Walleye Express

Not sure about it's age, but yes it was in the water all winter. Don't know about you guys, but if I owned a ship/boat/sailing vessel this nice, she'd be taken out and stored each winter. Of course I don't know all the wood/fiberglass dynamics of a vessle of this size and type. Hell it might be better for the ship to be left in the water, who knows? But notice the big timber resting against her bow? Many of the boats fishing yesterday were throwing some impressive wakes against her using those trees as battering rams. That would rub me the wrong way every time I seen it if she was mine.

Hey everyone, Went out to a new lake last night and caught a couple fish trolling a rip rap dam. We tried casting Rogues and Husky jerks for quite a while and had no luck. After our hands got numb we decided to troll the length of the dam for a while and ended up putting a little something together to catch a couple a lose a couple others. We just never got everything fine tuned, as the fish we right on the steep drop of the rip rap at about 3-4 feet deep, maybe 10-15 feet off shore and it was tough to keep the cranks from hanging up and having to go back and unhook the snag. What do you guys out there do when fishing these type of conditions. I am not afraid of losing some lures, its gonna happen. Just want to figure out how to be more efficient out there. We did try running a couple lures right up close on planers too. Thanks, Todd Todd. I suggest first on cold nights wearing gloves. Then holding and giving just one rod/lure your trolling with more specific attention, especially at night and in snaggy conditions. I'd also suggest even pumping the rod in short bursts, this will actually reduce the snags you get as the lure tends to ricochet off the snags more and (IMV) call more night time attention (Via Lateral Line noise) to your offerings. Capt.Dan.

Wulp. Got to fish for a whole 1 hour 45 minuted this morning before the cold nasty rain got to bad. The Saginaw River was swift, swollen and full, and I mean full of sticks, snags, trees and was very cloudy. Not what a man wants to see when he gets to the ramp by any means. But when you know this might be it, (as our inland season closes on the 15th), you do what you have to do. And I'm gald we did. In that brief time we went 4 for 9, including this fine specimen I caught that had a DNR tag in her Jaw. We actually caught the last 4 nice fish near the end before we left. It was my fishing partner who was 100% yesterday but lost the first 5 he had on this morning. Oh ya, the Appledoore is a sailing ship that they take people out on the Saginaw Bay on tours during the summer. Pretty cool fishing near it today.

Here's the Tittabawassee River poop. There are fish in the Titt and we caught a few today. Nothing BIG. Few people we seen or talked to caught any today, but they can be caught, and are in some tight/isolated spots. Using live bait today was key. But IMV there are no new (fresh run) fish in the Titt yet. The water level and clarity are good, but water temp is still 34 degrees. Everything is perfect (if the real heavy rains hold off this weekend) for the main run to start. We are IMV 3 or 4 days from things really heating up if the river stays stable and fishable. I'm predicting that the guys fishing the Saginaw today will do a lot better then the last few days.

Nope. I'm one of those weird charter guys that actually tells you if the fish are or are not biting. :eek:

Easy Mike. He will become a loose cannon.

Come'on Frank. Your a morderator toooooo. Change those mistakes you see me make with your moderator powers. :rolleyes::lol:

Department of Natural Resources Conservation Officers Seek Charges for Illegal Commercial Fishing Operation Department of Natural Resources conservation officers are seeking multiple charges against six Delta County men in connection with an illegal commercial fishing operation on Little Bay De Noc. Charges will be sought in both state and tribal court systems. During a records review, a DNR conservation officer noted an abnormally high number of walleye were being sold in the wholesale commercial market during the winter months over the past several years. Conservation officers from the DNR’s Commercial Fish Enforcement and Special Investigative Units, as well as conservation officers stationed in Delta County, developed further information while operating surveillance on Little Bay De Noc and surrounding areas. “A pattern was established by officers,†said Gary Hagler, chief of the DNR Law Enforcement Division. “Once that pattern was established, our officers were able to determine that thousands of pounds of walleyes may have been taken from area waters and illegally sold into the commercial fish market through a licensed commercial fisherman.†Hagler said that officers believe more than 20,000 pounds of walleye may have been taken from area waters through the illegal operation just in the last two months. Last week, DNR conservation officers seized 256 pounds of walleye that were harvested from nets in Little Bay De Noc the previous day. Officers returned to the bay with Sault Tribal police officers and seized 1,200 feet of illegally set gill net. “This is a complex case that took some time to develop,†Hagler noted. “Also, the public provided critical information by alerting us to illegally set nets on Little Bay De Noc. This type of public involvement is crucial to protecting our natural resources.†Any natural resources-related violations can be reported anonymously to the DNR through the Report All Poaching (RAP) Line at 800-292-7800. Monetary awards are sometimes given for information that leads to an arrest. The DNR is committed to the conservation, protection, management, use and enjoyment of the state's natural resources for current and future generations.

