Trophy Specialist

After a blow-day yesterday with wicked winds between the multiple severe storms (I saw 1" hail balls) the walleyes were scattered today and the bite was tough. The weather today was also worse than predicted with gusty winds all day and we had to curtail the trip due to multiple squalls in the area. My clients though from Atlanta, MI still managed to good catch coming up only two fish short of their walleye limits. We fished in four different areas this morning catching walleyes in all spots, but never really finding a "hot spot" where we could catch fish steadily. We fished in waters from 14 to 30 feet deep north or Big Charity Island and could only get bites when pulling the lures closely past the fish as they laid tight to the bottom. That area is home to zillions of round gobies though, so putting night crawlers near the bottom results in a lot of stolen baits, so I tried to keep the strolling speeds at more than 1.8 mph to lessen the thievery. I also had to use long setback, especially in the deeper water to keep things productive. The fish did show a preference for any one particular harness color as they hit everything equally, as long as it was kept on the bottom with the night crawler intact. This was certainly a tough day to fish today, so hopefully the weather will stabilize for my upcoming days. I only have a few openings left for the remainder of the charter season and they area going fast, so if you want to get in on this fantastic fishery with me, please phone soon to make your reservations. We of course are also taking reservations for 2016 for those who want to plan ahead. Capt. Mike Veine

Today was a perfect example of why 8 hour charters are sometimes a trip saver. After a tough day of fishing yesterday we had much better conditions today, but it was still a bit choppy out. We ran out to where we had been catching lots of fish near the Charity Islands and didn't even get a bite at the first spot as the water had cooled down and cleared up there with all the high winds we had the past few days. We then picked up and scouted another area, but didn't find anything there either. We then tried yet a third spot and found some fish, but the bite was sporadic. We did work over that area for the rest of the day and my clients from Oscoda (with one downstater too) managed to catch their limits of nice walleyes with most of them coming in the last few hours of their charter. Our biggest walleyes today were a pair of 25 inchers, but we did have one up to the side of the boat that was lost that might have been a bit bigger. We also caught two jumbo channel catfish and perhaps a dozen sheephead too to add to the action. We pulled all our fish today right off the bottom as suspended presentations did not produce for us at all. We had our best luck on humps that were about 23 to 25 feet deep with deeper water nearby. The bite was sporadic. When the wind died down some, so did the bite. When the wind would blow again, the bite would pick up. We used various spinner/crawler rig colors today with no real preference shown as they hit everything about equally. With the predicted 27 knot winds, storms and small craft warnings posted for tomorrow, I have already cancelled my charter for Sunday. Hopefully the weather will simmer down some for my Monday trip. Capt. Mike Veine

Today I had a repeat client form Grand Blanc, MI that has been fishing with me since the 1980s. On this outing he brought along his two Grandsons and their Dad. We started out into the fish right off the bat catching fish one after another. In just two hours of fishing time, they caught their four man limit of nice walleyes that ranged in size from 17 to 25 inches. Sure the kids lost some fish, but it was no biggie as they were quickly replaced with more fish on the lines. They were all chunky, well fed walleyes today with lots of girth and plenty of spunk. One of our walleyes today, a 24 incher, wore a MI-DNR lip tag and the young man that caught her will send the info in to the DNR and will get a report back from them detailing the fish's history. He may even win $100 as some of the tagged fish have a reward on them. We also caught about a dozen sheephead, so as you can imagine the action was non-stop. I never did really get a chance to sit down all morning running the boat by myself with all the action going on. We fished once again out by the Charity Islands pulling the fish out of rocky structure with lots of breaks, humps and rock piles in that area that hold millions of gobbies, which the walleyes love to eat. Yesterday I had some grilled walleye and those gobbie fed walleyes, even though most of them are on the rather large size, are absolutely scrumptious to eat. We pulled the same spread I've basically been running all summer with four chartreuse/orange spinner/crawler rigs and four more red/silver spinner rigs with six off the Church Tackle boards and two flat lines run right off gunnels behind the boat. They hit everything about equally and the bite today was good with few lost fish and plenty hooked deeply. Actually, after the first hour, I went down to a six rod spread and our action was still non-stop. I fished even faster today with speeds in the 1.8 to 1.9 mph range being best. Faster trolling speeds are best as the water gets warmer. This is walleye fishing at it's finest right now and this action is sure to stay good for weeks to come as the Outer Bay is setting up for a prolonged walleye bite this year that aught to be world class for the rest of the summer. Capt. Mike Veine

I saw you today out there for the first time in a while Frank.

