2 weeks fishing trip au gres

[missinglink]

Just got back from trip au gres had a good time, fishing was steady but you had to work for them. We had to slow it down a bit best colors were purple, copper, sunfish 2ozbb 32'-38' the weather was all over the place what a change from last year. Still what a great fishery.

[Adam Bomb]

Glad you had fun in Augres Dennis. We definitely have a great fishery here. Just been an odd summer it seems with a more finicky bite than the past few years.

[Fiveinthelive]

adam do you think the clear water has anything to do with it ?

[Twill23]

Just to add my 2 cents, i think most of the fish have moved north. Here in Alpena we are seeing id say up to 5 times more fish here than in past years. These fish are below average size wise for us( a lot of 18incher instead of the 3-5lbs). Personally i think we're stealing your fish, but not purposely. We're having a daytime bite like never before!

[Adam Bomb]

I dont think so Tony, water doesnt seem any clearer on my end of the Bay. Theres a great algae bloom again, at least up around 1 and 2. I may have worded it wrong with the word finicky. Should have said you need to do more fishing to get your fish. From what ive seen on the bay this year the fish seem to be scattered as opposed to those massive schools where things have just gone nuts in recent years. Seems to be smaller isolated pods and when you find them you gotta hang tight on em as opposed to making a longer run through a larger schools of fish. Allot of the traditional areas that produce great catches this time of year have been sub-par IMO. Ive also not marked any substantial amounts of bait since late May. Makes me wonder if theres a bit of a problem there and fish are scattered looking for food? Another observation has been smaller overall size. Seems to be lots those 14 1/2"-16" fish. Where are all those 17-20"+ fish that dominated the winter catch. Tournament weights have reflected smaller fish as well. Many 15# winners this summer with a few exceptions...most of which had a big fish in the basket. Ive been reading reports lately of good catches off Alpena. Even on this site a member has posted a couple good reports and made mention of record numbers of fish weighed in in a tournament. Makes me the fish are eating themselves outta house and home on the inner bay and are exploring the big lake in search of food?

Again, just some observations, the cieling isnt falling by any means. Still lots of great fishing out there. You just have to go out and fish compared to the "point and click" fishing we've had in recent history.

[Adam Bomb]

LOL....Twilli....I see we're on the same page. You posted while i was typing my response.

[Twill23]

LOL Yea, i really think that is what is happening, the bait has moved also. Our MDNR nets are reporting more smelt than in the past 5-10 yrs, as well as smaller minnows (blues and greys). Unfortunately with the clarity of our water around these parts, i dont see this keeping up for the next couple of years, but then again who knows. Usually these fish are not this far north yet!!

[Adam Bomb]

Thats the other puzzling thing. Other than lack of food, why would they venture north outta the Bay? Water temps are only in the high 60's to low 70's unless you get a few days of flat calm water with high sun that heats the surface up. Otherwise its relatively cool yet. Fish should be going ape chit down here, but lots of guys are really working hard for their catch with a few exceptions of guys pounding on em.

[Priority1]

GJ on the AuGres eyes.

There are a lot of fish in the system. The weather has had a lot to do with the bite. My trips are way down this year because of the weather. I find myself fishing marginal days just because of the continuous windy weather.

[Twill23]

Well it could also have a lot to do with fishing pressure. Fish change their habits due to pressure. Thunderbay has been abnormally warm this year. Temps have been steady in the high 60's for some time now. Another weird thing is Alpena really hasnt been much of a harness fishery, but now its becoming something that is really catching on in the area. The only thing that scares me is the fact that they are moving. Everyone knows what happened to the salmon fishery, and unfortunately thats exactly how it started. The salmon began to move to different parts of the state, away from some of the best areas. Salmon lost their forage, and with the great fishery that is lake trout, as well as walleye, the same could happen. Both species of fish feed on gobies. Although gobies are a "nuisance" species, they are keeping the east side of the from turning into a barren wasteland. There are just so many possibilities, heck it could just be a goofy year.

[Twill23]

Okay, i shouldnt say abnormally warm, but more or less abnormally steady.

[Fiveinthelive]

Thanks for the response adam and twill

to me the water seems cleaner or clearer and I have had to change what i do to consistantly be able to catch the fish. such as run more natural colored baits or more white colored baits and run longer leads ie leadcore and spoons.

I did notice in the spring while watching a few different schools of bait up shallow that they had alot white on them.

I can't think of a reason those fish would be in Alpena other then food.

didn't mean to hijack this thread maybe we should start a new one

Tony

[Twill23]

Well Alpena has always been a phenominal walleye fishery, but not during the daytime. Its been dominately an afterdark, body bait, long lead presentation, rather than the crawler harness and snap weight presentation during the day that we're seeing now. Now i'm not complaining about it at all, but it is quite puzzling. I'd hate to lose a fishery to gain a fishery.

[Fiveinthelive]

guess i could always go visit mom in harrisville

[Skeeter]

Nice pic Tony. Never forget that day. Nels

[Fiveinthelive]

Yes thanks for scooping that one nels

[Twill23]

Heck, harrisville is only 30 mins from Alpena lol

[Bay Sportfishing]

This good daytime bite should make for an interesting Brown Trout Walleye Tournament in a few weeks. Based on what I saw last week, there should be some 2 day totals in the 40lb. range. It will also be interesting to see if either cranks or spinners prevail and just how far guys have to run to win this year.

We also caught 2 tagged fish last week. Both had "BC 48707" stamped on the tag.