I probably get hundreds of E-mails per year asking me for help when the writer of the E-mail comes to the saginaw bay area to fish. I try to answer every one of them and help anybody out I can with what might be helpful info. But sometimes, this voluntary favor and the way it is asked rubs me the wrong way. Here's and example I got yesterday. This is exactly the way I received it. how is the fishing on the bay on 3-2-09 we will be heading over there tomorrow let me know where, how deep, what color, and what kind of bait thanks

Well, just finished pre-tying all of my new 5" Berkley Hollow Body Swimbaits, that I'll be trying this open water season as sliders above my Rattle Tot's. If they are not compatiable with them as sliders, I thought about using them on some lead core by themselves. Also just ordered 3 packs of the 4" to troll and/or cast on the river while fishing both day and night. I just could not resist their swimming and fish catching charm. Proven to me after watching 3 episodes of both (In-Fishermans) Doug Stangy and Al Linder (Angling Edge) catching some very impressive walleyes on them while casting, and I'm thinking rigging them for trolling just might be killer as well. So when the bare spoons or spoon harnesses start catching those little sub-legal walleyes around the last of June, I can hopefully switch over to these bigger offerings for some bigger gators. Hell, they might even work for you Salmon guys.

Ya, after last nights rain it went from 2,300 CFPS Thursday to 7,200 CFPS and back in the parking lot today. Probably take another 4 to 5 days now to get back to fishable levels again.

For quit a few years I used 10# Berkley Big Game. Then I experimented with some 12# Cajun Red line on just 2 of the 8 rods I run, and for some reason those two rods caught more fish for me. Then last year I went to all 8/30 Power Pro Red Braide and have found it to be the best stuff yet. I switched every reel (casting or trolling) I now own over to this stuff. It is pricy, so I only put 100 yards of it on each troling reel, using the cheaper stuff for backing. Most trolling applications on the Bay will seldom (if ever) take more then 50 yards of line.

Tried to meet up with my buddy Walleyedreaming this morning out in 19 FOW where he went 4 for 8 last night, one 8 1/2 pounder, but the cracks slowed me down looking for spots to safely cross, and the 3rd one stoped me dead inside of 17 1/2 FOW. Jimmy (my bud) had crossed it safe enough on his snowmobile and was on the east side of the crack only another .33 more miles out. We could actually see each other, but I went up and down that 3rd crack for a mile each way, and it was 2 to 2 1/2 feet open all the way and I wasn't going to risk crossing it on my quad anywhere that I found, even though it seemed to be tight in one spot. But that one spot had a big WHITE HUMP that joined the crack together. Telling me that is had frozen with blown over wet snow on top. "The dreded Tiger Trap for quads". So I cut some holes and fished inside this crack for almost 3 hours and never even marked a fish. 11:45 I called it quits, but not until I seen a nice new polaris try to cross the crack at that white ice hump 100 yards from me and down he went. Only thing that saved it from going down in 17 FOW was the shanty on the back and the rack on the front. About 14 of us put our heads together, along with the help of a snowmobile and one young strong man lifitng on the front end and got him out. I'll be putting away all the ice gear tomarrow and rigging the Jet sled for the Tittabawassee River. Some of the biggest walleyes of the year stack in there now, when and if the conditions get right. Looking good after Thursday (I hope).

I always reply to these.. Your in luck, I do have all these days open for a fishing charter. Unfortunetly, I personally do not care for people from the UK. They are in general liars, cheats and they smell kinda funny. But if you would send me double the fee in cash (American dollars) or money order, I might make room for you and your group.