We had another great day of fishing on the Bay again today. My clients from Gladwin had never fishing on Saginaw Bay before, so they were pleasantly surprised when they caught their limits of dandy walleyes that ranged in size from 17" to 27" with most of them over 20". We fished out by the Charity Islands again today and the number of fish in that area is very high producing outstanding fishing. With dead calm, hot conditions this morning, we had another light bite as we lost way more walleyes than we caught. The lost fish didn't mater though because there were so many fish around that they were replaced quickly. We caught all our fish today on spinner crawler rigs with no color shining as they hit everything off the boards about equally. With the calm condition and sunny skies, the flat lines did not produce much. We only caught one walleye off the flat lines. We trolled at 1.8 mph and covered about four miles of water in one, looping trolling pass before I turned around and headed back to port with a box full of walleyes. Capt. Mike Veine

After a cancelled trip yesterday due to high winds and storms in the area, we hit the water today with clientele from Anchorage, Alaska. We headed north of the Charity Islands today and found world class walleye fishing with limits taken in short order. Most of our walleyes today were over 20 inches with a half dozen five to six pounders anchoring the fish box. We pulled all spinner/crawler rigs today with no color preference being noticed. We had a breeze when we ran out, but by the time we started fishing, the wind died to dead calm conditions which slowed the bite considerably. The bite was light today as we never had one walleye hooked deeper than the edge of the mouth. Today we caught a lot more fish off the boards compared to the flat lines, likely due to the dead calm conditions spooking the fish near the boat. We also lost a lot of fish too. I trolled at 1.7 to 1.8 mph to keep the gobbies from steeling too many crawlers, but we still caught a lot of those little rascals. I think some of them would attempt to steel the crawler and get hooked in the process and then a walleye would grab the gobbie. With those kinds strikes, with the hooks partially hidden in gobbies, the walleyes would hit over and over again until they got hooked themselves or got tired of the game. The walleyes in that area are extremely fat and well fed looking with girths so thick that the fish look obese. They also fight very hard too with many of them tanking the boards on the strike and then going nuts as they get closer to the boat with surging runs and lots of thrashing. They are lots of fun to catch. It was truly a beautiful day to fish today with blue skies, low humidity, and the calm conditions with long visibility. This is some outstanding fishing right now on the Bay indeed. Capt. Mike Veine

After a very successful trip on Wednesday, I had a couple scheduled days off, but with very stabile weather all week in the area, it was driving me nuts to be home working on writing assignments when the fishing was on fire. I had been working out the details of helping out a friend of mine by getting them on some walleyes on Saginaw Bay for an episode of Great Lakes Fisherman's Digest TV. With the weather ideal though, and with me having an open day today, we got it all together and met at Au Gres this morning for a day of filming some fishing action. We went out in John Bergsma's boat, a new 21' Crestliner Authority powered by a 225 horse power, Mercury Verado. The boat was also decked out with 9.9, hp Mercury Pro Kicker and a 36 volt, Motorguide, XI5, auto pilot, bow mounted, electric motor and all the other bells and whistles you can imagine. My main task for the day was to direct them to some good walleye fishing and to supply the rods, reels, lures and knowhow for putting nice walleyes in front of the camera. The wind was about double the velocity of what the National Weather Service had predicted today, so we set up for our first trolling pass with Big Charity Island offering us some protection form the waves. We started out in shallow water and then trolled north, with the wind into deep water catching walleyes everywhere we went. We made two trolling passes and had put enough walleyes in front of the cameras to make several shows. There were a lot of gobies in that area and they were steeling crawlers like crazy, so John pulled out some Uncle Josh port rind that was a night crawler imitator specifically made for trolling for walleyes. We cut the 6" port rind in half, and put it on my hot harnesses, and the walleyes ate them up like crazy. Towards the end of the trip, we were catching more walleyes on the side of the boat with the port rinds compared to the other with crawlers, so I have some for tomorrow and will give them another try then. Our fish today were mostly nice sized ones over 20 inches. We trolled with the same setbacks in shallow and deep water, but just went faster shallow and slower deeper to keep the lures within five feet of bottom. In the up and down bottom structure of that area, that system works great. It was a lot of fun fishing today with a camera crew. Even the guys behind the cammera got in on the action as everybody caught their limits of walleyes on this awesome day of fishing on the Bay. Capt. Mike Veine

