Fishing Reports

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Saginaw Bay and River Report - Fall Walleye and Smallmouth - Ed Clements

11/11/2009

Saginaw River Walleye Fishing Slows a Bit, but still Best in Years. Saginaw Bay Heats Up!

Fishing on the Saginaw River near Bay City has slowed down a little bit, as the majority of fish that moved into the river the last couple of weeks have moved upstream into Saginaw and the Tittabawassee River or have dropped back into Saginaw Bay. There is a very large school of fish outside the mouth of the Saginaw River, the fish are in 12 to 17 feet of water between Linwood and the river mouth. These fish are being caught pretty consistently using deep diving stickbaits. One of the best baits has been a Smithwick Deep Diving Rogue. When this school of fish makes it way into the river the fishing should be tremendous in the lower river around Bay City, and then last all fall and into winter as these fish make their way upstream.

Currently the river fishing around Bay City is a little slower than it has been, spending most of the day on the river in Bay City on Sunday produced 7 fish over 15 inches including a nice 23 incher in the photo. The river in Bay City also produced lots of undersized fish in the 10-12 inch range. This is great to see! I have been using 1/4 or 3/8 oz jigs to fish in the river. When the wind is light you can use a 1/4 oz jig and maintain a vertical presentation, I prefer the 1/4 oz as it falls a little slower and also is more natural looking with a soft plastic tail. I have been having great success with soft plastics this fall and have not taken minnows along on a trip yet. A variety of soft plastics will work, my favorite is anything in pearl color that looks like a minnow or a shad. I also recommend 3-4 inch soft plastics to immitate the size of the prevalent bait in the river right now.

River fishing farther upstream into Saginaw has been a little better as of late as a majority of the fish that moved into the river have swam upstream. The fishing is not fast and furious, but if you concentrate on break lines, structure, and channel edges you should be able to catch fish. The area around Wickes park has been producing fish, but also has had a high concentration of anglers. Try to stay away from the crowds as the fish will get very skittish.

Saginaw Bay and River Report - Fall Walleye and Smallmouth - Ed Clements

Check out the trophy smallmouths in the photos as well. Often overlooked in the Great Lakes Bay Region is the bass fishing. Right under our noses is a world class smallmouth fishery on Saginaw Bay. The October-November smallmouth fishing is simply awesome with days of catching 50 fish not out of the ordinary, and fish surpassing six pounds fairly common. These fish were taken with a Big Bite Baits, Bio Tube. The key is to find structure.

I added a few photos of our catch from the past weekend. The river fishing should only get better as the fall progresses.

Good Luck & Good Fishing

10/25/09

Reported by Ed Clements: Team Starcraft

Saginaw River Walleye Fishing is Steady.

It has been quite a while since my last report. I have been fishing and have been having some success on the Saginaw River. There are catchable fish throughout the whole river. Good numbers and better than average size fish are being taken in Bay City. A majority of the walleyes are being caught using 1/4 or 3/8 oz jigs tipped with a plastic minnow or shad tail. Trolling with leadcore has also produced using shad style baits.

A key to catching walleyes in the lower river near Bay City is to focus on the edges of the shipping channel. Walleyes are using the channel edges as a travel route upriver and also as a feeding table. The active fish are pushing baitfish up against the channel edge wall to trap them, and then are gorging themselves on shad, gobees, shiners, and small perch. All of the fish we caught this weekend were stuffed with baitfish, it was surprising that the fish we caught would even eat. I have been having success using a new soft plastic from Big Bite Baits, it is called a Bio Jerk Shad. This plastic tail is four inches and has a forked tail, and it is scent impregnated. The technology from Big Bite allows you to reuse the tail and it will not harden on your jigs. My favorite colors are pearl, baby sea trout, and chartreuse shine; paired with an orange jig head. Check them out at www.bigbitebaits.com they are listed in the saltwater series, freshwater baits should be out soon. Ask for these soft plastics at Frank's Great Outdoors. Another factor in your jigging success is a quality jigging rod. A six to seven foot rod will work great, and you definitely want a fast action rod with medium power. The fast action will allow you to feel everything that your jig touches and will also insure a fast hookset. Slower action rods take too long to bury the hook in the jaw of a biting walleye. Check out St. Croix's Premier series spinning rods for a great all around jigging rod. I prefer the 6'6" medium power, fast action, one piece rod for river jigging. I like the added length to help keep your offering vertical in wind and current.

