Fishing Michigan

Note:  I was going to put this on last night, but then I got the pics of the wayward moose, and this got BUMPED back.  The emails are still coming in asking more questions, than I know the answers to, but am looking them up this morning.

Although, I didn’t win the planer boards the other day, while I was on Ebay I did do a search on jigs.  When I typed in Whistler Jigs from Northland.  I did find these 3/4 oz Glow Whistlers.

Someone had already bid $4.99 the other day, so I pounced with five minutes left with a bid of $5.50.  I waited around a bit during the final minutes left in the bidding.  Ended up winning, couple that with the $6.35, I paid a total of $11.85 for this pack of 25 jigs.  Comes to 48 cents for each jig, and when you buy them in the store, you are looking at a buck a piece+gas+tax.  Not a bad deal.

Again, why Whistler Jigs?  These are some of my favorite jigs for using on the Detroit River, plus they are a great weight for the bottom of a three-way swivel with a harness on top.  They can be employed while drifting or trolling.

Unlike Lindy, there were quite a few items under the Northland Tackle banner available on Ebay today.  Some of the sizes aren’t conducive for fishing the big waters, but some of them are ideal for tackling an inland lake where stealth rules.

First up is a Fire-Ball Rattle Jig in blue weighing 1/4 of an ounce.   These jigs are really versatile, because you can use the jig with, or without the rattle.  The piece slides over the barbed collar to hold it in place.  This light blue can be a very effective color,  a good friend who fishes in Canada turned me on to it several years ago.  The size can be fished inland lakes extremely well, and some areas on the big lakes.  Inside Brest Bay this time of the year for an example.  Here is a smaller size for the inland lakes in Flo. Orange.

Its a misconception that you need to fish with 3/4 and 1 oz jigs all the time on the Detroit River.  Often 1/2 oz will catch more fish than the big boys, but the conditions have to be right.  These Gum-Ball jigs can be dressed with a large shiner, or a twister tail grub.

The Whistler Jig is one of my favorite walleye jigs for the river and Erie.  These are 3/4 oz, and in this case I do like a heavier jig for the river because the blades cause resistance in the current.  These are pretty good colors, although my favorite is probably the white color.   I don’t know what is about pink, but the fish sure seem to like it.  Gold is always good, and black works really well on overcast days.

There was barely anything under Lindy jigs on Ebay this morning.  The Fuzz E Grub is a good jig for walleye in rivers and inland lakes.  These are the 1/8th and 1/4 oz sizes, and good colors to choose from.

One of the popular methods of fishing for walleye this time of the year is tossing “hair jigs”.  I really didn’t find too much in my search on Ebay this time.  There is one seller with a fair selection on two different auctions for $9.99 on 8 jigs.  Small wonder that the seller is from Rockwood, Michigan.  Of course folks in this area know the effectiveness of these jigs on Lake Erie.  They come complete with stinger hooks rigged up.  You can rig these with large shiners or Berkley Gulp .

The first batch includes green, chartruse, purple and either white or glow.  Can’t quite figure that out, but guessing white.  Either would be good choices.

The second batch has 4 really sharp looking purple head with pink hair jigs.    The second group of 4 is mostly chartruse, but the jighead looks like it has a bad case of measles.

Reef Runner’s popularity must be limited to the Midwest region because there were only 11 items during this search on Ebay.

First off is the Ripshad, these lures are limited I think to basically fishing the smaller inland lakes, like Houghton (tip up town fame).  There are two sizes, and the larger of the two are more effective on the big water than the smaller sized ones.  These are the 400 series, the larger of the two, the smaller ones are 200’s.  Love the “Cheap Sunglasses” color, not only for catching fish, but my fav ZZ Top song. Hmm, well right up there with “Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers,  and I’m Bad/I’m Nationwide”.  Fine, I like all old ZZ Top before Eliminator came out!

These are the Ripsticks , a shallow running bait that is popular for getting in close during the spring while the eyes are running shallow.  These are not my favorite colors to choose from, but the Chrome/Blue at the far right is an excellent color choice.

Next, you have the deep running baits, and they come in two sizes as well.  The 800 series does seem to better in the spring while the big girls are in town.  I like running them on my far outside board, so on the retrieve they can come in under the 600 series.  I see some of the better purple and perch patterns in these two lots.  The rest I haven’t used.

