Trophy Specialist
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We had another blow day yesterday complete with nasty winds, lightning and lots of rain. Going out today I decided to try a spot where heavy southerly winds often push fish into this area. One hour into our first pass though and I was doubting my decision, but eventually the fish started to turn on there better and by the end of that pass, we had 16 walleyes in the cooler. We shortened up the second pass through the most productive area and caught 10 more. At that point things were looking pretty good, but after that though the bite slowed down considerably as it took us nearly the full eight hour charter to finish off my clients 32 walleye limit. These good folks were from both Tawas, MI and Fairbanks, Alaska. We stuck with a very high percentage trolling spread all day taking almost all our fish off the six Church Tackle Walleye Boards. In fact we didn't catch any walleyes on my two flat lines until the last hour or two, which is odd since all sets were pretty similar, being close to bottom. Lure color was not too important today as we caught fish on both natural spinner/crawler patterns and also bright stuff too. Speed also did not seem to be much of a factor as we got them going slow, medium and fairly fast too. This will be my last fishing report for the season as I only have a short stint left this year on the water and with only a couple open days left on my schedule, I'm winding down. Capt. Mike Veine http://www.trophyspecialists.com-
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After taking some time off to go to the U.P. mid-week and a blow-day yesterday, I got back onto the water again today with nice conditions. We first ran to deep water where a friend of mine did well on Friday, but in two hours of fishing there we only had five walleyes in the box, so we picked up and ran to another spot that produced well for us on Tuesday. We only caught two walleye there in an hour of fishing, so we picked up lines once again and made another move to yet another spot. We had sporadic action there and I was actually contemplating yet another move when we trolled into a small, hot spot where we circled through a few times until my long time, repeat clients from Fenton, MI maxed out with their limits of walleyes in short order. We stayed with the same high-odds, spinner/crawler rigs all day with red/silver/glow being best today pulled at 1.3 to 1.7 mph with few fish lost today, especially when I was trolling faster. All and all it was a very fun day of fishing on the Bay. Capt. Mike Veine http://www.trophyspecialists.com
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We had perfect fishing conditions today with light winds, sunny skies and very cooperative walleyes. My clients from Okalahoma, and Colorado had done some walleye fishing before, but today they got to experience true, world class walleye fishing at its finest. We fished a totally different area than we fished yesterday, but still stuck with the same program of spinner/crawler rigs. I did sharpen my hooks though, which I do about every other day. The early morning bite was especially good, but as the morning wore one, the catch per hour rate did drop some and oddly, the fish seemed to be moving around a lot as previous hot spots were void of fish on the next pass. Those hot runs though still predominated with a pretty beefy average size in the box. If you were looking for smaller walleyes today, then my boat would have sucked. We caught several walleyes that were about 24 inches long and a quite a few just shy of that size too and only a couple fish that I would consider perfect eating size. We also hooked into a couple steelhead, but both won their freedom. We caught all our fish on meat trolled at 1.4 to 1.5 mph. Some were taken near bottom, but most were caught suspended at various depths. The color did not seem to mater, but we did catch all of our fish trolling with the wind. Even when the wind was light, when I tried to troll north, we never caught a fish. Must have been some currents in that area affecting the feeding particulars. This is truly shaping up to be one of the best walleye fishing seasons I've ever seen. I still have some openings at the end of August, so give me a shout if you want to get in on this phenomenal fishing.-
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I'm starting to sound like a broken record with limit catches taken again today. My clients from Fowlerville, MI have their own boat and only had limited success on the Bay on past outings. They booked a trip with me to learn some techniques and particulars on the Bay and they certainly did just that today. The early morning started out a bit slow with only a few walleyes in the box in the first hour of fishing. The wind had just switched though before we started fishing, so I elected to just stay in the same area to wait out a better bite. Eventually the bite did improve and by the time they put their 24th walleye in the box (limits) the bite was in the range of about 10 walleyes per hour. In fact, as we were pulling lines, I bumped the speed up to 2.8 mph just to keep fish off the lines, but we still latched onto three more walleyes even at those breakneck speeds. We trolled with spinner/crawler rigs exclusively. Today the color did not mater. Speed did not mater much either, although if m trolling speed dropped below 1.7 mph, sheephead started to dominate the catch more. What did mater was perseverance in a spot that I suspected held fish. When the wind shifts, the bite often slows down. When you set up in those conditions and catch still catch a fish or two, it often pays to stay in that spot and see what develops. Capt. Mike Veine http://www.trophyspecialists.com
