Fishing Michigan

Last night I broke in the new smoker that I picked up from Bass Pro a few months back.  Thing is that I underestimated the cooking time, and even though I started at 6pm, it wasn’t until midnight that the pork loin and turkey breast came up to temp.  By that time I wasn’t about ready to be snapping pictures.  I did get some though from earlier in the evening.

The first step in using the smoker was to cure the interior.  This was simple enough though.  Just start it up at a low temp, and cook for an  hour.  I did presoak some of the wood chips and placed in the cast iron burner pan.  I also filled up the water pan, even though it wasn’t necessary, I wanted to see what the evaporation rate would be like.

Must admit I was a little geeked to give it a true test.  So I thawed out a pork loin, turkey breast, some kielbasa, as well as getting a ham from the neighbor.  I presoaked enough hickory and apple chips to fill the burner pan, filled up the water pan and gave it a whirl.

You might have noiced a few things sticking out of the air vents on the smoker.  These were temp sensors, which I had plugged into the turkey and pork loin.  I wasn’t worried about the ham, it was already smoked, and the kielbasa wouldn’t take long to cook.  In fact they turned out to be dinner.

This second sensor is actually a remote unit which is nice, and will read from up to 100 ft away from the relay module.

Like I had mentioned up above, I had run the wires from the sensors through the air vents to plug into the meat.

I had some company to keep me busy for awhile out in the shop.  That is until they pooped out!

Bonnie just stayed clear, as usual.

Since it took longer than I had anticipated,  it wasnt until now that I had a chance to try out the meat.  The pork loin was the tenderest piece of meat I think I have ever tried.  Really a treat.  Can’t wait to get at the turkey.

This is the latest report from Captain Mike.  It was delivered on the 14th, but holds for a promising weekend, weather permitting.

Well the fish are here with a large school straight out front, they are being taken by the anglers who brave the hit or miss weather that we have been getting!

The fish are scattered but are slowly starting to school in the 19 to 21′ depths.

The weather for the weekend is going to be cloudy with spotty showers at best. Some sun should pop through on Sunday. The Eyes like to bite in overcast conditions so we will be heading out all weekend long with raingear just in case. ( I dont think we will use it much!)

We have a tournament to fish on Sunday with charters on Friday & Saturday. Good schools of fish will be found this weekend, that is a promise.

If you are fed up sitting on the sidelines due to the weather forcast like I am then load up the boats and head down and lets get these fish pinned down on a patteren, 100 heads are better than 1. The winds look to be good for a change coming out of a westerly direction.

We are completely stocked with crawler harnesses, bottom bouncers and we are officially the spoon capital of Souther MI with 7 different manufacturers of Walleye Spoons this year!!!!

It is Walleye season rain or shine the freezers will get filled!!

Good Luck & Tight Lines

Capt. Mike

We on the on this side of the state think of salmon when we look to the west and think of Lake Michigan.  That’s fair, those in the west think of walleye when they reference Lake Erie.  Both lakes have had a growing smallmouth population in the last decade,  Erie’s has developed to the point where big tournament series come to fish its waters.  Years before they were predominantly held on Lake St. Clair.

Take a look outside of Michigan’s boundaries on its’ great western lake and you will find anglers targeting perch, walleye and smallies along the Illinois line.  This piece was actually sent to me, and was to good not to pass along.  Ken Darga sent me the link, and I have known Ken for several years now dating back to some old discussions on the now defunct Ice Team website.  Ken is an avid angler from Illinois, so when he passes something along its usually pretty good.

This young man, Dennis Price III is a 28 yr old carpenter, who went fishing with is brother after work one day this week.  It was his first trip targeting smallies on Lake Michigan, and it turned out pretty well for him.  Using a pumpkin colored plastic goby, he worked it along the rocks on the lake bottom. Once he dragged it over a large rock, the smallie hit. It measured 20 inches and weighed in at 6.2 lbs.  A very nice fish indeed.  This information was taken from the blogs section of the Sun Times.