Walleye Express

Probably not. Some river fish take a real beating, depending how long they've been in the system, what river they ran up to spawn and many other variables. Don't take em long to heal up and get back in shape once they make it back out to open waters.

Jason. Do you mean compared to the river fish.

Years ago, and just after the walleyes reintroduction into Saginaw Bay. One of our {go to} crankbait's especially during local tournaments, was both the full size and the junior size original Storm Thundersticks. With one of the first sharp, wide angled and fully molded diving lip to come along back then, producing a very tight, vibrating minnow type swim action, these cranks were awesome producers during those early days back in the mid to late 80's. Well, a friend of mine was out by the island with two of his buds Sunday in his 14 foot row boat and 5 horse outboard. They simply long lined as they trolled with these old cranks with each man holding his own rod. In less then 2 hours they caught 18 walleyes up to 5 pounds. And said twice they all had fish on at the same time. But that was all the information he could give me. With no kind of electronics on his boat, all he could offer was, "we stayed near the island" "we'd let out line till the Thunderstick Juniors hit the bottom then reel in 2 turns". Of course the conditions Sunday (SW wind) were totally opposites today (NE and gusty) when we fished for 3 hours starting late this morning. Yet we boated 7 fish and never seen another net come out all day from the many other boats around us and the island. So it seems the thunder still has some fish catching lightening left in it.

I should probably clarify that I mentally included all fish caught on my charters or on/from my boat when with friends. Most if not all those trips are taken in places I pick/anchor or troll and/or on the rigs I suggest we use. Probably not fair (in essence) to include them as fish I've personally reeled in. I'd probably adjust my own number to about 30,000 in those 53 years I've been catching them.

The wife asked me an odd question last night. Odd only because she takes little if any interest in my fishing, other then to wish me good luck when she can catch me before I leave for a charter or for a fun day out with friends. How many walleyes do you think you've caught in your life, she asked? I told her I really didn't know and only kept count one year during my Bay charter trips in 2001, 683 was the total. And even that did not include the personal trips I took that year on both the St.Claire whippen Night stalker stick baits, trolling the sag. at night, or simply jig fishing the Sag. and Titt. rivers. I remember a 75 fish trip on the titt one day and several over 50 a day fall/winter charter trips on the Titt back in 88/89. And then when I think about those unbelievable trips back in the late 50's/60's to Monoscong Bay, I told her I thought about 100,000 would be a fair (if not low) number. Heres a picture of one of our weekend trips back in 1959, when I was but 7 years old. So how many walleyes do you think you've sent to fryers heaven?

