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Fishing Report
Captain Andy's Fishing Report
Updated Thursday, 11/02/09
Fishing in our area has remained steady despite the crazy weather we’ve had.Hi There Fellow Fisherman, Captain Andy here with this week's Fishing Report
Perch action is heating up in all of the cuts and marinas. Fish sizes range from 6” – 10” however you may have to do some sorting. All in all you should be able to catch yourself a nice meal.
Walleye fishing is still going strong in 13’-16’ of water around the sail boat buoys, the mouth of the Saginaw River and in the Saginaw River. Trolling out in the bay with body baits is working while jig tactics are best in the river.
No reports of Whitefish yet but with cold weather on the way they should start up in a week or so.
From Captain Andy and the crew at Frank’s, Good Luck & Good Fishing.
E-mail Captain Andy at CaptainAndy@FranksGreatOutdoors.com
Captain Dan's Fishing Report
Updated Tuesday, 11/14/09
Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 12:17 am Post subject: 2009 Walleye Trawl results and question. ________________________________________
Wrote my fish biologist buddy an E-mail asking a question and requesting the trawl results for this year. That question and his reply below.
Dave. Been knocking the heck out of the walleyes on the river lately, both day and night. Attached is a picture of a small 5 incher I pulled out of the stomach of a 6 pounder from last night. I've also recently seen perch fishermen pulling up one juvenile walleye after the other on the river using small minnows, as the river is gorged with small shiners and shad. This whole scenario got me thinking about something. What is the science and thought processes for doing the Fish data Trawls in September on the Bay. Wouldn't a big amount of these juveniles that you base your spring spawn data and findings on, be in the river and out of Trawls way (so to speak). And please let me know what the Trawl result and findings were for this September on the Bay (if you have them). Thank's Dave. Dan.
Dan: I'm glad to hear the fishing is keeping up. The thought process is that in the late summer or early fall, that year's production of juveniles (young-of-the-year or what we sometimes call age-0s) would not be large enough to catch. If we trawled in the summer or spring, they would just be fry or small fingerlings. By September, they are catchable. What you and others are mostly seeing and getting in the river are yearlings or age-2s. We see a lot of those in the trawls too and in our gill nets. Yes there are lots in the river but there are still lots in the bay too. We don't have to be able to access all the fish during a survey, just sample consistently in the same place and the differences we see from year to year should represent genuine change (trends). Also I suspect the concentration of fish in the river may be greater in October than early September when we do our survey.
And yes we have our preliminary findings for this past years hatch. The good news is that our September trawling catch rate of YOY or age-0 walleyes and the spring hatch year class of 2009 was yet another new record!. Huge numbers form all over the bay. Bigger numbers than any time we have surveyed (since 1971) and even bigger than the huge 2003 year class. This bodes very well for the continued high level of walleyes in the bay. The bad news is that the 2008 year class was much smaller (measured this year as yearlings), but we knew that. The bay now seems to be establishing strong and weaker year classes of walleye in an alternating fashion. This is a sign that the population is nearing capacity and "density-dependent" feedback mechanisms are beginning to kick in and regulate the population size.
This was fully expected and is not necessarily a bad sign. This is typical of most walleye populations, but most populations only pull off a strong walleye year class say every few years surrounded by two or three weaker ones. Saginaw Bay seems to only endure one weaker one and then its right back to very strong ones. This walleye population continues to impress.
We have yet to do all our aging of our specimens and then I'll know more about how growth rates are trending. I.e. we have more to learn from last months collections but this is our initial observations. Things are not perfect on the bay, our perch are still not surviving well and that population/fishery is at the lowest levels we have ever measured. Perch are important to the bay, I suspect that they drive fishing pressure (effort) as much or more than walleye even do.
Our initial observations are that the bay's prey base is holding up nicely. Despite the expansion of the walleye population, the abundance of prey has not declined appreciably (in abundance but it has changed in composition). We have some new research planned for the bay including a statistical catch at age model that will help us understand the dynamics of the walleye population. We have some other ideas in the planning stage but are not funded yet. I'll let you know more about them if they get the nod.
And as always, stay safe, fish smart and tight lines. Capt. Dan.
Or Visit the website Walleye-Express Charters
Ed Clements Fishing Report
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.
