Capt. Ken

The "stick shot" video from todays trip...

Yesterday was frustrating. Went through better than 7 dozen crawlers for 7 keeper walleye. We caught a butt load of fish, just not many keepers. But at least we had lots of action. My brother was testing out a camera he plans on using to record the charters from start to finish and it worked pretty good. Needs some fine tuning, but over all, not too bad. So anyway, here is the "on the water' video from yesterday as well as "stick shot video" from todays trip where we caught some much nicer fish. See you on the water folks...

The bite is good right now. The water temperature on Little Bay de Noc was 65 yesterday. I don't know what it is on Big Bay de Noc. I can't remember what it was today on Little Bay (age?). Hotter than blue blazes though, so I'm sure it came up some more today. The warmer the water on Little Bay de Noc, the better the fishing , period. When it hits 80 degrees (not often), it is awesome! You should have some very good fishing unless we see a huge explosion of alewives. But like I said, we have not seen that in many years. If you get a chance, stop in and see my brother Kevin at our resort in Rapid River as he can point you in the right direction. Good luck on your trip...

Wow...I woke up at 4 a.m. this morning and the wind was already blowing like crazy (gusting to 30!!!). I got to work just after 5 to get ready for today's charter and the flags were already sticking straight out (not what I wanted to see). Today I had the pleasure of fishing with Lloyd and Andrew, a couple of great guys from the northern part of the U.P.. The first thing we did was get dressed like we were ice-fishing (to say it was cold would be an understatement). We then headed to the north end of the bay where we've been getting some fish lately. We fished three locations today, and we caught fish in each one. First we drifted with floating jig heads tipped with 1/2 crawlers in 13 to 18 feet of water West of Center Reef. Here we picked up some fish, but most were on the small side. We then went to try and troll Walleyes Choice harnesses along the East bank near the Vagabond. We got into some fish, landing 2 or 3 more keepers and releasing several undersized, but then the wind got too strong for good boat control. I decided to hit one of my deeper locations that's been pretty good to me this year, so we got out the floaters again and drifted for the rest of the day...and the fish didn't let us down! We needed two 60" drift socks out to slow us down today. The term "walleye chop" sure is over-rated! Good luck from all of us in the Bay de Noc area. Be safe and have fun this holiday weekend! It sounds like it's going to warm up and be a nice weekend for fishing.

It's many years since we have seen a huge impact on the bite from alewives. We used see them all over the beaches, but there just hasn't been any great number in quite some time. I wouldn't worry about it if I were you. Now, quick as I say that, we'll have an explosion of alewives!!!

Well, after yesterday's ridiculous winds, I was hoping today would be nicer. And nicer it was! The wind was much more manageable today, especially in the early morning. I had Dale DeWildt and his son Mark out again and we had a much better bite. As we were working on getting our third line out...there went the first board and soon after that the second board went back. Just like that we had two keepers in the box in the first 2 minutes of fishing. We proceeded to land another 5 or six keepers while trolling Walleyes Choice harnesses behind bottom bouncers in the upper bay. We lost several real nice fish too, not sure why, but we had a lot of fish come un-buttoned today. The wind really started to crank up around noon time, so we switched over to drifting with floating jig heads tipped with crawler halves and managed to land a bunch more fish in deeper water. Most of our fish caught on harnesses came from 17 to 20 fow and all of our drifting fish came from 27-29 feet of water. Many guests of ours staying at the resort have been doing well also, with most of the fish averaging 16 to 19 inches. We did release a 23 1/2 incher today, that has been our biggest fish the past two days. A few nice perch have been caught as well the past couple of days. Our best color harnesses by far were a couple of new ones Capt. Keith Wils has this year. I'm not exactly sure of the numbers, but I'll get them and post them on here tomorrow. Here's some pictures of today's trip. Good luck from all of us in the Bay de Noc area.