Dan. Thought a fellow squid would like reading this. Subject: [Fwd: [KP61] FW: Pirates vs Navy - the rest of the story] This is fairly long and has quite a bit of insider's language, but it is great. I read it as if it was a Clancy novel. The gist of it is consistent with what I've read in the press and on our KP61 group, so I suspect that it is fairly accurate. Doug -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [KP61] FW: Pirates vs Navy - the rest of the story Date: Thu, 23 Apr 2009 12:52:12 -0400 From: To: From a USN friend. Your "Real" story is not exactly the way I heard it, and probably has a few political twists thrown in to stir the pot. Rather than me trying to correct it, I'll just tell you what I found out from my contacts at NSWC Norfolk and at SOCOM Tampa. First though, let me orient you to familiarize you with the "terrain." In Africa from Djibouti at the southern end of the Red Sea eastward through the Gulf of Aden to round Cape Guardafui at the easternmost tip of Africa (also known as "The Horn of Africa") is about a 600 nm transit before you stand out into the Indian Ocean. That transit is comparable in distance to that from the mouth of the Mississippi at New Orleans to the tip of Florida at Key West-- except that 600 nm over there is infested with Somalia pirates. Ships turning southward at the Horn of Africa transit the SLOC (Sea Lane of Commerce) along the east coast of Somalia because of the prevailing southerly currents there. It's about 1,500 nm on to Mombassa, which is just south of the equator in Kenya. Comparably, that's about the transit distance from Portland Maine down the east coast of the US to Miami Florida. In other words, the ocean area being patrolled by our naval forces off the coast of Somalia is comparable to that in the Gulf of Mexico from the Mississippi River east to Miami then up the eastern seaboard to Maine. Second, let me globally orient you from our Naval Operating Base in Norfolk, VA, east across the Atlantic to North Africa, thence across the Med to Suez in Egypt, thence southward down the Red Sea to Djibouti at the Gulf of Aden, thence eastward to round Cape Guardafui at the easternmost tip of Africa, and thence southerly some 300 miles down the east cost of Somali out into the high seas of the Indian Ocean to the position of MV ALABAMA is a little more than 7,000 nm, and plus-nine time-zones ahead of EST. Hold that thought, in that, a C-17 transport averaging a little better than 400 kts (SOG) takes the best part of 18 hours to make that trip. In the evening darkness late Thursday night, a team of Navy SEALs from NSWC (Naval Surface Warfare Center) Norfolk parachuted from such a C-17 into the black waters (no refraction of light) of the Indian Ocean-- close-aboard to our 40,000 ton amphibious assault ship, USS BOXER (LHD 4), the flagship of our ESG (Expeditionary Strike Group) in the AOR (Area Of Responsibility, the Gulf of Aden). They not only parachuted in with all of their "equipment," they had their own inflatable boats, RHIB's (Rigid Hull, Inflatable Boats) with them for over-water transport. They went into BOXER's landing dock, debarked, and staged for the rescue-- Thursday night. And, let me comment on time-late: In that the SEAL's quick response-- departing ready-alert in less than 4 hours from Norfolk-- supposedly surprised POTUS's staff, whereas President Obama was miffed not to get his "cops" there before the Navy. He reportedly questioned his staff, "Will 'my' FBI people get there before the Navy does?" It took the FBI almost 12 hours to put together a team and get them packed-up-- for an "at sea" rescue. The FBI was trying to tell him that they are not practiced to do this-- Navy SEALs are. But, BHO wanted the FBI there "to help," that is, carry out the Attorney General's (his) orders to negotiate the release of Captain Phillips peacefully-- because apparently he doesn't trust GW's military to carry out his "political guidance." The flight of the FBI's passenger jet took a little less than 14 hours at 500-some knots to get to Djibouti. BOXER'S helos picked them up and transported them out to the ship. The Navy SEALs were already there, staged, and ready to act by the time POTUS's FBI arrived on board latter that evening. Notably, the first request by the OSC (On Scene Commander) that early Friday morning to take them out and save Captain Phillips was denied, to wit: "No, wait until 'my' FBI people get there." Third, please consider a candid assessment of ability that finds that the FBI snipers had never practiced shooting from a rolling, pitching, yawing, surging, swaying, heaving platform-- and, target-- such as a ship and a lifeboat on the high seas. Navies have been doing since Admiral Nelson who had trained "Marines" to shoot muskets from the ship's rigging-- ironically, he was killed at sea in HMS VICTORY at the Battle of Trafalgar by a French Marine rifleman that shot him from the rigging of the French ship that they were grappling alongside. Notably, when I was first training at USNA in 1955, the Navy was doing it with a SATU, Small Arms Training Unit, based at our Little Creek amphib base. Now, Navy SEAL's, in particular SEAL Team SIX (The "DevGru") based at NSWC (Naval Surface Warfare Center) at Little Creek do that training now, and hone their skills professionally-- daily. Shooting small arms from a ship is more of an accomplished "Art Form" than it is a practiced skill. When you are "in the bubble" and "in tune" with the harmonic motion you find, through practice, that you are "able to put three .308 slugs inside the head of a quarter at 100 meters, in day or night-- or, behind a camouflaged net or a thin enclosure, such as a superstructure bulkhead. Yes, we have the monocular scopes that can "see" heat-- and, draw a bead on it. SEALs are absolutely expert at it-- with the movie clips to prove it. Okay, now try to imagine patrolling among the boats fishing everyday out on the Grand Banks off our New England coast, and then responding to a distress call from down around the waters between Florida and the Bahamas. Three points for you to consider here: (1) Time-Distance-Speed relationships for ships on the high seas, for instance, at a 25-knot SOA (Speed Of Advance) it takes 24 hours to make good 600 nm-- BAINBRIDGE did. (2) Fishermen work on the high seas, and (3) The best place to hide as a "fisherman" pirate is among other fishermen Early Wednesday morning, 4/8/2009, MV ALABAMA is at sea in the IO about 300 miles off the (east) coast of Somalia en route to Mombassa Kenya. Pirates in small boat start harassing her, and threatening her with weapons. MV ALABAMA's captain sent out the distress call by radio, and ordered his Engineer to shut down the engines as well as the ship-service electrical generators-- in our lingo, "Go dark and cold." He informed his crew by radio what was happening, and ordered them to go to an out-of-the-way compartment and lock themselves in it-- from the inside. He would stay in the pilot house to "negotiate" with the pirates. The pirates boarded, captured the Captain, and ordered him to start the engines. He said he would order his Engineer to do so, and he called down