Fishing Michigan

If you are looking to get your feet wet fishing a walleye tournament,  you should try the Mack’ Lure 100 on Saginaw Bay.  The field is limited to the first 100 two man teams and the entry fee is only $100.00.  Its not a bundle, and you get to fish one of the best walleye fisheries that Michigan has to offer.  There is an 100% payback, plus electonics and lures to be won.

For more information, go to www.mackslure.com  or call 218-587-2864

Its fun to fish for bluegill and crappie, perch and walleye taste pretty darn good,  and bass present a challange, but all are just bait when you start talking about muskie fishing.  In fact according to state regulations,  you can use any of them for bait when it comes to trying to land one.  “Any legally caught gamefish, can be used as bait.”

Rule of thumb is that a muskie will hit a bait one third of its size on a regular basis.  A half is not out of the question however.  While walleye fishing on Lake St. Clair with a buddy, I had hooked a 22-24″ walleye and was had gotten it about 10 foot from the boat.  Up from the bottom we saw a set of jaws quickly turn into a muskie.  We managed to net the 47 inch fish while it stayed clamped tight on the walleye.

Everything about muskie fishing is BEEFED UP.  The rods, the reels, the line, the hooks, a wide selection of lures and even the bobbers  that can be used while targeting these monsters.  A story about the girlscout camp near our cabin in the Upper Peninsula has been passed down through the years from the 1940’s.  A young girl was dipping her toes in the water off the edge of a wooden dock that the campers used for their canoe training and swimming.  In a boil of water,  she lost a toe to a “ski” that had been attracted by the splashing.

These fish will chase such a wide range of lure types, that its hard to pick a bad bait.  A good standard to follow is to pick lures, and or colors that mimic targets that live in the lakes you are fishing.  One of my dad’s favorite lures is a 12″ fuzzy muskrat lure that I suped up.  That one of the cool things about muskie fishing, the tinkering of the lures.  In this case I added a big buzzbait pro to the front.

Through the years of muskie fishing, and even pike fishing,  I have had the opportunity to see these fish take down animals, reptiles and birds to feed their hunger.  Snakes, muskrats, ducklings all have fallen prey to these hungry predators.  Even in Monroe county while spring fishing a little flood pond off of Stoney Creek,  I witnessed a redwing blackbird land on a branch that was about 30″ off the water.  In one leap, a rather large pike for this area,  launched itself out of the water and snagged this bird in a flurry of feathers and returned to the muddy hole.

Some folks take small wooden duck decoys, some heavy fastners and 2/0 or 4/0 xstrong treble hooks.  A little carved out niche with lead poured in for balast, an eye under the head and you have a custom made muskie lure.  On the retrieve the decoys wobbles a lil’ side to side action and creates a small disturbance on the water that can make a muskellounge rise up and strike.

DeLong lures makes a series of snakes, that they call “Witches”.  These are part of the new generation of plastic lures that have become popular in muskie fishing the last couple of years.  There are shad and minnow baits, too.

The Drifter Tackle Company, originally founded in Michigan and now in Toledo, OH,  makes some of the most popular and effective lures for muskie fishing.  First with the Believer, and later with the Stalker and now the Super Stalker.  The Super version is a hybrid lure that combines a plug with a plastic tail. One of my favorite jerkbaits is called a “Squierlly Burt” from Mania Tackle, a long bait, with a larger twister tail used at the end.  Helpful hint,  take the tail off when you first purchase it, use some Krazy Glue to really lock it in tight.  They have a habit of going sailing in the opposite direction of the lure after a dozen casts or so!

Then you have spoons and spinnerbaits.  They really do not mimic anything that the fish will see in the wild, but still have their effective times of the year none the less.  The spoon with its slow or fast wobble, gives muskies a color flash on side, and a metallic flash on the other.  Some of my favorite spoons are the 1 and 1/4 oz Little Cleo,  the 2 and 2.5 oz Dardevle Husky,  and for weedy conditions the 1 and 1/8 oz Johnson Silver Minnow.  These heavy Johnsons are weedless, and I often place a bass worm or lizard on the hook for a trailer.

