Bear Creek 3-28-09

Went over to Manistee River and Bear Creek looking for Steelheads on Saturday. We stopped at Tippy Dam to checkout the fishing action. Lots of boats fishing in front of the boat launch and as usual the banks of the river were full of shore fishermen. The fishing action seemed to be a bit slow, but we did see a few nice fish on strings.

We fished Bear Creek with about twenty other guys. Not many steelhead in the river just yet, but we did have fun catching small trout as we searched.

Detroit River 3-22-09

The beginning of the 2009 open water walleye extravaganza!!! Yesterday March 22 we went out to the Detroit River for the first time this season and man let me tell you the action was hot! We brought home 4 nice walleyes and the smallest one was 22" and the best one was 29” long and nine pounds. The official report is......... The Walleye are in the river south of the Grosse Ille free bridge in around 8'-12' of water hitting on purple and natural lead (no paint) jigs with a large shiner minnow.

Rich "CF Fishing Team"

Budd Lake Fishing Report 3-8-09

My nephew and I fished Budd Lake for a few hours on Sunday (3-8). We found a good school of blue gills in 11 FOW north of the island. No walleyes but we did pick up a few small pike.

The ice is still about 14-inches thick, but you need to use caution especially around the drains.

Budd Lake Fishing Report 2-21-09 & 2-22-09

Had the opportunity to fish in the Budd Lake Fishing Tournament that was held on Saturday (2-21). I started out looking for bait fish in shallow water and on my second hole I found a monster school of small bluegills suspended over a weed structure in 16 FOW. After drilling a few more holes I found a school of larger bluegills and decided to fish the area to get my five bluegills that were required in the team event.

After thinking about the amount of bait fish located in area I decided to setup a tip-up just in front of the first school of small bluegills. The weed growth was about three foot off of the bottom, so I setup my bait at three and a half foot off of the bottom were I knew the bait fish were hanging out. My first flag came at 9:15am with no fish just a lot of line spooled off. The tournament judges were visiting at the time of my first flag and I think they were more excited then me. The second flag came at 9:50am and after waiting a few minutes I had my first walleye of the day. Right as the fish came through the hole she broke my 6 pound crystal fire wire leader, but I was able to grab her by the head and pull her on the ice.

Fishing has improved greatly on Budd this month. I iced forty 8-inch to 10-inch bluegills and one 24-inch walleye in three hours. Over all I saw two nice walleyes on the camera and a ton of bluegills. I took my nephew and his friend out on Sunday afternoon and we iced fifty keeper bluegills out in 17 FOW.

Ice conditions are excellent 14-inches in most areas.

Went back to the same spot as the previous post and braught up 2 more keeper Walleyes. Ended up fishing from 5PM to 6:30PM and fished the same holes. I was able to bring these two 18" Walley's up with a small fire nose jigging rapala and a northland flowage minnow. Had to throw back 2 undersized Walleye's but still was a good day fishing and not working. Good luck and tight lines. Field Staff Justin Brechtelsbauer

Houghton Lake Walleye Report February 2009

Here it was another 20 degree day on Houghton Lake. We started fishing on the east side of Houghton lake on top of a 10 foot deep weed bed were we found crappies and a variety of bass on the camera. Fished from 4pm to 6:30pm with the use of the bleeding nose jigging rapala and size 1 do jiggers. We threw back 5 large mouth bass, 1 small mouth bass, 6 undersized walleyes and 11 pike. Good luck and tight lines.

Saginaw Bay Walleye Report February 7, 2009

With the warmer temperatures hitting the Saginaw Bay area the walleye fishing is heating up. This was our second trip to the bay testing and exploring previously mapped areas from summer time. After many hours of locating the school, we had finally stumbled on a good number of "hog" walleyes. I was fishing with Brian pictured to the left with this 9.75 pound walleye which should place in the Shiver on the River contest in Bay City. Going to hard to beat the current 13-pounder leading the tournament. We did throw back a couple undersized but left the water with this nice walleye and 8 other keeper walleyes ranging from 18"-25". There is about 12" of good ice but after the next few days and the river breaking up the bay may be fished by boats. The school is moving closer to the mouth of the rivers and bigger numbers of walleye can be found in the 17 foot areas of the Bay. Good luck and tight lines. Staff Member Justin Brechtelsbauer.