I added a few photos of our catch from the past weekend. The river fishing should only get better as the fall progresses. Good luck and good fishing.

Nate Seiferlein with a nice Saginaw River walleye.

10-24-09 Bob, Ed, and Pat compressed.JPG

Bob, Ed, and Pat with a bunch of nice Saginaw River walleyes.

8-15-08

We caught another 3 man limit today in 1.5 hours. We ran crawler harnesses with silver colorado blades, 10-15 feet behind Off Shore boards. 15 walleyes, only 2 throwbacks, 2 cats, and no weeds today in 10-12 feet of water.

8-13-09

The fishing has been hot lately on the Saginaw Bay. We have taken easy limits and probably caught over 60 walleyes on my last two charter trips. The action has taken place in 10-13 feet of water on crawler harnesses with silver blades. There are a lot of floating weeds in shallow and Bass Pro fish weights have been the key to success in the weeds. The lip on the weight is just enough to catch floating weeds traveling down your line, keeping your harness clean. Be sure to use your electric trolling motor to stealthily troll over these shallow fish without spooking them. You also want to make sure that your Off Shore boards are far away from the boat in these shallow water situations. The usage of tattle flags has also been instrumental in detecting a buildup of weeds on my weights. Summer is winding down so be sure to get out and do some walleye fishing. The good old days are happening right now on the Saginaw Bay!!!!!

7/28/09

The fishing is starting to slow down a little bit on the Saginaw Bay. Limits of walleyes are still common, but not necessarily a given, as it was up until a couple of weeks ago. The walleyes are scattered and have been moving around from day to day. Fish are being taken at all depths right now and mobility is the key to finding active fish. Most of the fish we have been taking the last few days have been belly to the bottom, so make sure you are getting your baits down by the zebra mussel beds. Mack’s Lure Smile Blades continue to be hot on bottom bouncers. The crankbait bite is also starting to take off with Salmo Hornets, MadEye Shads, Wally Divers, and Grappler Shads being the go to lures.

7-15-09

I’ve been spending a lot of time on the water lately with 5 charters and a MWT tournament in the last 8 days. My partner Ed Clements and I finished a disappointing 14^th place in the tournament this past weekend with a two day total of 27.91 lbs. Congratulations to the first place team of Jeffrey Snellgrose Jr. and Jared Stam who weighed a two day total of 31.97lbs. Chalk up another win for the Starcraft STX 2050.

The walleye fishing has remained steady and has held up well despite strong winds this past weekend. There are a ton of fish around buoys 1 and 2. Other hot spots have been both east and west of the spark plug. With the cold nights the past week, the fish have been belly to the bottom in the morning and have risen throughout the day as the sun rises and warms the water. Bottom bouncers with Smile blades and A-plugs continue to be the hot presentation with the harnesses behind boards taking over later in the morning. The fish that we have been catching lately have been slightly larger, with a 6 and a 7 pounder showing up on my last two trips. Check out these two Saginaw Bay pigs!!!!

7-9-09

The bite is hot on the Saginaw Bay with easy limits being caught on my last two charters. We seriously caught over 60 walleyes the last two days with the biggest being a 6lb fish taken this afternoon. We caught our fish on chartreuse and pink custom crawler harnesses with 1 ounce in-line weights 25-35 feet behind Off Shore boards. We also caught a lot of fish on 3 ounce bottom bouncers in 27-31 FOW around the end of the shipping channel. Silver, purple, pink, and chartreuse has been good colors on both Colorado and willow blades.

7-7-09

The walleye fishing on the Saginaw Bay continues to be great with fish being taken from Bay City to AuGres. However, the fishing has been affected more by the changing weather than it was last year and the walleyes are really moving around from day to day. I have been making short passes and moving around a lot to find active fish. The pods of fish have been very small, so long passes haven’t been productive for the most part. Once you find active fish stay on them and quickly make several passes over the hot area before the bite evaporates. I’ve had hot schools of walleye disappear quickly on several occasions in the last week, so get them while their hot.