Well, all good things must come to an end sometime. My 5 year streak of opening day limits for my clients came to an end today with just 6 keeper walleye in the box when we decided we had enough fun for the day. This is the windiest opening day we have seen in a long time. Most of our fish came pretty early in the day drifting with floating jigs in 32-35 feet of water with no real hot color. Guests staying at our resort came in with 5-7 fish per two man boat on average. Though one boat did catch their limit. They were also drifting with floating jigs tipped with a piece of crawler. Hopefully this wind doesn't last for too long. Could warm up a little too!!!

Another great day on the bay today, as I had long time clients Denny Gustafson and Jim Lewinski from the Chicago area. Jim "the enticer" Sr. could not make the trip this time, and I'm sure the guys will let him know that he missed out on lots of fun. We got on the water around 6:30 a.m. and it was pretty fast and furious the first two hours of the day, then when the wind really kicked up...the fishing slowed. I was really looking forward to the wind kicking up, because that usually turns the fish on big time and I thought we would have a fantastic day fishing. I'm glad we got out there early, because the later it got, the slower it got. We did manage to get our 15 fish limit of really nice walleyes and we released some beautiful smallies as well. We caught all our fish drifting with floating jig heads tipped with just a small 2 inch piece of night crawler. We called it a day shortly after 1 p.m. and headed back to the fish cleaning shack at the resort. Hopefully the cold front moving through tonight doesn't shut the fish down too much, we'll be back out there tomorrow trying it again. Here's a picture from today's trip, good luck from all of us in the Bay de Noc area.

AUGUST 18th, 2010 Yesterday I fished with Tim and Cindy from the Monroe area of lower Michigan and Tom Janks from right here in Rapid River. We left the Gladstone Yacht Harbor around 6:30 a.m. and headed out to troll harnesses behind bottom bouncers. I left a pretty good slug of fish on Sunday and figured they'd be in the same area. Boy was I wrong! We fished for three hours with only one keeper and a few undersized fish. We then put the trolling gear away, and ventured to a weedbed that's been getting pounded by the wind the last few days and got out the drifting rods. In the next hour and a half we put 13 more fish in the boat. The quality of fish was awesome, with all but 4 fish being 18 to 22 1/2 inches. I love drifting with floating jig heads tipped with 1/2 crawlers, it's probably my 2nd most favorite way to fish for walleyes. Jigging is my favorite! It was a little windy to start the day, but by the time we got back to the dock around noon it was beautiful out there. It sure pays to be versatile when fishing. The water temperature dropped 7 degrees since Sunday's major cold front and I thought the bite might be tough, but by slowing down and putting something right in their face, we ended up having a pretty decent trip. AUGUST 19th, 2010 Another great 5 hr. trip this morning for my me and my guests. Longtime client Dale DeWildt came back up from Appleton and brought his friend Paul to get in on the fun. We waited a little while for the rain to move out and then hit the water around 7 a.m.. It was pretty rough this morning, and we had to use both 60 inch drift socks to slow us down while drifting with floating jig heads tipped with crawler halves. Paul had never fished that way for walleyes before, but he soon got the hang of it and ended up having the hot hand at putting fish in the boat. Dale finally caught up and started catching some nice fish too. Me on the other hand...well, I was doing a great job at losing fish today. I just told the guys I was being nice and didn't want to show them up! With all the fish that came off today, we should have had over 20 keepers. We ended up landing 13 walleye while drifting but then lost our wind. We made one short trolling pass the last 1/2 hr. with bottom bouncers and harnesses and picked up our last two fish and headed in.

