4/29/15, Saginaw Bay, Au Gres, Fishing ReportI "sort of" had a day off yester...

[Trophy Specialist]

4/29/15, Saginaw Bay, Au Gres, Fishing Report

I "sort of" had a day off yesterday, so I installed my new Lowrance HDS Touch with Structure Scan. After accomplishing that task in the morning, I had to get my boat inspected by a trained, DNR conservation officer, which is a requirement for Michigan Charter Boats. After the successful inspection, I went out onto the Bay and tested the new electronics and tuned them in for today's charter. I also scouted for fish too. We started out in an area where I found fish yesterday, but they had moved, so we were forced to strike out and check out some new spots where past experience led me to believe walleyes may be holding. We used my electronics to look for preferred water temperatures and ultimately looked for fish marks on my sonar. It took us a couple hours to find likely looking spot where we set down and deployed a trolling spread. We were soon rewarded with a lot of action over the reminded of the charter. We actually fished a school of male walleyes that were actively spawning. The only way to get those bottom hugging walleyes to bite was with bottom bouncers and spinner/crawler rigs. That type of situation typically results in an odd type of walleye bite. They hit the lures aggressively, but are just trying to get them away from their beds, so they don't take them down hard or hold on well. This type of fish behavior will cause the hit to catch ratio to be low as a lot of the fish will hit, but not hook up solidly. My customers lost more fish than they caught, but it did not mater as they still managed to catch a four man limit of dandy walleyes. We had over 50 fish on though, so the action was pretty good. The fish ranged in size from 19" to 26" and all of them were males that were oozing milt. Spawning male walleyes tend to fight a lot harder than normal, so most of those fish today put up a lot of resistance, making us think that a lot of them were a larger than they were. Colors did not mater today as we caught walleyes on both natural and bright patterns. Trolling speeds of 1.5 to 1.6 mph were best. I tried a variety of body baits and crank baits today and the walleyes ignored them completely. Crawlers with a harness featuring a #3 Colorado blade were the ticket to a bountiful catch today.

Capt. Mike Veine

http://www.trophyspecialists.com/

www.trophyspecialists.com

www.trophy

Posted By Capt. Mike Veine of Trophy Specialist Charters

[Trina Rose]

thanks for the report. I will be heading over to saginaw bay for the first time this saturday. I am new to walleye trolling so im just hope for the best. Linwood is where we are going out of. I am fishing with a very accomplished walleye fisherman that grew up fishing sag bay. Looking forward to some big walleye. Thanks again for the report

[jeffsisson]

Thanks for the great report!!!!!!! I'm not sure how much more you could've added besides GPS coordinates!lol! Thanks again, congrads on the catch and on passing inspection!

[Whoopee Tyee]

Thanks for the report. Hope to be getting over there soon.