to Engine Control on the internal communication system, but got no answer. The lead pirate ordered two of his four men to go down and find him and get the engines started. Inside a ship without any lights is like the definition of dark. The advantage goes to the people who work and live there. They jumped the two pirates in a dark passageway. Both pirates lost their weapons, but one managed to scramble and get away. The other they tied up, put tape over his mouth and a knife at his throat. Other members of the crew opened the drain cocks on the pirates boat and cast it adrift. It foundered and sunk. The scrambling pirate made it back to the pilot house and told of his demise. The pirates took the Captain at gun point, and told him to launch one of his rescue boats (not a life boat, per se). As he was lowering the boat for them, the crew appeared with the other pirate to negotiate a trade.. The crew let their hostage go to soon, and the pirates kept the captain. But, he purposefully had lowered the boat so it would jam. With the rescue boat jammed, the pirates jumped over to a lifeboat and released it as the captain jumped in the water. They fired at him, made him stop, and grabbed him out of the water. Now, as night falls in the vastness of the Indian Ocean, we have the classic "Mexican" standoff, to wit: A life-boat that is just that, a life- boat adrift without any means of propulsion except oars and paddles; and, a huge (by comparison) Motor Vessel Container Ship adrift with a crew that is not going to leave their captain behind. The pirates are enclosed under its shelter-covering, holding the captain as their hostage. The crew is hunkered down in their ship waiting for the "posse" to arrive. After receiving MV ALABAMA'S distress call, USS BAINBRIDGE (DDG 96) was dispatched by the ESG commander to respond to ALABAMA's distress call.. At best sustainable speed, she arrived on scene the day after-- that is, in the dark of that early Thursday morning. As BAINBRIDGE quietly and slowly, at darkened-ship without any lights to give her away, arrived on scene, please consider a recorded interview with the Chief Engineer of MV ALABAMA describing BAINBRIDGE's arrival. He said it was something else "... to see the Navy slide in there like a grey= hound!" He then said as she slipped in closer he could see the "Stars and Stripes" flying from her masthead. He got choked up saying it was the "...proudest moment of my life." Phew! Let that sink in. Earlier in the day, one of the U.S. Navy's Maritime Patrol Aircraft, a fixed wing P3C, flew over to recon the scene.. They dropped a buoy with a radio to the pirates so that the Navy's interpreter could talk with the pirates. When BAINBRIDGE arrived, the pirates thought the radio to be a beaconing device, and threw it overboard.. They wanted a satellite telephone so that they could call home for help. Remember now, they are fishermen, not "Rocket Scientists," in that, they don't know that we can intercept the phone transmission also. MV ALABAMA provided them with a satellite phone. They called home back to "somebody" in Eyl Somalia (so that we now know where you live) to come out and get them. The "somebody" in Eyl said they would be out right away with other hostages, like 54 of them from other countries, and that they would be coming out in two of their pirated ships. Right-- and, the tooth fairy will let you have sex with her. Yea, in paradise. The "somebody" in Eyl just chalked up four more expendables as overhead for "the cost of operation." Anyway, ESG will continue to "watch" Eyl for any ships standing out. The Navy SEAL team, SEAL TEAM SIX, from NSWC briefed the OSC (Commander Castellano, CO BAINBRIDGE) on how they could rescue the captain from the life boat with swimmers-- "Combat Swimmers," per se. That plan was denied by POTUS because it put the captain in danger-- and, involved killing the pirates. The FBI negotiators arrived on scene, and talked the pirates into sending their wounded man over for treatment Saturday morning. Later that afternoon, the SEAL's sent over their RHIB with food and water to recon the life boat but the pirates shot at it. They could have taken them out then (from being fired upon) but were denied again being told that the captain was not in "imminent danger." The FBI negotiators calmed the situation by informing the pirates of threatening weather as they could see storm clouds closing from the horizon, and offered to tow the life boat. The pirates agreed, and BAINBRIDGE took them under tow in their wake at 30 meters-- exactly 30 meters, which is exactly the distance the SEALs practice their shooting skills. With the lifeboat under tow, riding comfortably bow-down on BAINBRIDGE's wake-wave ("rooster tail"), had a 17-second period of harmonic motion, and at the end of every half-period (8.5 seconds) was steady on. The light-enhanced (infra-red heat) monocular scopes on the SEAL's .308 caliber Mark 11 Mod 0 H&K suppressor-fitted sniper rifles easily imaged their target very clearly. Pirates in a life boat at 30-meters could be compared to fish in a barrel. All that was necessary was to take out the plexiglass window so that it would not deflect the trajectory of the high velocity .308 round. So, a sniper (one of four) with a wad-cutter round (a flaxen sabot) would take out the window a split second before the kill-shot-- no change in sight-picture, just the window blowing out, clean. Now, here's the part BHO's "whiz kids" knew as well as the Navy hierarchy, including CO BAINBRIDGE and CO SEAL TEAM SIX. It's the law in Article 19 of Appendix L in the "Convention of the High Seas" that the Commanding Officer of a US Ship on the high seas is obligated to respond to distress signals from any flagged ship (US or otherwise), and protect the life and property thereof when deemed to be in IMMINENT DANGER. So, in the final analysis, it would be Captain Castellano call as to "Imminent Danger," and that he alone was obligated (duty bound) to act accordingly.. Got the picture? After medically attending to the wounded pirated, and feeding him, come first light (from the east) on Easter Sunday morning and the pirates saw they were being towed further out to sea (instead of westward toward land), the wounded pirate demanded to be returned to the lifeboat.. There would BE NO more negotiations-- and, the four Navy SEAL snipers "in the bubble" went "Unlock." The pirate holding Captain Philips raised the gun to his head, and IMMINENT DANGER was so observed and noted in the Log as CO BAINBRIDGE gave the classic order: WEAPONS RELEASED! I can hear the echo in my earpiece now, "On my count (from 8.5 seconds), 3, 2, 1, !" POP, BANG! Out went the window, followed by three simultaneous shots. The scoreboard flashed: "GAME OVER, GAME OVER-- NAVY 3, PIRATES 0!" I hope you found the above informative as best I know it-- and, please excuse me in that after more than 50 years the Navy is still in me. I submit that AMERICA= is going to make a comeback, and more than likely it'll be on the back of our cherished youth serving with honor in Our military. So, let's Look Up, Get Up-- and, Never Give Up! God Bless Our Troops, and GOD SAVE AMERICA!