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
Hey everybody,
Hope everybody has their buck by the time they read this report. I'm not quite sure what to do or where to fish in these last two weeks. The River is giving up both good walleye catches and now decent perch catches this last week. But something is happening on the bay that is outstanding. The walleye trolling bite has been off the charts these last 2 weeks. And the average size of the walleyes being caught is also like nothing most of us seen all summer. Waters anywhere from 9 to 19 feet are giving up these nice walleyes. Stickbaits, from #14 Husky Jerks to Thunderstick Jrs. are the cranks of choice by many. I've been doing very well myself on Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnows cranks. I've included some recent pictures of my last 2 trips, and encourage anybody wanting to get in on this good fishing to get a hold of me for a two man charter. I'm also including an E-mail response from my DNR buddy about the recent September Trawl result on the Bay. This preliminary report bodes very well for our fishery for the next few years. But remember, this report is still preliminary.Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 12:17 am Post subject: 2009 Walleye Trawl results and question. ________________________________________
Wrote my fish biologist buddy an E-mail asking a question and requesting the trawl results for this year. That question and his reply below.
Dave. Been knocking the heck out of the walleyes on the river lately, both day and night. Attached is a picture of a small 5 incher I pulled out of the stomach of a 6 pounder from last night. I've also recently seen perch fishermen pulling up one juvenile walleye after the other on the river using small minnows, as the river is gorged with small shiners and shad. This whole scenario got me thinking about something. What is the science and thought processes for doing the Fish data Trawls in September on the Bay. Wouldn't a big amount of these juveniles that you base your spring spawn data and findings on, be in the river and out of Trawls way (so to speak). And please let me know what the Trawl result and findings were for this September on the Bay (if you have them). Thank's Dave. Dan.
Dan: I'm glad to hear the fishing is keeping up. The thought process is that in the late summer or early fall, that year's production of juveniles (young-of-the-year or what we sometimes call age-0s) would not be large enough to catch. If we trawled in the summer or spring, they would just be fry or small fingerlings. By September, they are catchable. What you and others are mostly seeing and getting in the river are yearlings or age-2s. We see a lot of those in the trawls too and in our gill nets. Yes there are lots in the river but there are still lots in the bay too. We don't have to be able to access all the fish during a survey, just sample consistently in the same place and the differences we see from year to year should represent genuine change (trends). Also I suspect the concentration of fish in the river may be greater in October than early September when we do our survey.
And yes we have our preliminary findings for this past years hatch. The good news is that our September trawling catch rate of YOY or age-0 walleyes and the spring hatch year class of 2009 was yet another new record!. Huge numbers form all over the bay. Bigger numbers than any time we have surveyed (since 1971) and even bigger than the huge 2003 year class. This bodes very well for the continued high level of walleyes in the bay. The bad news is that the 2008 year class was much smaller (measured this year as yearlings), but we knew that. The bay now seems to be establishing strong and weaker year classes of walleye in an alternating fashion. This is a sign that the population is nearing capacity and "density-dependent" feedback mechanisms are beginning to kick in and regulate the population size.
This was fully expected and is not necessarily a bad sign. This is typical of most walleye populations, but most populations only pull off a strong walleye year class say every few years surrounded by two or three weaker ones. Saginaw Bay seems to only endure one weaker one and then its right back to very strong ones. This walleye population continues to impress.
We have yet to do all our aging of our specimens and then I'll know more about how growth rates are trending. I.e. we have more to learn from last months collections but this is our initial observations. Things are not perfect on the bay, our perch are still not surviving well and that population/fishery is at the lowest levels we have ever measured. Perch are important to the bay, I suspect that they drive fishing pressure (effort) as much or more than walleye even do.
Our initial observations are that the bay's prey base is holding up nicely. Despite the expansion of the walleye population, the abundance of prey has not declined appreciably (in abundance but it has changed in composition). We have some new research planned for the bay including a statistical catch at age model that will help us understand the dynamics of the walleye population. We have some other ideas in the planning stage but are not funded yet. I'll let you know more about them if they get the nod.
And as always, stay safe, fish smart and tight lines. Capt. Dan.
Fishing Report brought to you by: Captain Dan Manyen from Walleye Express
To Contact or book a charter with Capt. Dan
E-mail CaptDan@walleye-express.comOr Visit the website Walleye-Express Charters
Ed Clements Fishing Report
Updated Wednesday, 11/11/09
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. Saginaw River Walleye Fishing Slows a Bit, but still Best in Years. Saginaw Bay Heats Up!
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.
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
Fishing Report brought to you by:
Ed Clements
Drop Me an email at
E-mail clementse@maxsportfish.com