tawood

For anyone thinking of hitting the bay this week, my advice: don't waste your time. I got my first time ever Saginaw Bay skunk today...I should have known, when we pulled into the river mouth boat launch at 6am, and WE WERE THE ONLY ONES THERE (now that is also a first)!!! Fishing in the bay was worse than fishing in thick chocolate milk...I've never seen water that murkey. Not to mention, we had to be very vigalent when heading out and back, because there were floating logs, stumps, railroad ties, etc, every hundred yards or so. We were literally the only boat on the bay! Oh well, at least it was a beautifull day weather wise (just wish I had gone salmon fishing instead).

One last question... When using braid (that may have lower drag than my 20 lbs test), how do I know how deep my dipseys are running? Won't the lower drag also change their depth?

I assume to switch to wire I would need to change rods...what about braid, can I use my normal mono/line counter rod/reels?

Great job...what depth, speed, etc? Tim

I'm a long time walleye fisherman, but I'm new to the trout thing...I don't use downriggers, and so far I've done pretty good with just deep diving lures, jet divers, and dipseys. I have a question/problems on the dipseys though. I don't seem to be able to get them to run out at an angle. I see guys that talk about setting them on "1" or "2" on the discussion boards here....I run mine on "3", and yet they still seem to track directly straight back (and down of course). Is it just the nature of dipseys, that they don't really track off to the side, or am I doing something wrong? As a test, my last time out I ran 2 dipseys, side by side on 2 rods. The rod tips were just a foot apart in the rod holders. One dipsey was set on "3" full port, the other on "3" full starboard. The 2 lines looked exactly parallel (and straight back/down). Also, a minor note...I never seem to get a dipsey to "release" when it is suppose to either. It seems that if I loosen the release at all, it will release with just the lure, and if I tighten it even an 1/8 of a turn, I can catch big fish and still fight the dipsey. This weekend we caught a 6 lbs coho, and the dipsey didn't release. BTW, I run my dipseys on line counter level winds, with 20 lbs mono test, and run them at 2.5 mph (gps). No snubbers. I've used magnums, #0, and #1 dipseys too. I've used them with spoons and body baits. Thanks for any help, Tim

It wasn't rough at all, even though it was windy with an ENE wind...water was VERY cloudy...infact the most cloudy I've ever seen there! Temp was 38 degrees or so.

Pics:

Took the kids out for the shake down out of Lexington this morning and tried something new: I usually get them up at 4am or so, drive the almost 2 hours to Lexington, and fish...usually with the kids up front in the boat sleeping! So this time I towed the boat with the motor home last night, slept nearby, then we all slept in a little and put in...MUCH better! Anyway, seems like everything wasn't working, new gps won't use old maps, radio didn't want to work, boat main battery doesn't hold a "good" charge, etc...but we managed 2 coho anyway, in 15 feet of water, on silver long rapala minnow types trolled at 2.2 mph. Seems like everyone on the water caught at least 2 coho. Oh, and there was some kind of "incident" going on, but I don't know what...several Coast Guard boats, border patrol on shore with binocs, sheriff boats, dnr...there were about 4x more law enforcement boats than fisherman, but none of them would tell us what was up other than "something big". We were boarded by the Coast Guard...TWICE! I'm in law enforcement myself, but that was just a pain. Maybe we are about to be invaded by Canada.

Looked at harbor beach on the marina cam...docks are not in yet (there is still ice in the harbor).

It was my first year for trout, so I have nothing to compare to, but I did catch a couple steelhead, a few lake trout, and a coho...fished out of Sanilac and Port Austin. I've fished a few years for walleye on Saginaw bay, but last year was a down year for me.

Went camping at Port Cresent for the week and took the boat. The only day we could get out was on Tuesday, and even that was a bit rough for me and my 19' bowrider with the 3 footers---in fact, both my kids got sick! We managed to fish for an hour or two anyway. We headed out at 6am and 45 degrees from Grindstone City until we hit 100' of water, then trolled back in to about 50'. I'm not sure if it is because of the warm bay, or what, but some of the fish and their depths seemed almost inverted. We almost immediately caught an 8lbs steelhead on a rapala near the surface, maybe just 10' down on an inline board. Not long after, we caught a nice laker (i'm not sure of the weight, but over 30 inches) on a dipsey and spoon just off the bottom. With each kid landing a fish, it was now my turn to man the rods, and I caught my fish: a HUGE drum, down 65' in 85' of water on a dipsey again! Oh well. The last fish of the day was an even bigger shock: my son landed an absolutely huge smallmouth...caught on a dipsey, just off the bottom in 60' of water! Blew my mind! Not long after he started reeling, and I can see this green fish jumping out of the water, and he kept asking, "What is it?" I couldn't answer, and I'm glad I didn't try! I'll try to post some pics later after we have unpacked from the camping trip. Tim

Just got back, and with high winds all week we stuck to Lake Michigamme...and did well with the walleye.

