steeliebob

I guess that one will make you the king of kings for the great lakes for a little while. Last year on one of my first trips I hit one that was 20 and had a hell of a fire drill, thought I lost it twice but eventually got it in. Nice to get the big ones early congrats makes me want to go.

Thanks for all of the help guys. I will probably buy the 19 footer, my number one problem is that once the trailer is hooked up to the Jeep I can be launched with lines set in about a half an hour. I live too close to L Huron and can get out there alot. Thus in a week it is not too hard to burn up $100 in boat gas alone. That does not include buying hot lures and releases and dipsies. I guess welcome to Great Lakes Fishing. At least I will not have boat payments.

I just got a big bonus at work. Looking at buying a boat. I am thinking about a 16 foot with a 25 to 50 hsp outboard. I only go out mabey a mile offshore and have shelter right close by if the weather goes sour. Most of the time I am by myself or with one other person. Would this be a big enough boat??? i would kind of like to be able to fish and burn a little less gas. I figure that I could fish for about 4 hours on a couple of gallons of gas. On the other hand I have a real good deal on a 19 foot boat with a 90 hsp. I know that one will take 4 gallons a trip. Any suggestions????

Nice job

Here are the totals so far 20 Steelhead the biggest was caught in January at 12 pounds, 16 Brown Trout with the biggest at 18", and 17 brook trout with the biggest going 17". It looks like I will be adding another weekend to the totals. I will be checking out a different spot closer to home where I can catch whitefish, lake trout, steelhead, and salmon through the ice next year.

If you are not afraid of frostbite they are out there. Looks like I will be pulling mine through the ice this weekend

Nice pics and nice fish. I just looked at the water and it is still hard. I am getting the itch also looking at boats on craigslist. The ice fishing is picking up again but it certainly looks like another week of ice fishing

Nice silver ones. Good job guys. I will be on the ice for probably 2 weeks to a month before I can even consider the open water. If you like the hard water come on up.

I was out at an old trout hotspot yesterday on Lake Michigan I have never seen this before but there were sheets of ice sticking up in the air that were over 10 feet tall. I will probably give it a couple of weeks before I go back out there again as it was hell just getting out to the flat ice and back but I wanted to give it a try. Amazing what mother nature can do.

I was out on the lake mabey two hours, I caught one small steelhead. It was nasty and I was only mabey 100 yards from the Jeep about froze. It did not help much when I had to chase the bucket mabey a half mile.

You can see the monster lake trout that they catch on you tube but for a monster greaser that they throw back down the hole. Not worth it. On You Tube it looks like they are on mabey 4 inches of ice. Once the word gets out good we can telivise it and call it Ice Road Ice Fishermen or Ice Road Idiots.

You should have little or no problem with the ice. Bring the creepers as you will probably need them

I shore fish alot and use a 9" Six Rivers rod and Zebco Quantum reel $75 combo with 8 lb test. It works great for salmon and steelheads. I love it so much that I bought a second identical set up. Nothing that a 12 pound steelhead or 20 pound salmon can damage and it has been put to the test a number of times. If you want a real good rod there are a couple of guys on the site that will custom build a rod for you.

Guys you are getting suntans and watching downriggers in March and I am still cutting two feet of ice in the UP. Only a couple of more weeks left and you can trailer your boats. Watch that drift ice that will be coming out of the UP its pretty thick this year. I think that it was thick enough that a few more of our coyotes on steroids made it across.

I know that they get a few by Marquette and we used to get them pretty good in the Soo. I have been racking my brains out trying to get the DNR to plant a few more in the UP. What a joke that is getting to be. It seems like almost every brown trout that comes out of the hatcheries gets a ticket to SW L Michigan. Get on the DNR there Bromley it would be interesting to see if you get the same response that I have had. They just tell me no no and no. You say Brown Trout and UP in the same sentence and the biologists slam you. Meanwhile the same biologists are taking Atlantic Salmon from the UP and planting them throughout the LP. I think that there should be some kind of a trade here.

If you want Lake Trout go to Petoskey & Harbor Springs lots of them in there. If you are interested in Salmon and less boats come up to St Ignace I will show you where to find them. On a good day you can pick up Kings, Lakers, and Atlantics. Plus a steelhead once in awhile. Just send me a PM if you are interested in St Ignace. I would be more than happy to go out with you

If I did not just dump 75,000$ into my business I would buy it as a charter boat. Besides I am married and my other half would not be too happy. But right now I am looking for a 14 to 17 foot boat.

You get so much information here like the 25,000 Sturgeon River Brown Trout that get planted in Holland. The DNR is playing Robin Hood again. I have spent the last 10 years trying to get some browns replanted in N Lake Huron because a virus wiped them out in the mis 1990's. I can't get so much as a response from the DNR other than no. Now they take brown trout from Northern Michigan and where are they planted? In a place where their is already a healthy brown trout population. Sometimes A guy has to wonder why he even buys a license. I should just take my license money and mail a check to Holland or South Haven.

If that isn't the truth. Last year the best bite time was 4 - 5 in the am. I was pulling in and all of the other guys were pulling out in the morning.

You ought to know about planted fish Kevin. It has been so long since I have seen a MDNR hatchery truck I forgot what they even look like. Down your way they probably have a presidential motorcade of them. Makes a guy wonder what they are buying a license for. Don't get me wrong I catch a fair share of fish up here and I believe most are natural reproduced fish. As far as planted fish I think most are from Wisconsin or Canada. By the time they work their way over in my direction most are bigger fish. For example a 15 to 20 pound chinook is not uncommon and a 8 to 12 pound steelhead is very common. However a brown trout of any size is almost unheard of but Atlantic Salmon are pretty common.

Been there, done that. I wish that I had a video last sumer a guy on my boat lands a nice 8 lb salmon. As he is unhooking the fish he gets hooked and the next thing that happens is the fish the slider and the other spoon all go overboard. As the fish hits the water the line cuts on the side of the boat and all is lost.

Try this it worked for me. Last summer I could not catch a salmon to save my life mid summer. I started launching my boat at 3:00 am and heading out. I went to the first drop off 75 fow and dropped lines 35 down and 20 feet back. Just put a couple of green dolphin double glows on the riggers. I could not grab poles fast enough. Every time that I did this I slammed the salmon. Until about 5 am I was the only boat out there.

If you want to get into the salmon good both Detour and St Ignace are good spots. Detour has the bulk of Atlantic salmon while St Ignace has more Chinook. If you get up this way send me a PM I would be more than happy to fish with you.

I have heard that they fish about a 25 mile snowmobile ride out on Superior. I also understand that these hogs are in 150 to 200 fow. I am plenty happy to go out 100 yards on foot and catch 12 pound steelhead in 5 fow. It is neat to see the video though. it is also amazing to see the size of some of those lake trout.

I refer to them as mutts as the DNR does not plant too many of them in the N Lake Huron Area. I believe many of them are naturally reproduced or come from Wisconsin or even Canada. Mix in a few from Minnisota mabey and over time you have some cross breeds. I catch mabey two per year with any sort of fin clips so two out of mabey 400 per year tells you that not too many come out of hatcheries. Unlike in southern L Michigan where millions of fish are planted you can mabey identify a few of them. I am going out mutt ice fishing this weekend by the way.