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After a lot of wind over the past two days causing a cancellation yesterday and a curtailed trip due to sea sickness on Sunday, we headed out to a spot where the fishing had been good on Saturday, but since we couldn't fish that area since then, it was not a high percentage location. We started catching some walleyes there right away though, but the bite was light with as many lost fish as caught ones, and in two hours of fishing we only had six fish in the box. I had kids on the boat that had football practice this afternoon, so with a shortened trip to deal with, I decided to try another spot. As soon as we set lines in that spot we had fish on and the action continued non-stop until my clients from West Branch, MI had limited out on nice walleyes. We pulled mostly meat today, but I did run one crankbait up high, but did not catch any fish on it, although we did loose a nice one on the crank once. We also had a steelhead on for a jump or two, but that one got away too. We only caught a couple sheephead today and all the rest of the pile of fish we boated were walleyes with only one undersized one in the bunch. We trolled at 1.4 to 1.8 mph varying the speed and making lots of turns, which seemed to get more hits than a straight line trolling path. This was certainly a teaching trip today with the two kids (10 and 11 years old) setting lines, reeling in fish and doing all the netting too. They certainly made some mistakes that resulted in some lost fish, but by the end of the trip they were finely tuned fishing machines that were performing better than the vast majority of anglers I see on the Bay. It was a good day of fishing indeed. Capt. Mike Veine http://www.trophyspecialists.com
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My clients today from Flint and southern Michigan enjoyed a gorgeous day on the Bay complete with lots of walleye action as icing on the cake. It didn't start off to great though with the first three spots that I checked resulting in just a few walleyes in he box. The fourth spot though saw us put 10 walleyes in the box in less than an hour of fishing. Then the wind shifted a bit and that bite slowed down considerably. We made two more passes through there and only took three and then four more walleyes. We then made another move to spot number five and that spot was "game on" from the start and it didn't take long to fill up the box in that spot with my clients limiting out in short order there. I stuck with a meat/bottom-bouncer program with everything on the bottom. Trolling speeds of 1.7 mph were best, but it was hard to maintain in the ever fluctuating winds and surging waves. That wind though was a blessing since it provided a much cooler experience with the temperatures never getting hot until we ventured back to shore with a pile of fish to clean. Spinner color was unimportant today as they hit everything in the water about equally. My clients from today are already planning a return trip for next year to enjoy another day of world class walleye fishing on Saginaw Bay. Capt. Mike Veine http://www.trophyspecialists.com
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Like usual I had a plan of attack today where I was going to fish the same spot we did well at yesterday for a while and hopefully load up on a bunch of walleyes, and then before limits were reached, I was going to try a couple different spots that had been producing well in past days with some larger fish there on average. The weather conditions were ideal too with a light northerly wind and a perfect one to two foot "walleye" chop. My plans had to be modified though when one of my clients became sea sick early in the charter and that motion sickness would not abate. She toughed it out though and luckily they pulled quick limits so we could return to port where land cured her sea sickness. We never did try any other spots. We caught all our fish today trolling at 1.6 to 1.8 mph running meat behind bottom bouncers. Color did not mater since all lures got hit about equally. I mentioned a couple days ago how the moon affects the walleye bite and then forgot to discuss it in yesterdays report. Well a few days ago the moon phase resulted in the moon setting during the early morning hours. The period just before the moon sets is typically a great time to fish, but after it sets, you can often expect a lull in the action for hours, which was the case on Saturday and Sunday. On those days it would have been prudent to start fishing before sunup to maximize that good fishing window. As the moon phase shifts more to a late morning setting timeframe, like yesterday and today, the best action lasts longer into the late morning hours. When the moon phase involves an overhead moon during mid-day, then that is the best fishing period of the month. This next five days is that hot period, so expect some good fishing reports from me over the next week. Capt. Mike Veine
