Fishing Michigan

I went back down to the Maumee River today and the action is picking up slightly.  More anglers are showing up along with a few more male walleye.

Not sure if I explained this enough a while back when I was talking about carolina rigging a floating jighead.  Take a size 1 jig, take about a two foot section of line or fluorocarbon, and place a bead in a loop at the other end.  Do a double loop knot with the bead inside.  You can then slide an egg sinker (1/4 or 3/8 oz) over the loop.  The bead will protect the knot from the sinker, and you can attach a snap connected to your mail line through the loop.  Sometimes you may have to go up to a 1/2 sinker.

If I already didn’t have a hanging box for my walleye spoons there is a good chance this is what I would be using to hall around my collection.  Called the Spoon Caddy , it is made by MaxedOut Enterprises.  You can buy them online or Frank’s Great Outdoors carries them, and I am pretty sure I saw the mega version in Matthew’s last year.  The original size holds 60 3″ spoons and is the same size as a 3 inch Plano plastic tackle tray, except that its three inches high.  The mega size holds quite a bit more than that.  Either would be a good choice for 3 inch or smaller walleye spoons.

This Thursday there will be a seminar given at the monthly meeting of the Huron River Sport Fishing Club, formerly the Steelheaders, by yours truly.  This is the same group that held the fishing and boat show at the county fairgrounds in the Expo Center back in February.  The club meetings are open to the public.

The topic will be walleye fishing on Erie and the Great Lakes in general.  They gave me roughly a half hour give or take 10 minutes, and originally wanted something on jigging, casting and trolling.  With the time constraints I am going to focus on trolling and casting, with some drifting thrown in.  If someone wants to talk about jigging, I will be there for a bit after the seminar is over to handle any questions folks might have.

I will be packing some of the rod combos that I use for each of the techniques and presentations that I am going to cover.  They will be my cue cards so I don’t lose my train of thought, which if you know me at all, isn’t all that hard to do!  When I start talking fishing, you never know what topic will come up next.  Hopefully I will have enough goodies for everyone attending; some catalogs, cards stickers and patches.  All were donated by Frank’s Great Outdoors, Mustad, Power Pro, St. Croix, Matthew’s Bait and Tackle, Bass Pro Shops  and Vexilar.

The Germania Club is located at 23156 King Road in Trenton, and the meeting will be held between 7 and 9:30 pm.  To get there you can take Telegraph north to King and then go east (take a right).  If you get to Dix Toledo, you went too far

If you had planned on putting the boat in the water tomorrow and want to miss the rain in the forecast, there is a boat and fishing show this weekend up in Lansing.  The Lansing Boat and Fishing Show will kick off tomorrow at 2pm and run through Sunday.

They will have several boat and motor reps there from the marinas and sport shops with the boats on display.  Several speakers and events each day to attend as well.  When you click on dates, times and tickets  you can get a dollar off coupon to the event emailed to you for as many in your party.  It could be worth a gallon of gase if you have three others going with you!  Thats just sad to say!

Last night was an excellent night for picking crawlers.  Took the pups out at midnight for their last bathroom call, and the worms were out of the holes and actively moving.  I was a little surprised because I thought it might be just a tad too chilly for them.

Now,  if the weather guy is even close to be right with the forecast, tonight should be even better.  Calling for thunderstorms all day with temps near 70 degrees.  If the ground becomes saturated enough and tomorrow’s chill holds off till after midnight, it should be easy pickins!

I was going through ebay earlier and looking for some ultra light rods to use while spring panfishing.  To be honest there wasn’t much of a selection even though I had 51 hits for an ultra light rod in the sporting goods heading.  Lots of cheap stuff probably bought on a close-out by someone looking to unload them just on the website.

So how do you choose a good ultra light for chasing crappie and bluegill?  Factor in your style of fishing; do you cast, or just use live bait and a bobber?  Do you do both?  Sure Michigan allows for two rods per angler.  Do you jig over open water? Are you fishing an open area or will there be some trees or docks in the area?  What size baits do I use?  Is strictly live bait your only tactic or do you like a jig and plastic to throw out?

Now factor in your budget.  Do you want the best?  Do you want a good quality rod, but just don’t have a ton of money to spend?  Do you want something in between or just the cheapest thing you can find?  You do have some play here in your choices.  You might consider spending more money on a casting or jigging rod, and then less on a bobber rod.

My rods are from St. Croix, not only do I like the quality, but it is an American company, whose products are made in the United States.  Take that back, the Triumphs series is made overseas, but the Premiers, Avids and Legends are made in Wisconsin.  That is nothing against G. Loomis rods which are made in Washington state, but owned by Shimano.  That’s nothing against the parent who goes out and buys an Ugly Stik by Shakespeare for their child.  In fact its probably not a bad idea for kids to go out and fish the ugly’s for a while.  Kids are hard on rods, come to think of it, so are a few buddies of mine.  They are an excellent choice in the low end range for a bobber rod.  They just don’t make one long enough in my book. 