6/22/15, Saginaw Bay, Au Gres, Fishing Report My repeat clients from Eagle, MI consisting of the 85 year old patriarch of the family and his three sons. We had rather nice conditions today despite the iffy forecast by the National Weather Service. Accept for an east wind that kicked up for about an hour, the winds were light. We also had sunny skies and an aggressive bite at first, but then it did go neutral after the east wind died as suddenly as it started. We ran down to where we fished two days ago with awesome success and got into the action right away and it did not stop until we put limits of nice walleyes in the box for everyone on board. I ran the same varied trolling spread today that has been working so well in recent trips running all spinner/crawler rigs at various depths. I ran the outside boards right on bottom, the middle boards were just off bottom and the inside boards were set about 20 feet down (10-15 feet off bottom). I also ran two flat lines on bottom too, which rounded out the spread. Trolling speeds of 1.5 to 1.7 mph were working great today. Color or presentation did not mater as they hit everything about equally. This was a very enjoyable day today for me too as these clients really know how to fish and have done well on every trip with me over the years. Capt. Mike Veine http://trophyspecialists.com/ Michigan Fishing Charters Saginaw Bay Walleye Lake Erie Walleye Lake Michigan King Salmon... www.trophyspecialists.com Michigan fishing charters for walleye and perch at Au Gres (AuGres) and Tawas City (or East Tawas) on Saginaw Bay along with king salmon (Chinook Salmon) at Manistee on Lake Michigan and walleye at Monroe or Detroit on Lake Erie. Our sportfishing charter boat targets the biggest, trophy sized, Greaâ?¦ Posted By Capt. Mike Veine of Trophy Specialist Charters

6/21/15, Saginaw Bay, Au Gres, Fishing Report My clients from the Brighton, MI area enjoyed a beautiful day on the Bay today taking their limits of nice walleyes in the process. As we were motoring up the river today on our way to the Bay, they expressed to me that they were concerned about limiting out too fast, so I changed my plans and decided to fish a different area from yesterday where we caught quick limits of walleyes. We fished straight out from Au Gres in 36 to 50 feet of water, but even there the super abundant walleyes hit everything I trolled, at every depth and we still limited out taking 20 keeper walleyes by about 10:00 in the morning. The bite is on fire right now all over the Bay and I actually think it would be hard to find a place to fish where the bite would be tough on a nice day like today. I ran the same spinner/crawler program as yesterday with the outside boards on the bottom, the middle boards near bottom and the inside boards about 20' down. I also ran two flat lines on the bottom too. I ran a variety of florescent rigs and natural colored rigs and everything got hit about equally so color did not mater much. My speeds were slow at first (1.3 mph), but then I sped up to 1.5 to 1.7 and still got a lot of hits. Those higher speeds pulled the lures up off bottom in that deep water, but even so, the fish kept hitting and I think the faster trolling speeds actually got us more action at the end too since we finished up with six fish on. We caught all walleyes today with no other fish species hooking up. We marked a lot of fish there and I believe that they were mostly all walleyes since that's all we caught. Most of the marks were on or near bottom, but we did see the occasional fish up high too. Our fish today were mostly 17 to 20 inchers with a few bigger ones and a few smaller ones too. After I cleaned the fish my clients and I enjoyed a tailgate lunch at the park under the shade of some trees. The sun was still shining and there was a gentle breeze tempering the temperature in the mid-70s. It doesn't get much better than that and in the end, my clients expressed that they were very happy with their fishing trip on the Bay despite the somewhat quick limits. Capt. Mike Veine trophyspecialists.com Posted By Capt. Mike Veine of Trophy Specialist Charters

