Fishing Michigan

Normally it would be hard to fish plastics vertically for perch on open water.  The lures are too light for the current,  or if you tried to jig effectively down to 30 ft, the jig would be so big that perch wouldn’t be interested…etc.  Dropping down the anchor will take care of some of these problems on a good day, and if you use the dropper rig mentioned a few days ago you accomplish the mission on the windier days.

I have been using Little Atomplastics through the ice for a few years now with really good results.  Before that, if you told me that a plastic bait would out-fish “live”, I would have said there is no way its possible.  I had tried the offerings from the BIG companies, and although would pick up a fish here and there,  the results didn’t come close to the real thing.  90% of the time they would sit in the tackle bag, just waiting for one of those days when I would run out of bait and I would have a back-up plan.

What sets LA plastics apart from the rest is the movement these extra soft baits produce.  The problem with most baits on the market is the lack of movement they produce while being jigged, even with the most aggressive approach.  Little Atom will wiggle with the softest tap of the rod tip, so even the least aggressive fish will be enticed into biting your offering.

Photobucket is down right now for maintenance, so I will provide pics later, but for now follow the links to see what I am talking about.

The “Wedgee” is a versatile bait that resembles the blood worm which is a dinner time favorite of perch.  It can be rigged with a vertical or horizontal jigging lure, or placed on a small hook on a dropper.  Wish it was possible to say (in the case of all LA baits) these two or three colors work best, but it wouldn’t be true.  I have landed fish with blue, bubblegum, blood red, motor oil, hot yellow and orange, and last year with the new Atomic Glow offerings.

The “Nuggies” has got to be my favorite all around bait from the Wisconsin based company.  It has caught bluegill, crappie and perch on a regular basis when I have walked out during the winter.  Because it resembles an egg sucking leech, it also works wonders while fishing the streams and rivers of Michigan for steelhead.  Last year the owner Rick DeBaere introduced the ” Micro Nuggie ” and the bait truly became a bait for the most finicky bluegill.  You can rig the original for perch with a horizontal presentation with a jig or hook, trailer it behind a small spoon and watch it wiggle on the downward drop.  This winter there should a larger version introduced,  I am already thinking of ways to rig this for walleye on Brest Bay and Saginaw Bay.

“Tease Tails“  are a new old bait, just reintroduced by Little Atom.  Offering a shorter thicker profile than the Wedgees, it gives the perch more of a minnow image to take in.

You can find more of what Little Atom has to offer by visiting  www.just-fish.com.

Just about everybody is familiar with the different types of horizontal  wire spreaders, and the combination of vertical perch and crappie rigs.  With the really good perch fishing continuing throughout the 2008 summer so far, here are a couple of options that some folks just aren’t aware of.

Before getting to that, Matthew’s Bait and Tackle is considering having a perch derby in August.  They are looking for input, and trying to gauge what kind of turnout they could possibly have.  So if you like perch fishing, stop by the shop, and tell the guys what you think about it.  If its run anywhere  near the way they had their walleye tourney last weekend, you will enjoy the experience.

In the last few years, a new trend has started to develop to landing more perch into the boat.  Use that ice gear, bring it out of its summer storage, and take advantage of a better way to catch these tasty cousins of the walleye.  Really its not something totally new, but it is catching more every year.  It all started with the Hali Jig, which really isn’t a jig.  Its more of a spoon, with a short length of gold chain with a hook at the end.

You have probably noticed by now, I like to tinker and make my own lures.  Some of the next few items are things you can buy off the shelf (if you can find ice gear this time of year), while others require some tweaking.  Either way, you will catch more fish than those older types of spreaders and rigs, even with a lesser of hooks in the water.

In this application, I use jigs and spoons available from Northland Tackle .  They offer styles and colors not available from other manufactures,  and the sizes are perfect for perch fishing on Lake Erie.

They already make a walleye type bait that can be called a hybrid,  the Buck-Shot Rattle Spoon Dropper.

I like a slightly smaller hook for perch fishing, so I would replace the dropper section with a hook in a size 8 or 6.  If you like, you can just buy the Buck Shot Spoon, and make your own dropper with the hook of your choosing.  There are a few more color choices this way. Just remove the treble.

Now,  if you are crazy about rattles, you can also use the Forage Minnow Spoon.

You might not like droppers, and that’s fine.  Both the Buck-Shot and Forage Minnow Spoons come in sizes small enough to entice any perch into biting.  You can also use this Doodle Bug Spoon in one of the effective Super-Glo colors they come in.  I like Bubblegum and Lemon.