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We closed out July in style with easy limits for my clients from Midland, MI and Missouri. We fished a different area than we fished yesterday and found a lot of active fish there, although the bite was a bit sporadic. We made one, long trolling pass in one direction covering perhaps five miles of water. The bite started off very good, then died down some when the wind went dead calm, then they eventually started biting again, but it was more a a steady pick at that point. When a breeze finally did come up towards the end of our efforts, the bite also picked up steam with some bigger fish coming to the net then too. We did try cranks today, but only caught one fish on the one line I dedicated to that presentation all morning. Meat was working good though with no particular color shinning as everything in the water got hit periodically. Our trolling speed was about 1.7 mph today. We also caught one northern pike today and that sucker managed to sink his teeth into my thumb me to bleed profusely for 10 minutes. minutes. We are coming up on some of the best fishing of the season out of Au Gres during August and we still have plenty of open dates left if you want to enjoy this incredible fishing up close and personal. Capt. Mike Veine http://www.trophyspecialists.com -
Today's weather forecast was going to be a repeat of yesterday with the predicted winds going decently in the early morning, but then dieing down and switching around as the morning and day progressed. Yesterday we had a good bite early in the morning and we caught 10 walleyes per hour then, but when the winds died down, the spot we were fishing died out on walleye action then too. Yesterday's trip was a short one, so we stayed in that area thinking they would eventually turn back on, but they didn't and my clients came up a couple fish short of their limits. Today though we had a full day trip, so when the bite died in that first spot with the calming and switching winds, we pulled lines and moved to a plan B spot and were rewarded with more and bigger fish in that spot. My clients from Kalamazoo caught their 32 walleye limit and I even got to reel in tomorrow's dinner for my wife and I too. In the first spot we caught all the fish on or near the bottom, but in the second spot, which was over much deeper water, we caught about half the fish on the bottom and half suspended. Color did not mater in either spots with bright colored spinners and natural pattern all working about equally. In the second spot though, with depths in excess of 40 feet, we did troll slower. We did catch sheephead, catfish and white perch in both spots and it is obvious that those species are more abundant than normal this year as they probably had big year classes during the easy winter of 2015, and 2016 just like the walleye did. With tomorrow's forecast for more steady winds, I predict that the fishing will be even better. Tomorrow I will also discuss how the moon phases impact the fishing, which has also been a factor the last few days. Stay tuned. Capt. Mike Veine http://www.trophyspecialists.com
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We had a pretty nice weather forecast today for a change, but when we got out into the Bay, the winds were a bit more than predicted with two foot waves. We set up where we did well at the end of the last charter, but the water had changed there clearing up and the walleyes had moved. I made an educated guess where they moved to and low and behold I was right as we got into a good bite in that area. When the winds died down though, the bite slowed up from 10 walleyes per hour to two per hour. That lull in the action was short lived though because they eventually started biting again and the intensity of the action was probably more than 15 walleyes per hour and then even better at the end of the trip. After my clients from Iowa had limited out, I decided to catch some walleyes for dinner and it only took about 15 minutes to put my eight in the box. I ran all meat behind bottom bouncers today and trolled at 1.6 to 1.8 mph. Color did not mater much since everything in the water got hit about equally. We also caught one yellow perch today and a few sheephead, but other than that it was all walleyes. I still have an opening in my schedule for tomorrow from a cancellation if anybody is interested in sampling this world class fishing. Capt. Mike Veine
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I felt kind of guilty today after team Michigan dealt team Ohio a resounding defeat in the team competition at the National Arm wrestling Championships this past weekend, so today I had two boat charter of clients from Ohio and we maxed them out on nice walleye with limit catches on both boats. We basically fished the same area that I found at the end of yesterday's charter, but with a stiff northwest wind, that spot was a lot tougher fish. Both boat had to make short trolling passes over a break where the walleyes were holding in mass. It took several short passes of perhaps one hour catching about 10 walleyes per pass to get the job done. It was fairly rough today with three footers all day long and when the wind switched form the NNW to the West, the bite slowed up a bit. Yesterday plastic was best, but today, spinner/crawler rigs were the ticket, but color did not seem to mater. We put the spinner close to bottom and the walleyes latched on. My boat lost very few fish, but my companion boat lost a lot. I had the senior members of the family, while the other boat had the younger generation. Perhaps older, wiser, slower and steadier was superior today. Capt. Mike Veine http://www.trophyspecialists.com