6/20/15, Saginaw Bay, Au Gres, Fishing Report After a vicious northeast wind yesterday forced a cancellation of of Friday's charter, I hit the water today with clients from Marshall, MI and this trip was a wedding gift certificate for the newly weds. We had a beautiful day on the Bay today with a southeast breeze of about 13 knots on the way out, but that breeze died down though when we finished up the trip. We had blue skies and temps in the low 70s too, which was very nice to experience. The fishing action this morning was nothing short of phenomenal with 15 fish in the box in less than one hour of fishing time. All the fish we caught were keeper walleyes too with no short ones or junk fish at all. The walleyes ran from 16" to 26" and all of them came on spinner/crawler rigs fished at various depths. I fished the same general area that we fished on Thursday running south and then fishing north with the wind. I set some of the lures on the bottom, some just off bottom and some about 10' off bottom and everything got bit. Trolling speeds of 1.5 to 1.7 mph did the trick and the bite today was aggressive with few fish lost. The color of the lures did not mater as they hit various stuff about equally. I just ate walleye for dinner and it doesn't get much better than fresh walleye filets served with a moral mushroom sauce with Bush's Grilln' beans (Bourbon and Brown Sugar) on the side washed down with a cold beer. I also had a couple cookies for desert. Life is good. Capt. Mike Veine trophyspecialists.com Posted By Capt. Mike Veine of Trophy Specialist Charters

6/18/15, Saginaw Bay, Au Gres, Fishing Report My clients today also fished with me earlier this spring on April 26 and on that day they limited out, but it took a long time with a tough bite. Today though they got to see a different scenario with the fish hitting like crazy and they took their limits in short order. We caught fish at all depth today from right on the bottom, to just off bottom, to about half way down in the water column and they seemed to hit about equally on every presentation. We pulled meat at 1.4 to 1.5 mph and our meat of choice was a half a night crawler on a tandem hook, spinner/crawler rig, with a 3 ounce bottom bouncer about 5' ahead of the lure. We fished the outside boards right on the bottom (70' back), the inside boards near the bottom (65' back) and the inside boards about 20 feet down with a 35' setback. The flat-lines were 75' back and right on or near bottom. We had constant action, but not excessive taking about 10 keepers per hour, which is good fishing in anybody's book. The bite was fairly light today with the fish not pulling much when they hooked up, but turning it on when they got near the boat. Most of our fish were perfect eating sized walleyes in the 16" to 20" range. We also caught and released a few undersized "dink" walleyes which are always good to see as it bodes well for the future of the fishery. My clients will be fishing in their own boat for the rest of the week, and my guess is that their knowledge gained today will help them to fill up on walleyes for the rest of their vacation. Capt. Mike Veine trophyspecialists.com Posted By Capt. Mike Veine of Trophy Specialist Charters

6/17/15, Saginaw Bay, Au Gres, Fishing Report My clients from Flint had a beautiful day on the Bay today catching their limits of dandy walleyes. We set lines today a mile or so north of where we finished up yesterday and had a steady pick all morning fishing a large area (five or more square miles). I marked fish all over the water column so I set a mixed spread targeting various depths and that exploratory spread, helped out a lot as we found that the fish that were about out 10' off bottom were the most active and they ran pretty big today too. We took five fish that were in the 23" to 26" range. A fire/tiger harness, with a 35' setback (behind the boards), with 3 ounces of weight, trolled at close to 1.5 mph was best and I figured that the lures were about 10' off bottom with that setup. The winds were from the southeast for most of the morning, but then it calmed down breifly and then switched to the northeast, but by the time the wind shifted NE, we were pulling lines and heading in with limits in the box. Capt. Mike Veine http://www.trophyspecialists.com/ Posted By Capt. Mike Veine of Trophy Specialist Charters