If you like to have some weight to your dropper, that can be achieved too.  Instead of using a hook at the end of the dropper line, use a jig.  The Forage Minnow Fry, Bro Bug and Spider Ant jigs work very well at the bottom of the rig.

If you want to skip the whole spoon experience, that’s ok too.  Northland makes jigs small enough to catch perch, but heavy enough to reach Erie’s Bottom.  The Fire-Eye Minnow is a favorite of mine,  and for a lil’ more pizazz tie on a Forage Minnow Jig,  and for bright glows, try the Doodle Bug Jig.

All these rigs can be used with shiners, minnow heads, spikes or wax worms as bait.  Most of the time, you will not even need bait if you are rigging with the Spider Ants.  Some of the plastics available from Little Atom are perfect for this application.

Will talk more about perch fishing as the week progresses.

What is it about the second week of June that tends to be so stormy?  None of that global warming guff either,  its been going on since they projected the next ice age.  For you younger folks, that would be the late 1970’s.  So rather than go looking through Ebay (this time) , its time to take care of what you have already.

Its never too early to think about walking on the ice chasing gills, crappie, perch, walleye, pike and for those who have it; trout and salmon.  So with that in mind, maintain is the word this morning.  Just like keeping your boat batteries charged up during the winter months,  it is important to take the time to hook up the chargers to your “ice” batteries.  So grab your Aqua Vu or Vexilars, and set up a schedule.

With the cost of replacement batteries these days, and with me having five batteries for the 2 FL-20, the Aqua Vu, and two backups, that’s an easy 100 bucks I am saving, by taking the time for a lil’ ice time mainance.

A corporate buyout was announced yesterday, with Nature Vision (parent company of Aqua Vu) buying out their biggest competitor (MarCum) in the underwater camera  market.  This also consolidates their fledgling venture into the ice fishing sonar/fish finder field.

With Nature Vision’s foot hold in the retail market this should this should translate into increased MarCum sales next fall as the ice season approaches.  It remains to be seen if the VPG unit from Nature Vision will continued to be produced after this aquisition.  Additionally some of the MarCum underwater camera technology that surpassed that of the Aqua Vu’s should enhance their line-up.

Here is the press release from CNBC

http://www.cnbc.com/id/24483634/

Here are the pics of the TX-22 Specials.  These are the boards from Church Tackle that can be converted from either running port (left) or starboard (right).  You can see the two holes under the tow arm with the pinch pad (this holds your line from the rod).  Just take the two screws out and re-insert when you turn the board over.  The next task needed to convert the board are two screws in the top and bottom center position.  These hold the weight and foam on the backside of the board, so turn the foam over and reattach the weight to the “new” bottom.  Lastly,  take out the screw holding the flag, and put back on so that it is in the right position.

When you go to store the boards,  just push the flags back so that they are now behind the board.

You can choose to run the boards without the flags.  They are not part of the tattle tail system that can be installed on the orange boards, and many choose to run the boards without the flag.  I have found that for some reason the boards do run smoother in the water with the flags attached.  It is also handy to have the flags on, if nothing else, just so the knuckleheads fishing around you know where your lines are at.  If you have the original Mr Walleye boards, you can go to Frank’s Great Outdoors and just purchase the flag by itself.  Click on Planer Board Flag

If you go to their main page (Frank’s),  you will also notice that there is a sale going on on the original boards.  $19.99 is the best price I have seen in quite some time,  its at least 3 bucks cheaper, and closer to $5 off what other stores charge.  Click on Church Tackle Main Page

One of the reasons I went up to Bass Pro Shops yesterday was to pick up this deep fryer for cooking fish up outside.  Its a 10.5 qt model,  and came with everything you see plus a 5″ thermoter for $29.99.  Why cook outside, less mess and smell in the house.  it was easy to install, but you will need a 10mm nut dryer, wrench or socket.  That or a phillips screwdriver or large fathead.  Notice the extra support at the base?  Its designed not to tip over, plus for extra stability when used with a bigger pot for frying turkeys.

This was forwarded to me by one of the paper’s staff members who thought it might be of interest.  It should be for anyone who has questions about the status of the Detroit River and Lake Erie.  It looks as if the information is a part of a study actually conducted on the whole Great Lakes ecosystem, and since this area’s location is close to the river and our side of the lake, they narrowed it down.