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I decided to try some different spots today right from the start of the trip. The first location produced a couple quick walleyes but then nothing more, so we moved to spot #2. There we caught a couple more walleyes, but nothing steady, so we moved to spot #3, which turned out to be full of walleyes. We had non-stop action for a two mile stretch, but unfortunately, my clients had only booked a 5 hour trip and they ran out of time before they had limited out. With four clients aboard, catching 32 walleyes takes very steady action right from the start, which certainly isn't always going to be the case with the way walleyes move around in the Bay. It often takes checked several spot before finding a concentration of active fish. They did end up with 25 walleyes today though with the biggest being about 26 inches. They also caught some catfish and sheephead along with a white bass, white perch and a yellow perch too. We had a big pike on, but it bit through the line taking the lure with him. We pulled meat on the bottom today with every lure in the water catching their share of fish. It was fairly windy and rough at times today, so the trolling speed varied a lot in the surging waves from 1.4 to 2.0 mph. We had some issues with seasickness yesterday and today too even though it was really not all that rough out. In both cases, taking a good seasickness preventative would likely have cured the motion sickness. If you are planning a fishing trip on big water and motion sickness is possible, then consult your doctor about Transderm Scop, which is a prescription medication that is applied through a patch worn below the ear. In every case I've seen where this product is used it has blocked all sea sickness including some hard cases that were especially prone to motion sickness. Over the counter remedies like Dramamine may be fine for those that get light sea sickness occasionally, but Transder Scop is a much surer bet. Capt. Mike Veine
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I often wonder how the folks at the National Weather Service can keep their jobs when they are wrong more than they are right. Trump should fire them for incompetence. They had predicted 12 knot winds today, but when we launched it was 15 knots and by the time we arrived at the fishing area, it had increased to 20+ knots with building waves. We toughed it out though, but it was pretty tough fishing in three to four foot waves even though we were trolling with the wind. The wind eventually died down some though and the bite picked up and my clients from Grayling, MI managed to catch their limits of walleyes. At first today the fish were tight to bottom, but when the wind subsided slightly, they moved up and we did better with suspended presentations. The walleyes were also moving around a lot. We would make a pass through a area and get lots of action, then we'd make another run through the spot and it was empty. Fire tiger harnesses worked best suspended, but red/silver/glow worked best on bottom. Speed varied a lot in the surging waves with a range of 1.2 to 1.6 mph producing. With a nicer forecast predicted tomorrow, it sure would be if the NWS was actually right for once. We'll see. Capt. Mike Veine http://www.trophyspecialists.com
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My clients celebrated the fourth of July in style today with limit catches of walleyes. This was their second day in a row fishing with me and they brought home 64 walleyes in their two day fishing spree. The also caught a dandy northern pike today, which I filleted out boneless and they are nearly as good eating as the walleyes, so a nice bonus. We fished the same area as yesterday and had a good morning bite, but when the wind died down to dead calm, the bite slowed up a lot. When a slight breeze came in though, the walleyes turned back on and my clients were able to fill their limits. These four guys were all very good on the rods though, so that helped a lot in this light bite situation we had today. I tried to run a crankbait today, but after a couple hours and no hits on the on them, I went to all meat, which was working well. The only down side is that we caught a lot of sheephead today. We also caught a rock bass, yellow perch, white perch, catfish and the pike I mentioned before. Lots of variety indeed. We also threw back at least a dozen walleyes too, so lots of action on the boat today by all standards. No color preference was shown today as everything near bottom got hammered. I even got to bring fish too and had a walleye dinner fit for a king. I put the walleye on tin foil, squirted lemon juice on it, then salted and pepper it a bit. The fleets were covered in Vidalia onions, sealed up and put on the grill until done. Delicious. Capt. Mike Veine http://www.trophyspecialists.com
