Walleye Express

I still got that Walls snow suite. Best/Warmest suite I ever owned. Or maybe my own bodily blood flow was better back then. :grin:

Cleaning out the drawer of an old desk we're getting rid of today, I found a few old pictures of myself that date back some 23 years, to about 1986. Hard to tell through all the wiskers, but it's me. Back then if you seen 4 other boats on the Tittabawassee, she was a crowded day on the river. Of course you can see the floating platform I fished from was a little more rustic as well. Man, it just seems like yesterday.

Hey guys, I was getting ready to (re) tie up some rigs for this year and looking at my ones from last year got me to thinking. I have some tied with two blades, usually like a size four or five with a size 2 or 3 in combo. I have not really noticed any patern as far as the one blade or two blade rigs out fishing the other. So I was wondering which you guys prefer and if there are situations/conditions where you will use one blade or two??? As usual thanks in advance for your opinions, they are muchly appreciated! Jim Jim. Back in the late 50's through the 60's on Munoscong Bay we used a single blade tandom rig of sorts. It was an old June Bug spinner that had a crawler harness attached in to it's backside, making it a two bladed rig. Of course the June Bug spinner blade and the blade on the harness were seperated by whatever length that the crawler harness was tied. But they worked quit well together back then on that particular body of water. In fact I just ordered a dozen of these old, reliable June Bug Spiners (#5 blades) from their site to try this year on the Saginaw Bay for old time sake, and to give the walleyes something new to consider. http://www.angler-al.com/gifts.html Testimony from the angler Al's tackle company page: A man named Al and his numerous brothers discovered "The Flowage" after WWII and made it their family vacation spot, as they all were avid fishermen. After much trial and error, Al and his brothers discovered that the simple June Bug Spinner was just about the only lure that could entice the always elusive walleye. That's all they were interested in catching. It was no longer necessary to sacrifice expensive tackle to the challenging stump and rock filled waters. Generations of Al's family still make the annual trek to the north woods, always searching The Flowage for the wily walleye. Al and his brothers have long since passed away, but his grandchildren and great-grandchildren still swear by the June Bug Spinner. It catches everything from walleye, pike, bass, panfish to musky and a variety of saltwater species. Capt. Dan.

Don't forget this is a very early ice out, we are usually still on ice. I find it very interesting that Dan and a few others might be in the initial development of a new, unexplored method of catching early fish. In the past I have read comments about wadding for fish and casting with huskey jerks, but not trolling, at least not for a few weeks yet. There always seems to be a gap between river fishing once the season closes, and when the bay fish start. This year there doesn't seem to be that gap. I believe Gary Parsons may have hinted about the possibilities when he talked with us in our saginawbay.com fish chat a few weeks ago about casting jigs "by the trailer park" and catching walleye. Those of you out learning about this newer fishery keep up the good work and keep sharing. And Capt. why do you think you would catch fish near an iceburg. I would think that is where the coldest water would be. Is it a light thing or maybe structure? Thanks in advance, Dave Dave. I've thought about the iceberg thing and have a few thoughts. Some say both snow and ice give off oxygen. I know it's definitely darker near and under an iceberg. Both baitfish and predators can hide under or near there for cover if they wanted. Possibly, the bottom dynamics that may have held the burgs where they were on Wednesday, a very calm day, may also be the right bottom dynamics for holding pre spawn walleye. I'm not really sure about the colder theory, with the amount of water surrounding the burgs. Maybe very near it might be colder. A lot of the keys and cues we get as fishermen that help us find and catch fish do not always have to makes perfect sense. We just have to stay aware, takes mental notes and use or re-use what we learn when we recognize the successful similarities. We don't always have to see the arrow fall back to earth after shooting it skyward. We all know it's going to fall back down someplace. Capt. Dan.

Ya, I knida figured the extra weight and pull of these swimbaits as sliders would change the dynamics and dive of the Rattle Tot's. I've been using both spoons and my spoon harnesses sliders above them now for a few years with success. But I figured with that small amount of weight attached to the swimbait, things might equal out when it came to the pull versus depth dynamics. I'm thinking I'll know post haste if it's going to work or not. And if it does, I'll let everybody know.

