|
|
Member
Posts: 2680
Location: Essexville, MI./Saginaw Bay. | For those of you who have been fishing the Saginaw Bay for a few years, you know we have what (for Lac of a better name) you would call Lags, Slack Periods, Dead Zones or simply put, crappy fishing times. There's one between spring and summer, between summer and the start of the fall and one usually between ice out and the spring thaw. Most can be explained away because of the cycles that the walleyes are in during some of these certain periods of time. The one were in right now cannot be explained so well as some of these others. The old wives tale used to be that the walleye were shedding their teeth. My dad even believed that one for a while. At any rate we seem to be in that most unexplained period of time right now.
So on tomorrow's charter I'm going to pull out the Kitchen Sink Program. High and Low, Fast and Slow, Plastic and Meat, Big and Small. Right now, after a little thought and some "logged" review of the matter, I'm thinking smaller would be the best starting point, especially on the warmer inner Bay where most of the adult prey have probably moved deeper to cooler temps. All the spring hatches of virtually all the different kinds of baitfish should be smolting out into the open waters of the Bay about now. Predators become used to certain sizes of baitfish in short order when it's their easiest feeding opportunity, and will zero in on these, as well as the most used water column they reside in. So I'm thinking moderate depths of 12 to 15 FOW with 1/4 ounce tot's 50 to 70 back. Might even throw on a few Bare Stingers or some squid rigs as sliders into the equation. Both are light enough to have little effect on the medium diving strength of the smaller tot's. Report after I get off the water tomorrow. |
|
| |
|
Member
Posts: 188
Location: Westland, Mich. | dan:
don't forget a high line, especially later in the day. a lot of fish go up as the day wears on and when you drive over them at trolling speed they are nary a blip on the screen. a ripstick, spinner behind a keel weight or floating crank with a few splitshot. |
|
| |
|
Member
Posts: 300
Location: Lincoln Park, Mi | Heard them DT Gobies have been smacking the eyes on the bay lately!  |
|
| |
|
Member
Posts: 2680
Location: Essexville, MI./Saginaw Bay. | Terror.
I heard the same thing a while back from the guys fishing closer to AuGres. And I rescheduled my trip for today given the weather forecast and the clients wanting to move the dock departure back to 11:30am. And I'm glad I did. I've gotten calls from 4 Cell phone connections, all good fishermen, that are fishing from the Black hole to just north of Augres, and only one has more than 1 fish in the box. And those (2) came as a double at 10:30 and he hasn't had a touch since. Where the heck did all those ravenous squirts that we were complaining about go? Welcome to that summer Lag time (in spades) I talked about.   |
|
| |
|
| hey dan,
i fished today and caught few but only one keeper. i had great marks on the graph all day. i think the ne blow all week and the hot water has the fish augered in on the bottom. i think they're simply being lethargic right now. the radio was even pretty quiet except for the b.s. give it a couple more good days and i think they'll put the feed bag back on. i had 81 degree water temps in augres. just goes to show how hot the bay is this year. well good fishin! |
|
| |
|
Member
Posts: 2680
Location: Essexville, MI./Saginaw Bay. | adam - 7/17/2005 7:28 PM
hey dan,
i fished today and caught few but only one keeper. i had great marks on the graph all day. i think the ne blow all week and the hot water has the fish augered in on the bottom. i think they're simply being lethargic right now. the radio was even pretty quiet except for the b.s. give it a couple more good days and i think they'll put the feed bag back on. i had 81 degree water temps in augres. just goes to show how hot the bay is this year. well good fishin!
Adam.
Just talked to the buddy who's cell phone seemed not to be working yesterday. Seems he was kinda busy Sunday between 12:30 and 2:30. They boated 26 walleyes during that time near the Spark Plug trolling at Mach 1 or 3.1 MPH with Rattle Tot's. Up until that time they had tried virtually everything. It was a 2 hour bite and then it was over.
Theres one fact that will never change on any Big body of water. Somebody will always be on fish. But I told him to never nock or take away from his own savvy on this one. A few years ago going fast, slow or faster with plastics was just about my only alternative plan when things were slow, and using Meat in the many various ways I do so now, was not even in my game plan. But with my spoon and squid rigs and the success I've enjoyed with them this year, I seem to have almost to many tools in my box to quickly find/settle on the right one.
And another factor for his success comes to mind. The fish in and around the deeper shipping channel have always seemed to have their own agenda and schedule for active feeding, even in the winter through the ice. Even when the Bay was on fire this summer, the fish around there were (on again-off again) all day long. Rather it's the cooler waters around the channel, or the baitfish types and their movement patterns because of it's unique qualities, who knows? But in his successful case Sunday, I'm sure he didn't care. |
|
| |
|
| dan,
thats great. i'm glad someone caught some fish. i think we're taking this lull a little harder than we should. its been a great summer in which we have been spoiled rotten with fish. i think if we stick with the presentations that work for us we'll be sucsessful. i tried everything from jet divers and spoons, cranks, and harnesses yesterday and they just wouldn't go. i talked to several of my buddies, whom are great fisherman, and they didn't muster too many keepers either. your friend must have been on some red-hot fish. like you said someone will always be on the right fish at the right time. to add to the trilogy is todays nasty storm. we'll see how things pan out in the next few days. until then, good fishing to you and everyone else! |
|
| |