Even though the water is fairly cool for this time of year the fish are relating to deeper water. I have been fishing in waters 25-35 feet all around the end of the shipping channel. 3-ounce bottom bouncers with Mack’s Lure Smile Blades have been the hot presentation. I have caught more fish this year on bottom bouncers that in years past and it is a super simple presentation. Simply let out enough line until your bouncer hit the bottom. Once it hits, I like to let out another 5 feet and then place the rod in the rod holder. Your rod holder should be positioned so that the rod is parallel with the water. Your line should be entering the water at a 45 degree angle at 1-1.2 MPH. I prefer harness off of the bouncers that have a small float in them to keep it off of the bottom like the Mack’s Lure Cha-Cha Crawler Series harnesses. I also don’t like to use treble hooks on bouncers, as they tend to grab more zebra mussels that single hooks. Bottom bouncers are also magnets for small, crawler stealing perch and white bass. If you are constantly getting the tail of your crawler nibbled off, try a Big Bite Bait Bio Crawler on the bouncer.

1 and 2 ounce in-line weights are still catching fish anywhere from 15-50 feet behind Off Shore boards. Chartreuse, green, and silver have been the hot beads and silver, gold, purple, pink and chartreuse blades have been catching fish. Be sure to mix up the style of blades that you are using. Colorado, Indiana, willow, and hatchet blades all send out different vibrations and the type of vibration is far more of a fish attractant than the color of the blade. I have been having a lot of success with the serrated willow blades from Warrior Lures. Local walleye pro Ed Clements has been working with Warrior Lures to design a custom color spinner blade that has been just crushing walleyes all summer. Look for the blade to be on the shelves at Frank’s Great Outdoors soon.

Sorry for the lack of reports for the last week or so, but I have been crazy busy with charters and tournaments. I had to reschedule a trip for today due to wind, so I finally got some time to write a report. We went through a ton of fish during both tournaments and managed to cash a 5^th place check in the Scottish Rite tournament on July 27^th with a weight of 16.47lbs. The Michigan Walleye Tour has a tournament out of Linwood Beach Marina this weekend with the weigh-in starting at 3pm both Saturday and Sunday. Be sure to stop by and check out how some of the best walleye fisherman in Michigan fair on the Saginaw Bay.

I still have several open dates for July charters. Check out http://baysportfishing.net/index.html for upcoming open dates.

6/13-15/09

We have finally had a couple of days in a row without storms and high winds and the fishing has gotten better as the weather has stabilized. The hot presentation has been chartreuse crawler harnesses with silver blades 30-50 feet behind Off Shore planer boards in 20-30 feet of water around the shipping channel. Several of the larger fish came on 2 ounce bottom bounces with Mackâs Lure Smile Blades.

6-7-09

The walleye fishing on the Saginaw Bay has been a little tough this past week. High winds out of every direction has scattered the fish and made finding them difficult. I have had 2 charters in the last couple of days and we really had to search to find active fish. The fish that we found were located on the east side of the shipping channel in 19-21 feet of water. The fish that we found were not in tight schools and were biting very lightly. All fish were taken on crawler harnesses and the blades had to have silver in them to get bit. Several of the larger fish were also taken on bottom bouncers with Mackâs Lure smile blades.

Check out the nice article on the AIM website regarding a trip that I donated as a co-angler prize for the event. http://www.aimfishing.com/display.asp?aid=2373

5-24-09

Today was the final day for the AIM professional walleye tournament in Bay City. I donated a charter today for two of the co-anglers were not chosen to fish the final day of the tournament. The plan was to take off from Bay City from the tournament launch site after the tournament boats had left and return prior to the weigh in so that the co-anglers could enjoy the show. The bay was a little rough in the morning and we had to move around a little bit to find fish. We finally came across a nice school of 17-20 inch fish and filled our 3 man limit in two passes by Callahan Reef in 10-12 feet of water. We trolled crawler harnesses with one ounce weights, 15 feet behind Off Shore Tackle planer boards.

5-23-09

Here is a picture of some of the fish we caught in the Saginaw River on Fin-Tech Nuckleball Jigs tipped with BioBait Grubs.

Salmo Hornet: Gold Metallic Orange......a Saginaw River "must have" crankbait.

5/20/09

Fishing on the Saginaw Bay and River has been great this week. However, high winds kept a lot of people off of the big water and muddied up a lot of the inner bay. I fished the river today for ~2 hours and only caught 2 walleyes on crankbaits. One on a Salmo Hornet and the other on the new Mad Eye Shad crankbait (both pictured below). The wind was tough and made jigging next to impossible. My tournament partner has been killing the walleyes all week in Bay City on Chart/Orange and Fire Nuckleball jigs and BioBait grubs in Acid Rain color. Later in the evening, the wind seemed to die down a little so I headed out to the bay and caught 8-10 walleyes in less than 2 hours on chartreuse harnesses and silver blades. If you make it on the bay, try to find clean water in the 17-19 foot range around the shipping channel.