6/16/15, Saginaw Bay, Au Gres, Fishing Report The weather today was beautiful with sunny skies and moderate winds. My clients from Marysville, MI caught their limits of walleyes despite a tough bite. The winds were from the northwest all morning, but we had waves also from the northeast too, from a wind way out on Lake Huron, and that created "sloppy" fishing conditions with waves coming from two different directions. It makes trolling harder and also tends to make the fish bite less in sloppy waters. We made trolling passes from Northwest to Southeast today covering about two miles on each pass staying close to shore with nets on both sides of us. We just picked away at them tough with a lot of undersized walleyes also taken today for some reason that we had to sort through. Our keepers were a mixture of 16 to 23 inchers, which are awesome eating sized fish. I saw where walleyes were $20 per pound in the store the other day, so we caught a lot of valuable fish today indeed. I ran the same spread of spinner/crawler rigs as the last two days with the lures set on, near and above bottom. The fish came on all rigs about equally. In the early morning, fire/tiger spinners worked best, but at the end of the trip, red/silver seemed to get more hits. I had to troll with a drift sock out today, not so much to slow the boat down, but to steady the trolling speed in the sloppy waters. A speed of about 1.5 was best today. The fish were still in the same area as yesterday, but they just were not biting as well. It was a tougher bite, but my clients still had a lot of fun fishing the Bay today and I'm sure they said they will be back again to take advantage of this fantastic walleye factory called Saginaw Bay. Capt. Mike Veine trophyspecialists.com Posted By Capt. Mike Veine of Trophy Specialist Charters

6/14 and 6/15, 2015, Saginaw Bay, Au Gres, Fishing Report I had a group from Pennsylvania fishing with me both yesterday and today and they got to experience some world class walleye fishing for sure. Yesterday we had storms rolling though the area all morning, so we were patient and waited them out and didn't hit the water until the threat of storms had past. We headed out at 1:00 p.m. and went out to where we had caught scattered fish on the 13th in deeper water. We started catching fish right away and in about 3 hours of fishing my clients had caught their limits of nice walleyes with most in the 17" to 20" size range, but with a few smaller and several that were bigger chunkers too. We caught the fish on spinner/crawler rigs fished on the bottom, just off bottom and about half way down. Speeds of 1.5 to 1.6 mph were best and the bite was neutral with some of the fish hitting light and others hitting aggressively. Color or pattern did not mater as they hit everything I threw at them. It turned out to be a beautiful afternoon on the Bay with calm conditions and temps in the mid-70s. Today we went right back out to the same area, set lines and trolled southward. We again started getting hits right away and the non-stop action continued until my four PA clients again took their limits of fine walleyes. I ran the same program as yesterday with the outside boards pulling spinners right on the bottom, the middle boards presenting spinners about 3' off bottom and the inside boards set about half way down. The two flat lines were set on the bottom too. All rigs took about equal hits as the fish were all over the water column and very aggressive today. Speeds of 1.5 to 1.7 mph worked well today and color patterns were not important as they hit everything I had down in the water equally. The fish were about the same size today as yesterday with a nice mix of sizes in the box. We caught about a half dozen undersized walleyes each day too, which bodes well for the future on the Bay. Today we trolled south for about four miles and never ran out of the fish. In fact, I did not have a chance to turn around once on that troll as we had non-stop action all the time. My PA clients will have a lot of fish-fries in their futures and my wife and I will also be having fresh fish today too. You gota love this fantastic fishery we enjoy out of Au Gres on Saginaw Bay. Capt. Mike Veine trophyspecialists.com Posted By Capt. Mike Veine of Trophy Specialist Charters

