steeliebob

If somebody is really itching to go out ice fishing. I will be going out this weeekend for steelhead. It is supposed to be a little cold but the fishing should be good. Post a reply or you can call me (906) 643 - 8630. You will have to meet me in St Ignace from there it is about a 5 mile drive. At least you know that you will be on safe ice.

I guess that you guys will have to load up and drive up to the UP. We have good ice now but it may not last too long. Every time that I go out up here I think that it will be the last time. I have been very cautious and I really watch the weather and wind. Most of the time I am within 200 feet of shore. I do not know if L Michigan ever froze as I have been fishing on Huron

I left my camera at home, I will get them in there tomorrow. They were both done at Great Lakes Taxidermy in Cheboygan. I get loads of compliments on them. I will probably do a steelhead this year and my wifes brook trout.

My wife made me take all of the taxidermy stuff out of the house. My office looks like a taxidermist office not an insurance office (two bobcats, two deer, two brown trout, one brook trout, one walleye, coyote, red fox, badger, beaver)

Ice is great now and the steelhead are biting. I got two over the weekend 8 & 11 pounds both were 30" long. I have steelhead spawn now which is better than the salmon spawn. Looking forward to getting back out this weekend.

Seems like every year it changes. Two years ago you could not keep a Micheal Jackson down. Last year now that I bought a dozen Micheal Jacksons you could wash them all day every day and never get a hit. Last year green dolphins and sister sledge. Mabey I should give the Micheal Jacksons a grave.

Nice chromers!!! Can't wait for the run here, it should start in a couple of weeks under the hard water then it will last until I can put the boat in.

I believe Jim is right to some extent. The guy with the fattest wallet always seems to catch more fish & shoot more deer. I have had my days though on the big water. I usually can get a chuckle at the guys in Orvis waders with the $1000 fly rod when it comes to river fishing. If they are giving away lures and hardware it is always worth the price of admission

Time to put pontoons on the snowmobile or stay home and watch the red wings & pistons. I have the same problem 200 miles north of Saginaw Bay. It is getting pretty cold now though

In the fall and winter they can be very productive. In the springtime you have to fight with smelt dippers so it is not worth it. Right now if the ice is safe you can pick up steelhead off of pretty much any stream or river mouth or try fishing them in open water. In the UP we catch them under the ice in as little as 3 feet of water. As soon as the ice goes out we do good surf casting with spawn. I love pulling them big chromers through a hole in the ice. After this past weekend there probably isn't much ice in Muskegon though. Whitehall might be a good place to try or Silver Creek a little closer to home for you. We lost just about all of our ice in the UP last weekend.

Caught 2 nice chromers and lost 6 so far this winter. Most of the steehead are still out in deeper water and won't be cruising the shoreline for about another two weeks to a month yet. It is still fun picking up the stray ones on tip ups. When the pre spawners hit the shoreline the flags will be flying faster than you can keep up with them. Getting the gear ready now to chase them again this weekend. I have caught & released about a dozen small trout, they keep things exciting.

Way to go on the chrome!!!! Looks like some nice fish there. I have got a couple of nice ones on the hard water this winter

If you can get some crawlers, try them I used to do really good on them in the rifle river during the winter. Right now I am catching them through the ice on spawn and a tip up. This works really good if you have ice near the river or stream mouths. Be careful and know your ice conditions. We don't have too much open water in the UP during the winter so I have learned to catch them under the ice.

I will try that with a batch of steelhead spawn.

I got the picture posted in the trout and salmon galleries. Smoked him up this am boy what a tastey fish too.

I will check it out. I tried the Borax a couple of times and was not impressed mabey I did it wrong.

Nice chromers from the soft water.

I had a close call once, now I hug the shoreline.My brother in law disappeared through the ice on Huron so I give the ice alot of respect.

I managed to find some good ice. We just could not manage to put the hook to the fish that hit. We missed out on a couple of nice screamers and had two break off. Right when we were going to call it quits the pole sitting on the bucket started bouncing. I put the hook to it and it was another screamer. This time the fish lost after a 40 minute battle. What came through the ice hole was a 34" 14 pound steelhead. About 10 minutes later my fishing partner caught & released a 15 inch brook trout. Catching that big fish on an ice rod felt like a 20+ pound king on the rigger. I will post a picture later

Over the years I have tried everything to preserve spawn. I freeze some, I use pro-cure and refrigerate it, I also use a combination of salt and sugar and refridgerate it. I am looking to try to get a firmer egg out of the batch. The pro- cure probably results in the best natural egg and seems to be working real well. Does anyone have any good recipies for curing spawn??? I usually cure about 25-30 pounds of it so I have a little to experiment with.

Thanks for the pictures, now I know what a brown trout looks like. We just don't catch them in the St Ignace area anymore. Petoskey and Harbor Springs used to be real good for Brown Trout but I think that area kind of died off too. I will say that they are real nice pics though.

No ice on L Michigan, I am going to try Huron this weekend again. If this keeps up I will need my waders soon. Mabey I should uncover the boat and put the riggers back on it. The bright side of things is that my heat bill was only $68.00 this month, I guess that is not bad for a 2000 square foot home

There is some safe ice on huron in the UP but it changes from day to day. I have been out a couple of times this winter but no luck as of yet. I came close yesterday as I had a screamer on the tip up but missed that one. If the ice ever forms good I am looking at February and March to be good fishing months. It is bad when you live in the UP and cannot find good ice. A few years ago I was catching my limit in January on Lake Michigan out of one hole quicker than you could drink a cup of coffee. No shanty just go out drill a hole and you were back at your car 45 minutes later with a meal of nice chromers

If anyone would be interest in fishing in a Trout & Salmon tournament out of St Ignace I am looking at running two of them this year on July 3 and August 7 to benefit March of Dimes. Please let me know as I am trying to get an idea how many boats will be entered for prizes. You can email me at [email protected] or call me at 906 643 8630. I have a few interested boaters now just looking for more.

That is a real nice ride there. We live real close and get to take it several times a year. We also try to get through there at night a couple of times during the summer. You see loads of wildlife on that road at night and the lakeshore beauty is still there. If you get up here again look me up I can try to get you on some fish up here. Nice picture of Lake Michigan from the Bluffs