Steve Arend

New invasive species mussel threatens lakes An alien mussel first spotted in Lake Michigan a decade ago has colonized much of the lake bottom, creating problems that likely will surpass those caused by the dreaded zebra mussel. Meet the quagga mussel, the tougher, more disruptive cousin of the zebra mussel. Imported to Lake Michigan in 1997 in the ballast water of ocean freighters, quaggas now blanket much of the lake bottom to depths of 330 feet, according to scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. New invasive species mussel threatens lakes

Hey Matt! "You Like":D Steve

Cut bait is just like any other kind of lure, sometimes it will catch fish and sometimes it won't. I have run cut side-by-side with other lures and I just don't see an advantage. Steve

There has been a few times were we have had to horse a board out of the sand after a wave dropped it on the beach.

Before for I even get on the water I know where I’m going. I check wind direction, water temps and fishing Reports online before I head to the launch. These things can tell you where to start heading once you leave port. Then once on the water and heading in the direction you want to start fishing I keep an eye on the water temp and if I see a drop or rise in temp I will drop line in the cold water side of a brake.

Health officials search for source of bacteria in Duluth Harbor DULUTH, Minn. - Public health officials are trying to determine the source of high levels of bacteria that are repeatedly showing up in the water of Duluth-Superior Harbor. Three years ago, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency began testing Lake Superior water and has since periodically issued warnings that bacteria in the water could make people sick. The problem is concentrated at four locations in the harbor, said Heidi Bauman, who runs the beach monitoring program for the MPCA. "Our testing only tells us that there's high bacteria counts," she said. "The type of tests we do does not tell us where that bacteria came from." http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/state/minnesota/13818734.htm Steve

Welcome Tony. Nice to hear from you. Steve

Correction! You have (1) full core and I have (2) half cores, (2) 3 color and (2) 2 color cores.

I have a 17ft Smokercraft Millentia Series-171 with a 115hp 4-stroke yamaha Steve

Sorry Caz after I got off the phone with you I started to wonder what were the advantages of the running the different lengths of rods. I run the 7' rods for my entire core except my (2) color; I have those on 8'6" downrigger rods so I can use them to run the SWR. Steve

More then the 100# downrigger cables could lift!!!!!!!!!! Steve

I like Tim’s format; 24 lb King, St. Joe, MI 26 lb Laker St. Joe, MI 14 lb Brown St. Joe, MI 16 lb Steelhead, St. Joe, MI (30 min. after the Brown in the same spot.) 12 Lb Coho, St. Joe, MI (I think I was more in South Haven 22 miles off shore?) 11 lb-10oz Walleye, St. Joe River, MI (Still looking for that 14lb'er that's in there) Steve

That all depends on the time of year. St. Joe in the spring and early summer and then I would have to say Manistee for late summer after the skams. leave St. Joe. Steve

Core rods? What is your Length? There seem to be a lot of different opinions on what length of rod you should use to run Lead Core. What is the length you run and why? I run the Okuma 7' core-rod for all my lead. I like the shorter rod because when I'm fighting a fish I like to keep as much of the core in the water to help off set the weigh of the line. With a longer rod there is a lot of the line lifted out of the water while fighting a fish. I have not seen a difference in planer board tracking for the longer or shorter rods. What's your view? Steve

Great Lakes levels above long-term average MARQUETTE - Water supplies to the Lake Superior Basin and lakes Michigan and Huron were well above their respective long-term averages for the month of January, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Currently, Lake Superior is about four inches below its long-term average beginning of February level and is two inches below the level recorded a year ago. This past month, the level of Lake Superior dropped by about two inches. The lake usually drops by three inches during January. Lakes Michigan and Huron rose by about two inches in January, while the lakes usually drop by an inch each January. The level of lakes Michigan and Huron are about 15 inches below their long-term average beginning of February levels and they are about seven inches lower than a year ago. http://www.miningjournal.net/news/story/024202006_new07-n0204.asp Steve

Trolling Casting spoons! How many of you have ever trolled casting spoons? In the spring and summer when the Skams are in I like to use casting spoons on high lines off boards and run them back 50' to 100' behind an inline board and have caught many fish doing this. I will run Little Cleos, K.O. Wobblers and what some know as the B.J. spoon. Steve

Running Flashers with spoons? Are there a lot of guys that run spoons behind flashers? What is the reason for doing this? As some of you may know I’m big into Walleye fishing. I have hundreds of Michigan Stinger Scorpion spoons and Josh for red hook tackle was kind enough to let me try out his proto type Raider Walleye Spoons last year (which took the big fish last year in the “2005 Walleye War†St. Joseph River Tournament) but any ways here’s my thought, I was thinking of running these small spoons this spring for Coho and Browns behind a 4†flasher and was wondering what kind of action I would get on these spoons? Would it just spin the spoon around in a circle or would a get a good fluttering action? Steve

Is this a Fishing tournament????? I could not tell you when the last Super Bowl was that I watched. I did watch the Bud Bowls when they had it. Steve

Hey Rick, Nice to see you here. Steve

Hey Caz, welcome aboard. Feel free to post the West Michigan League events. We have the St. Joe League already posted. We’re looking forward to fishing with everyone in the Brown Blast. Steve

Man!!!!!!!! If the Fish Dog Company made just half of that profit, We'd all be going nothing but fishing around the world. Just think! We would have to hire a crew to fish with us and we could pay them 1 million every quarter to travel with us and fish and still have a few billion left to buy some tackle. Steve

Cool that will work!!! Steve

Oh No!!!!! This is something I don’t want my wife to find. Steve

Let’s take a look at the price of a gallon of gas here in Michigan: If we pay $2.39 /gallon for gas Michigan takes 19 cpg for tax + .875 cpg for environmental regulation fees + 6% sales tax for a total of 33 cpg. On top of that there is a Federal Gas Tax of 18.4 cpg. So we are taxed a total of 51.4 cpg or we are paying $1.876 /gallon of gas with 27% tax on it. We are not only getting kicked for the big oil companys but from the government too. Steve

I drove by the gas station last Friday morning and gas was $2.16 on my way home they raised it to $2.39. Then come Monday morning it was back down to $2.16. Steve