More later……………

I know sometimes it seems like I am bashing Rapala,  and with good reason.  In their own product line they have made some great lures for catching walleyes.  Then they get rid of the best colors in that lure series.

For fishing on Lake Erie,  the Deep Diving Shad Rap is the most effective lure while trolling for walleyes.  On Saginaw Bay,  spring time means trolling the 7 + inch original floating Rap minnow.  One of the biggest sins was the discontinuation of the “clown” pattern in both these lures.  This is the Shad Rap(DDSR) in clown.  This lure represents what is a HOT pattern on Erie, and catching on up in Saginaw….METALLIC, METALLIC, METALLIC!!!!!!  Not that the pattern wasn’t a producers on the Bay already, but it seems like the metallic series of baits just caught on in Erie’s waters a little sooner. Its got a silver base, chartreuse back and a bleeding head, what more could a walleye angler ask for?  The same can be said for this “Gold” pattern.  Erie=gold lures,  its a standard that goes back to the days of the Golden Nugget.  It really seems like we are punished, while the anglers fishing those ponds in Minnesota get the preferred treatment.

This new X-Rap Jointed Shad Rap has a color very similar to another bait that was discontinued, and later brought back.  The metallic perch pattern ranked right up there with the clown and gold colors.  This bait is not a deep diving lure, so fishing on Erie has its limited time windows.  During the heat of the day, leave it in the box.  Prime time for this lure is when the sun is just cracking the dawn and your lines are already out, or when the breeze kicks up late in the evening as the sun goes down.  Walleye rise off the bottom to feed, and catching suspended fish 6 or 7 ft down is well within their strikezone.

This time when I looked I did not see any of the bigger sized floating raps that are popular while running leadcore for this time of the year, but I did get a decent selection of the bigger Husky Jerks .  These two are size 12’s and the colors are fish catchers on sliver plated bodies.  Both the Clown and Silver/Blue are time tested lures.  The HJ-14 is the slightly bigger size that is used as well, but both sizes have their time and place for catching Eyes.  With a day to go,  right now the price is really good, with only 3 bucks for shipping.

More later………….

Sometimes you can find a good buy in a used/return shop, but in most cases there is a reason someone didn’t want the item in the first place.  The product could have been unreliable or just too cheap to be effective in the first place.  Design flaws, unresponsive, trashy….etc.  But, if you are looking for a specific item, you know the products background,  then doing a little window shopping and selective buying from the comfort of your own home on Ebay just might be your answer.

With the season upon us,  walleye fishing rules on Lake Erie.  What better way to spend a cool morning than with a cup of coffee and your fav cd in the tower, just looking for STUFF.  Today, I am looking walleye cranks like Storm, Rapala, Reef Runner and Cotton Cordell.

The first page that came up was on Hot n Tots.  I know I could go and pick apart Frank’s site again,  but my order from there is going to be big enough this year.  This was the best deal on tots that I found.  Not only on prices, but on colors that I know are effective.  Four of the items are the 1/4 oz size, but one is a hard to find 3/8 oz.  For those who remember fishing with this bait back in the day when the company was really Storm and not Rapala,  you know this was the highly effective “Rattle Tot”.  Effective on overcast days, as well as muddied waters.

This time of the year minnow baits can be highly effective,  and one of my old favs was the Storm Deep Jr. Thunderstick.  There are some really GREAT colors in this lot.  The price is getting up there, but still less than what the new baits would cost in a store today.

The ThinFin can pull double duty.  Not only a great walleye bait, this is a favorite of those fishing Michigan’s West Coast on Lake Michigan for salmon and trout.  These two are the same color, what was commonly called Blue Metallic Tiger.  Not only did I like this color for walleye, but have caught several steelhead over in Flat Rock on the Huron River on these baits.

The only other crank from Storm that rivaled the Hot n Tot for popularity and catching fish was the Wiggle Wart .  This was a fav of the guys going fishing after work and charter captains alike.  The price is getting up there, but these are two of the same color ( Mad Clown).  One of the great things about the old Storm company was they had a selection of colors, a very wide range of colors, something Rapala just didn’t embrace when they bought out the company.  As time goes by,  it gets harder to find these rare color schemes.  It explains why the price is up a bit, but also why there are those willing to pay the price for an effective fish catching color.  You can tell that this seller is from California,  he doesn’t mention walleye anywhere when listing the fish that these baits will catch.

More later…………………..