Sag Bay question (no report)

[Drisc13]

Hey guys, looking to head to the Bay for the first time...ever! Have done Detroit River and Erie, but new up here.

Will be coming from Mount Pleasant area (Coldwater Lake) around Memorial Day, and looking for quickest way to get on the water and on some fish. I was there last weekend (daughters tennis tourney in Essexville) and did some scouting and found a launch right near the mouth, just upstream of a marina (forget the name...???). Is that the best one?

Any ideas on good launch and more likely bite? Don't mind driving a few extra miles but closer is always better.

Oh, and how far away from boat are you guys running your in-lines? On Erie we've got to run them back quite away from boat to get bit (at times). Does anyone try vertical jigging or cast and retrieve when you find a pod (my preferred methods if fish co-operate).

One more thing. Talked to a guy at Bay City Archery who said the fish kinda travel in a counter-clockwise motion throughout the year where they head toward the thumb after the spawn and end up toward Tawas by late summer...I assume following cold water/baitfish, much like Erie migration east. Any truth to that? If so, what is the normal time table for that movement? Taking a week off around mid-June and would like to chase 'em hard then.

Thanks ahead for the time and will report how I do!

Drisc

[fishinmachine2]

Hey guys, looking to head to the Bay for the first time...ever! Have done Detroit River and Erie, but new up here.

Will be coming from Mount Pleasant area (Coldwater Lake) around Memorial Day, and looking for quickest way to get on the water and on some fish. I was there last weekend (daughters tennis tourney in Essexville) and did some scouting and found a launch right near the mouth, just upstream of a marina (forget the name...???). Is that the best one?

Any ideas on good launch and more likely bite? Don't mind driving a few extra miles but closer is always better.

Oh, and how far away from boat are you guys running your in-lines? On Erie we've got to run them back quite away from boat to get bit (at times). Does anyone try vertical jigging or cast and retrieve when you find a pod (my preferred methods if fish co-operate).

One more thing. Talked to a guy at Bay City Archery who said the fish kinda travel in a counter-clockwise motion throughout the year where they head toward the thumb after the spawn and end up toward Tawas by late summer...I assume following cold water/baitfish, much like Erie migration east. Any truth to that? If so, what is the normal time table for that movement? Taking a week off around mid-June and would like to chase 'em hard then.

Thanks ahead for the time and will report how I do!

Drisc

I would go out of Linwwod Beach Marina in Linwood!! You can get to good fishing water pretty quick!! As for running boards from the boat, they dont really need to be that far!! I like to run a couple bottom bouncer rigs right behind the boat with no board!! They always take fish!! If we get enough wind I like to drift with light spinning tackle, i'm sure you could cast and retrieve as well!!

Not sure about the counter clock wise travel of the fish, there are generally fish all over the bay!! Last yr we had great fishing on the inner bay all the way into late July!! Check the reports for your trip in June as you may want to go out of Au Gres but if is like it was last yr, Linwwod was good then!! Good luck!!

Scott

[Adam Bomb]

I second Linwood Beach Marina. Its a great facility with quick accsess to the water and fish. Should be able to get limit catches within 3-8 miles of the marina. Crawler harness with inline weights and BB will serve you well. I run mostly 1 oz. inline weights behind inline boards, and then 3 oz. BB layed horizontal off the corners with braided line. The heavy weight and thin line make for a steep angle. That way i seldom worry about clearing those rods when a fish is coming in on a board rod.

My inline weights will generally be somewhere from 15-45' back at a speed of 0.9-1.3 S.O.G. I normally run my BB so they just tick the bottom on occassion. Sometimes slight higher and sometimes makeing even more bottom contact. Just experiment until you find whats popping. If you have a partner and a 6 rod spread-4 board rods and 2 BB rods you will likely be very busy when you hit a school of active fish.

Keep up with the reports or send a PM and im sure one of us can point you in the right direction.

[Priority1]

From where you are coming from, the Linwood Bay City are is your best bet. I don't have much to add as far as advice. I usually run a 10 rod spread of bouncers, but inline weights, and snap weights, are also in my bag of tricks. Once the surface temps top 60 degrees these fish get so aggressive even a caveman could catch em.