Curly's Photo and Fishing Blog
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Need Warm Weather
We need some warm weather to get the ice out of te lake and get on with a new season.
Suttons Bay has a good perch bite this week with wigglers working best.
Wixom Lake has a crappie run this week
Steelhead are up the river on the west side of the state.
Upper Peninsula:
In the Upper Peninsula, the angling activity is very limited this week, mainly due to adverse weather that included everything from snow, rain, and wind.
In the Munuscong area, the Bay is giving up some perch on minnow and wax worms. The lake is slushy around the edges and thinning, use caution.
Around the Sault Ste. Marie area, the ice is still in good shape. Lake George is giving up good quantities of perch this week.
Near the St. Ignace area, Brevort Lake anglers are catching a few perch, and walleye fishing is still good, but out of season and fish are being tossed back.
In the Cedarville area, the ice is still good and anglers are going from hole to hole to find fish. Anglers following the fish are doing the best.
Northwest:
In the Alanson area the ice is finally gone. Burt Lake has open water and anglers are getting there via the Crooked River. The Cheboygan and Bear rivers are giving up decent catches of steelhead.
Around the Boyne City area, the ice is not safe give it one more week to be gone. Good action for steelhead on the Bear River when using flies, spawn, wigglers, wax worms and orange and green tear drops.
In the Manistee area, anglers are launching boats this week and fishing perch on Manistee Lake with good results. The Big Manistee River from Tippy to Highbridge is good for steelhead, but the Little Manistee River is slow this week. Brown trout activity is picking up along the Lake Michigan shoreline.
In the Kalkaska area, anglers are catching decent amounts of steelhead on wax worms and jigs out of the Boardman River and Elk Rapids Dam.
In the Traverse City area the fishing is decent near the west end of Traverse Bay where whitefish are plentiful. Anglers are getting limit catches on wigglers or jigs.
In Frankfort, good fishing is taking place on the Betsie River for steelhead. Anglers are using spawn, flies, and spinners with great results. Lake Michigan is giving up some steelhead around the piers and in the Bay when casting spoons or using Rapalas.
In the Gaylord area, fishing is starting to improve. Perch are active on streamers in the Manistee. Wigglers, egg flies, and nymph patterns are working well on steelhead when fishing the Boyne, Cheboygan or Jordan rivers.
In the Cadillac area, anglers are waiting for the ice to just plain leave, no activity this week.
West:
Around the Ludington area, fishing is rather slow with some steelhead and brown trout action taking place off of the piers. The Manistee River is giving up a few suckers, and the Pere Marquette River a few browns. Ludington State Park is decent for perch near the bottom of the Dam.
In the Muskegon area, Muskegon Lake is producing decent amounts of steelhead and perch, and a few northern mostly on spikes, minnow and wax worms. Steelhead action is picking up in the river and near the break arms.
On Chippewa Lake ice remains but some channels have opened up. Decent fishing taking place for specs and the best baits include leaf worms, minnows and wax worms.
Anglers in the Baldwin area are finding good luck using spawn on steelhead when fishing around the piers of the Pere Marquette River.
Southwest:
Around Holland the fishing has improved. Lake Michigan is producing good catches of browns and steelhead in deeper waters of 6-18 feet. Spoons and spawn sacks are working well. Near Grand Haven suckers are active in most rivers and the north pier when fishing in shallow water and using body baits, particularly Rapalas. Around Saugatuck a few browns are being caught.
In the New Buffalo area, steelhead and Coho are active. Anglers are launching boats and fishing Lake Michigan with good results in 15 feet of water.
Kalamazoo angling action is picking up this week. Around the St. Joe piers Coho and browns are biting on spawn. Trolling near the piers in 20 feet of water and using flies and small spoons is getting the job done. Just below the Allegan Dam steelhead are biting on spawn sacks, the sucker run is also good with leaf worms and night crawlers working best. Pine Lake is producing good amounts of crappie on minnow and Austin Lake is decent for perch on minnow. Maple Lake is giving up some crappie and blue gill, best location is between the Island and the Dam.
Northeast:
In the Alpena area, fishing this week has improved to fair. The best steelhead action is taking place on the Thunder Bay River around the 9th Street Dam. Anglers are using spawn for decent results.
Around Grayling anglers need to use extreme caution on all ice. Some ice fishing is still taking place, however the ice conditions are rapidly deteriorating. Lake Margrethe and Manistee and Frog lakes are giving up some blue gill and perch.
Higgins Lake still has ice fishing taking place but getting past the shoreline is becoming difficult, however once you get past the shore, the perch fishing is decent using minnows and spikes.
AuGres anglers are finding good catches of steelhead near the east branch of the AuGres River. Pine River is giving up some perch.
East:
In the Linwood area, ice in the Bay is gone, however there are still some large chunks floating so if you are getting out in a boat use caution. Sucker fishing in the area is picking up, but otherwise limited action this week.
Bay City anglers are finding some good size perch near Quanicassee around the iron bridges, and Russell and Thomas roads. Minnows are working well. Pike are decent at the mouth of the Hot Pond.