Mad Eye Shad: New paddle tail crankbait

The Mad Eye Shad might be the hottest new bait to hit the walleye market this year. They are in high demand and in short supply. They were designed by some of the top professional walleye fisherman, including local walleye pro John Gillman. Frank's had them in stock, but they were quickly sold out and should have more soon. Linwood Party Store should also have their shipment in by this weekend.

5-15-09

The walleye fishing on the Saginaw Bay has busted wide open. I am hearing reports of limit catches from the ports of Linwood, Bay City, and Quanicassee. The fishing this weekend should be phenomenal.

Here are the reports from the various ports in the Saginaw Bay areaâ¦

Linwood: Fish are being caught in 17-20 feet of water and all around the Black Hole area.

Bay City: Limits are being taken in the Spark Plug area and around the dumping grounds. Lots of fish are also still being taken in the Saginaw River.

Quanicassee: Fish the 7-10 feet of water around Callahan Reef.

Crawler harnesses have been taking the majority of the fish, with Chartreuse, Red, and Purple being the hot colors. I have also heard a few positive reports from people pulling Smithwicks, Bombers, and Husky Jerks.

The AIM Pro Walleye Series Tournament is coming to Bay Cityâs Veterans Memorial Park on May 22-24 and will coincide with the Bay Fest Fishing and Outdoor Festival. Some of the best walleye fisherman in the world will be fishing this event. Be sure to stop by and check out.

http://www.aimfishing.com/event_saginawbay_09.asp

5-5-09

The jig bite last night on the Saginaw River was hot last night. They wanted Nuckle ball jigs tipped with Yum and Bio Baits. The color Fire was on fire.

Here are a few pictures of our catch.

5/3/09

The walleye fishing on the Saginaw Bay is slowly improving. The inner bay is still dirty due to the Saginaw, Kawkawlin, and Quanicasee Rivers being above flood stage for most of last week. The key to finding fish on the inner bay is to finding the cleaner water. We fished for 4 hours and ended up catching 5 walleyes on Sunday. My fishing partner Ed Clements, ended up catching 10. All of the walleyes were healthy 18-22 inch fish and each boat had one walleye in the 5 pound range. We were running harnesses in 11-15 FOW and the fish seemed to prefer the silver, cheese grader, Colorado blade.

4/24/09

I had my first charter of the season Friday evening with a father and son from Illinois. We fished in 5-8 feet of water from Finn Rd. to the Kawkawlin River mouth, with the highest concentration of fish being located in front of the Kawkawlin. The water temperature ranged anywhere from 55-51 degrees. We ended up catching 4 nice fish ranging from 19-22 inches. We also had several others come unbuttoned at the back of the boat. Even the fish that were boated were barely hooked, proving that the bite was extremely light. We were running crawler harnesses using a spit shot or no weight at all anywhere from 15 to 40 feet behind Off Shore planer boards.

Be very careful when motoring between the Saginaw and Kawkawlin Rivers, as there are a lot of trees, logs, and other floating debris that could ruin your fishing trip in a hurry. Please use extreme caution in this area.

4/18/09

I was finally able to get out on the bay Saturday for the first time this spring, following the birth of my son on April 8^th. We fished for 3 hours and caught one 22 inch walleye. We were pulling crawler harnesses in 5-8 feet of water and we trolled from State Park to the Saginaw River. The water was fairly clear and was between 50-52 degrees. Mixed results came from some other buddies who were out on the water. Both of the other boats were pulling Husky Jerks and Smithwicks in a little deeper water. One guy zeroed and the other caught 4 when I last talked to them. I also heard a lot of great reports from guys fishing in front of the AuGres River. The fishing on the Saginaw Bay should bust loose in the next week or so as water temperatures rise.

If you are looking for walleye fishing information related the Saginaw Bay, check out Tim Rollerâs Wild Addiction TV show this week. They are featuring my tournament partner Ed Clements, who is an expert on fishing Saginaw Bay walleyes. The show is very informational, as Ed offers up a lot of techniques that will put more fish in your boat this summer. The program can be viewed on Charter channel 5 and is also on the Sportsmanâs Channel.