I would not worry to much about trolling down. Last Wedsnesday when we caught those 8 walleyes, I broke the speed wheel off my fish finder when coming out of the Finn road launch on some floating ice. So I judged how fast we were trolling all morning by my motors tachometor. So after about our 4th fish I decided to change modes on my GPS from plotter to regular and see just how slow or fast we were really trolling. Only then did we find out that were were trolling at 1.8 to 2.1MPH all morning. That was way faster then my usual early spring/night time trolling speed of .08 to 1MPH. I forgot all about my habbit of trolling in neutral with my Jet Drive motor and simply adjusting my idle speed to go faster or slower, which I usually do when trolling at night. So with my Jets water transfer coupler engaged all morning, we were trolling faster then I thought we were on Wednesday, so we never changed a thing for yesterday trip. You know the old saying. If it's not broke.:grin: The leads yesterday started at 30/40 but were reduced to 15/20 when we fished shallow. All of our fish yesterday came in 6 FOW or a little less.

This is as early as I ever tried trolling on the Bay and we're having a ball. Kinda neat solving these fishing puzzles both by luck and experience. And yupper, the firetiger colors have been the best so far. That YO-Zuri and Rattlin Rouge (both in tiger) have also been doing a good job. All the fish today were females again. As far as I can tell from their egg maturity, and how cold the water still is, these fish could be staging for another week or more before heading up-river. Their calling for snow flurries tomarrow morning. Probably won't hit er again till Monday or Tuesday.

Wulp, what a difference a day and 20 MPH NNW wind can make on Saginaw Bay. We started out this morning by launching a lot closer to our fishing destination. A friend of ours owns a private launch on the Kawkawlin River and saved us buco time and travel distance to our spot. So we headed out into what was about a 1 foot Chop as we cleared the mouth of the old kawkaw. Residual waves left from yesterday blow. That's when I noticed an old friend setting in the mud at the mouth. It was our old ice burg buddy from Wednesday that had blown ashore and almost blocked the rivers mouth. Fortunately, I had marked both ice burgs we fished by and the places where they were on my GPS on Wednesday, so we could hopefully continue where we left off. Well then, we also instantly noticed the water temp was down 2 degrees and the clarity was more stained, with large amounts of floating debris everywhere on the surface. Reeds, cattails and some coontail type weeds that were all either dislodged by the recent winds or old stuff being pushed back towards shore from the Saginaw Rivers recent flush. Then top all that off with the bite that the 35 degrees air temp had on your face and hands, compared to the 56 degrees from Wednesday, and I wasn't the happiest chipmunk on the wood pile. I told Reel Fishing (Mark) it may be a real short day. But like all die hard fishermen we pressed on to our beginning spot. And sure enough every 10 minutes all the boards had to be brought in and cleaned off. The lures for the most part stayed cleaner then did the boards, that gathered junk like the city DPW. That's when we noticed that the debris line was not as bad towards shore. The undertow of returning waves as they reflect off shore Kinda keeps an area clear of this type of floating debris. So we decided to shorten the leads on the boards and fish closer to shore. What the heck the water was stained more then the other day, so maybe the fish were holding in closer. Wulp, the debris still gave us some trouble, but we found some fish.

That's actually a neat idea. Down side: Just one pack/3 of these swimbaits with 2 types of sinker rigs are $9.00. Don't those umbrella rigs have as many as 12 lures attached. Man that would hurt to the bone to loose that rig. I'm really hoping the slider idea above the Rattle Tot's work.

It was close to 51 over in front of the Hot Ponds but only 38 and change where we were. Every fish we caught was a female, even the smaller ones were bulging with eggs. So if I/we go again Friday, I'll be taking pictures but won't be keeping any for myself. It's a blast, but don't make sense to me taking that many viable spawners out of the system at this time.

Thank's Mike. I'm thinking of hitting it again Friday morning. Wind is supposed to switch to NNW tonight and tomarrow. That means the ice burgs should stay close to where they are now, and at least won't float out into Lake Huron before then. :D

Well, children. Set back and relax and let old Captain Dan tell you the story of the iceburg monsters. Captain Dan was very dissapointed the other day when he went out to fish but could not troll. And not having enough time to wait until the skim ice melted, he didn't get to even try trolling. But last night Captain Dans brother called and told him that two of his buddies caught 3 walleyes and a steellhead trolling from Finn Road to the Hot ponds in 5 to 6 FOW. So this morning Captain Dan and his side kick Reel Fishing launched at the Finn road ramp and headed out. But after 2 hours of trolling nothing had happened. So Captain Dan decided to try on the other side of the channel where the water was cleaner. But alas, after almost 2 hours over there with nothing to show for the effort things were not looking to good for Captain Dan and friend. One of the things Captain Dan noticed was the 3 very large iceburgs floating near the shoreline. So he told his friend, I'll bet all those monsters are hiding under those iceburgs. Of course Captain Dan didn't really think anything but zebra mussles were hiding under the iceburgs, but thought taking a picture of them would make a good picture to post on his fishing board. So as they trolled their lures very near the iceburg, Captain Dan snapped a picture. But before he could put the camera down the In-Line board near the burg (see picture) dropped back with a heavy weight on it. Of course Captain Dan and friend thought it was snagged on the burg, but it seems it was not. So after landing thier very first fish of what was now afternoon, they swung back around and did it all over again. And again, and again, and again, and again, until 8 iceburg monsters fell prey to Captain Dan and friends offerings. Two of the older/wiser iceburg monsters were released to keep the iceburg clan brood alive and viable for next time. The End.