Today I had the opportunity to fish with part of a great family from the Orion area of lower Michigan. Only three of the five family members went fishing. Bridgette, Kathleen and their dad Mike came aboard for a five hour trip on the bay. We left the resort shortly after 6 a.m., and when we got to the Gladstone Yacht Harbor and I saw the flags already blowing...I knew it was going to get windy! As most of you know, I am not fond of a west wind, mostly because it makes boat control very difficult when all of the structure in the bay goes north and south. We put out two small drift socks to stabilize the boat and slow us down some, and by using the auto pilot we were able to keep a pretty steady speed of .9 to 1.0 mph. I was quite surprised at how many boats were out there this morning, especially for how windy it was. As for the fishing...it was actually pretty good, especially the average size of the fish. We didn't catch nearly as many small fish as we've been getting lately, and we had several nice fish over 20 inches today. Most were 16 to 19 inchers though. Harnesses and bottom bouncers caught all the fish. We quit shortly after 11 a.m. when the wind really started cranking, but we ended up with 11 really nice walleyes for them to take home and enjoy. I really enjoyed today, it's always nice to get families that enjoy spending time together in the outdoors. Here's a couple pictures of today's trip, good luck from all of us in the Bays de Noc area.

August 12th...bite getting better!!!! Today's trip with Al and his son Micah from Kingsford, Michigan started out with lots of action, however we were losing fish left and right and catching mostly smaller fish. The weather was really strange this morning for a while, we had a strong west wind kick up, and during that time the bite was really tough, at least for us it was. After the west wind settled down, it got calm, and we headed to a different location. I only went to this deeper water location because I remembered a trip a couple of years ago with the same kind of weather conditions (extremely hot and flat calm) and we did quite well. I guess it pays off once in a while to fish "memories" because as soon as we got all our lines in...we started catching fish. A lot of the fish were suspended in the deep water, so I wasn't real worried about being able to mark them on my Lowrance. Sometimes you just have to fish spots and not worry about marking fish. The fish would come in flurries, we'd go for a few minutes with nothing...then all of a sudden have three fish on at once. It was like that for the better part of two hours. All of our fish were caught using harnesses trolled behind bottom bouncers at .9 to 1 mph. The best two colors by far were I-51 and I-62. I don't know how many short fish we released today, but it was lots. We also lost several nice fish at the boatside or while reeling them in. We also released a nice channel cat that might have gone 6 lbs. or so. We tried some vertical jigging the last hour of the trip, but the fish really shut off about 2 p.m.. Here's a picture of today's catch, good luck from all of us in the Bay de Noc area. Summer is going fast...but we still have some openings for charters this month for you fair weather fishermen!

Today's trip was with some great guys from the Crystal Falls area. 14 yr. old Nicholas and 16 yr. old Noah along with their dads came over for a day on the bay. I was a little worried that the bite would be tough with the northwest winds and post cold front conditions, and tough it was. We started out in the "black bottom" area and caught a couple keepers there and some undersized walleyes, then it got real tough. We headed up to the north end to try some shallow weeds, and the fish were there, and some nice ones too. We caught a pair of 22's and a 20 incher, a sheepshead, and a small northern before that bite slowed. We then put the trolling gear away and headed back south to drift a breakline I've been getting some nice fish lately, but the fish did not want to cooperate. We ended up only getting 5 keepers today. It looks like the weather will be getting better for the weekend and some south winds should get things cranking again. Here's a picture of today's kept fish, good luck from all of us in the Bay de Noc area.

Today's trip was with Dale DeWildt from Appleton Wisconsin. I had a great trip with Dale and his son back on opening day. We let some rain showers pass by early this morning, then headed out on the bay. It's been a great bite lately and today was no exception. It started out good, slowed some, then when the wind started to blow a little it was "game on". The last hour and a half of our trip we could not keep 6 lines in the water. At one point we caught 8 fish within ten minutes with only half our lines out. It was fast and furious to say the least. Lots of little fish today again, which is great for the future, but we did catch somewhere between 25 to 30 keepers too. It was really fun for me because usually the clients get to catch the fish...but when they bite like they did today I got to catch a lot of them too. For the last 45 minutes we decided to put away the trolling gear and we drifted through the huge school of fish with floating jigs tipped with 1/2 crawlers for some hands-on fun and we actually caught some larger fish than what we already had in the livewell, but they were released because I don't like to do much culling when the water temperature is 75 degrees. With all the undersized fish released, we easily caught close to 50 walleyes this morning. Good luck from all of us in the Bay de Noc area.