Capt. Dan. Thank's for the help and all the comments. It makes sense to start small early on as the water warms to get more aggresive with the bigger blades. Up north here was my first year trying 5's so 7's or bigger is hard to imagine. I would probably be more willing to run them down there on the bay. You think the fish have a diff. mind set on inland lake compared to the bay? I learned long ago to avoid thinking that fish have a mind set at all. That only confuses things fishing stategy wise, and puts a human spin on what is pure instinct for a living thing with the brain the size of a BB. The real funny part of this reality is, this type thinking is usually considered thinking outside the box. Fish can be conditioned by and indeed learn the best foraging times and prey through their individual environments IMV. If their main forage is Golden Shiners in a particualr lake, they zone in on them, the way they look and the places they frequent. If it's crayfish, chubs, dace, perch even bullheads (believe it or not) they get conditioned to go where and when these meals frequent an area, and are easy prey. And if fish only attacked those things that were natural looking, you'd never catch another walleye on a firetiger anything. Study your lake, it's forage base and the stomachs of any walleyes you catch from it. This will never give you all the pieces of the puzzle, but may aid in placing a few of them. Capt. Dan.

Don't have to worry about that part, as long as Dow and Essexville don't sell or get their ramps confiscated by the state. Not a totally unheard of reality in this Obama era. I still think the whole idea is a crock of crap. As the people who buy licenses of all kind shrink in our state, the ones still pumping a little lifes blood into the system continue to get pimped out to balance the scales. If Homeland security don't put us all out of business the state eventually will. And you can only chop off so many limbs before the whole body dies.