This might make a few people cringe, but that’s ok too, not everyone fishes all the time, but a good starting point for a rod will be in the $70 range retail.   From there the sky is pretty much the limit.  A good jigging rod, or one for casting in close quarters will be in the 4′6″ or five foot range.  A good casting (open water) rod will be 6 ft or 6′6″ long.  Bobber rods should be 6′6″ or 7′ in length.

Why a long rod for your bobber fishing?  Leverage and hook set for the most part.  If you fish relatively close in to your target area,  don’t feel like these guidelines are set in stone, because they are not.  A 6ft rod can be just as effective.  I like setting up 10 to 15 yards from where I know the fish are, and when I lift my rod tip I want to be able to set the hook as quick as possible.  The longer rod allows for this.  Now if you are only throwing your bobber 10 foot away, you can use that 6ft rod and get the job done.

Those are some of the things I look for in a panfish rod.

If you like watching, or getting out of the house to make a trip, or just want to participate in the 2008 In-Fisherman Professional Walleye Trail (PWT),  just click on PWT

For all the latest news on the FLW Walleye Tour, you can click on FLW Outdoors .    For the Walleye League series go to FLW Walleye League.

For the FLW Walleye Tour Schedule with an even coming to Port Clinton this month, click on the schedule .

I wrote this big fancy thing yesterday about fishing on the river, and then when I went to post it this morning, all I got was the title.  If you have guessed already, it comes as no shock as to say computers just aren’t my bag.  But I struggle on.

Went down to the river to fish near Perrysburg.  Its not a bad drive of about 35 minutes.  I took my 7′6″ St Croix Avid medium light rod, and one of my treasured Abu Garcia Tournament 2000’s, spooled with 10 lb Power Pro with a 6 lb Vanish FC leader.  The leader was actually a carolina rigged floating jighead, chartruse in color. I was using chartruse and orange Northland twister tails on the hook.  Its one of my favorite set-ups not only for drifting rivers with jigs for walleye, but also for tossing cranks for Steelhead and live bait rigging for walleye on the inland lakes.

A common question is why do I use a 10 lb main line, and then drop down to a smaller line for my leaders.  The answer is that I want to use the biggest line I can get away with.  The Power Pro offers little stretch, and there are two benefits from this. First I can feel the weight as it goes along the bottom of the river or the jig if I want to use a leadhead.  Secondly, its about the hookset, with a flick of the wrist I can set the hook on any bite or feel that I might have.

I drop down to a smaller leader for a couple of good reasons also.  If I was using a medium action rod, I might want to drop to an 8 lb leader, but because I use a medium light I use the 6 lb leads.  Why?  Because it is strong enough to land any fish,  and just as important is if I get snagged in the rocks I can break off my leader without breaking my line.

ACTION REPORT

Action on the river is slow right now, in three hours I only caught one fish, and saw two others caught as well.  In recent years this time of the season is usually prime river fishing.  Global warming   All the fish that were caught were the early males who enter the river first.  With the warm weather and rains in the forecast it shouldn’t be long before the females come up with the rest of the males.

Are ready to go to battle?  That’s how it can feel sometimes fishing on the bank of the Maumee River down in the Toledo area.  It reminds one of fishing salmon in the streams of the northern area of the Lower Peninsula.  People to the right, more people to the left.  But if you are one of those folks who doesn’t mind a little company, or you just don’t have a boat but love the taste of walleye,  this is the spring hot spot for you.

Starting with the basics this is what you need to get yourself some early season walleye from the Maumee.  You will need a selection of floating jigheads, size 1 is ideal.  Also effective are the lead head jigs, in a variety of 1/4, 3/8th and 1/2 oz jigs.   Seven times out of ten, you will be using the 3/8ths oz jig, but circumstances can dictate going lighter or heavier depending on the current.  You are going to need some egg sinkers (same size as the lead jigs) to carolina rig the floating jigs, and some twister tails to put on both styles of jig. 

The ideal rod for this is a 7 ft 6in spinning rod,  medium to medium light strength.  This is very effective in controlling the drift as the current takes your bait down stream.  Sometimes due to crowded conditions, you might have to go with a 7 ft or even 6′6″ rod.  Usually a reel spooled with 8 lb mono works best,  but you can go with a 10 lb line with a 6 or 8 lb fc leader.

Waders are not necessary, but knee high boots are nice to have.  Anyone can catch a fish in the river during the prime time of the run, just make sure its inside the mouth, because big brother will be watching you in green from the top of the bank!  Its not worth it to try and keep an illegally hooked fish, between the fines and time, OUCH.