Something Fishy

Papa, Abby, Uncle Brian, and I hit the road at 5:30 AM on Saturday and headed towards Saginaw. Ice in the cooler, lunch, drinks, 60 night crawlers, and enough gas to make it to the bridge and back. It was supposed to be a great day, 70 degrees, light winds at 5kts out of the North, North East. Key word... supposed to be

We launched out of Sunset (my favorite spot) at the early hour of 8am. As I looked out towards the bay I could see white caps. I had already checked the weather buoy and noticed that the max wave height was only .9 with an average of .7. Well, that was where the buoy was (not where I was). I motored out with 4 other boats in front of me and could just tell that it was NOT going to be fun with those people pretending to understand or comprehend the magnitude of the waves. Instead of getting up on plain quickly, they decided to slowly get out of the hole. Not sure if it was the fact they each of them was in an under powered boat, or they just didn't understand what to do. Knowing what happens (from our tournament time) when people launch like this, it was determined that the "washing machine" effect would be in place. I said "hold on" turned hard to starboard, and let her rip. It didn't take long to get out past the breakers and we were making head way without having to worry about prop wash.

I headed straight North into the wind and went all the way to the end of my normal trolling pattern. I did this to allow the waves to aid me as I knew I could not keep a good speed trying to troll in to them. We started fishing at 9am. We picked up 3 fish before all the rods were set. Abby told me that she was not feeling well. I didn't think she was sea sick but put some crackers and water in her. After a few fish she took a nap.

We noticed that the fish that were biting were hugging the bottom and it seemed the most consistent bite was on night crawlers pulled right off the bottom. My normal starting pattern is to run two rods straight down with 3 oz bottom bouncers pulling harnesses. On my first Offshore board I will usually pull a number 2 tadpole with a crawler harness. On my second board I usually run a number 1 tadpole and my far outside rod will usually be a body bait. I run this same setup on both sides of the boat (in an 8 rod spread). I do this in order to stager my lines, fish all of them in the target depth and avoid the possibility of a tangle. Running all of your boards with similar leads will cause issues.

It didn't take long to realize that the program wasn't going to work. The bottom bouncers were catching ALL of the fish. Not to mention the more natural colors of oil slick and greasy chicken were taking the majority. We swapped out board one with a 2oz bouncer and board two with a 1 ounce bouncer and started picking up fish on those. Abby decided to come alive and tell me she was hungry (good news). Her and uncle Brian ate lunch while dad and I went from one fish to another. Soon, it was time to make the turn and run back up the hill. We pulled lines and started the slow process going into 1.5's with the occasional 2.5 footer. Abby was sitting under the consol. Looking over, she decided that a mustard sandwich with a little bit of ham was not as good in her stomach as it was on my floor. Thankfully, papa cleaned her (and the mess) while I washed down the floor. After that, she felt great (another indication it was not sea sickness).

We made it to the top of the hill and decided to count fish and move some of them from the back live well to the font. We had 24 (a three person limit). Only needed 8... nope, now 7, oh wait, now 5.

We ended the day at 1pm having caught 48 walleyes (we kept our limit of 32), 4 jumbo perch, three sheep heads, and 3 white bass. Abby drove the boat back to port, we loaded on the trailer and was back home by 4:30. Dad and I cleaned fish while Uncle Brian chose carpet cleaning duty. Thank god I own a carpet shampoo unit!!! 45 minutes to complete 32 walleyes and 4 perch. Without an electric knife I might add.

If you don't have a fish cleaning table, you need to get one. Turns out, mommy normally gives Abby some medicine in the mornings as she gets motion sick (NOT sea sick). This morning, she didn't have any. It is interesting to note that as a child (and to this day) I do not eat breakfast simply because my stomach hates me when I drive or ride in a vehicle. Never had an issue in a boat. Abby is the exact same way!

Attachment 239792Attachment 239793Attachment 239794

Those are Perch she is holding

Nice catchin there, looks like another great day on the bay

Awesome day on the water, even if there was a little sandwich on the carpet.

Nice story rich and good times on the bay

I found my fish also tight to the bottom and the bite was very soft

Great report and catch Rich.

Just curious what is the indication walleye are feeding on crawlers? Is it time of year?......water temp?.....educated guess?

I'd say Uncle Brian drew the short straw, cleaning fish is much easier on my stomach than cleaning up someones lunch.

What a great time on the water that must have been Rich. Nothing like taking the little ones out for a day. Awesome. Thanks for sharing.

Steve,

A couple good indications for the crawler bite. Time of year usually coincides with water temperature. When she hits about 55 to 60 that bite is usually on. Another indications is fish holding tight to the bottom.

When I am fishing 8 rods, I always very my setup to start out. The rods out of the back corners (down rods) usually run 3 OZ bottom bouncers with crawlers. In 17ft of water, you are usually running about 32 foot back in order to get them to drag. On my first outside planer board, I usually start out with a size 2 tadpole and run it just off the bottom. Although you can go by the trolling data, the best way I have found is to thumb the thing out until it hits bottom once then stop the spool and hook on the board. Usually around 20 to 22 feet back for 17ft running 1.3 mph. I usually run a harness on that. On the next board out, I will run either a size 1 tadpole (done the same as the 2) or, if I am running six rods, that being my outside board, I will throw a stick bait on and run it higher in the water column. Many times you will catch the bigger fish on these that you are not marking on the screen. I adjust based on what the fish are saying. More bites on one indicates a need to change. I am not afraid to change everything over to one tactic if it is working.

The big thing is knowing when to make a change. Blade color can be huge. During darker days with clear water, I'll run more neutral bait colors. But, when the sun peaks out, I'll switch over a couple to brighter colors. You really have to watch the sun and the water clarity. Another big factor is waves. With rougher weather, you can catch them right next to the boat. On clear calm days however, you will get more bites on the boards as the fish spook. One other thing is boat traffic. I would say the number one thing for me is the sun. Whether it is bright out or darker out. The other thing is running a bunch of different stuff to see what they want and at what speed. The last is not being afraid to change it all up. Anyone can go out and catch a few, the key is to find the happy spot and capitalize on it. Many people rest on their knowledge of the area and knowing that the fish were here yesterday and they caught them on this particular bait. They don't take in to account what is happening right this second.

Great info Rich, and very similar to the way I search for crappies on new water or in open water on my main lakes.

good job rich,
we fished Saturday off the Pinconning bar.
all our fish were right on bottom also, but only managed 5.
other boaters in that area did not do much better, just seems off for some reason this year..
going to try sunset on my nest bay trip.

John,

PM me your phone number and I'll shoot you some GPS coordinates. Northwest side of the bay has not been good in recent weeks. Based on my many years of salmon and steelhead fishing lake Michigan, I think the reason is because of the strong North, Northwest, and Northeast winds that have hit the bay for the last three weeks. It has pushed all the bait to the south and east portion of the bay. These South and Southeast winds forecasted for this weekend might stabilize things up that way. This time of year through early July (depending on how hot it is) the south East side is usually better. As summer progresses, the fish will move out more towards the shipping channel.