Today's 1/2 day trip was with Bill and Brad, a couple of Iraq War veterans that are up here as part of a military band that's traveling around playing concerts throughout the area. The other day they played up at Munising, tonight they will be at the bandshell in Escanaba. We started fishing around 7 a.m. and had a nice 15 fish limit by 10:30 a.m.,. We then made one more pass and upgraded a few fish before heading in around noon. It was a fun morning with a couple of great guys. Most of the fish were 15 to 17 inchers, but on our last pass we did get a couple of 19 inchers that put up such a fight in the 75 degree water I thought maybe we had sheepshead on. Harnesses trolled behind bottom bouncers did the trick again. I was worried that the bite might not be as good after that strong front that passed through and all the lightning we had, but the fish were still hungry and we had a great time! Here's a picture of today's catch, that Bill is going to fry up for the guys tonight. Good luck from all of us in the Bay de Noc area.

Yesterday, I fished with Connor Frakes and his dad Tim from the Chicago area. We had plans on fishing a whole day, but after catching our 15 fish limit and releasing many more...we headed in early and made it a half day charter. We got on the water around 6:30 a.m. and the wind was blowing pretty hard, thankfully it let up some. The guys used planer-boards for the first time ever and did quite well once they got used to seeing what bites look like. We caught all our fish in 8 to 10 fow where the wind had really dirtied up the water. Here's a picture and video of today's catch, good luck from all of us in the Bay de Noc area.

My brother Kevin and I hit the water yesterday (video) about 3:30 pm on a purely "search and destroy" mission for walleye. I thought since I had not been on the water in about a week and had a charter today, I better find some fish! We actually found and caught walleye in three of the four spots we tried, so it turned out pretty good. We only fished 4 hours, but we caught fish suspended 10 feet down in 35 feet of water trolling with boards and spinners, drifting along the breaks with Lindy Rigs, and we also caught fish pitching jigs in 6-10 feet of water. Didn't fish in any one spot long enough to really get our limit, but we accomplished our mission! So I was all set for today. Or was I??? I woke up and checked the radar and it did not look good, so me and my client waited out the storms and didn't get on the water until about 9:00 this morning. Guess what, we had our limit by 10:47! We released our 10th fish so we could keep fishing and then changed up and drifted the drop-offs with Lindy Rigs and upgraded 7 of the smaller keepers we had to bigger fish, so that worked out great. I just can't believe how much better the fishing is this year with the warmer water we have. The water temp. is now 75-79 degrees in most areas of the bay. Summer is going fast folks, better get out there and enjoy it...

Today's trip was with Marion and Hank, a couple of great guys from the Chicago area. It started out a little slow...but I knew that the wind would soon get the fish crankin'...and crank they did. We caught several undersized fish, and ended up keeping 14 nice fish for them to enjoy. We caught all of our fish using bottom bouncers and harnesses. Anything orange or chartreuse caught fish. We also caught several using a blueberry muffin colorado blade (pictured). The wind had the bay rockin' and rollin' and it was hard keeping the boat slowed down to 1 mph. Here's a picture of today's catch. Good luck from all of us in the Bay de Noc area!