Same for Michigan.

I’ve got limited experience using big boards – mainly throwing a couple lines way-out for “steelies†while Salmon fishing. I use Offshore in-lines for night trolling in April, I also own a couple “walleye boards†but found they don’t handle good in rough water – but I do love the spring-loaded slot in the front of the boards for removing the boards while hooked up. I was going to buy a couple more inlines and also want “big boardsâ€. My prob with inlines is you don’t get to fight the fish until the last 20’ (or until boards’ released). Question – how (or) does anyone run bigs @ night? Question – Do you ever have problems losing your in-lines and how to protect this from happening? My solution – I replaced the front clip with a swivel that would catch on a larger barrel swivel preceding my leader. Question – If you could only invest in one for both day and night fishing – what would you choose? :? Gatorbait. Firstly Gatorbait.. Running big boards at night could work, but would involve a lot more work and attention to be worth wild. I have never lost an In-Line board at night, because I lock the line to the board by wrapping it around the front release twice or more. And I guess if I was confined to buying just one type it would be In-Lines. In my many years of fishing I've used many kinds of boards both big and In-Lines, starting with my own wooden ones I made myself back in the mid-70's. Virtually everything from the old Styrofoam Yellow Birds, to light plastic configurations made by Lur Jenson. Even an experimental model I helped develop, made by the Storm Lure Company that looked like the Star Trek Enterprise, that was actually called "The Shuttle". The one thing people do not think about when using one type or the other is not so much their design or how they fit into your type of fishing, but how they pull and impart the action to your lures. Each type both acts and pulls your offerings different when being used on the water during the varying water conditions. In-Lines (even in rough seas) ride right on top the water, pull and track in a smoother continuous motion then big boards, wheras your line release is tide to the tether line, riding off the water and is often pulled or whipped back and forth even in small waves. Often, one of these two very different actions can induce strikes when the other is running dead. Here's a little secret I've kept to myself for years. I've had dead calm days when instead of zig-zagging, I will continually pull in and release the long cord I use at the back of the boat, that brings in my Big planer boards tether line, just to give my lures a stop-and-go darting action, and it's paid off. Capt. Dan.

Hey Capt. so you don't think there are many reef spawners in the inner Bay. What about the the Rifle Bar and out in the Outer Bay? Like Point lookout? I launch out of Au Gres, and those places are closer to me than the Inner Bay. I was thinking that the Inner Bay walleye have greatt rivers like the Sag/Tib, Kawkawlin, etc. so that there would be fewer reef spawners. But the Outer Bay eyes have ferer good rivers to run up to spawn in. What do you think? Thanks, Jim Jim. We have kicked this (where they spawn and why) question to death on all the boards for years. Truth is, there has never been a scientific study done by any DNR agency to see if some walleyes are genetically disposed to spawn in one area over the other. They do not see it as very important. But their thoughts are that indeed there is two seperate sub species that fallow their parents spawning habbits, and like salmon have similar genetic traits, and spawn where their parents do/did. That fact alone lends credibility that the majority of our walleyes are river spawning fish, especially since our new fishery was first built on river spawners from the Muskegon River and then later on with Tittabawassee River fish. There were a few off years when Lake Erie fish were added to the mix. I personally keep falling back on the fact that walleyes prefer baseball size rocks to broadcast their egss on. Not many places on the inner Bay that I know off has this type bottom strata.

Man what a strange experience today's fishing excursion was. Launched at the mouth of the Saginaw the same time my cousin Mike did early this morning, and headed out into what seemed like an arctic pleasure cruise. Went from a river chocked with floating debris and as stained as a bucket of mud, out into 16 FOW and crystal clear water. Bad part was then, is that there was a layer of new ice about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick on the bay, as it was dead calm and very cold last night. Running In-Line boards was not going to happen I knew, but watched as my cousin tried to anyway. The boards were thrown off course and simply would not run in the skim ice. So we headed out deep to the spark plug to vertical jig some minnows. Tried for about 40 minutes with no marks on the screen or no hits of any kind. Ran back into the Hot Ponds to try to catch something and was rewarded for the effort with some nice bass. Called my cousin before we wraped it up, and the bay had cleared of ice but the fishing stayed negative. On the way back to the ramp I noticed that my small wake was going to make the ice fishermen nervous.