My guess would be the flack they received from the charter guys who use state ramps. And from the many port cities Chamber of Commerce, for the blatant unfairness of charging charter boats an extra fee, when they are brining in out of state people who buy licenses, stay at local hotels/motels and eat at local restaurants. Or it may have been my letter to them (even though I port out of a marina) that I mentioned that I was but one more fee away this year from going postal.

From every indication the walleye fishing inland opener on both the Tittabawassee and Saginaw rivers on Saturday 4/25/09 was on FIRE. The river had more boats on it this opener then it has in years. A one hour wait to launch and a 2 hour wait to pull out was one of my buddies statements to me on the phone Saturday evening. And he himself, limited in 1 hour and 10 minutes. I was also told by him that one of my favorite holes just above the center street ramp had 28 boats in it all by itself. And that there seemed to be many more female holdovers in both river systems then ever before, with spent fish being caught up to 27 inches long. This of course is not the usual norm for this time of year, when historically most of the females would already be gone from the tributary and on their way back to the bay, with the males being the majority of fish caught. This wind fall catching bonanza was short lived though, when we got a massive amount of rain on Saturday afternoon and through the night. The flow rates on the Tittabawassee went from 2000 CFPS to 7000 CFPS in just 12 hours. With some of the other tributaries flowing into the Saginaw rising beyond their own flow chart scales. All this, with our new walleye fisheries now depending on the natural reproduction in these rivers, lead me to ask my DNR biologist buddy a question, and get his own thoughts about just what this flood this early in the spawning season would mean to the ripening eggs and the spawning time table. That question and his answer below. Be safe, fish smart and tight lines. Capt. Dan. Question: To my DNR Bud. I your opinion. What impact do you think this flood we're having, so soon after the walleye spawn will have on next years brood stocks. With your experience with spawning cycles, what chances for success or failure (because of these flooding conditions) would you put the chances for the eggs just laid in the Tittabawassee? I know from books that walleyes prefer to broadcast their eggs over baseball size rocks. Will most of these now smother from the sand, mud and debris covering them up during this flood stage? Dan. Answer: Dan. Generally flood events are not good for the walleye hatch. Yes the eggs can get dislodged and relocated to undesirable substrate or (maybe more likely) they can get smothered by sediment. Both are real risks, but given that its late April, a lot of the eggs may already be hatching and maybe beat the flood. I guess we'll know more after this coming falls trawl results.

Good job Jason. Every report I got was awsome. From just below Sandford Dam to just south of the Z-bridge. Roughly 40 miles of river and guys on every section of river were hammering them on everything they threw. To bad the rivers went from just right flow rate to mega-flood stage in less then 12 hours last night. The Tittabawassee should be tough if not impossible to fish now with all this water, but the saginaw might still give up some fish with it's deeper waters. Also just got a call from a friend who knows some commercial fishermen and they are spending 3 to 5 hours longer cleaning their trap nets of all the walleyes right now. Looks like a great summer season coming.