This is from my buddy. Despite a free-falling economy and retail sales on other items, firearm sales went through the roof last month, continuing a trend that beganDespite a free-falling economy and sagging before Barack Obama was elected president — proof that the gun industry isn’t tanking like the bank and home markets. Not yet, anyway. According to Federal Bureau of Investigation records, background checks on the sale of firearms jumped 28.8 percent in January when compared to January 2008. By law, FBI checks are required for everyone who purchases firearms from federally licensed retailers. The FBI reported 1,213,885 checks in January, up from 942,556 in the same month a year ago. Those are the highest figures since the first year of the Clinton administration. On the final day of the SHOT Show in Orlando, Fla., last month, Randy Luth, president of DPMS, which makes AR-15 rifles, said he had 109,000 guns on back order. That's more than three years production, despite the fact that he just added another shift at his Minnesota plant. Leftists refer to the AR-15 as "assault rifles" and they head the proposed list of weapons to be banned. It's a sign of the times that Luth, until recently unknown outside of the niche market of "black rifles," was elected Man of the Year in Outdoor Life's Internet poll last month. It turns out that most, if not all, manufacturers are months behind on orders for semiautomatic pistols, AR-style rifles, and anything with so-called high-capacity magazines. In other words, anything high on Obama's hit list is just as high on the public’s must-have-now list. "Since the election, sales of firearms, in particular handguns and semiautomatics, are outpacing inventory," said Steve Sanetti, president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the trade association for the firearms and ammunition industry. "Americans are clearly concerned about their ability to purchase these products in an uncertain future." No joke: In an opinion poll conducted by Southwick and Associates, which specializes in outdoor-related statistics, most people surveyed after the presidential election believe the new administration and a Democrat-controlled Congress will make it harder to buy guns. No major-party presidential nominee has ever had as strong and consistent an anti-gun record as Obama. He supported a ban on handguns in 1996, backed a ban on the sale of all semiautomatic guns in 1998, and advocated banning gun sales within five miles of a school or park in 2004. He also served on the board of the Joyce Foundation, the largest private funder of anti-gun research in the country. And with the nomination of Eric Holder as U.S. Attorney General, a person’s right to bear arms faces even greater peril. Holder has a long history of anti-Second Amendment activism, going back to the days when he was Clinton’s go-to guy for gun control. His record includes support of a three-day waiting period for handgun purchases, handgun rationing of one gun per month and renewing the semiautomatic gun ban. And just last year Holder signed on to a brief before the Supreme Court in support of the Washington, D.C. ban on all handguns and the use of a gun for self-defense. He said the Second Amendment wasn’t meant for private citizens and argued that it does not protect a person’s right to own firearms but was intended only for government militias. Maybe that’s why USA Today asked online readers whether the Second Amendment truly gives individuals the right to bear arms. So far, more than 1.18 million have voted, and 97 percent say yes it does. Need more proof, Mr. Attorney General?

Guys: Better brush up on your Russian language skills; we're losing our constitution. I've checked this and it appears to be true. Very Important for you who hunt or own a firearm to be aware of a new bill HR 45 introduced into the House. This is the Blair Holt Firearm Licensing & Record of Sale Act of 2009. We just learned yesterday about this on the Peter Boyles radio program. Even gun shop owners didn't know about this because it is flying under the radar. To find out about this - go to any government website and type in HR 45 or Google HR 45 Blair Holt Firearm Licensing & Record of Sales Act of 2009. You will get all the information. Basically this would make it illegal to own a firearm - any rifle with a clip or ANY pistol unless: It is registered •You are fingerprinted •You supply a current Driver's License •You supply your Social Security # •You will submit to a physical & mental evaluation at any time of their choosing •Each update - change or ownership through private or public sale must be reported and costs $25 - Failure to do so you automatically lose the right to own a firearm and are subject up to a year in jail. •There is a child provision clause on page 16 section 305 stating a child-access provision. Gun must be locked and inaccessible to any child under 18. They would have the right to come and inspect that you are storing your gun safely away from accessibility to children and fine is punishable for up to 5 yrs. In prison. If you think this is a joke - go to the website and take your pick of many options to read this. It is long and lengthy. But, more and more people are becoming aware of this. Pass the word along. Any hunters in your family - pass this along. Peter Boyles is on this and having guests. Listen to him on KHOW 630 a.m. In the morning. He suggests the best way to fight this is to tell all your friends about it and "spring into action". Also he suggests we all join a pro-gun group like the Colorado Rifle Association, hunting associations, gun clubs and especially the NRA. This is just a "termite" approach to complete confiscation of guns and disarming of our society to the point we have no defense - chip away a little here and there until the goal is accomplished before anyone realizes it. This is one to act on whether you own a gun or not. If you take my gun, only the criminal will have one to use against me. HR 45 only makes me/us less safe. After working with convicts for 26 years I know this bill, if passed, would make them happy and in less danger from their victims. http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h45/show http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-45 http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.45: Here is also the links to both of our Michigan Senators comment/e-mails and the message I sent both. http://levin.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm Mr. Levin. On behalf of the 750,000 deer hunters and the over 1 million gun owners in our State, I wish you to take a long, hard look at the new Blair/Holt Firearms licensing and record of sale act of 2009. Please see the error and consequences of passing this act for your Michigan constituents. http://stabenow.senate.gov/email.cfm