Well, today was day three fishing with Denny Gustafson, Jim Lewinski Sr. and Jim Jr. What a great group of fellas to have as clients and friends. We hit the water around 7 a.m. this morning and had our 15 fish limit in the box around 10:30 a.m., and we had some very nice fish today. We made a very short last pass and landed three more keepers for me to take home and called it a day. We also released plenty of undersized fish that will probably be keeper size in just a few short weeks. After I got done cleaning fish the guys treated me to an awesome lunch at Jack’s restaurant…it doesn’t get much better than that! I’m already looking forward to their next planned trip in August, hopefully we can put them on fish again like the last three days. It’s been a really incredible bite the last few days, with some really nice fish. Today we had several in the 19 to 23 inch range. All of our fish were caught today trolling Walleyes Choice (http://www.walleyeschoice.com) harnesses behind bottom bouncers. There was really no color that out-fished another…I don’t think it mattered today. The neat thing to see was the stomachs of the fish while cleaning them. Many of the fish today were stuffed with alewives and several of them had gobies in their bellies. It just shows you that when the conditions are right…the fish gorge themselves. In addition to some on the water pictures, I took a picture of one of the stomachs to illustrate just how these fish feed when the conditions are right. With a belly full of alewives that were about 6 inches long…it still went after our offering. Kind of like us after eating a big meal…we still have just enough room for a piece of pie or a bowl of ice-cream. Good luck from all of us in the Bay de Noc area.

Another great day on the water today with Denny, Jim Sr. and Jim Jr. We got on the water a little before 7 a.m. and headed out to troll some harnesses. We were trolling today and used a variety of colors today with W-11 being a great producer (chartreuse with copper blade) as well as our own J & K Tackle Blueberry muffin pattern colorado blade. We were able to get our 15 fish limit and get off the water before the rains moved in around 2 p.m.. Our fish ranged from just over 15 inches to a few in the 23-24 inch range. We didn't catch as many little guys today. Saw a couple other boats on the water, but it's sure been quiet out there lately. All the rain recently is bringing in a lot of nice dark water to the bay, which really helps the bite. All the rivers at the north end are flowing as good or better than they do in the spring. I'm thankful to see the rain...but my garden sure could use a break and a few days of sun now. Here's a picture of today's catch, good luck from all of us in the Bay de Noc area.

Today I had the pleasure of fishing with three great guys from the Chicago area, long time clients Denny Gustafson, Jim Lewinski and his son Jim Jr. I had plans of fishing south today, but when I arrived at the resort we already had a brisk northwest wind blowing, so we changed plans, launched at Gladstone, and stayed within the bay. There was a huge mayfly hatch at Gladstone last night, noticed them all over the buildings on the way to the launch today. I always hate the first day after a front, but today the fish didn't seem to care as we pulled a nice 15 fish limit for the guys and released about 40-50 undersized fish. They weren't the biggest fish in the bay, most just 15 -18 inches, but what a great bunch of "eaters" the guys can enjoy while they're up here. We were drifting in dirty water and the depth was anywhere from 5 to 11 feet. We found one shallow flat where the north wind was really churning up the water...and the fish were there thick. The strange thing today was that the later it got...the bigger the fish got. I think we only had 2 keepers by 11 a.m., but from 11 until 2 p.m. we caught 13 more. Here's a picture of today's catch, hopefully the weather cooperates and we can get them back out there tomorrow. Good luck from all of us in the Bay de Noc area.

My last few trips have been a real rollercoaster as far as finding active fish. Monday's 5 hour trip was so-so. The wind was terrible, but we ended up landing 5 keeper walleye. Pretty much the exact same deal on Tuesday with 5 keeper walleye on that 5 hour trip. Wednesday's 5 hour trip was the worst of the year. Got out there to find the water temperature had dropped down to 57 degrees. Finally found some warmer water at another of my "go-to" spots, but the dirty water had left, and so did the fish! Ended up with only one keeper. Yesterday started out pretty slow too with thick fog and flat calm conditions. But the sun finally broke through the clouds and the wind kicked up. Once the wind kicked in, the fish started feeding almost immediately. Ended up with 4 really nice pike (largest about 40") and 6 "eater" walleye. Good luck on the water folks...

