watermen2

Just got back, love to visit my mom. Chartered one evening out of Algoma, Fished 2 mornings from sister up to the island. Walleye fishing has gotten better in the summer over the years. Still on the quest for a 23. Don't have one yet. 20-22 is a daily fun fish. Picked 20 gallons of cherries in an hour and ate well, too well. 78 degrees and light breeze every day. Tourism is definitely down and place was not crowded.

Use it a lot in clear water. Caught a lot of 8-10 lb steelhead in current on it. Makes a big difference, like double the bites over 8-10 lb in that clear water. The longer rods make a big difference. Try it in open water. Around here, I never have in the rivers.

They will be deep (relative) on reefs or drop offs. I have not fished St Clair in 4 years and that was through the Ice. Tremendous walleye fishery as well as perch and Muskies. I fished just north of there last year this time. I have cousins in Bad Axe and Cass city that fish it regularly and fished with me last summer on Huron. Since the gobies invaded the lakes a Blackish plastic seems to do the best. The craws are lighter colored in the big lakes so a light brown or light green tube has merit. My cousins seemed fond of drop shotting. One used blown up crawlers with a white bead on a lindy rig to catch variety. Mouths of rivers/Rocks are always good this time of year on the lake. Headed home tomorrow and will fish Washington Island for a day or two. Fish Salmon with a buddy or a charter for a day to let my wife feel the pull. Great time of year on the great lakes, talked to a buddy fishing perch today at ludington, bring a hoody, mornings are cool. That's a good thing. I almost forgot, light line and a spinning rod about 7 to 7-6 feet. 4-8 lb test light. More bites

Both, had a square bill in a craw color and a natural colored flicker shad. Steeper banks I threw the flicker and shallower sloping banks threw the square bill. If no bites on the crank worked the ned slow down the hill.

good one, fish seem to be really chunky this year, all those shad we have seen I'm sure.

The weekend before I was at Buck Creek for three days and chased walleye mostly. 5:30 to seven I fished topwater and caught a lot of fish of the big mouth variety and A few smallmouth over 40 ft of water When the sun came up sunday I fished a crankbait around the points for three casts then threw a ned for 3 casts. There were 1-2 smallmouth or spots on every point. It has to be easy for me to catch bass. Not being facetious.

These fronts will cool it off considerable I think. Surface was only 60-64 yesterday on main lake. Little shad all over though. Everything was on the bank.

Got it thanks, They were 5-11 ft today, got into two large scattered schools. Fun day jigging, I will get one of these and modify it.

What do you do buy a chunk of 3/16 chain and double it over the rope end?

Fishing was so so, no pattern and they were scattered. Spent afternoon today taking the ulterra apart and think I got the belt problem fixed. thanks to youtube! Fixin stuff for dummies🤪. The damage to the trailer will be a long project or 3. I was pleased to get some fish after a 5 hour trip to go 2 hours. Bass pro and midway both have flickers on sale. I lose 3-10 a trip chasing walleyes.

Caught these last night after a road hazard flat on the trailer and trolling motor malfunction. short afternoon , but productive. 24 11-13 inchers and 3 keep walters with a bonus flathead. Pink and purple sucked, it was all about chartreuse and orange. Fish were scattered 6-30 ft and hammered the plugs. 1.6-1.8 mph. Flatline, inline, and lead line, to reach the fish. It's time.

All good info and advice. I get them during the spawn on the points out from their spawning cove after they pull off later in the morning. Tend to get a better grade of fish as well during the spawn with trolling the mouths of the coves. I have done better with the Bandits personally. Along with all the mentioned colors I seem to do well with a brown craw with orange belly as well as any of the pinks like grenada shad. I also seem to do better with blue chrome over the black, Depends on the day as much as anything. Middle of June and I'm done.

Thanks

Stopped three places today and all there was in the tanks were Crappie minnows. I was told there are no big minnows this year from the wholesaler local to the area. Rivers are blown out central MO so I can't get my own. Any one know of a bait shop that carries 3-4 inch minnows in Branson or Warsaw area? Thx

I always thought just ok, kinda like a paddlefish. When your smally fishing up the Menominee and one jumps out of the water and crashes back in next to the boat it will fill your shorts. Green sturgeon from the mouth of the Columbia are firmer and better eating for me.

