awhitney posted on May 04, 2011 21:24
Hello everyone I hope you're enjoying the sunshine!
The past weekend and the last few days at least gave us a little break from the rain and clouds but it looks like we have more coming with 8 of the next 10 days showing at least fair chances of rain in the forecast. The good news is that most of the days will also have winds that at least start with the letter "S" and that will help improve the fishing in our area. Here's what I know about the last few days.
Lake Michigan is still serving up a few fish for the hearty angler. The catches have been a mixed bag salmon and trout with some nice kings up to 15 lbs being taken by boat anglers. The best catch I've heard of was five fish out of Port Sheldon on Saturday and the slowest was a couple boats that avoided everything resembling a fish. The fish were taken between 30 and 50 feet of water on orange/silver and orange/gold combination spoons and the nice king came on a large pink and white body bait of an unknown make but it was similar to a U20 flatfish. All of the fish hit in the top 20 ft of water with flat lines with up to 1/4 oz. of lead being the most effective. Another captain I spoke with had a couple hits on the Michigan Dolphin Stinger spoon too. As Amanda stated in her report the pier action has been very slow but that will hopefully change soon with some warmer water arriving with the Southerly winds.
For the walleye fisherman in boats, things have been pretty good according to several people I've spoken with. The Muskegon inner channel and out to the bend in the outer pier arms have given up good catches of nice walleyes for the last week. Getting exact details has been difficult but trolling stickbaits near the bottom in 11 feet of water between 10:30 pm and 2:30 am has been the ticket to success. This fishing probably won't last a great deal longer so if you get the chance in the next few days, go.
River reports for trout and steelhead have been mixed. I spoke to people that fished the opener of trout season that said the trout fishing was generally slow and the fish they did catch were stuffed with worms washed in by the rains. They did see good numbers of steelhead in the river though and the stained water allowed them to get within casting range and coax a couple into biting. The best areas to find fish were the smaller streams with plenty of gravel. Remember what they're doing though and avoid stressing the fish out by hammering them all day on their beds. The deeper areas of the river are still very high and fast and the forecast doesn't look like it'll allow that to change a great deal anytime soon.
Bluegill action on bayous in Spring Lake picked up the last couple days. Fishing 5 ft of water with a wax worm and tear drop combo was very effective but there were a lot of small fish to sort through. Plenty of bass up to 18" were also caught and released on the bluegill rigs providing for some exciting fights and lost tackle. An attempt to find the gills Monday on Sterns proved very difficult but that should change by this weekend too.
Good luck everyone,
Matt Whitney