6/11/15, Saginaw Bay, Au Gres, Fishing Report My clients from Troy, MI and Plainwell, MI enjoyed a beautiful day of the Bay today taking a limit catch of nice walleyes. One of my clients also shared the same high school alma mater with me as we both graduated from Manistee High. Even though we were more than a few years apart, we still had some of the same teachers. It was funny that my favorite teacher, Mr. Strouf, was his most hated teacher. Despite that, we still got along great and it was fun talking about our old home town. We had a blow-day yesterday with the small craft warnings and nasty, high winds ruining more than a few planned fishing trips I'm sure. Today, we headed out with the destination of the same area we finished up on Tuesday. We marked a lot of fish over a five mile stretch leading there though, but there were lots of boats along the way too. We set lines when we cleared all the boats and started to get some hits right away. After about an hour of good action, the bite slowed up a lot after the wind died down to dead calm conditions. After that it was a slow pick until my clients had boxed their legal maximum for the day. Our keepers were all 16" to 23" walleyes with one 10 pound catfish and one small sheephead also caught. Color was not much of a factor, but putting the spinner/crawler rigs on the bottom with a fairly slow trolling speed was certainly necessary to get consistent action. When we had the West wind chop early, speeds of 1.4 worked well, but when the wind died, I had to slow it down to 1.3 mph to get them to bite. With millions of dead Mayflies all over the surface, it was obvious that a major hatch had taken place last night, so that was certainly a factor in the very light bite we experienced. Despite having sharpened my hooks before the trip, we still lost more fish than we caught. The fish were certainly well fed as they puked up a lot of Mayflies, minnow and shiners in my live well. I've had several clients this year from my old stomping grounds and it is always a treat to take out hometown folks for some awesome fishing on Saginaw Bay. Capt. Mike Veine trophyspecialists.com Posted By Capt. Mike Veine of Trophy Specialist Charters

We had high winds this morning; twice what the forecast called for. The storms missed us to the north, but those high winds at over 20 knots from the SE were a game stopper. The National Weather Service issued small craft warnings for high winds too. We cancelled today's charter because fishing in 5+ footers would not have been much fun or very productive either. Capt. Mike Veine Posted By Capt. Mike Veine of Trophy Specialist Charters

6/8/15, Saginaw Bay, Au Gres, Fishing Report After two days off the water due to crummy weather, my clients from Down-State and Petoskey joined me for some fishing with an iffy weather forecast. I looked at two different forecasts, both from the National Weather Service: The marine forecast called for possible storms from 8:00 am on, but the Au Gres, forecast disagreed and predicted storms, but after 2:00 pm. I checked the radar at 7:00 and what storms were in Michigan were not heading our way so we hit the water, but I decided to stay close to port just in case a storm popped up. We first tried the area were we did good at the end of my last trip on Friday, and caught three quick walleyes, but after that the bite slowed down when the wind switched. We moved to another spot a few miles from there and did the same thing picking up several fish quick, but then the bite slowed down when the wind switched again. It was like that all day: We would catch some fish, then the wind would change and the bite would die. We just stayed at it though and eventually my clients caught their limits of nice walleyes. I ended up settling on a trolling spread with six lures set about 20' down and two, on the outside board, set on bottom. We caught most of our fish on the high lines with a fire/tiger pattern crawler harness being best. A trolling speed of 1.3 to 1.5 mph was also best. The bite was extremely light today with a lot of the fish just latching on and then swimming along. We could barely tell when even the bigger fish were on the line. About half our fish were over 20" with the biggest being a 24 incher. We did loose one at the side of the boat though that was bigger. In the end, all the fish that were lost were insignificant as they were just replaced in time. Eventually some storms did pop up in the area, but we were back at the dock when they soaked Au Gres,and we never did get wet all day. Capt. Mike Veine trohyspecialists.com Posted By Capt. Mike Veine of Trophy Specialist Charters

Yet another blow day today with winds over 20 knots from the Southeast creating waves over 5 feet tall. Storms are still moving threw the area now and they started up after noon. The weather forecast is predicting a window that we should be able to fish in tomorrow, however the wind forecast was sure wrong today with it blowing twice as fast as they had predicted. With all the sophisticated forecasting tools at their disposal, they still seem to be wrong more times than not. Posted By Capt. Mike Veine of Trophy Specialist Charters