Ditto on the backing. I've even used old orange and chartreuse planer board cord to fill in the backing space. Sure don't take much of that believe me. I used to simply reverse the line each year to use the un-used stuff under the old. But with 10 reels to fill, at about 8 cents or more per yard for 8/30 Power Pro, 100 yards is all I ever spool anymore on each reel. Your not being cheap, your being smart.

I guess it would have to be slow trolling the holes or fan casting the banks with either shad raps, blade baits or bouncing flukes back to the boat. Just too few places with enough room to slip and virtical jig, especially on the Titt and on opening weekend. The sad part and mission for me on opening day on either river (if I even go at all) has become not to get into a fist fight. Just to many people unprepared, slow at the ramp, to careless on the water and in that hyped up frame of mind. That's why I always wait a few days after the opener. Now compound that with what might be people out of work or worrying about it, WOW. But good luck and stay safe.

A bird that was once on the endangered specie list but now has come back in such numbers it is eating many perch populations into their own endangered species list. Click on link. http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Double-crested_Cormorant/id

Something needs to be done about all the commerants in the Sebewaing River. Hundreds and hundreds. Paul. Paul. I'll e-mail my DNR biologist bud about your question. Capt. Dan Here's his answer: Dan. Cormorants are migrating through on their way to there nesting rookeries many of which are here in Michigan. Yes they will feed on spawning perch along the way and while nesting. The scale of the problem depends on the location. Its been a big problem in places like the Les Cheneaux Islands and some others. Its less significant in other locations. Authority to control and manage cormorants lies with the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In 2003, they established a "Public Resource Depredation Order" which extended control options to state DNRs, the USDA's Wildlife Services office, and Federally recognized Native American Tribes. Since then, cormorant control has been implemented in some places around the Michigan water's of the Great Lakes; most notably the Les Cheneaux Islands, Thunder Bay (Lake Huron), St. Marys River, Beaver Islands, Bays de Noc, and Ludington. All of these are being carried out by the USDA's Wildlife Services office of Michigan except the St. Marys River which has been a tribal effort. The Michigan DNR has partnered with the USDA's Wildlife Services to provide much needed fisheries evaluation of effects/benefits. The USDA Wildlife Services has also implemented a harassment program on some inland and Great Lake locations to try and discourage cormorants from preying on spawning fish (like perch) during the spawning period. Those operations depend on volunteers to assist under the authority of the USDA Wildlife Services. The Public Resource Depredation Order established in 2004 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was in response to their studying of the cormorant situation nationwide. In that study they considered but rejected a public hunting season opting instead for the PRDO authority of the states, USDA, & Tribes. The PRDO is in the process of being renewed right now. Its not expected to be changed in any significant way. Bottom line; cormorants are a real issue but they are not the only issue we face in trying to generate good fishing and they are often not the biggest issue. Most of the control taking place is still in the early stages and benefits are not yet widely known (places like Beaver Islands, Bays de Noc, Thunder Bay, Ludington). In the Les Cheneaux Islands, its widely considered that control there contributed significantly to the recovery of that local perch fishery. It was extensively studied.

That's a good one Tray.:D And ironically, fits quit nicely into the scheme and intended meaning of my post.

A while back I found a post about scents for crankbaits, damned if I can find it again. I know several thought it was a good idea to give the cranks a spray of two, but I can't remember for the life of me what seemed to be the best/most popular scent. I know Gander has some garlic, crawfish scents etc. don't know if I want to use one of these or if something else would be better Any input or pros/cons on scent would be appreciated. Thanks. Dan Dan. I used to Pro Staff for Dr. Juice years ago. This scent is still on the market today and has been improved to not take the paint off your lures, like it did years ago. And I believe it is still a good product, as it worked for me even when it had that problem. More recently, and for quite a few years now I've been using B.A.N.G. I like it mainly because it's an aerosol, not messy and it works. I've used it fishing for virtually everything I have fished for including walleyes, salmon and steelheads. I do believe using scents will get you more strikes on those days when the fish are in a "iffy" or "negative" mood. I also believe dipping them in gas would not hurt when the fish are jumping in the boat. :eek:I spray my lures once with the scent at the start of the day. If I keep catching fish I do not spray them again as this stuff isn't cheap. Capt. Dan.