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We had a hot, calm day on the Bay today, which is usually not good fishing condition, but we checked out several new areas today and spot number three was a winner. My clients from Sault St. Marie and Holly Michigan caught their 32 walleye limit, but it did take most of the day to accomplish that with a light bite and lots of missed fish. We also caught a lot of sheephead today to, which also slowed down our walleye efforts at times. We caught all our fish today on spinner/crawler rigs, however I may mix in some crankbaits tomorrow if we fish the same area. Trolling speeds of 1.5 to 1.7 mph were best today. We caught walleye on all colors, but fire/tiger was probably best. I have the same clients tomorrow, so I'm sure they will be pumped up for another fun day on the water once again. Capt. mike Veine http://www.trophyspecialists.com
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The heat wave this weekend has really slowed the fishing. The water temperature jumped up about 10 degrees. My clients caught 19 walleyes and one northern pike today fishing for eight hours with a lot of fish lost. We had similar results yesterday too. Anywhere else and that would be considered "good fishing" but on Saginaw Bay it is sub par. We have been fishing a lot of different places trying to seek out active fish, but haven't been able to find anything fantastic. The fish are likely just a bit shocked by the sudden warm up and will start biting like crazy again once this warm spell passes and they get used to the water temps. We fished deep, medium and shallow water today looking for fish. We caught fish in most of the places we checked but didn't stay long since the action was not great in any one place. We stuck with spinner/crawler rigs today which are going to be the best choice in tough conditions when we are fishing a lot of varying depths. Color has not mattered much the past couple days with everything I've had in the water getting bite once in a while. When the fishing is tough a lot of people start changing lures to try something different with hopes of better results. I opt to just stick with the highest odds lures that work day in a day out all summer and only start changing lures when the bite is good. Using low odds lures in a tough bite just lowers your chances for success that much more. Capt. Mike Veine http://www.trophyspecialists.com
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It was a picture perfect day for fishing on the Bay today with light winds that were fairly steady, blue skies, comfortable temperatures and very cooperative fish too. In fact the only complain I heard today was that various body parts were getting sore form reeling in too many big walleyes. My clients today from St. Helen, MI, Texas and Las Vegas, NV caught their limits of walleyes in short order with most of them being over 20" long. The biggest was just under 28 inches and was hauled in by a lady who had never even seen a walleye before today, but she did awesome on the rods catching several of the biggest fish of the day and a jumbo perch too. We had a blow day yesterday with stiff, northeast winds and rain all day long, so I wasn't really sure where to go since hadn't fished for a couple days. I ended up going to the spot where we finished up Tuesday's charter, which had lots of fish marks there, but was a bit slow on bites due to the crappy weather. The fish really bit a lot better today with the nice conditions. We pulled spinner/crawler rigs on the bottom with bottom bouncers trolling at 1.3 to 1.5 mph. The downwind troll was more productive than upwind. The best lure today was a red/silver/glow harness that I have been using all spring and summer with good success consistently. I did an article for In Fishermen last month featuring this harness and another super productive one and the article includes tons of details on the presentation that we use day in and day out on the Bay. I was told it is supposed to come out this fall some time. The weatherman has predicted a similar, beautiful weather day for tomorrow, so I expect great things then too. Capt. Mike Veine-
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We had ever switching winds today, which resulted in a on and off bite all day. We started our with rollers coming in from the northeast and wind from the southeast churning up waves in two different directions. Then it went east and then back southeast, then back east again, then southeast again. Eventually it went east again and then veered northeast and finally it went north just as we were finishing up the trip. Every time I would set up for a trolling pass, the wind would change sending us sideways in the wind. We jumped around for several different spots: Some produced walleyes and some didn't. My clients from Manistee, MI hung in there though and eventually caught their limits of walleyes along with three yellow perch as a bonus. Some of the walleyes were good sized too with most being above average specimens and the biggest being 26 inches. I kept the same high percentage program going all day today with six lures set right on bottom and two up about 22' down. Most fish came off bottom, but the two suspended rigs caught their share too. All our fish were caught in deep water, so slower trolling speeds of 1.3 to 1.4 mph were best. Lure color did not matter on the spinner/crawler rigs. These clients have another trip scheduled with me in July and have done two trips every year for many years. They always seem to get their fish. Capt. Mike Veine