I was just wondering if we can talk about how to catch walleye after ice out. Like I said before I would love to learn more about it, just not sure where to start. When is the best time to chase them, what time of day and what to use. I do have access to a 14 ft with a 25 horse. Is that enough boat and motor to do the trick? I figured a 14 ft would be fine. I know that alot of guys will troll at night. Im going to buy a new GPS real soon so I can get better aquainted with the saginaw bay. I was out once last year aways out, and man Ill tell ya, Its way different after dark. If it wasnt for the GPS it would have been tough. Even with the lights on shgore at the Comsumers Power, it was still decieving. Thanks for all the help. jmSmith. JM. Here's just a few of the pictures I have of night fishing the Bay that date as far back to 2000. Even one with WalleyeHookups and his step Dad (local celebrity) Mike Avery when we did one of his Outdoor Shows. I cannot stress safety more then when fishing at night. And if it's in a 12 or 14 footer never overload the boat. Fact is, never overload any boat. Just because it's Coast Guard rated for 4 don't mean it's a good idea. I'd say you and one more man would be plenty in a 14 footer. Never have un-necessary clutter of any kind in the boat where somebody could trip and fall in or out of the boat. Every item should have a place in the boat out of the way and/or secured in some fasion. Carry a good Mag flashlight for signaling other boats when trolling if need be. One of those canned air horns or a police whistle (like I carry) is also a good idea. Wear a head light and buy those clamp on bow and stern lights for your boat if it does not have them now. I've almost ran over several smaller 12 to 14 footers out there in the pitch dark because they do not have any lights on board at all. And knowing where the front of your boat is from the back, tells us both which way he/you/I am trolling so we can both steer to avoid a collision. Mark the end of, as well as every move you make out of the channel you use on your GPS. And then motor straight out to deeper water and mark that to. Then fallow that route back in when your done fishing. Like ice fishing, you do not want to go back to the channel as the Crow flies and hit a sand bar or rock somewhere between the two, but make sure you always have enough safe water under your bow. The waters you'll fish in general will be shallow, 5 to 15 FOW. Crankbaits such as #18 Rapalas and #14 Husky Jerks will be all you need to get bit. Troll slow to very slow with short leads. .08 to 1.2 for speed most nights, and 40 back in as long as I've ever trolled them back. Some nights 18 to 25 back take more fish. Like any other fishing, experiment, experiment, experiment. Capt. Dan.

Ahhh Yessss, the dreaded Polar Bear plunge, I remember it well. Those who do survive them seem to become the best ambassadors and teachers for the others who have yet to take one. When I think of all the mistakes and chances I took when younger, I see the true value in the "Older and Wiser" statement.

Yupper. That's the same way I explained in the post, and use them off my Big Board releases for walleyes. Way back when, when I first started using them, I just hooked the band on shower curtain hooks. Worked O.K. until you tried to break the band and reel in the fish. Man, those ruber bands (when new) are very strong and hard to break.

Can You Help me OUT. Does anyone have a picture or drawing or detailed instructions on using rubber bands while trolling? I would like to know how to hook them . Thanks I know someone has to have the info I need and so would other people. If you have any other trickes that you dont mind letting us GREENHORNS know. Let me clarify the QUESTION! The reason I ask the question is the Forums article Capt.Dan Manyen TOPIC : Big Walleye like Lil Ernies (dated 07-20-08) please read ALL of the article to the BOTTOM and let me know what he is talking about using rubber bands for bite idicators ! PLEASE HELP ME OUT as I said I am a Greenhorn about this and I will take all the HELP I can GET !! Thanks David Tester David Tester David. I've been using rubber bands as strike indicators off my BIG boards now for over 20 years. And during that time I've refined a few things that the others did not touch on. Rubber bands (after being used and studied for a while) allow you to read your lures every action, even when the smallest weed is fouled on your lure. I used to have a couple of pretty neat pictures of both a rubber band set up on my planer board tether line and one of it stretched with a fish on. These two pictures accompanied an article I wrote years ago for the Fins & Feahters magazine. I know I still have them, but they are buried with the probably 3000 other pictures I have in a drawer in the bedroom. So I'll try to explain the pricipals as best I can wothout the pictures. First let out your lure/harness/whatever to the desired length behind the boat. Then loop the rubber band inside of itself over the line and sinch it tight on the line. Then bite/cut off one of the rubber band strands near that knot, so the band becomes twice as long as it would if it was still unbroken. The knot will not come undone, but allows the band to become more sensitive and stretchy, also making it easier to release from the releases pinch pad. Now attach this tag end of the band to whatever release you are using. Through trial and error you will get the hang of how far back into the release to place the rubber band, so it doesn't give you false releases. You will soon learn from the stretch of the band or the dip in the rod tip while in the holders, just what is going on with the lure. And you never have too set the hook when you get a fish on. The band itself from the pressure to release it, or when you release the band (if you have to) does that for you. Another trick I learned 2 years ago also makes it easier to release the band if you have to for a smaller fish. When the band stretches with a fish on it, yet fails to release, simply tighten the line from the rod tip to the band and give the back end of your rod a sharp rap and "BANG" she's off. This works the best when using braided lines. When reeling in the fish you can reel the band right through the rod guides and onto your reel. Something hard to do if you don't break/cut/bite the band in two after line attachmnent. On many occassions the band stay put all day, acts as a line length indicator, and can be used as long as the fish stay in the same depth zone. Capt. Dan.

