. I made a couple soft clucks on a slate and he answered. About 10 minutes later, a few more clucks and he gobbled closer, sounded about 80 yards out. A few minutes later I was going to call again but he gobbled naturally. This bird was hot! He was close, but I couldn't see him and I pulled up my gun. A minute later, I see some black movement through the brush coming down the lane. He kept coming to 30 ft and I shot. He had a 10-1/16 beard and 7/8 and 1 inch spurs. Here he is: Good luck to everyone still hunting!

The feeder case is only applicable in the county it was held in so feeding is still banned everywhere in the state but that county. I think it was Otsego but not positive. The AG will be filing an appeal.

Congrat's!

Great pics, great hunts, congratulations!