Door County Advice?

[Pat Magee]

I keep promising myself that I will not let every thread of mine die with no final updates so I wanted to make sure to at least write something!

I returned back from my trip on Sunday evening.  I couldn't tell you a place I would rather be.  I had a blast both on the water and with the family.  Aside from some fast moving wind and a couple storms, the weather was just about perfect with highs barely reaching the mid 80's.  I realized that I am limiting myself fishing from a kayak without any kind of electronic assistance so I may make some changes before my next trip up there next summer.  Maybe a new kayak (that can handle open water a little better) or even adding a simple fish finder to the Coosa.

The first trip out I met up with a fella I met on another site, (YakAngler) he lives about 2 hours from where I was headed and he agreed to make the drive to Sturgeon Bay for some early morning fishing.  We launched shortly after sunrise and had a real difficult time getting bites.  Fished drop offs, grass edges, and chunk rock with no luck for the first couple hours.  After awhile I managed to land a 16.75" on a 3.5 Keitech Swing Impact FAT. It wasn't much different looking then the SM back in MO but it sure did fight a hell of a lot better!  My friend Spencer didn't want to be left out and he set into a nice 17" on the Ned Rig.  We caught a few more in different sections of the bay but relying on only my sight severely limited me to noticing some of the drop offs since they would often blend right in due to grass, algae covered rocks, and hydrilla.  We managed to catch a few more but I left there wishing I had a little better idea of what was happening underwater but happy we didn't get skunked.

I had grand plans of hitting Nicolet Bay, Rowley's Bay, Washington Island and Egg Harbor but sadly that didn't happen. Since it was a family vacation, I had to make sure and spend some time with the family too!  Since I had gone out the first two days leaving my wife with no car to do anything else, I chose to fish Egg Harbor for the rest of the time I was there.  It was close enough that I could sneak out for a quick hour and I knew where some fish were held up so I just concentrated on those areas.  

I always went out with 4 rods, (Dropshot, swimbait, HD Craw, and grub or tube).  I caught fish on all of them at one point or another but nothing to really brag about.  It did seem like the fish were transitioning to some deeper holes so I went for some of the deeper drop offs I could find, but again, relying on maps and sight made it a little tougher then it needed to be.  I caught at least a few everyday I went out but always wish I could have done better.  I had a PB on the hook for what felt like forever the last day I was there.  I threw one of those ridiculously long casts that you kind of impress yourself with and was just swimming the tube back to the boat when it got hit.  I had a great hookset and had constant pressure on the fish and was able to bring it all the way to the side of the kayak before all of a sudden.....there was nothing.  I think I just played him a little too long at stretched out the hole in his lip enough for the hook to pop out.  It truly broke my heart and my spirit Just catching a glimpse of it made it that much more heartbreaking.  If I was a betting man I would have said 19-20" and 3.5#-4#.

If you haven't been up to Door or are wondering if you should, do it.  Despite the insane size of the fish up there (which I sadly didn't catch any of) the food and the scenery is absolutely amazing.  Not to mention its about 20 degrees cooler than STL all summer long!  Next year I will try again but plan on renting a boat for at least one day so I can fish some water that might give me a chance at some bigger fish.

I have added a jumble of pictures of my trip below.  You wouldn't believe the size of some of these craws up there!  

[Smalliebigs]

7 minutes ago, Pat Magee said:

I keep promising myself that I will not let every thread of mine die with no final updates so I wanted to make sure to at least write something!

I returned back from my trip on Sunday evening.  I couldn't tell you a place I would rather be.  I had a blast both on the water and with the family.  Aside from some fast moving wind and a couple storms, the weather was just about perfect with highs barely reaching the mid 80's.  I realized that I am limiting myself fishing from a kayak without any kind of electronic assistance so I may make some changes before my next trip up there next summer.  Maybe a new kayak (that can handle open water a little better) or even adding a simple fish finder to the Coosa.

The first trip out I met up with a fella I met on another site, (YakAngler) he lives about 2 hours from where I was headed and he agreed to make the drive to Sturgeon Bay for some early morning fishing.  We launched shortly after sunrise and had a real difficult time getting bites.  Fished drop offs, grass edges, and chunk rock with no luck for the first couple hours.  After awhile I managed to land a 16.75" on a 3.5 Keitech Swing Impact FAT. It wasn't much different looking then the SM back in MO but it sure did fight a hell of a lot better!  My friend Spencer didn't want to be left out and he set into a nice 17" on the Ned Rig.  We caught a few more in different sections of the bay but relying on only my sight severely limited me to noticing some of the drop offs since they would often blend right in due to grass, algae covered rocks, and hydrilla.  We managed to catch a few more but I left there wishing I had a little better idea of what was happening underwater but happy we didn't get skunked.

I had grand plans of hitting Nicolet Bay, Rowley's Bay, Washington Island and Egg Harbor but sadly that didn't happen. Since it was a family vacation, I had to make sure and spend some time with the family too!  Since I had gone out the first two days leaving my wife with no car to do anything else, I chose to fish Egg Harbor for the rest of the time I was there.  It was close enough that I could sneak out for a quick hour and I knew where some fish were held up so I just concentrated on those areas.  

I always went out with 4 rods, (Dropshot, swimbait, HD Craw, and grub or tube).  I caught fish on all of them at one point or another but nothing to really brag about.  It did seem like the fish were transitioning to some deeper holes so I went for some of the deeper drop offs I could find, but again, relying on maps and sight made it a little tougher then it needed to be.  I caught at least a few everyday I went out but always wish I could have done better.  I had a PB on the hook for what felt like forever the last day I was there.  I threw one of those ridiculously long casts that you kind of impress yourself with and was just swimming the tube back to the boat when it got hit.  I had a great hookset and had constant pressure on the fish and was able to bring it all the way to the side of the kayak before all of a sudden.....there was nothing.  I think I just played him a little too long at stretched out the hole in his lip enough for the hook to pop out.  It truly broke my heart and my spirit Just catching a glimpse of it made it that much more heartbreaking.  If I was a betting man I would have said 19-20" and 3.5#-4#.

If you haven't been up to Door or are wondering if you should, do it.  Despite the insane size of the fish up there (which I sadly didn't catch any of) the food and the scenery is absolutely amazing.  Not to mention its about 20 degrees cooler than STL all summer long!  Next year I will try again but plan on renting a boat for at least one day so I can fish some water that might give me a chance at some bigger fish.

I have added a jumble of pictures of my trip below.  You wouldn't believe the size of some of these craws up there!  

nice yak     and very cool pics, thanks for sharing them

[MOsmallies]

Awesome report Pat and great pictures! You caught some solid fish with very minimal tools. You'll get one of those 4-5 lb toads soon!

[Pat Magee]

@Smalliebigsi have put more miles on that yak than I ever thought possible!  That thing is a tank! 

[Pat Magee]

3 minutes ago, MOsmallies said:

Awesome report Pat and great pictures! You caught some solid fish with very minimal tools. You'll get one of those 4-5 lb toads soon!

I sure hope so!