Steve Arend

Well after some long thought I've decided to hit the St. Joe River for some Eye action tonight. (Don't feel like hitting the big pond by myself.) I have yet to fish for walleye since it has opened. I'll give a report when I get home if it's not to late.

Man!!!!!! Do I head out walleye fishing or with a report like that do I hit the big lake.

I'll start with Mags on the main lline and standards on the sliders and then let the fish tell me what they want. If their hitting the main line all the time then I'll through down all Mags. If they hit the slider then all standards. I run the same color spoons for the main and slider.

Invasive Snail Found in Minn. Harbor DULUTH, Minn. (AP) -- A small, spiral-shaped snail that clones itself and is native to New Zealand has been discovered in Duluth-Superior Harbor and the St. Louis River estuary, raising concerns about the impact of another invasive species. The snail, called the New Zealand mudsnail, is only about as large as a peppercorn when fully grown. But one snail and its offspring can generate hundreds of thousands of clones each year. Invasive Snail Found in Minn. Harbor

Yep! South Haven.

Nice job! Looked like the lake was in good conditions for the trip.

You got to love that. Nice to see that he handled that like a Pro!

I like the 9'6" rod to help get the dipsy out around my out side riggers. All of my dipsy rods are 9'6" heartland diver rods. I have not had a problem running wire through them and this is starting my 3 season with them. Now with that been said, they are now making some sweet rollor rod. The Okuma Convector GL Roller Rods are nice but only come in 8' and 8'6", Shimano Talora Wireline roller rods are also nice and they come in a 7', 8', 9', 10', but all these roller rods are pricey.

Where do you start? We have talked about how you start out your fishing before leaving a port, where to look for fish. What do you look for when heading out to fish? What to do after certain weather conditions. But once you have figured out all of this and you are ready to put lines in the water, where do you start? What rigs are you going to run? Grant it these answers will be different with the number of rods you can run and what fish you are going to target. Do you through a mixture out? Rigger, Dipsy, Core, High Lines, Drop weights, Copper,. What do you start with? Cut Bait, Spoons – Magnum or Standard, Flasher/Flies, Body Baits. Just wondering how everyone starts their fishing? I normally have everything rigged and ready to fish the night before.

I have been fish Lake Michigan for 20+ years out of the St. Joseph Port and I can’t think of any other time where we’ve gone out before mid-May and have been able to box out on kings before boxing out on coho. We had about 4 weeks of good coho fishing from the last 2 weeks in March and the first 2 week in April and that was it. Now we’re running out to 100-160 ft. of water and boxing out on kings. This should not be for this time of year! Those kings should be in shallow following the alewives which should be hitting the rivers right now. I have not marked any bait balls in shallow everything has been out in 120 to 160 and sitting right on bottom. WHY? I have not caught a smelt yet this year. They normally start on the first turkey season. Does anyone have an educated guess as to here the coho are? Why the kings are out deep? And where are the alewives?

I only run a 4' lead to the spinnie then the meat rig on a 9' 6" Heartland so all together it's no longer then the rod.

I was running a Green Casper Kingfisher II w/ a Rhys Davis Green Glow/Green Triple Tease on a wire dipsy set on 1 1/2 back 248 and a Blue Casper Kingfisher II w/ a Rhys Davis BlueGreen Glow/ lt. Blue Triple Tease on Wire dipsy set on 1 1/2 back 268 and the last meat rig that I had out was the Spin Docter Blue Holo/Crush Glow with a Chrome Blue/Green Rhys Davis head on the rigger 30 behind and 120 down. The Raider Mag. Chicken Pox Spoons were on the riggers 8 back and 100-130 down.

Well after we pulled our 10th king and placed it back into the lake for another day, we pulled line and the plan was to hit 100 fow and set lines for Coho and steelies. Well with 5 ft. sea and a head wind of 20+ mph winds and all that weight in the back of the boat from all the fish, I could not get on plane and with the throttle pegged I was doing 8 mph. After hitting 100 fow we decided to run all the way in and get out of the waves closer to shore. We ha a 5 footer hit us just right and the wave lifted a rigger rod right out of the holder and into the lake. It was just like watching the Titanic sink; about a foot of the rod was sticking out of the water and by the time I got the boat turned around all we could do was watch it slowly sink to the depths of the lake.

It was a little bumpy out there around 100ft for the morning run. We made it out to a way point that I had from the last couple of days out in 125 fow. We set lines and trolled out to 160 and made a fip and started trolling back in. By this time our first 4 fish were a (1) laker, (1) Coho, (2) kings and tossed a Laker back. Just after hitting our way point we boxed another King. We kept on a east troll and hit 120 fow and end up boxing 5 more kings in a short span of time. We were boxed out on Kings by 10:15am. We end up 12 for 16 with the Mag. Chicken poxs on riggers, Mag Flounder Pounder on full core, Mag copper/orange glow on full core and cut rigs on wire dipsies were hot.

