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.

Northland Tackle has a new look website.  Easier to navigate it brings the new and some fav products to the forefront for folks to see right off the bat.  Once on the site you can pick your favorite species to target from one of the categories in these pics, and it will take you to what the company has to offer to land these fish.

If you want to pick largemouths, you can click on a number of lure categories, to find what they have to offer.  With the water being cooler this time of the year, specially this year, a slow moving plastic on a jig is a good choice, or you could take a Reed-Runner, single blade spinnerbait and move it slowly through the water.

The new Thumper Crappie King is a twist off of the original Thumper Jig.  I have really liked the original for landing walleye in open water or through the ice.  The Crappie King version really adds some new colored jig heads, matched up with a pre-rigged Slurpies tails.  The CK jig has some colors that I hope get adopted for walleye fishing.   The Pinky and Rainbow patterns look really good for walleye, and could be used in certain situations on the Great Lakes, and definitely on inland lakes.

The Rainbow has all the colors of one of my favorite Hot n Tots, the Captains Choice pattern.

For Crappie, I really like the White Shad, Sunfish and Perch patterns.

These are just some examples of what you can find on Northland’s new look website,  take a look, and even shop around.  You can purchase these items directly from the website if you find something you like.

Want to know whats been going on out on the lake?  Here is the latest report from Captain Mike from Matthew’s Bait and Tackle.  I was just in the shop Saturday to drop off some crawler harnesses that I had tied up, and to get my licenses for the season, both Michigan and Ohio.  After some mishap on the company’s part, they know have the latest from Fishlander and Silver Streak.

FISHING WAS GOOD FOR MOST ON SATURDAY!!

There is a school of fish scattered from the dumping grounds to straight out in front of the Bolles Harbor channel in 19 to 21′ of water. These fish are only 3 miles out of port.

Charters fished near the Raisin River Saturday cast weapons and crawlers and took 26 eyes. We did tag one 8lb. female which had not spawned out.

We also had 1 12lb female come in on Saturday taken trolling crawler harnesses in 22′ of water.

There is still a school of fish is up in the Brest Bay area in 17 to 20′ of water. Crawler Harnesses in Purples & Copper hues took quite a few fish in that area being trolled between 1.2 and 1.5 M.P.H

Allot of fish still being taken out of the Bay on harnesses, try white lightning for a sleeper color!

Lets hope for some decent weather so we can all get out and have a little fun!

Stop in and we will give you the up to the date info to help you on your trip.

Good Luck & Tight Lines,

Capt. Mike

My old ice fishing tournament partner (Kyle Young, formerly of Monroe)  sent this pic up from Florida last week.  His first turkey came from the state grounds over in Petersburg (Summerfield) last year, and he was really proud of this Osceola he bagged this spring down there.

Happy Mother’s Day!  I hope everyone got at least a white carnation, which dating back to the conception of Mother’s Day was the traditional gift.  Here’s a thought, if Hallmark can corrupt a day for moms,  why can’t the guys have the tackle companies mess with their days?  Just a thought

So, here’s to my sister-in-law Michelle, here with Lani at her Christening,  Happy Mother’s Day.

There will be more pics of Lani coming, she just turned one on Friday, and we had her birthday party yesterday.

And to my Mother, who passed away four years ago after battling cancer for several years.

She was a pretty private person, but I don’t think she would mind this picture, after all, the house was dusted.

If you remember my topics on tying your own crawler harnesses, you might be recall the use of the water noodles for securing the rigs.  Just your average everyday pool toy.

Now you can use these if you make your own rigs or if you just buy them off the shelves at a bait shop on your way to the lake  like Matthew’s over in Bolles Harbour.

Today, was a very special day in the family, Lani had her first birthday.  Even though the families will gather tomorrow to celebrate.  My dad and I took the munchkin out to dinner with her parents.  I must say, the gals over at Bob Evans know this kid coming a mile away.  After dinner, I couldn’t pass up stopping over at Wal-Mart to see what I could find in their fishing isles.

They had a couple of bins set up right by the main isle as it went by the sporting goods section.  Best part was the price, only $1.50 each.  That’s 49 cents less than what I paid at Big Lots last year, and $2.49 less than what I found them for on Ebay (plus some crazy shipping prices).  The noodles were 58 inches long, so I cut them into 9 and 3/4 inch sections.  Worked out pretty good, the last section was 9.5 inches long.  So, I got six separate rig holders for the buck fifty.  Just remember to stop and get yourself some toothpicks for securing, and you’ve got it made for the season.  For that price, I bought seven myself.  Just in case I need to replace some over the years to come.

*  Just used a tape rule to measure, long pair of scissors, and a sharpie* to mark my spots.

If you remember my topics on tying your own crawler harnesses, you might be recall the use of the water noodles for securing the rigs.  Just your average everyday pool toy.

Now you can use these if you make your own rigs or if you just buy them off the shelves at a bait shop on your way to the lake  like Matthew’s over in Bolles Harbour.

Today, was a very special day in the family, Lani had her first birthday.  Even though the families will gather tomorrow to celebrate.  My dad and I took the munchkin out to dinner with her parents.  I must say, the gals over at Bob Evans know this kid coming a mile away.  After dinner, I couldn’t pass up stopping over at Wal-Mart to see what I could find in their fishing isles.

They had a couple of bins set up right by the main isle as it went by the sporting goods section.  Best part was the price, only $1.50 each.  That’s 49 cents less than what I paid at Big Lots last year, and $2.49 less than what I found them for on Ebay (plus some crazy shipping prices).  The noodles were 58 inches long, so I cut them into 9 and 3/4 inch sections.  Worked out pretty good, the last section was 9.5 inches long.  So, I got six separate rig holders for the buck fifty.  Just remember to stop and get yourself some toothpicks for securing, and you’ve got it made for the season.  For that price, I bought seven myself.  Just in case I need to replace some over the years to come.

If you are getting that $600 check in the mail or direct deposited, and you have a good fish finder on the boat, here is another option for improving your fish catching experiences in the future.

I’ve got a Lowrance 510c mounted, then also put on the FL-20 from Vexilar, but I want a unit dedicated only for GPS.  None of those slpit screens where everything starts to look really tiny, but full screen capability.

My choice is the 5200c from Lowrance.  Question comes up, why not the 5300c?  Its the same unit right?  Almost, there is a big difference.  The 5200 has an external antenna, where the 5300 has internal hardware.  For the sake of arguement, lets just say the external is a bit more reliable.  That takes up $500 out of the check.  Go and spend the last one hundred on a mapping chip thats dedicated to the region(s) you fish the most.