Spinnerbaits come in two versions; the inline and the hairpin. An inline lure looks like your old Mepps spinner, but BIGGER.  The hairpin is just the larger cousin of the same spinnerbaits that are popular in bass fishing.  Northland makes a Bionic Bucktail in both versions. There are so, so many to choose from;  Bucher, Lindy, Mepps….etc.  Call them a search bait, because you can cover more water, quicker and faster.

Topwater baits, are my absolute favorite type of lure to use while fishing for muskie, and pike too, for that matter.  There is absolutely no greater sight that using one of these baits, on a steady retrieve, while wearing a good pair of sunglasses.  You see the bait, you see the vegitation, you see the musky 20 yds away from the boat rise up, the boil, the fins, and the line goes tight!!!

I know its considered a sin today,  but in the early 1980’s when I first started fishing for these monsters, most limits on the lakes I fished were in the 30 to 34 inch range.  To paraphrase some cartoon on the tube, ” I tell ya what”, dem muskie taste just as good as pike,  I will put pike next to walleye ANYDAY of the week.  Thick white fillets, sweet like a crappie,  all you have to do is learn to cut around the Y-bones, and you ve got it made!  Did I mention its a sin,  and point taken, any fish that has reached the legal limit of 42 inches in Michigan these days, deserves to keep swimming.

My next Fav bait to use is the jerkbait,  for all the same reasons as the topwater baits.  The only difference is that, you dont have to duck if you miss on the hookset!  Some folks refer to these as glyde baits, because as you sweep the rod back towards you they seem to glyde along, as if they were caught by the wind.  The Mania Burts work well, but I think my best lures are still the Suick 9″ or 10″ Muskie Thrillers.

Casting plugs or cranks, will include some of the old standards, small Believers, Grandmas, Rapala Magnums and Crane baits.  One go to bait, has been the Rap Super Shad Rap for the last couple of years, the metallic silver and gold models.  Just a fun bait to throw, and catches fish on just about any body of water!

Just like some of the more specialized types of fishing, you need to match the rod and reel to the method of fishing you are doing.  In this case my rods are just a mixed up as you can imagine.  All are different manufactures,  when it comes to Muskie fishing, you almost need to pinch a nickel  when you get the chance.  Some of these baits are running close to 50 bucks a bop, just plain crazy!  Cool thing is, that you can spend $15 or less on a lure and still can produce a good day on the water.  My reels are all Ambassadeurs from Abu Garcia save one, a TR 200 from Shimano, that I use for trolling.  I will be picking up a couple of SG-47-LCA’s from Daiwa in the future in order to be able to dial down to the right water depths on these big lures.  I reccomend using 25 or 30 lb monofilament lines,  or getting into the braided lines you can go with Power Pro, Stealth, Super Braid and be more than happy with the hookset power you will get from the no stretch qualities.  Start out at 50 lb,  and go all the way up to 100 lb,  but 80 is as heavy of a line that I use on the big cranks.

Reccomended chart for Rods & Reels:

Topwater baits; 6′, 1 to 5 oz lure weight, 6′9″ works, fast retrieve, 6.3:1 gear ratio or better 

Light crankbait; 7′, and 1 to 3 oz, 5.3:1 ratio

Jerkbait and heavy crankbait, 1 to 5 oz, and some 8 oz models, 5.3:1 for slightly faster

Bucktails and spoons; 7.5 to 8 ft and lures that will take up to a 3 oz bait.  Will need 6.3 or faster

Trolling, all depends on what you are doing, but Ugly Stick makes a saltwater rod, that goes to 8 oz in a 7 ft model, also can employ a 9 or 10′ Dipsey rod that you would use for salmon fishing.  Gear ratio, 4.3 or 4.7:1 ratio for heavy cranking!

