[catman]

My brother Kenneth and his good friend Jay Nieman and his dad Tom went out for 3-4 hours yesterday afternoon mainly to test out a new lure system they hope to begin selling. Jay had tested it some last year on Lake Erie with pretty good results. It seems to work pretty good on Little Bay de Noc too! It basically combines an in-line weight with a crawler harness.

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=0NvZpr0B9WI

Kevin Lee
www.sallmarresort.net

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[catman]

My brother Kenneth found a little better bite today. Actually, the bite was off the charts, but most of the 40-50 walleye he and his clients caught today were sub legal. That said, they did manage to scrounge up 12 keepers. They probably could have caught a few more eaters had they wanted to, but they decided to make a move to try and catch some bigger fish. That didn't pan out! Still, a descent day on the water. I think the cloud cover helped improve the bite as it was the first cloudy day we have had in over a week I think. Purple was the best color on the spinners today. See you on the water...

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=OAqJSmIgtWE

Kevin Lee
www.sallmarresort.net

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[catman]

After seeing some pretty good walleye fishing the first two days of the season, the bite on Monday, Tuesday, and today, has been very tough to say the least. All three days have (for the most part) seen way too much flat calm conditions. But........the one good thing about the flat, calm, sunny days is that it has allowed the water temperature to rise dramatically with some areas already up into the lows 60's. If we could get a strong south blow for a day or two, I think the bite would really kick into high gear. The perch are biting though. Some nice ones too!!!
Kevin Lee
www.sallmarresort.net

[catman]

I just realized I forgot to put up a report about the walleye opener here on Little Bay de Noc. My brother Kenneth and his clients had a tough bite to start the day on his charter Saturday. But as the wind picked up and the water temp. rose, the fish kicked in and they ended up with their 15 fish limit. They caught fish trolling with crawler harnesses as well as drifting with Lindy Rigs with floating jigs tipped with half a crawler. The bite actually turned out pretty good Saturday. Sunday was still "ok" going by what our guests told me. But Monday and today it really dropped off. The bay has had very calm waters (like glass) and it is making it tough to say the least. We need some south winds to dirty it up and get the fish active again. Good luck on the water...
Kevin Lee
www.sallmarresort.net

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=aG-FLswzgEk

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[catman]

A new group has recently been formed called Walleye Restoration. With the support of the Michigan DNRE, the goal is to simply make a good fishery even better by planting more fish! Since no state funds are being used in this project, donations are greatly appreciated. With that in mind, I have made it very easy for anyone to "donate to the cause" by making a donation in our on-line store on our website http://www.sallmarre...line-store.html. The fall walleye fingerlings, which are larger 7-10 inch fish, cost almost $2.00 each. Anyone wanting to donate, can "purchase" fall fingerlings in our on-line store for $2.00 each. If you buy at least 5 walleye, your name will be entered into a drawing for 7 nights of free lodging at our resort. We will draw 3 names for the free lodging. I think we have until mid-July to raise as much money as we can. I want to thank everyone who contributes to the future of Little Bay de Noc...

Kevin Lee
www.sallmarresort.net

This post has been edited by catman: 28 April 2010 - 11:36 AM

[catman]

It looks as though the warm day we had today brought on another spawning run of walleye.
Kevin Lee
www.sallmarresort.net

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=TQI3cQqCNnM

[catman]

I wanted to have a fun way to announce the fact that the store at our resort will now be stocking all 433 crawler harnesses made by a local guy up here. So this is what I came up with...
Kevin Lee
www.sallmarresort.net

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=lO9Pvy_v9qs

[duckc.1187]

heres a couple cool pics i got last years spawn

[Get Hooked]

That was pretty cool, thanks for sharing that.

[catman]

Here is some video of the walleye spawning the last couple days...

Kevin Lee
www.sallmarresort.net

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=fueDkFBpkqY

[catman]

Well, this evening might have been my last day on the ice this season as the ice is going quick!!! If it gets close to 60 degrees tomorrow like they are forcasting, what's left will really go quick. That said, my brother Kenneth, longtime guest (and now good friend) Joe Volpe, good friend Gary Daniels "aka walleyeguy", and Gary's friend Steve gave it a go this evening. Kenneth started it off with a really nice fish while jigging that was 26-27 inches which he quickly released, then Steve landed one about 22 inches on a tip-up, then Joe caught a nice eater. After that it was getting too dark for video. To sum it up, Kenneth caught the one nice one plus one more eater, Steve ended up with 3 eaters, Gary with two eaters, and Joe and I with just one eater a piece. A few throwbacks were caught, but not that many. We did not have nearly as many fish come through as we did earlier in the week. And the ones that did come through, did not seem very active. So all told, 8 eaters and one big one released. If anyone is still planning on going out the last two days of the season, be extra cautious as I can't believe how much ice we have lost just in the last two days!!!
http://www.youtube.c...h?v=wGovUwnY4ko
Kevin Lee
www.sallmarresort.net

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[catman]

My brother Kenneth and I got out for the last couple hours today and had our lines in the water about 5:00 . I don't think I had been fishing five minutes when I hooked a nice fish. It didn't really fight too hard until it got about 10 feet below the ice. But then I got a good look at her and figured she was a good 29 or 30 inches. I also got a good look at my doctored up #5 Rapala just barely hooked in her lip. I took it as easy as I could trying to coax her head up into the hole, but she finally came off. So everyone on the bay heard some guy scream a few choice words about 5:15 or so, that was me!!! I then caught a couple dinks, then a just legal. I could not keep the dinks off, so I switched to a #9 Rap hoping to fix that problem. Wouldn't you know it, the smallest little walleye of the evening hit the #9. I'm not even sure if it was 8 inches. Since I was still catching dinks, I switched back to the same Rap I lost the big fish on earlier. Again, it wasn't down there 5 minutes and I had another good fish on. This one I landed and it turned out to be a nice 28 incher that I released. But from then on, it was dink after dink after dink. I quit counting at 13. I think I ended up with somewhere between 15-20 dinks before calling it a night. During this time Kenneth was also catching alot of dinks. But he did end up with two keepers. So we ended up with 3 keepers to bring home. It was a fun couple of hours. Despite the warm weather, the ice is holding up pretty good. We did have a couple trucks go through the past couple days, but not because the ice got bad. Because they didn't know where they were driving! Time for bed...
Kevin Lee
www.sallmarresort.net