I'm heading up to the U.P. this Monday...how's the fishing up there? Haven't seen a report in awhile. We're gonna stay at Van Riper, and fish Michagamme....but I'd also like to try Superior if the weather is good. Tim

That catfish may be a garbage fish, but catching one that big sounds like fun. Instead of trying to get a hot-n-tot down that deep, I use Rapala Shad Raps or Tail Dancers....you can get these for different depths down to at least 30' (I think I even have a couple that will reach 40'). On those warm sunny days I'll hit 25' and cover the water column with a 10', 15', 20', and one draggin the bottom catchin clams. Works good for me.

Is the boat launch open?

I just got back from the Holloway Reservoir...this is my 2nd choice fishing spot, when the Bay is too rough or windy. I managed to catch 2 nice walleye, both about 28 inches. I think my livewell is only 24 inches, 'cause they had to bend to fit! It's funny but I can usually limit-out on the Bay, but rarely catch a fish over 24 inches...On Holloway, I've never caught my limit, but always catch monsters. Anyone else notice this? Tim

My old Raymarine unit is on its last leg: first the speed readout went out (i never used it anyway), then last week the temperature sensor went out. I could probably repair it with a new transduser, but it is getting pretty old anyway. I've been looking at the new Garmins, mainly the 400c. Anyone have any experience with one? I really like Garmin products, but I've never had one of their fish finders. I have used many of their GPS units (I'm a pilot), and I love them. Tim

Wow Paul, reading your post was like Deja Vu...I dropped a brand new line counter rod/reel overboard last year while fishing at Holloway, and I thought the pole was lost....then a fish hit on another rod....as I reeled in I noticed a line tangled on mine, and low and behold: it was my new rod! Good job for a day trip though...I usually head out VERY early, and STOP fishing around 9:30 am because the bite slows.

Once we were river fishing in Montana, and just as we floated past a guys beached boat, a black bear jumped out of the bushes and into his boat. Funny thing was, the weight of the bear dislodged the boat from the river bank, and the boat started floating down the river with the bear in it! The guy, who was fishing nearby, started yelling, "Shooo bear!" We were floating along side it and we started yelling too, while the bear comes up out of the boat with a fish in it's mouth and a panic / frantic look about it. As the bear tried to jump out of the boat, it slipped and fell, dropping the fish, and it then ran off without it. The guy grabbed the front lead on the boat and while towing it back to shore said, "Did you see that? That bear almost got my fish!" Just then, the bear reappeared from the brush, jumped back in the boat, grabbed the fish, jumped out, and ran off. My dad's friend then said, "Yeah, well there was no 'almost' about it!"

Thanks...I thought it was a steelhead...you can't see in the pic, but there was a definite pink/purple hue down it's side.

Funny you mention carp: I forgot to mention, I also caught a HUGE carp. It was hooked on the outside of it's mouth, so I probably just snagged it. I think I just figured out the photo thing (thanks Mike):

Hi all, I'm a long time walleye fisherman, but I'm new to boating for trout. I've fished for trout my whole life (about 35 of my 43 years) from the pier, but believe it or not, I've never even hooked one, let alone landed one. Why I kept trying is anybodys guess! Anyway, today I headed up to Harbor Beach to try to catch a trout. Got there later than I would of liked, and got out on the water about 8 AM. Caught my first ever lake trout, a 26 incher, about 8:30, and my first ever steelhead, a 17 incher, a few minutes after that! I then hooked into "something BIG", but turned out to be too big for my 10 lbs test walleye rod, and it ran that rod completely out of line in about 30 seconds...sure would have liked to have seen that fish. I've only had fish run that fast while fishing in salt water! What type of fish runs like that in the Great Lakes? That lake trout I caught came in like a walleye: felt like I hooked a big wet sock, and it didn't fight until it saw the boat. The steelhead, being somewhat small, didn't even really fight at all (I didn't even know I had a fish on, and I think I towed it behind the board a while). Caught both fish in about 15 feet, behind boards, 1.8 mph, on rapalas. I've got pics, but I'm not sure how to post here yet. Tim

Wind switch is getting shut off tonight, I think. I'm planing on hitting the bay tomorrow, or maybe heading to Lake Huron for trout...haven't decided yet.

Ok, guess I'm not able to post pics on this site....Basically, I had to install heavier springs AND a special rubber bushing "bump stop", that sits under the springs and comes into play when the bed is loaded (I can't remember what these were called....this destroyed the truck's ride. My tow vehicle before the Tundra was an old Dodge 1500 that handled the little 5th wheel without any problems. And since writting the last I just remembered another problem I had, twice, with the Tundra: don't put any weight on the tailgate. I broke mine twice just loading a dirt bike in the bed. And for anyone that would like to see it, I also have a letter, directly from Toyota, that says, "do not stand on the tailgate".

My '08 said RIGHT IN THE MANUAL not to hook up a trailer, to the factory trailer receiver (with the factory towing package), with a tongue weight of over 180 lbs! I had bought my Tundra to pull a small (23') 5th wheel....I had to make MAJOR suspension mods for the Tunda to handle the 650 lbs-in-bed 5th wheel hitch weight.... The first time I hooked up the fifth wheel, the rear wheels pressed against the fender wells. I've got picks of this, so I'll post them. Oh, and I've heard the "Tundra never has a problem" from the dealer EVERY SINGLE TIME I WENT IN THERE! As their recent brake problem shows, Toyota has a habit of saying "there isn't a problem!!!"