Today's trip was with three generations of the Otten family from the Milwaukee area. I've had the great pleasure of fishing with this family for a few years...and I really look forward to it every year. Gene, Henry and Nick make fishing a lot of fun!!! Yesterday we had to wait for the storms and heavy rain to move through before heading out. We managed to scrounge up 6 "eaters" and a nice perch before heading in. Today I was pretty worried for most of the trip, all we could get was undersized fish. We made a bold move and changed tactics and in the last couple hours of the trip we caught some very nice fish. We pulled 5 walleyes between 25 and 29 inches, two decent pike, two huge catfish around 12 and 15 lbs., and a huge sheepshead. With tourney day tomorrow I can't elaborate much on the how's and where's, but it was a fun end to a great couple of days with some great people. Here's a picture of today's catch, good luck from all of us in the Bay de Noc area.

The last couple of days have been tough, Saturday we could only manage 5 keepers and some undersized fish and a bunch of sheepies before heading in around noon. Yesterday we started out pitching jigs first thing in the morning and all we could get was short fish. We moved to three different locations at the north end where we've been catching fish and it was the same thing...nothing but little guys. We then punted and decided to make a major change in tactics and location. I told the guys we'd either catch a few nice fish or we'd get nothing. We got out the leadcore and crankbaits and started trolling the deep water around schools of baitfish. We managed to land walleyes of 23, 24, and 25 inches, a couple of dandy northerns, and a huge 20 1/2 inch smallmouth bass that we took a picture of and released. It was the biggest bass I've had in the boat in a long time, very girthy and would have looked real nice on somebody's wall...now it will get even bigger! It was a tough day after the strong cold front moved through and dropped the water temperature and also cleared up the water. It was nice to have a great group of guys that made the trip fun even though the fishing was tough, good luck from all of us in the Bay de Noc area.

Today's 1/2 day trip was with a great group of guys from Illinois who are up for the weekend checking out the Bay de Noc area. There were 4 of them, so with the help of Capt. Keith Wils, we headed out around 6:30 this morning. You know it's going to be a good day when on your first cast to show the guys how you want them to jig...you land a keeper. It was by far the best day as far as number of fish caught in the history of my boat. If I said we landed 150 fish...that would not be an exaggeration. I had John and Mark in my boat and they both said they've never seen fishing like that before. Most of the fish were undersized with many being between 14 and 15 inches, but it sure is fun on 6lb. line and a 1/4 oz. jig with half a crawler. John had a northern grab one of the little walleyes he was bringing in and it let go right at the boatside. I also had a big northern follow a little walleye to the boat. It was...simply put...a great 5 hrs of fishing. We did manage to get 27 keepers between the two boats, keeping 21 of them. For a solid two hours this morning we were catching fish on every cast, and many times we had doubles. I'm sure the wind and cloudy conditions helped the bite. We've had so much hot, flat calm weather this spring, it was nice to fish without getting a sunburn. Here's a picture of today's fish, some of which are going to be cooked "buffalo style" according to Mark. I guess he has a recipe for fish that makes them taste like buffalo wings...I'll have to tell them to save me a piece, it sounds interesting. Good luck from all of us in the Bay de Noc area.

Today I had the pleasure of fishing with long time clients Garrett and Mike Boersma. I was a little worried when I woke up this morning and felt how cold it was after the cold front that moved through last night. When I got to work I could see my breath and there was a cool northwest wind blowing. We got on the water around 6:30 a.m. and decided to try the shallow jig bite first. Boat control was difficult as the wind was blowing us off our spot, but the fish didn't seem to care. We landed 9 nice keepers and well over 25 short fish on our first drift along the weedline. The bite tapered off a lot around 11 a.m. and we were just getting undersized fish, sheepshead, and we even caught a couple northerns while pitching 1/4 oz. jigs tipped with crawler halves. We made a move and got out the Walleyes Choice harnesses and planer boards for the last couple hours of the day and it was non-stop action, however most of the fish were on the short side. We couldn't keep all six lines in the water for the better part of an hour. We did manage to pull two more keepers before heading in at 2:30. I-62 and I-76 were the colors of choice today. With well over 50 fish landed today it was a busy day and my night crawler supply took a big hit. Good luck from all of us in the Bay de Noc area.