6/5/15, Saginaw Bay, Au Gres, Fishing Report We had a major Mayfly hatch today on much of Saginaw Bay: Bigger than any hatch I have ever seen there before. We ran out to my plan-A spot and the bugs were so heavy there that we kept on going to my plan-B spot and the bugs were also thick there to the point where trolling would have been made difficult due to a blanket of bugs on the surface of the water. We then ran to my plan-C spot where the bottom composition makes bug hatches minimal. We set lines there and caught some walleyes right away, but then the winds kicked up from the north/east at over 20 knots. The weatherman had only predicted winds at half that velocity, but none-the-less, we were way out in the Bay and those heavy winds and the possibility of the ensuing big waves made me take the action to pull lines there and head back closer to port, which we did. We then set up for a trolling pass, with the wind, out in front of Au Gres and much to my pleasure, we caught some fish right away. After a couple hours of trolling spread adjustments, we got into some good action on suspended walleyes and my clients from various cities down/state caught their four man limits of perfect eating sized walleyes, which was just what they were looking for. We caught all our fish on spinner/crawler rigs fished about 20-25' down over 30-35 feet of water at 1.3 to 1.4 mph. Red/silver harnesses were best. The bite was extremely light as we lost about as many fish as we caught. In fact, many of the walleyes, even the bigger ones, were barely detectable when they hooked up, which is especially odd for a suspended walleye bite. My clients today were experienced fishermen looking for knowledge on how to catch walleyes on the Bay and today they saw a lot of different areas of the Bay with depth of 8 to 35 foot of water, all containing walleyes and they learned different ways to fish the same rigs in those varying depths. Capt. Mike Veine trophyspecialists.com Posted By Capt. Mike Veine of Trophy Specialist Charters

6/4/15, Saginaw Bay, Au Gres, Fishing Report My Manistee group finished up their Saginaw Bay fishing vacation taking their limits of walleyes on all three of their charters. We first ran out to the area where we had good success on Tuesday and Wednesday, but after trolling there for an hour without any walleyes on the line, it became apparent that the fish had moved. At first I thought that they had moved because the water temperature had sharply risen, but later I found out that my transducer's water temperature sensor had failed and was giving out false readings. Luckily, I had a spare transducer, so after the charter I changed out the bad one. I keep a lot of spare parts handy for just such reasons. After my Plan-A spot failed to produce, I headed to my Plan-B spot a few miles from there. We caught fish there, and some nice sized ones at that, but the action was pretty slow with the dead calm conditions and intermittent winds, all blowing in different directions. Those kinds of conditions are tough. We worked that second spot for about five hours and decided to check out a Plan-C spot, a few miles from there. We only fished in that spot for about 30 minutes before realizing that the Plan-B spot was better, so we picked up lines and moved back there. We were marking a lot of fish in that area, but the fish were real finicky and biting light. We were loosing more fish than we were catching, but perseverance paid off and my clients eventually had caught their limits, but it took the full 8 hours of the charter to pull it off. Our walleyes today came in all sizes form 6" to 26" and we lost a couple that were likely even bigger. Everything was caught on spinner/crawler pulled behind bottom bouncers. No particular color preference was noticed. Extremely sharp hooks were certainly a factor with their success today with the light bite. I sharpen my hooks every day before the charter and touch up hooks as needed throughout the day. There will be a lot of walleye dinners in the Manistee area when my clients return home today. They stayed at a cabin on Tawas Lake this week and enjoyed a lot of fish dinners this week too and even fished there too for bass and panfish when they were not fishing with me. Serious fishermen indeed. Capt. Mike Veine trophyspecialists.com Posted By Capt. Mike Veine of Trophy Specialist Charters