The presentation, ” Coming Home “ will be given by Dr. John Hartig this Thursday at the community college’s theatre in the La-Z-Boy Center.  In the announcement on Monroe Talks  it mentions sturgeon, bald eagles, mayflies, walleyes and falcons.

You know what happens when you assume things, but I would be interested in the return of sturgeon to the river.  When my grandmother (dad’s mom) was alive she showed me pictures of sturgeon stacked like cord wood on the river’s edge,  men stood around while other’s set them on fire like funeral pyres.

Also, to see if he mentions anything about the return of the spawning whitefish to the river.  It is said, that whitefish are one of nature’s indicators that the river is really cleaning up compared to what it was during the city’s industrial heyday.  Dad’s family was from Ecorse,  and it was said you knew what was being produced back then by the color of the Ecorse and Rouge  flowing out to the Detroit River.

Overall, the presentation is free, and takes place at 7 pm  this Thursday.

I just got back from running to Monroe.  For whatever reason I am in Meijer, I usually check out the small sporting goods section before starting my shopping.  They have a small closeout section with some ice gear on an end of a rack.

Usually I look at what they have and its kind of the same ol’ story.  Have that, don’t need that and want that, but not for THAT price.   Today, was one of those good days where the seasons change and things are starting to get blown out the door.  I picked up two scoops/ladles for $1.50 each.  They even have small chisels at the end of the handle.  For 99 cents each, I picked up two pair of HT rubber traction slip-ons.  Made of rubber, they fit right over your boot.  I have never used this style before, but cannot go wrong for the price.  If you ever have tried walking on glare ice, you know how important they can be.

Bet you thought this had something to do with St. Paddy’s…hic.

Actually if Crown Royal were an Irish whiskey, then yes it would, but it isn’t, so it doesn’t.  Sooooooooo, what does CR have to do with fishing?  Not much, but the nice little purple bag that comes with it does.  Remember the bag full of reels in the last blog?  After taking the reels apart and greasing them, its time to put them (most of them) to sleep for the warmer months.  Call it reverse hibernation if you will.  Now you can go out and get yourself all the little expensive reel bags for 7 or 9 bucks a pop,  but if I bagged up all the reels that I have, that’s just another expense I do not need to deal with.  Call it cheap if you will, but my mother called it frugal.  And those who lived through the depression and the rationing of WW II,  well they knew what they were talking about.

Don’t drink the hard stuff yourself, usually not a problem.  Somebody does, ask around.  If you strike out there, go to your local pub or tavern.  The bags tend to pile up, and for some reason, they just do not get thrown away.  Ask around, you might get lucky and score a stash of these little gems.

I had all the heavy stuff put away yesterday morning/afternoon.  In the evening I did the light tedious stuff, taking the reels off the ice rods

Not exactly a quick task in my case, but there are things that need to be checked when putting away the gear.  On my cork handled rods, not sure if I told this trick already or not, but its worth doing again.  Specially with the price of things already going up.  It is definitely worth the time to put a few light wraps of masking tape on the handles where you put the reels.  This will save years off  your cork handles,  because little pieces can be pulled off when removing the electrical tape at the end of the season.  Also, a good idea to check your rods for any wear and tear that might have occurred for one reason or another through the season; check the guides, handles and the blanks themselves for nicks, cracks…etc.

When pulling off the reels,  also check for nicks, specially around the roller guide.  This can happen for a number of reason,  most commonly from using a swivel.  Although great for preventing line twist while fishing, they can do serious damage to the equipment if not used carefully.  After all the reels have been removed I check the bearings in the reels, these are located in the handle assembly and be inspected simply by removing the handle and looking through the opening.  Just like greasing the bearings on the trailers before trips,  neglect can cause equipment failure down the road.  These for the most part are my ultralight reels, Abu’s and Daiwa’s.  I do use them briefly during the spring and a few trips to the Upper, so I want to make sure they are greased up.  Not all the reels will be used so, the reels that look like they have a fair amount of grease in them are good to go for the next trip.  You do not want to over do it, because too much grease next winter can make the reel sluggish, or hard to crank over.  The six or so reels that I will use on open water, will be greased once.  By winter time, they should have the proper amount in them for next season on the ice.

Proper care is important.  It really doesn’t look like much in that little Plano bag, but the replacement costs on poorly treated equipment can be high.  Roughly in my head, that’s just a hair under $900 in their.  With proper care, that is one expense I should not need to attend to for many years.