Ever notice sometimes how much the Internet has in common with the BORG. You know, those guys on Star Trek that travel around in those (Un-aero dynamic) square space ships. That are all hooked together in their thoughts, to accomplish varied missions and deeds. When one of them detects or senses that something is wrong in the collective, all of them go to kill or fix it. I remember one episode where Capt. Pecard thought about planting a virus in the brain thought process of one of their captured Borg, thereby eventually contaminating and eventually destroying the whole race of Borg. He later changed his mind when he seen that this particular Borg did indeed have human feelings, a soul and a singular personality. Sometimes, certain people with little else to do try to inject that same destructive poison in posts made by others on the Internet, who are only trying to help other people out or share with them the pleasures of a day afield while hunting or fishing. I'm not saying we should all turn into mindless Borg who fallow the Queen Mothers every thought or command. But at least think first, use some common sense before attacking, and have some compassion before injecting and possibly destroying the whole collective.

Thank's Silver One. Now here's more good news. I just lowered each category of my charter price list $40.00. I raised each last year to compensate for the gas prices. Right now they are just a little below half of what they were, so I went back to the old prices for now. My web site will not show this change for about a week, when my web master gets back from vacation and changes them. But take $40.00 off each category and that's the price I'll be quoting unless the gas prices sky rocket again.

This was taken from another board. The first post is from the original poster. The second is mine and the third is from another poster and the last is mine. Where to start..... Our friend's (and my son's godparents) had a horrible incident this past week. They live in the Lansing/Harper's Ferry area, and their dog was gunned down by a "hunter". It hurts me to bite my lip and not speak my mind, as I don't wanna get booted off this site. I won't give the name of the guy that killed the dog, but I do know his name, address, phone number, and website. He supposedly guides hunting trips in that part of the state. He's from Mason City. I hope he's not a member of this site. He was either scouting or hunting for turkeys, I'm not sure, but our friend's dog showed up and started chasing turkeys. What kind of human does it take to do something like that??!! This guy is going to be in a world of trouble. A group has been started on Facebook, and alot of people have already contacted DNR, the Humane Society of North Iowa, and some similar places. This guy also shot the same dog awhile back, even! So their dog had a very rough last few months of life. My friend actually ran the guy down after it happened, and was told that he would shoot the dog again, if given the chance. We need to make sure this guy isn't allowed to guide anymore, or even be allowed to own a gun! If you need any contact info for this "man", please PM me. I have all the info you could ever need. I don't want somebody else's best friend to meet the same fate. I am open to all comments/advice. Thanks alot! Poster. Here in Michigan you cannot legally let your dog run free either on private or public land during the spring birthing season for birds or animals. They have to be leashed or tethered while in these wooded or fielded locations until the late summer/early fall hunting/training season. If this man was trespassing on private property at the time like you say, then he is in big trouble. But I have personally seen what roaming dogs and cats can do to both birds and yearling wild game when let out to roam free. Young rabbits, deer fawns and every variety of baby (ground nesting) wild birds suffer for what amounts to just being killed because of the hunting nature of the dogs and cats allowed to roam freely. It's not their fault it's the owners fault. Having and loving 3 Labradors of my own, I would deal harshly with anybody shooting them or at them when it was legal for me to be running them in the woods or field. And God forbid it happening when I'm carrying my own gun. But I cannot in clear conscience abide by letting your pet run free anywhere during spring birthing seasons. If you were a hunter and seen all that I've seen, you might feel the same way. Capt. Dan. Still shooting them IS WRONG! imho Poster. I came apon a scene once when guiding for early spring Steelhead's on the Pere Marquette River. It was on our way to the launch point. A deer was standing in the middle of the road with it's stomach ripped open and her guts hanging out, staring down what appeared to be a large Pit Bull/Shepard mix. They both were bloody, toungs hanging out and worn out from what was probably a long chase. The dog seemed to be also injured from the ordeal but took off as we got out of the truck. The deer then fell on the road and could not get up. Not having a gun or good enough knife with me, I had to use my 35 pound lead anchor to crush the deer's skull and put her out of her misery. Something I surely did not want to humanely do to any animal. And the dog did not stick around long enough for me to get his name and license number, so he was free to continue chasing and killing deer in their fragil late winter/early spring physical shape, if indeed he himself recovered from his own injuries. So who do we blame in this instance? And how would you have handled the situation? And better yet, what thoughts and conclusions would you have taken away from this episode? Capt. Dan.