6/3/05, Saginaw Bay, Au Gres, Fishing Report My clients today from the Manistee/Minneapolis area had another great day on the Bay and they have one more day to go, which is predicted to be good weather and likely good fishing too tomorrow. The action this morning started out fast and furious with the first 15 walleyes coming in just a couple hours of fishing. Then the wind switched to the east and the bite slowed down considerably, but they were still able to pull another five man limit of fine walleyes. Most of our fish today were over 20" with the largest being a dandy 28 incher that is heading to the taxidermist. That fish was caught by a MCC graduate, and current MSU student who will be joining the Air Force next year as an officer. I started off with the same mixed Hot N' Tot - spinner/crawler rig program that worked great yesterday, but today they never touched the Hot N' Tots, so I pulled them and replaced them with spinners after a good, fruitless, soaking of the Tots. The color today leaned towards bright colors (fire/tiger) early, then after the first hour, they started hitting everything about equally. The water temps are still in the low 60s, so a slow (for this time of year) trolling speed of 1.4 to 1.6 mph was best. We caught all keeper walleyes today accept for one catfish, which was nice. I'm not sure why the fish ran bigger today compared to yesterday, in the same area, but regardless of the reason, nobody was complaining on my boat. We are just getting into some of the best fishing of the year now with June, July and early August being top times for world class walleye fishing out of Au Gres. My clients this week are enjoying some awesome walleye fishing and are already planning their return trip for next year. Capt. Mike Veine trophyspecialists.com Posted By Capt. Mike Veine of Trophy Specialist Charters

6/2/05, Saginaw Bay, Au Gres, Fishing Report After three days off the water due to crappy weather, 20+ years of experience on the Bay came in handy today as I was able to predict where the fish moved after the "big blow" we had. The water temperature was just 57 in front of Au Gres, but where we set up for fishing, the temp was 61 degrees and the fish were in that warm, stained water big time. My clients from Eastlake, MI (My home town) and Minnesota caught 30 keeper walleyes along with some bonus catfish and sheephead. With a light bite, we probably lost as many fish as were caught, so we certainly had plenty of action today indeed. We ran a mixed spread of two Hot N' Tots off the outside boards and four spinner/crawler rigs off the middle and inside boards. We also ran two more spinner/crawler rigs as flat lines. All our fish were taken near bottom and they were feeding on a mixture of minnows and bugs. Lure color did not seem to mater much as they hit everything I put in the water. Speeds of 1.5 to 1.6 were best. When I went 1.7, we got not bites. Any slower and we picked up more junk fish and zebra mussels. When the wind shifted to the east, the bite really slowed down for us, so the morning was certainly best. I have these same repeat clients for the next two days, and with good weather predicted then, they will likely experience great fishing on those trips too and will take a lot of Saginaw Bay's walleyes home to Manistee County. Capt. Mike Veine trophyspecialists.com Posted By Capt. Mike Veine of Trophy Specialist Charters

I had to cancel charters for yesterday and today due to bad weather. It pretty much rained all day yesterday with winds all over the place and some lighting too. Today, the winds are already howling at 38 knots on the Bay and with a northeast direction, I'm sure the waves are gigantic. It's supposed to calm down tonight and we should be back on the water tomorrow. One thing that's nice about Saginaw Bay though, compared to Erie, is that after a big blow we usually get right back into good fishing quickly because the Bay does not muddy up like Erie. If there was a gale forced, NE wind on Erie, it would take days for the muddy water to clear up enough to fish. Posted By Capt. Mike Veine of Trophy Specialist Charters

My fishing reports are automatically posted on here when I update my charter, Facebook page. That is why some of them look the way they do and may not even be fishing reports for Saginaw Bay. Also, if you comment on those auto reports, I don't get notified, so if you need to ask me something, then please PM me or email me and I will get back to you ASAP.

5/29/05, Saginaw Bay, Au Gres, Fishing Report We had a nice day on the Bay today. The winds were up in the morning and we ran to where we ended up yesterday, but it was a slow, bumpy ride to the fishing area. The action was steady all morning until the wind suddenly died completely and the bite died them too. We also had storms popping up on the radar in western Michigan, so we pulled lines and moved to another spot, close to port, where we had no luck at all. My three customers from Ohio enjoyed the day and took home 14 walleyes, three perch and one big catfish. They also threw back a bunch of walleyes too and told me they will come back to catch the ones they threw back next year. Now they are heading north to do some mushroom hunting for the rest of their short vacation. We took our fish on a variety of spinner/crawler rigs with no real preference shown by the fish. Speeds of 1.5 to 1.7 were best. We marked a lot of fish right out front of Au Gres, but a major bug hatch (mayflies and midges) there coupled with dead calm conditions resulted in no takers. Capt. Mike Veine trophyspecialists.com Posted By Capt. Mike Veine of Trophy Specialist Charters