Port AuGres Walleye Action
Posted: 08/19/2009
Saginaw Bay continues to produce limit catches of walleye. The water temperature has warmed into the mid to upper 70s and the fish have really turned on! The 21-foot freezer at our marina in AuGres was FULL of frozen walleye remains waiting for Monday’s pickup. Great bear bait! If you haven’t picked up a map of “Saginaw Bay Walleye Hot Spots” and are having trouble catching fish–get a copy of the map! Contact Larry@saginawbay.com for a copy.
Maps are a tremendous source of information year-in-year-out. We mark all our “hot spots” every trip and date them. We’ve found that these same spots produce fish consistently at the same times every year! Also note the size of the fish caught in these locations, as big fish tend to be caught over the same structure during certain times of the year. As I always run with a first mate, I have time for note taking from time to time so I record the lure and the color each walleye is landed on. Again, valuable information the next time out and next year under similar situations.
A friend of mine told me he had all his “hot spot” information in his chartplotter and didn’t need a map. A couple days later it was stolen! End of year’s of “hot spots”. Get the map!!
My wife says vinilla ice cream is boring, preferring several different flavors. Walleye get tired of looking at the same presentations all the time, too, often changing from one style of lure to another as well as different crawler harnesses. Try adding a spoon ahead of the crawler harness as an attractor, matching the spoon’s color as close as possible to the spinner blade being used. We did this last Sunday when fishing slowed and immediately started catching fish again! In fact, the tactic worked so well we added spoons to all our harnesses. (Note: we troll between 1.5 and 1.7 mph, using our old salmon spoons with the hooks removed. If trolling slower than that, a smaller spoon will work better).
Kids younger than six years old often have trouble reeling in a good-sized walleye. Rather than have the parents or first mate hold the rod while the youngster tries to reel, we put a rod holder right on the stern. The rod is placed in the holder and the young fisherman reels in his/her fish “all by myself, Dad! Look!”
20 knot winds “plus” on the bay again today so no fishing. Maybe tomorrow…
Good fishing!