I live here in Mobridge SD and fish Lake Oahe. Unlike every other year that I lived here the water is rising and rising. Every little creek or river in the dakota's is flooding and pouring into the river. As a result the water level is near record levels. The water is very, very muddy. What are any suggestions you would have on how to catch spring walleyes. All the shorelines are flooded trees and\or weeds. Michael. Michael. I've had my best luck in muddy waters by bulking up my jigs and/or using ones that have more flash or put off more noise. Also by finding and recognizing the newly flooded areas out of the main current on rivers or any body of water that holds walleyes. I remember one Freeland Lions Club tournament on the Tittabawassee, where the parking lot was almost all under water and that water was like liquid mud. My buddy backed the boat into the lot just far enough for the boat to float and we were off. We fished right on a flooded gravel road on a wide bend that was usually some 10 feet from the river edge, but now had 3 feet of water over it. I used a 3/8 ounce Hot Pink & White Whistler Jig, teamed with a twin tail white Mr. Twister, then added a 2 to 3 inch emrald shiner. A pretty big and noisey offering. Pulled 25 walleyes off this road bed by myself on day one and 18 on day two. The guy fishing with me had never jig fished before and could not get the hang of it. I think he caught 2 for both days. Came in 10th place that year out of 300+ entries. Capt. Dan.

Click on link. http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10364_18958-45693--,00.html

Ya, the Bay has been dealing us NE winds and 2 to 4 footers the last couple of days. Plus I love to drift fish for anything that will bite in the rivers. And those smoked suckers from last week are still on my mind. All of these will soon be converted to tasty, salty morsels as well.

It took Gatorbait a while to find his own secret spot way upstream on the Rifle River, near Sage Lake. And then a while for us to locate a few satelite pods of spawning fish in the river, as most were in the deeper/darker holes above or below the spawning gravel. And many if not all (I believe) still not quite actively spawning just yet. And then a while for us to rig the way they wanted the baits presented. And then a while for us to get both our casting and fish landing techniques down, being we were restricted (By Law) not to be carrying a landing net with over an 18 inch handle on this river, (so why bother). But by the end of the day we had went 12 for 35. And the 35 number is a low estimation of just how many we had on. And virtualy all bit on either the orange rubber spawn or the Black Stone Flies piggy backed below the spawn. This made perfect sense as I must have swatted 15 or 20 Stone Flies off my neck all day as they were hatching off the water. Let the smoking begin.

Wulp, right at 7:30 sharp this morning Bay Dog and Chamookman arrived at my house. By 8:45 we were fishing the Rifle River. But if I had to guess at what point the sucker run is progressing on the rifle, I'd guess it was over. Maybe it's not, and I hope I'm wrong, but I was the only fisherman I seen (out of 25 or more) catch a fish for the 2 hours we were there. I caught 1 walleye and 2 suckers, all on rubber orange spawn and all had biten and were hooked in the mouth. That alone a rarity on the rifle. Here's a picture of Bay Dog hiding (in the green hooded sweatshirt) and Chamookman casting, as well as myself holding the decent sized male walleye that looked like and showed all signs of being done himself with spawning duties. Thinking about running some orange rubber spawn on some harnesses next week on the bay, (if the water temps warm up).