Curly's Photo and Fishing Blog
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Warm Weather Helping
Activity picked up this week in a majority of areas, thanks to the weather finally starting to cooperate and warm the waters.
As a reminder anglers, the law requires you to dispose of unused bait on the land or in the trash, empty live wells and bilges at the ramp, and donâ??t transfer live fish to water bodies other than where they are caught.
Upper Peninsula:
Copper Harbor angling is much improved this week with huge trout being pulled out of the Harbor. The warm water has pike and walleye hitting in good numbers. Medora and Fanny Hooe are giving up a few perch and some decent bass. Artificial lures, worms and night crawlers seem to be doing the trick.
In the Bergland area, Lake Gogebic is providing good numbers of small mouth bass, a few perch and good walleye. Leeches are working best.
In the Escanaba area, angling activity has escalated with good catches of walleye abundant all over the Bay. Small mouth bass are active at the north end of Little Bay DeNoc as well as at the mouth of the Escanaba River. Ford River is giving up decent catches of bass.
Near Fairport and Manistique the salmon are just getting started with best luck fishing from the surface down to 80-feet. Indian Lake is giving up plenty of walleye near the rock piles when anglers use crawler harnesses and Rapalas.
Sault Ste. Marie angling has improved with decent catches of salmon using spoons and Rapalas. The walleye have slowed down and are moving into deeper waters. White fish are good in the upper river.
Atlantic and king salmon are being caught around DeTour.
St. Ignace anglers are doing well on St. Martin Bay for salmon in the 10-14 pound range and steelhead and rainbow trout are still going great. Brevort Lake is giving up good catches of walleye.
Around the Munuscong Bay area, herring are becoming active on Cedarville Lake using wax worms with jigs. A small hatch took place on Cedarville Lake this week. Munuscong Bay is giving up good numbers of walleye on crawler harnesses.
Northwest:
Around the Manistee area, Lake Michigan is providing nice catches of salmon, steelhead and lake trout. Portage Lake is good for walleye when trolling and some of the inland lakes the blue gill are spawning. Stick baits, husky jerks and clowns are working well.
In the Alanson area, Lake Michigan salmon fishing is good, especially in waters 200 feet or so and going down 50-70. Trout are also doing well in 70-90 feet and anglers are catching plenty, but small in size.
Near Boyne City, Walloon Lake and Lake Charlevoix are giving up good catches of bass, walleye and trout on crawlers, leeches and body baits with golden shiners working well.
Frankfort anglers can expect good fishing on several lakes and rivers in the area. The Betsie River is good for rainbow and brown trout, while Duck and Green lakes are giving up plenty of pike on plastic baits while trolling. Herring Lake is providing a few walleye, and some great angling for rock bass is taking place on Crystal Lake. Arcadia and Portage lakes as well as other small inland lakes are doing well with blue gill, sunfish and basically all types of pan fish.
Around the Kalkaska area, anglers are doing well on the majority of inland lakes for bass using sinko baits, tubes and Rapalas. Lake Skegemog is very good for bass action.
In the Cadillac area, fantastic fishing is taking place. The water is high so anglers getting out in boats should know that many docks are under water. Cadillac and Mitchell lakes are giving up plenty of crappie, blue gill, pike and bass. The Clam River is giving up some nice sunfish.
West:
In the Baldwin area, a nice Hex fly hatch has fish active on Pere Marquette and plenty of blue gill are hitting on crickets. The bass fishing has been fair. Big Star Lake is giving up decent numbers of walleye.
In the Ludington area, Lake Michigan is great for salmon, steelhead and trout, anglers seem to be doing well trolling. Hamlin Lake is giving up a variety of species, and the blue gill are still on the beds. The kings have not started to come into the river just yet but the north break wall is good for perch when using minnows.
Muskegon Lake is giving up decent catches of blue gill in the shallow waters. Walleye are still active at night fall. Northern pike activity is good near the middle of the Lake. Lake Michigan is providing good numbers of salmon in deeper waters.
Chippewa Lake angling is much improved over last week. Good angling action taking place for blue gill, bass, pike and walleye. The hot bait is black flies.
Northeast:
Angling action on Higgins Lake has been slow this week. Despite a light fly hatch, the windy conditions are keeping anglers off the water.
Good action in the Oscoda area for bass, blue gill, crappie and northern pike out of Cooke and Foote Dam ponds. Below the Dam channel cats and walleye are doing very well. A variety of baits are working well that include wax worms, artificial baits, top water and nymph spinners, and jerk baits. Van Etten Lake is giving up perch and walleye in good numbers. Anglers are expecting a big Hex hatch soon.
Around the Grayling area, blue gill are hanging on the beds with some moving to deeper waters. Anglers are using top water spiders with good results. Bass are still in the shallow waters with a few moving towards the break arms and deeper waters. Walleye action is taking place on Lake Margrethe in 17 feet of water. Anglers are trolling at .7 mph using crawler harnesses or drift fishing. The AuSable River has a Hex hatch taking place and the fish are biting.
Houghton Lake is giving up under sized walleye, some blue gill and pike are doing well in the weed beds in four to six feet of water and near the middle ground. Anglers are finding that leeches and crawlers are working best.