I was one of the very first maniacs who draged his 12 foot boat with 3 horse motor down the North side rip rap rocks, between the coffer and main Dam at Tippy in the fall of 1969, and snagged some of the first returning Cohos. Me and my step brother limited out in about 1 hour while tied to the dam face support wall, while both dodging others and using our own heavy weighted treble hooks they used to call salmon spiders. This was just the begining of what was a very bad idea from our DNR that snagging was the only way that salmon could be caught once entering the river systems, as well as the devistation that snagging had (and continues to have) on our stream and rivers. I'm sorry I was ever a part in such wasteful and destructive carnage.

I'm a little partcial to Purple Froggy, Polka Dot, Max creek and Red Watauga. All good Saginaw Bay colors.

Wulp. Hot off the presses and sent to me in an E-mail just a few minutes ago. Heres the new spoon colors from Michigan Stinger Spoons for 2009. There are some real walleye winners in this bunch.

Well Ed. My fourth rotator Cuff operation (2 on each shoulder) kinda made it both harder and risky, rowing the drift boat 3 to 5 miles per trip. My doctor said one more operation on my right shoulder and they'd be calling me lefty the rest of my life. And with the PM being designated a (Natural/Scenic) River System by the Federal Government, 98% of it is closed to anything with a motor, so it took away that option. And having one of the rare (Federal Forestry Service Guides Permits) issued for that river, you were obligated to run so many trips per year to keep it. So in 2001 to save my shoulders mainly, I sold both the boat and the permit to Dave Roller. Things were changing on the river not to my liking anyways. You have to remember that when I first got my drift boat in 1986, it was only the third one anyboody had in the whole State. Now there are thousands. As for the walleyes. I live one mile from the Bay, the Saginaw River, and 15 miles from the Tittabawassee River, some of the best walleye fishing in the world. It was a natural progression.

We have been blessed with many strokes of good luck on the Saginaw Bay in recent years. The collapse of the alewive population could not have came at a better time for walleye fishermen. If they had not collapsed, allowing for other baitfish species numbers to develop in higher numbers, walleye natural reproduction number to survive and sore, and all just before the VHS problem had virtually stopped all walleye plants these last few years, theres no telling what our fishery would have looked like in the near future. We've not only dodged some well aimed bullets, but we've seemed to have taken on enough ammo ourselves to keep us in the war and on the winning side. I pray we, the continued dumping of foreign bilge water, and the BIG HEAD CARP don't screw it up in the future.

Kjell. Never really kept track. But I'll bet both the steelheads and salmon are glad I sold my drift boat.

Just posted 81 more pictures of some real monsters in the same gallery at the front. I found the extra pictures in my album I used to take to the fishing shows.

Yup. It sure is Fred. We did a show in 1987 on the Saginaw River and he caught this, his first walleye through the ice. That was my first time and experience meeting Fred. The hat belied his true personality.

With little else to do today I decided to get out all 1,100 of the old 35 millimetor camera archive pictures I took through the years, from my Steelie Dan Guide Service era. That era ran from 1986 to 2001, when I guided on the Big Manistee and Pere Marquette rivers for both Steelheads and Salmon. You can adjust the time they are viewed once the slideshow starts. http://www.saginawbay.com/appiesnet/gallery/slideshow.php?set_albumName=Steelie-Dan-Archives