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After a blow day yesterday complete with stiff northeast winds and driving rain, we headed out this morning with winds just over 10 knots. Things were looking pretty good until the wind suddenly came up another five knots just as we reached the fishing area. We set up for our first trolling pass in two footers, but by the end of that run we had threes. We took two long passes through that spot covering about three miles on each one and managed about a dozen walleyes on each pass, so not too bad. By the end of the second pass though the wind had increase a few more knots and the waves were more in the four foot range with an occasional five footer thrown in for good measure. We decided to head closer to shore where Pt. Lookout would block the wind more. We had several fish on right away, lost a couple of them but did put some walleyes in the box there too. Finally the wind hit 20 knots and even close to shore it was getting real rough so we called it a day. We pulled most of our fish off the bottom today trolling at a very erratic 1.0 to 2.0 mph with the surging waves. Color of the harnesses did not mater much with everything in the water getting hit. We did seem to have our best luck with the two flatlines though, which had two different harnesses on them, but both were on bottom. I've have trips booked every day for the next couple weeks and hopefully the weather will stabilize one of these days. I'm getting tired of northeast winds. I think we've broken a record with over a week straight with NE winds. Capt. Mike Veine
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They really changed the forecast. It looked good for tomorrow when I looked this morning, but now not so much.
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After a blow-day yesterday complete with vicious, northeast winds, I was happy to see light winds and blue skies today. We had a robust bite to start the day and the first 20 walleyes came pretty fast, but then the breeze died down completely and we had a lull in the action, although we did pick up some during that slow period. At about noon though the bite picked back up and my clients from Caledonia, MI filled out their 32 walleye limit and also took a couple nice catfish and several jumbo perch with one over 12" long. The fish were feeding mostly on smelt judging by the barf in the bottom of my cooler. I did mark lots of schools of baitfish, which were likely smelt, and walleye love smelt. We caught fish on bottom and suspended and color did not seem to mater much today. A slower trolling speed with my spinner/crawler rigs of 1.3ish mph was best. I have the same Caledonian foursome tomorrow too, and with a favorable weather forecast, they will likely see similar, excellent fishing on Wednesday too. I still have a couple openings at the end of June and lots of open dates during the prime time of July and August too if you want to get in on the fantastic fishing. Capt. Mike Veine http://www.trophyspecialists.com
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9/3/17, Saginaw Bay, Au Gres, Fishing Report I decided to add one more fishing report at the request of one of my clients today who had been reading my reports and was looking forward to seeing his report after their charter. This young man (in the photo) was not only an awesome fisherman, but he also helped me with the rods in the back of the boat all day too demonstrating some pretty impressive qualities for someone of any age. Our day started out very chilly with a stiff, westerly wind that was nearly twice as stiff as predicted by the marine forecast. Instead of the predicted one foot waves we had three footers for much of the day until the wind finally let up after noon. The bite started off fairly decent, but it was a light bite and we probably lost half our fish today as a result. The wind was fickle too, switching back and forth some and every time the wind shifted, the bite would slow down for a while. My clients from Brighton, MI and Cadillac, MI kept at it though and close to the end of the eight hour charter, they put the final fish in the box hitting their limits of eight walleyes per person. We caught fish of many different sizes today with the biggest walleyes being about 23 inches. We also caught some nice catfish too. We fished 5 to 6 miles from the Au Gres River mouth in waters ranging from 13 to 24 feet deep covering different water on every trolling pass looking for a hot spot with bigger fish. The walleyes seemed to be scattered all over though. The water there was pretty grungy from all the wind this week, but at least there were few floating weeds around, which has been a problem on other occasions. We pulled spinner/crawler rigs on or near bottom all day with speeds from 1.4 to 1.8 mph taking the fish. Color did not mater as natural colors and bright fluorescents all took about equal numbers of fish. The fishing this week has been very good for late season with all of my recent charters that were completed limiting out and the fishing is fairly close to port too, which is nice. Capt. Mike Veine -