Good luck!

Who woulda thunk,  that a duck boat could be the ultimate inland lake fishing boat?  Well after a six week wait, the boat arrived to the Triton boat dealership in Hebron, Ohio.  Thats just east of that much hated city of Columbus. 

In the areas of the Upper Peninsula where I like to fish for pike and muskie,  most folks have never seen those nice cement boat ramps that we have down here.  Its mud ramps or nothing up there.  The shallow draft of the duck boat should make unloading and loading a piece of cake compared to the days when we use to have submerge the rear truck tires just to get the v-bottom boat off the trailer.

There are some thrills that were ordered to make the hunting boat a little more fishing friendly.  We had a livewell installed, its that square looking thing on the middle right of the boat.  It looks to be the perfect size for suckers and creek chubs for some live bait fishing.  If not, then  a few cans of my favorite soda pop will do nicely on a bag of ice.

Also, from the factory we had the boat wired for an electric trolling motor.  In this case its a 55 lb, 48″ shaft, Minn-kota Power Drive, V2.  The shaft length is bit long for the boat, but will have it pulling double duty on other boats.  For 40 bucks, I picked up a plate to install on the bow, that allows for quick removal.  You can either use on another boat, or simple remove for storage when not in use.  The foot control pedal allows for easy navigation while casting shorelines for those toothy critters.

The feature that I really like the best is the casting platforms.  Ok, fine, so they aren’t  really casting decks, but look at all that room that a guy can have when chucking out 5 oz muskie plugs!  Back by the motor, and up in the bow…tons of space.  At 17′ long and almost 7 ft wide, there is ample room for a third angler in the middle.  The gun locker on the left will be used for storing all the muskie and pike plano tackle trays.  That just leaves, more free to move around floor space.

Just need to get the motor greased, lubed and oiled and this baby will be getting a trial run on Lake Hudson next week!  The only problem is that my duck hunting buddies actually expect me to take them out this fall during waterfowl season.  I knew there was a catch to getting a camo coated boat!

Scorpions and Streaks, Stingers and Jr.’s, Silver Leafs and Fintails?  All are just crazy names given to one of the latest groups of lures designed to catch walleye on Michigan’s Lake Erie.  Don’t even get started with all the crazy names given to their color patterns, like “greasy chicken, confusion and bumble bee”.  Ok, Ok…they work on Lake Huron’s Saginaw Bay, and Lake Michigan’s Bays de Noc, too.

This is actually my second attempt and writing this blog about walleye trolling spoons.  Wouldn’t you know it, just as I clicked the icon to enter it,  everything froze up.  Hopefully things work out better this time.

Spoons are nothing new to trollers on the Great Lakes.  These are not the same type of spoon everyone grew up with in their dad’s or grandpa’s tackle box.  Most are familiar with the Dearborn produced Daredevle, trolling spoons are basically an ultra thin metal blank, and walleye spoons are their little brothers.  Average size is roughly two inches.  I took the pics to post, but didnt measure them out.  Where did they come from, not a clue, but if I was to make an educated guess, their roots lead back to the those Detroit River handliners.  Since the 1930’s anglers on the river have been fishing with locally produced spoons off of their wire lines.

As in most cases, the tackle manufactures see where a locally produced homemade lure works, improve and run with it.  Its is little wonder then, that most of the spoon companies can be found in Michigan and Ohio.  Wolverine Tackle and their Silver Streaks and Jr. Streaks,  Michigan Stinger with the Scorpion and Stinger spoon, Fishlander, the Erie Dearie Silver Leaf and the Pa’s Fintail; are just some of the manufactures out there.

