Fishing yesterday, Friday, August 7, 2009 was exceptional in numerous spots around the bay. Big Charity Island really lit up with limit catches taken in the 21-22 foot depths. Chartreuse “Walleye Pops” were our lure of choice, and we boxed a six-party ticket in just over two hours. Tip: stay away from the “pack” of boats and find undisturbed fish.
Also, an area that has been “hot” and suddenly shuts down with actice fish doesn’t mean the fish have necessarily left. Once the boats decide the fish have left/quit biting and start leaving the area, work back in there an hour or so later. Those fish will often become highly active once the boat traffic leaves. This is especially true in shallow water (18 foot or less).
Fishing off Big Charity Island puts anglers right into the open waters of Lake Huron and a good 13 miles from any port should a storm roll in, as has often been the case this summer. Pay intense attention to weather updates. Also, with this summer’s unstable weather patterns, fishing this far offshore is no place for smaller boats (in my professional opinion, nothing under 24-25 foot). I’ve been in this business since 1976, and experience has taught that “BIGGER IS BETTER” when fishing more than three to four miles from shore.
Other “hot spots” (and a whole lot closer to port) were south of Pt. AuGres in 16 to 24 feet of water. Get the maps out and check for near-shore structure. There are a lot of good fishing areas that go unnoticed all summer because anglers think if they “follow the boat pack” they will magically catch fish. There are any number of bars, points, and trenches that hold good numbers of fish this time of year. A friend was in one of those spots yesterday, and he and his wife took their ten walleye in a little more than two hours in spite of losing “a lot of light bites”. Check these areas out off Standish (Eagle Bay Maria), Pinconning and Linwood. Further down in the bay south of Linwood also produced a lot of nice fish yesterday.
And remember, take your kids fishing! I could never thank my dad and mom enough for all those fishing trips they took my sister and I on as kids. It really provided strong family bonding and developed a real love in us for the out-of-doors.
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Capt. Terry Walsh
(989) 846.8318
Termar Walleye Charters