A Day on the Water

It was windy enough to make fly casting difficult.  Some ice was forming in the guides as I stripped steamers.  Mid morning I suspected that I had busted the tungsten bead off of my fly because my forced casts were frequently striking the pier railing.  I made a few more casts and this lake trout took the fly that missing  the bead.  So he took shallower than I thought I was fishing.  I was casting a 9 weight type III medium sinking shooting head.  I was counting it down for 6 seconds. The second Laker took in the late afternoon...

I had tried a couple of other jigs when this small dark Salmon took the1/32 ounce #6 Nuke Minnow Jig.  It was definitely a Pacific Salmon because it had black inside its mouth.  It has the same spot pattern as the later Salmon.  So are they both Kings or Cohos? Late in the afternoon this Salmon took this1/48 ounce # 6 Whtie Mop Worm Jig. Earlier in the day I hooked a big fish on an 8mm painted pale yellow Glow Bead.  I took line and got around a snag on the far side of the channel.  I was able...

I have been working for over a decade on getting a good walk the dog action into surface and sub surface flies.  I've got it with this Bullet Dog pattern. On this kind mid November afternoon, I made one last trip to Point Mouillie SGA hoping to get another top water shot at some of the big Pike and Bass in the shallow weedy water there.  The lily pads and cattails are all dead.  I  started in a narrow pass that holds big fish.  The water was muddy from all the  duck hunters motoring back and forth  through there.  I...

I had a 3 day weekend with family on the far northeastern coast of Michigan.  I tried the Thunder Bay River Dam, the Charlevoy Dam and the AuSable River Mouth Pier. I fished three half days trying 6 spots with only one fair hooked king salmon landed.  It took a Glo-Pink headed 1/32 ounce size 6 jig tied with olive marabou tail with rubber legs embedded in a dubbed thorax.  In past seasons, I got some steelhead and a couple of Cohos on this pattern, it has a history of taking one fish after I have been futilely pounding the...

Fished Belleville and Hudson lakes Thursday evening and Friday Afternoon and evening.  Bass were hitting the 5/0 Chartreuse Bullet Dog fished maximum force rips so it tore up the surface making Pop, Chug, Slashing noise as well as darting randomly of at sideways angles or downward plunges.  I was trying to bring up a fall Musky which are stocked in both lakes.  I saw no fishermen and got two 12  inch and 2 15 inch smallmouth on Belleville Lake.  Many more bass some bigger hit or rushed the big floating diver.  This 18 inch bass from Hudson Lake has a...