EdB

A buddy was out on St Joe pier and skunked last Saturday. A few other guys there too but nobody caught anything when he was there.

It was 33 when we started, peaked at 35 mid afternoon. They will move in when it's cold, just don't typically cross fish ladders or start spawning until it get to the 40's. The front part of the run is the best for biters. Most people feel April is the month to steelhead, I prefer the front end of the run happening now through March. Once they start spawning, they are more visable on the gravel but don't bite as well and I'm done. Keep in mind I fish the SW, it is a bit later in the northern part of the state.

With the crowds that come out this time of year, glad to share the location details by PM to members. Not into helping lurkers who don't contribute here. Ned, PM sent.

I got mine, you can check if you got your here: http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10363---,00.html

Thanks, we are rigging with a main line to a 3 way swivel, then a short dropper to some split shot and a 3 ft leader to a single number 4 or 6 egg hook. With using split slot for weights, it's easy to add or take some off to adjust your drift.

What a day, the winds calmed down and the sun was shining. Great day on the river. My buddy Steve boated the first two. This buck has been in for a while but he put up an awesome fight. Can you say spawn supply replenished!!! I finally put one in the boat after a couple hours. My turn to land a big hen! Steve get's his 3rd steelie. Another big fish! Nice to not have to clean ice off the rod guides all day. We were drifting spawn bags on the bottom. Another boat had been working this hole for a while and left. We dropped in for a couple quick drifts and bam, I get my third too. What a way to end the day and start off March! I love this month:D

Today!!! The steelies were really snapping in the river. It's time!

This should be good for our sport, here is their website: http://www.gl2s.com/

That is some fine eating

Looks great in the last shot!

Floating spawn under a bobber. This hen is a brute...ah fresh skein!!!!

I'm Ed

K-zoo. The water clarity there was much better than the Joe.

I got out Saturday and covered some water in SW MI looking for steel. Put some wear on the boots since we bank fished instead of taking the boat. Didn't expect much with the high water but we did hit a few fish. 4 of us went, everybody hit at least one and we landed two. I got a nice hen and another buddy got a small one. A couple other nice fish were hooked but not landed. Water is up and raging everywhere we went. The fish were found in some calmer spots that don't usually hold fish. We fished spawn. Here's a pic:

Took my daughter out ice fishing this am. I was proud she made the wake up call in the dark to get ready. Had time for some bacon and pancakes and off we went onto the lake. Olivia caught a 13 inch bass to start our day on a tip up. Then another tip up went off and she caught an 18 inch bass. That gave her a good fight and we let them both go. Back inside our shanty, we're catching some small gills and having fun. I have a big shanty hole and it's like an aquarium. Olivia spots a big fish under the ice that I couldn't see till she pointed it out. I thought it was another bass coming in due to it's size. I told her to jig her waxworm and the fish came right in and hit it. She jerked and the fight was on. Ultra light pole and a spinning reel. The fish was taking drag and shot up under the ice. The pole went limp and I thought she had lost it. She was dejected as we both thought it was off. Then the fish almost pulled the rod out of her hand and the fight was back on. She got him to the surface spashing around as I tried to grab him and not blow it. I slowly palmed him onto the floor of the shanty and wow, it's the biggest spec or crappie I've ever seen! 16 inches and a tad under 2 -1/2 lbs. A master angler indeed! She didn't like the skimmer and wanted to hold her fish.

Got a 7 pt and a doe, let lots of bucks walk for next year.

I've had a depth raider for a few years now and have nothing but good to say about them. When I broke the power connection due to abuse on my part in mid August, I shipped it to them for repair on Monday and had it back Thursday. That kind of service in the peak season really made me a loyal customer.

Got this nice brown off the pier. Trolling Lake Michigan was outstanding in 07! The best memory for me was my daughter's solo salmon. She can't handle a king by herself yet but this coho make our day.

Merry Christmas to you and heres to the very best New Year ever!

Nice start to the season, Merry Christmas indeed!

Just got out duck boat (and river steelhead boat) pulled from duck hunting and I'll be hitting the Joe a lot the rest of winter. I think I'm muzzleload hunting this weekend but I'll be chasing steel for the most part going forward. I'm a spawn man!

It was a great deer camp this year. Everybody could have tagged a buck opening day but none were shooters for the adults and all walked. We planned to pass on all 1-1/2 year old deer and did. I saw over 50 deer on opening day and 4 bucks. Some may have been the same deer at different times. The two kids in camp that never killed a deer had the green light from us to shoot any buck. My 13 yr old nephew got a 9 point on opening day and that led to a great celebration! I had bucks in the crosshairs under 50 yards on Thur, Fri, Sat, Mon, Wed, Fri and Sat night. Most were small but on Monday I had a real big buck in the crosshairs but he was about 100 yards out and moving through brush. He stopped a few times but never in an opening. There was no good shot and I didn't pull the trigger. I saw another nice shooter on Wed well out of range. I took a 2-1/2 year old 7 point Sat night. He was a year away from being awesome and next year I'm going try to restrain myself on deer that age. I saw about 20 deer, mostly does on this past weekend. On Sunday, I let one of the kids hunt my stand. He went in a 10:00AM and nice shooter walked right by tracking 2 does about 10:20. I wish he could have been there for a shot. My buddy watched them from another stand. We had good deer movement the whole time. No doe punching for us in regular gun season and the neighbors don't either so they don't get spooked too bad in our neck of the woods. We'll fill some doe tags in December to thin them out some. Thank God for the piece of land I get to hunt and the neighbors who cooperate. Here's a pic:

I'd drop one rigger for sure and probably two in a nine rod spread and add a wire diver and another core or copper in place of them.

Anybody headed off to deer camp this season? I'm packed and off tonight. I have a long drive, about 45 miles to the other end of the county. Not many deer camps in southern MI but ours has been going on for about 10 years. It's in right in the middle and part of the Spring Brook Deer Co-Op. There is a nice crop of nice bucks this year. A big steak and baked potatoe dinner tonight will kick it off. It sure is nice to sleep a bit longer and just walk out the door and head to our stands. I'm not coming home until Nov 25. This is going to be the longest day at work all year. Good luck everyone!

I'll second the Great Lakes holders. Big jons are very good multi purpose holders but Great Lakes are better for divers. They are very heavy duty. One nice advantage is that you can grab the dipsey rod in the holder when extended perpindicular to the water and pull the rod and holder up and towards the boat to get the rod out in one motion. Way better than leaning way out from the boat to pull the rod out when you have a large king ripping on it.