The best Bull Trout fishing I ever had was below Crystal mountain in WA. There is a bridge on the way to the resort. I was skiing the last of the season and visiting friends one spring. The water below the bridge was classic swift with huge boulders. The river was loaded with 3-6 lb Bull Trout. I caught dozens in 3 days. I quit fishing when I went into the convenience store downhill from the bridge to get some more lures. I asked the lady behind the counter why no one was fishing this crazy good river. She explained the rocky flat I was traversing was a favorite dumping ground for the Green River Killer. Had the place to myself. The only other place I caught any numbers was the Flathead drainage. I think they are protected now. I could never tell the difference from a Char a Bull Trout and a Dolly. I think they were just a hold over from the glacier period. Awesome quest though.

Water is cold, try a minnow head on the treble.

Larry has a pretty good reputation as a guide in the FRV. My nephews turned me on to Tom Boley 3-4 years ago and I enjoy his videos more. Very cerebral young kid and very technical. Really good kid with electronics and that's my weakness as I switched to the newer stuff in the sport fishing arena. Like anything ( and you been at this as long as I have) it depends on the day. 30+ years ago pounding the bottom worked, we did not know for sure why. Then vexilars got popular ice fishing, and you could watch the fish react to your bait manipulation. Now you have livescope, and I really enjoyed watching the fish on it last weekend. Walleye and perch trap the bait or jig alot, explains why you hook so many under the chin. Aqua views and the new in line cameras really show how inefficient lures and baits are. There are lots of videos out now on youtube of fish hitting baits under the ice or trolled crawler harnesses or lures. I like Hyper rattles and Salmo chubby darters for this type of fishing. You can cast them and they seem to fish better. The jigging Rap was designed for hard water and I first used it summer time 25 years ago on Devils and Glacial lakes fishing the ditches of flooded roads during mid day. They will not work on the days you need to use a slip bobber or drag a jig. Boley runs and guns with his electronics and fishes fast, worth a look. Young tournament guys use live scope to fish specific individual fish like the crappie guys. I wonder if bass is the same now? Rapala now make a rippin rap that is like the old lipless cranks and more of a hybrid. Short winded answer, yes Larry covers the basics.

Caught a lot of walleye on them over the years, through the ice and off the side of the boat. Like hyper rattles and salmos better lately. Smallmouth like them as well.

Very fun area! Looks like a great trip.

Hope this does well Phil. Great trip for somebody.

State park is usually last to be pulled IIRC?

It does catch fish I don't understand it though. I get that it looks like a minnow feeding down, I don't get how it is so effective trolled and drug fast along the bottom. The point of my post is that it seeems very effective. Don't understand why? Always wonder why? any plausible suggestions. Who came up with the idea to not have a tail or anything? It works, Why is what I'm curious of.

I followed this thread and listened along for years. Not much is new in fishing just seems to get recycled. I used this rig sporadically, never understood how it could be more effective than a paddle tail or some of the other plastics, but it is. I have fished it off and on for 3 years. A couple uncles, cousins and I were up on the upper MIssouri last June. First of June coincides with the smallmouth spawn that far north. The water was low and we were pitching to the beach and fishing shallow reefs. They outfished me the first day on this stupid thing, BADLY on both species. I threw everything. Too add insult to injury they outfished me in the late morning troll to finish off our walleye limit with better fish. Ton of little cigars in this area. They even outfished live leeches and harnesses trolling or drifting out the back of the boat. The rod in the holder or on the boat floor as beer thirty commenced. Stupidist, weirdest thing ever to me. It's a dog turd on a hook. I have a dedicated bag with every color and weight right now. I don't understand it and have heard lots on the subject. Eyecons and legend tournaments are a plenty to fish it on. The closest thing I ever used was the old lindy fuzz e grub on a mushroom head. This is more effective, I used both next to each other.

This was tried years ago, it has since been shot down other than Scotland and Iceland. Seems it is not ecologically sound to remove lumpfish from the surrounding water to fill in a salmon pen. The bigger issue with lice is they hitch a ride on wild smolts as they traverse the sound on their way to the open ocean. Alexandra Morton has done extensive work regarding lice and recently pathogen infections specifically kidney diseases.. It's a cool gimmick that sells fish though.