Well we had another good day (a little bumpy) out on the water for the St. Joe League event on the 29th of April. We had 10 boats participate this weekend and the standing was: 1st place: 4 fish weighed, 29lbs 14oz, total = 69.875 points – Running Arends (Steve Arend) 2nd place: 3 fish weighed, 37lbs 4oz, total = 67.25 points - Fistful of Dollars (Tom – Did I get the boat name right?) 3rd place: 3 fish weighed, 26lbs 12oz, total = 56.75 points – Adjusted (Mark) 4th place: 3 fish weighed, 21lbs 9oz, total = 51.563 points – KDS08 (Still no boat name.) 5th place: 3 fish weighed, 19lbs 2oz, total = 49.125 points – Tauzigg (Gary) 6th place: 3 fish weighed, 16lbs 3oz, total = 46.188 points – BDWalk (Brett) 7th place: 3 fish weighed, 7lbs 14oz, total = 37.875 points - leprechaun II (The other Ben) 8th place: 1 fish weighed, 4lbs 11oz, total = 14.688 points – Midway (Wayne) 9th place: Fish-On and Danger Dan with no fish to weigh. Big fish went to Tom (Fistful of Dollars?) with a 13lb 3oz King. Small fish went to Tauzigg (Gary) with a 5oz King. Thanks everyone it was a good time. Steve

I like to keep the heat around 170-200 deg. F. and for a 12 lb turkey the cooking time is around 4-5 hours. I cook it till the inside temp of the bird is around I think its 148 or 168 degs. F. I'll have to look it up again. I only add the wood for smoking in the last 2 hours of the cooking time. I smoked my wild turkey 2 years ago and that was a 19 lb bird dressed out and it took around 6-7 hours.

Adjusted3 Running Arends Midway BDWalk Spoonfed Danger Dan Andge Fistful of Dollars leprechaun II (The other Ben) SalmonSlayer ? He maybe fishing with me if he can't get ahold of his crew Tracker (Gary) Fish-on kds08 (no free rides or goin' balls deep) You can meet us at the DNR launch between 4:30-5:00 tomorrow morning and pay us or just pay at the wiegh-in. If anyone has to drop out please call me before 5:00am Saturday morning and let me know. 269-876-8634 Steve

Rich, For the last 2 years I have been smoking up turkeys for our thanksgiving lunch here at work and what I have been doing is brining the turkey in apple juice for a day to 2 days and than smoking them with apple wood. They have been turning out nice and tender with a good flavor. Just one idea.

Nice job on the bird Rich. I'm still trying.

Grass carp caught in St. Croix expands species' range to north BY DENNIS LIEN ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS A 45- to 50-pound grass carp was caught in the Lower St. Croix River earlier this month, fueling concern about several types of Asian carp that are making their way up the Mississippi River from southern states. A commercial fisherman caught the carp April 7 near Prescott, Wis., said Jay Rendall, invasive species program coordinator for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Grass carp are one of four species of Asian carp that were imported into the United States in the 1960s and 1970s, escaped into the lower Mississippi basin, and now threaten fisheries by consuming food normally eaten by native fish and wildlife. The others are bighead, black and silver carp, with the silver carp achieving a measure of notoriety for its ability to leap from the water when startled. A small number of grass carp have been caught in the Mississippi River between Minnesota and Wisconsin over the past two decades, and a bighead carp was caught in Lake Pepin in 2004, Rendall said. The latest catch underscores the continuing threat from those fish, he said. Grass carp caught in St. Croix expands species' range to north

Still looking for (1) crew member for tomorrow. Also looking for (1) crew member for the St. Joe League on Saturday Morning.

Welcome to the site. I'm always looking for that "Trophy 'eye" and I'm looking forward to swapping stories

By JOHN PEPIN Journal Munising Bureau MUNISING — With the dramatic collapse Thursday of one of the two turrets of Miners Castle at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, geologists have offered explanations for the historic occurrence. The northeast turret, roughly 15 feet tall, gave way and fell about 90 feet off a cliff on the north side of the rock formation into Lake Superior. No injuries were reported and rangers inspecting the damage say an observation deck closest to the rockfall appears to be unaffected. But Miners Castle — the signature rock formation for the national lakeshore at Pictured Rocks — will never be the same. Why did Miners Castle rock fall?

Law requires classes for future boaters Doyle signs bill mandating safety course for all boaters born since 1989 By RYAN J. FOLEY Associated Press MADISON — Future boaters in Wisconsin must pass a state-sponsored safety course or face fines under a bill signed into law by Gov. Jim Doyle on Wednesday. Those who operate motorized boats or personal watercraft will have to pass the course at locations across the state or over the Internet to receive lifetime certification. In an attempt to phase in the requirement, the law applies to all boaters born in 1989 or later and who are at least 16. Doyle said the certification, which costs $10, will improve public safety on Wisconsin's lakes. Law requires classes for future boaters

LINWOOD -- While salmon fishing has declined sharply in the open basin of Lake Huron, anglers in Saginaw Bay have seen walleye numbers rise dramatically. So why would fishing go one way in the big bay off Lake Huron and the other way in the main basin? The answer to both questions seems to be the same -- the disappearance of alewives that once fed the salmon but preyed on baby walleyes. Walleyes rise as alewives sink