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[catman]

My wife Theresa and I were set-up and fishing by 4:30 this afternoon in 36 feet of water. Not marking much at first, so I went out to try a little deeper (38 ft). Caught a couple dinks at first. Then I caught a nice 11 3/4 inch perch on a #5 Glow Rapala. Wished I would have had some minnows with because the school hung around for awhile, but I could not get anymore takers on the Raps. Was getting close to "primetime" by now so I went and tried a little shallower. Once again, started off with a couple dinks. Then I spent a good 5 minutes trying to get a little bigger fish to hit and it finally did. It turned out to be a nice 19 inch eater. About 10 minutes later, Theresa yelled for me to come get a picture of her. I'll be darned if she didn't catch her 2nd hog walleye of the season. A nice fat one that was 28 inches on the nose. She released the 28 incher after a quick picture. We then went back to jigging, but had no more takers. I wish "primetime" would last about 3 hours!!! Good luck on the ice...
Kevin Lee
www.sallmarresort.net

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=Rou6cie3U10

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[catman]

That's an awesome walleye "duckc". Great picture too. Congrats.... That said, first, an ice report. No problems from Gladstone north with 12-17 inches in most areas. There is also good ice from the Gladstone Yacht Harbor south roughly to the Terrace Bay Inn. South of there, still iffy in most areas. With the mild temps. this winter, I still don't recommend driving vehicles out there yet. Though many are and a few have went through. Fishing report:The same guys staying with us (Brian, John, Matt, and Mark) have seen the bite drop off quite a bit on Big Bay the past couple days. They have still caught some nice fish, but not like they were. Another mounter was caught though by John Holloway that was just over 9 lbs. They had a couple other friends show up Thursday, and one of them (John Kellogg) caught his mounter yesterday that was 30 inches and 9 1/2 pounds. My brother Kenneth and I were out this morning for a couple hours and ended up with 3 eaters. One of which coughed up a small smelt. We marked a pretty good number of fish, but could not get them to hit. Kenneth caught his keeper on a Williams Wabler spoon tipped with a minnow tail. The first keeper I caught also hit a spoon, but it was tipped with a Gulp minnow. My 2nd keeper took a #8 Holographic Gold/Orange Ice Darter. The biggest fish I marked all morning was right before we left at 10:15 but it would not commit! I had it 8 feet off bottom for what seemed like 5 minutes before it got bored (I guess) and left. Pretty nice morning out there, I was surprised how few folks we saw fishing this morning. Good luck on the ice folks..
Kevin Lee
www.sallmarresort.net

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[catman]

Do not go near the tip of Squaw Point as it does not freeze even in the coldest of winters!!! That said, you really can't fish too deep out here on Little Bay. Last week, my wife caught her 28 incher from 48 feet of water. And I think we were in 47 feet of water the next day when I caught a nice 29 incher. It's strange, but I really feel anything less than 50 feet seems fairly shallow to the fish. My favorite depth to fish walleye is 65 feet. In some key spots, you will find 65 feet of water just loaded with walleye at "primetime". They are coming to feed in 65 feet of water from much deeper. But there's less light penetration, the water is warmer, and plenty of food 65 feet deep, so it works out pretty good for the walleye...Good luck on your trip. Oh, last year it seemd like the Green Rainbow Trout was the best color on the Darters, this year the Holographic Blue/Green Tiger seems like it might be the best (so far).

[duckc.1187]

one from last weekend 31" 11.5 lbs

[Adam]

catman, great reports, and even more great fish!!!!!!!

I have been walleye fishing Sturgeon Bay area for the last 6 years and doing pretty well, but going to make the maiden voyage to BayDeNoc this next week to stay with some friends. We are going to be fishing right off Squaw Point, as that is (somewhat close) where my friend lives. My question is, what would be a good starting depth? Not looking for location or any real specifics, just general depths if that is possible and you would be willing to share.

I know in Sturgeon Bay, I start in 40 fow and work my way to 26 as the light gets lower/better prime time...

Is this similar to the area. Thanks for any help you could offer..

PS - Gonna see how the ice darters work up that way

This post has been edited by Adam: 22 January 2010 - 06:44 PM
Reason for edit: SP

[catman]

The ice is very good, but not as thick as past years. You will be fine with four wheelers and snowmobiles, but I would keep the vehicles off. We have had three trucks go thru the ice in the past three days. Luckily, all the occupants escaped with out injury. Over all, this year has been very mild. We are supposed to warm again into the mid 30's this weekend. Each warm up we have weakens the ice. Plus, every time the wind blows from the north, warmer water gets sucked back into the bay melting the ice from the bottom. Lack of snow cover is also letting the sun honeycomb the ice just like it does in the spring. So anyway, we have plenty of good ice, but not enough for vehicles (in my opinion)...Good luck on your trip.
Kevin Lee
www.sallmarresort.net

[trophy_taker]

Heading up to Bay de Noc on the 30th of Jan and staying til Feb 1st. How's the ice looking up there. Any spots a guy should be worried about. Will be bringing the four wheeler to use on the ice. Never fished up there but always wanted to. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[catman]

I had two more pics...
Kevin Lee
www.sallmarresort.net

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