8/30/17, Saginaw Bay, Au Gres, Fishing Report We had a foggy start to our day today with visibility so tight, that I elected to try right out in front of the Au Gres River until the fog lifted some since a longer run would have taken forever at the slow speeds that safety dictated. Unfortunately, close in, out front, we only caught one small walleye, one catfish and one sheephead in about an hour of fishing before the fog began to lift, and we were able to pul lines and head south. It was dead calm with a major bug hatch occurring, so we were limited there on spots to fish, but my clients from Toccoa, GA and Boon, MI boxed 24 walleyes along with a bunch of perch, catfish and sheephead, some of which also found their way into the cooler to further expand the big pile of walleyes on ice. It was a very light bite all day with a lot of fish lost, perhaps even more than were caught. We trolled a mixture of different crawler harness patterns about 3 feet off bottom chugging along at 1.6 to 1.9 mph. This will be my last fishing report of the year as my season ends next week and I will be busy baiting bears and getting ready for the upcoming bear season, which I'm really looking forward to. I also just got an order in from McKenzie Taxidermy Supply, and need to get some fish mounted up before the fall hunting seasons arrive. All in all, it has been a very productive 2017 charter fishing season for me. We had a lot of weather cancellations, especially during the spring, but when the weather was decent, we did catch tons of walleyes indeed. In fact, the fishing this year was outstanding and with strong year classes of young walleyes in the Bay this year, next year should be off-the-charts awesome. I can't wait. Capt. Mike Veine
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8/29/17, Saginaw Bay, Au Gres, Fishing Report After a stormy day yesterday causing a cancellation, my clients from Scotts, MI and Toledo, OH joined me today with a forecast that was a bit iffy, but actually turned out to be a very nice day all around. The first spot we tried this morning had some fish there, and we caught some right away, but the bite was very light and for the amount of marks on the screen, the fish were pretty tight lipped. There was some wind before sunup, but when we started fishing, the wind had died down to near calm conditions and then it got even calmer as the morning wore on. Walleye prefer a chop on the water, so those conditions were not great, but we were still picking away at them. After a while I decided to pull lines and try another spot and there too we marked a ton of fish, but the bite was a slow pick for the rest of the morning there too. About noon though, the fish there turned as they finally got used to the calm conditions and the feeding began. From noon to 1:00 my clients had non-stop action and managed their 32 walleye limit and also took some bonus northern pike and catfish too, which I filleted out for them to boneless perfection. When the bite was slow, red-silver harnesses were the only thing the walleyes would bite. As the bite turned on though color did not make any difference. I tried to target suspended fish today, but never got one bite very far up off bottom. The best setup was putting the crawler about 3-5 feet off bottom to try to keep the white perch from steeling crawlers, which still showing those active bottom walleyes the lures and entice them up to grab on. Speeds of 1.5 to 1.8 mph caught our fish. There were a fair amount of floating and suspended weeds in both spots we fished today, which required cleaning lines periodically, but it was not nearly as bad as what we had over the weekend. Capt. Mike Veine
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8/21/17, Saginaw Bay, Au Gres, Fishing Report I was hoping to see how the eclipse would impact the fish bite today, however my clients from Jackson, MI caught their 24 walleye limit well before the eclipse started at 1:00. We went back to the same big area we fished yesterday and did a long, trolling pass in one direction, going with the wind, for over four miles and we never stopped catching fish all along the way and had 21 fish in the box before we turned around to head back southwest. About that time though the wind really died down and the bite slowed up considerably. It took us almost two more hours to finish off their limits and also get some fresh fish me too. Anybody that got a late start today likely did not experience the success we did. We had consistent action both on the bottom and suspended today. The fish did run a bit smaller today compared to yesterday, however we did take some bigger ones this morning with our largest being a super fat, 25 incher. I tried to keep the trolling speed at 1.4 to 1.5 mph, but there were times when the wind sped up or slowed down where we caught fish slower or faster than that. It was another super awesome day on the Bay today with great weather and some fun folks that did a good job on the rods, which helped their catch a lot. Capt. Mike Veine
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