Trolling these baits does require a device of some sorts to get the bait down to where the fish are.  There are the divers, downriggers and snapweight systems available.  You can also rig these spoons with deep diving crankbait on a three-way swivel.  Connect your mail line from your rod and reel to the top eye on the swivel.  Then attach a leader of 10 or 14 lb fluorocarbon, 4 to 8 foot in length to your spoon, on the middle eye.  On the bottom eye connect your crankbait on a 4 to 6 ft lead.  The crankbait you already own, is your diver, and dont be shocked if you start feeling two fish on at a once.  Double headers are FUN, if not just plain crazy.  I would suggest trolling the spoons anywhere from 1.5 to 2.2 miles an hour.  There are days where the fish will dictate the speed you will take, often slower on cooler days, and when water temps are up, then the faster end of the spectrum.

Storage of the spoons can be done in a number of ways.  The Plano tray, either a 360 or 370 size works, but you can end up with a jumbled mess of hooks and spoons.  There are hanging boxes available, but I went with the simplest method available to me.  I choose the bass spinnerbait box.  In this case it is a Plano model, and the feature I like the most is that each of the dividers where you can hang the spoons, has a locking arm that comes down over the treble hooks.  No more messes from trasit, or from the box being tipped over.

The guys from Matthews Bait and Tackle mailed in another report for the weekend coming up.

FISHING REPORT 5-23-07Well the weather is heating up and so is the Walleye fishing!! Nice limit catches of Walleyes are being taken in numerous spots from Toledo Beach, Bolles Harbor, Brest Bay to Stoney Pointe.The largest nubers of fish have been taken from the 18′ to 20′ depth ranges.Stinger spoons and Jets or diver are producing nicely for the open water trollers while the drift fisherman seem to be doing well casting weapons & dragging bottom bouncers with harnesses and nightcrawlers in purples and chartreuse colors!!Remember to stop in this holiday weekend and get whatever you may need to go fishing at Matthews Bait & Tackle. Call 734-242-0666 for daily reports!!Good Luck & Tight lines

Since I’ ll be picking up the new boat for pike and muskie fishing this weekend, going to start the board out with one of the nicer pike that I caught last year.

I am going to start a monthly picture board on the blog.  If you have had a really good day on the water,  catching fishing or just getting out with the kids, email me your pictures and I will post them each month.  Simply click the word “Mason” under the title of this blog, and along with your picture, include your name and town.

In some parts of the Midwest when a person mentions using wigglers and bait in the same sentence they are referring to spikes…aka, maggots.  This time of the year, and in SE Michigan, that talk is about the mayfly larvae emerging from the soft bottom of Lake Erie.

The wigglers are starting to emerge from the bottom now.  Soon there will be mats of the “fish” flies floating on the surface of the lake.  Its a walleye feast waiting to happen.  Just do not wait too long to take advantage of some prime fishing opportunities to be had.

Walleyes being caught now are full of wigglers.  Contrary to some beliefs the pickerel population will be shutting down and gorging themselves on the larvae.  Dont be afraid to fish the entire water column while targeting eyes.  Troll suspended spoons, harnesses and cranks.  Casting weapon rigs can be very productive too.

My youngest beagle Piper went for a run on Friday afternoon,  and she has not been seen or heard from since.  Not that roaming around farm country in the Ida area is unusual for her, at times coming back the next day.  All it takes is a rabbit or a deer to set that lil’ dog to howling.  Whats unusual is that I have not heard her in all this time.  Usually I can distinguish her distinctive bay from miles away.

I have made all the calls that need to be made, but what has me worried is an article that I read by one of the paper’s writers,  Stephanie Ariganello. The topic is basically a case of dognapping,  and the bad news…on the same road that I live on.  Lost, but not Forgotten

Here’s a pic of the little devil, pouting because she got caught dipping into the pink powder paint for finishing my jigs.  Thats the one on the upper far left,  she is also in the forefront in the upper right picture.

Those small silica packets that come in a variety of electronics, packaging, optics….etc, are placed in to asorb moisture.  There are places where you can purchase bulk quanities, or just put out the word that you are looking for them.  Place several in your plano tackle trays, or spinnerbait boxes to asorb any moisture that may be left when you put your lures away.