I speared one at the mouth of the kawkawlin back in the 60's that got into the Bay City times. It was almost 40 pounds. But can't remember the exact weight.

GOT YA!!!!!!! World record common carp landed Fish Catches 17 February 2009 10:36 This is a picture of the largest common carp in the world - a colossal record-breaking beast weighing in at 85lb 9oz. It was taken by German ace Dieter Markus Stein from a top-secret stillwater in his homeland, a venue which is regarded as one of the hardest lakes on the Continent where the gap between bites can somentimes run into months. Incredibly, it is the second time the 31-year-old big carp fanatic has banked the monster specimen, which first graced his net almost two years ago weighing a 1lb 8oz less. Dieter banked it this time while targeting the venue¹s elusive giant mirror carp, but was far from disappointed to see his old friend again. He said: “The area of the lake I had been targeting had started to become quite busy with other anglers and because of the extra noise and commotion the fish activity slowed up as they moved out of the area. I decided to target an area which doesn¹t get fished. From November I began introducing whole and crumbed boilies to get their confidence up.†Dieter used a critically-balanced hookbait comprising half an Imperial Baits Carptrack Fish boilie bottom bait combined with half a pop-up. With a PVA stringer of three halved boilies tied to the hook, it proved too much for the huge specimen to resist, the bite coming at 5.30am after a short overnight session. “I was hoping to catch one of the lake¹s big mirrors, but I certainly wasn¹t complaining to have the common at a new record. It put up such a powerful fight ¬ the best I¹ve ever experienced ¬ lasting over 20 minutes.†said Dieter. If it keeps growing at its current rate, in a few years¹ time the huge common could break the overall world carp record, which stands at 91lb and was caught by Andre Komornicki from Les Graviers, France in October 2008.

Pictures taken this afternoon.

I found your ice. Seems about 100 tons of it or more went through many walls and windows of the home owners residences at Linwwod beach last night on Saginaw Bay. The noon news showed some pretty ugly pictures of those shore side homes wraped in ice chunks. :eek:

Hey Dan: Yes we got the Sensus numbers back. Walleye catch rate for the open water period (April - Oct) on Saginaw bay went up again to the highest rate we have measured. Catch rate is the number of walleye per hour of fishing. The walleye harvest total for the same period went down slightly (still around 1/4 million walleyes!). The reason the harvest dropped slightly even when the catch rate went up was because overall fishing effort (pressure) went down. Total number of open water hours was the second lowest rate we have ever measured. Fishing effort in the bay has slipped back to what it was before the walleye recovery even began back in the early 1980s. We're not sure why participation has declined like this in the bay, especially when the walleye fishery has exploded. My biggest hunch is that trends in perch availability has driven a lot of fishing trends in the bay. Despite the great perch reproduction, as you know, they are not surviving well beyond young-of-the-year so with adult perch getting scarce, many people are not fishing as much. Also I think Lake Huron as a whole has a bad rep right now. Saginaw Bay gets painted by that same brush sometimes (although it doesn't deserve it). There's also the economy and other reasons. Generally fishing participation is declining everywhere due to less kids getting into the sport. We'll be presenting our Saginaw Bay findings for the year at the annual Sea Grant sponsored "fishery workshops" coming up in April (see attached). Because of budget constraints (no travel $ for me), Jim Baker will be presenting the findings at the Bad Axe workshop and I'll be presenting at the Alpena workshop. One of those would be a good chance for you to see all the information.