Saginaw Bay question?

[Deer Slayer]

I was wondering if someone would give me some hints on fishing for walleyes on Saginaw Bay. I have an 18 foot Starcraft with a 90 horse Merc and electric trolling motor.(no kicker yet) I am used to fishing Munuscong by drifting with jigs and was wondering if there is anywhere in the bay to do this or do you have to troll? I usually launch from the DNR ramp in Bay City and would appreciate any tips I can get. I have been fishing the Saginaw river with jigs and it is a lot of fun and would like to do the same during the summer in the bay.

As a side note I think it was a great idea to put the bay and tribs as a seperate site. (even though it took me a while to see it)

Thanks in advance.

Deerslayer:cool: :coolgleam :help:

[Southend517]

guys might be a little tight lipped with a tourny this weekend

[fishinmachine2]

You could drift but i think you cover more water trolling. As for tips everybody has their own ways and lure types they like. Most guys like to pull crawler harnesses in a varity of colors and sizes, golds and purples are good on the bay. They will mainly use bottom bouncer or snap weights and when the fish go deeper i like to use disc divers with a harness behind it.
Other guys like to pull cranks, hot-n-tots, wiggle warts and reefrunners. Good Luck!!

Scott

[Deer Slayer]

guys might be a little tight lipped with a tourny this weekend

Thanks for that!:dizzy: I actually don't plan on fishing this weekend due to all the bad weather we have been having. The cost of gas makes it so that we have to look at past and future weather before spending $30 just to get there. I just figured it might be fun to get out there sometime this summer if I can figure out where to go and what to use.

[walleye express]

Slayer.

No tight lips here. Especially being jig fishing the Bay will be what 0% of the tournament entries might be doing this weekend. There are only 2 places I ever seen jig fishing (With lead head Jigs) work with much success actually in the Bay. Thats right on those gravel humps, just west of the river mouth. And drifting/dragging jigs with the current in the Hot Ponds, which might disqualify it as being the Bay. Gary Roach was the first guy I ever witnessed doing it, in one of the first PWT's that came to bay City years ago. And he finished down in the middle of the pack in that tournament. We finished 20th with a last day top total weight of 23 pounds caught on 1/4 tots, after making the big run deep for day one and zeroing.

Also seen a few others trying it back then just off-shore from what we now call the "Blue Wall" downshore from Hoyles. Those early PWT guys were from places out west mostly. Places like "Devils Lake" and others, that finding and jigging for individual fish was the way to go. Most of them had a little culture shock when guys trolling Hot-N-Tots/Rattle Tots won most of the money in those first tourneys. I'll say one thing about your chosen technique, you won't have to much competition or guys coming in on your fish if you find them while jiging on the Bay. Good luck.

[Joe R.]

Generally speaking the bite on the bay is a trolling bite. The only people that I have ever seen drifting were drifting crawler harnesses. The reason for this is that most of the fish in the bay are suspended. We catch the vast majority of our fish in the upper 6' to 9' fow. Generally if I fish with three guys in the boat I will run my two outside lines in the 4' to 6' range on my outside boards. The next set of boards will be in the 7' to 10' range. Inside rods will be set within a couple of feet of bottom. The bulk of the fish will come on the outside (shallow running) rods. The deeper rods do seem to take some of the bigger fish, but not near as many. Of course this isn't a rule that is set in stone, but holds true on most days. As a side note we caught a lot of fish last year on spoons. Running them by themselves or as sliders above a crank bait. I'll be running a few more of them this year using a few different methods when I can get out there.

Joe

[pilatusbahn]

Most guys troll about .7 to 1.1 mph. If you can get your 90 that slow, then trolling is the way to go. Get a 1oz. bottom bouncer and some crawler harnesses. Long ling or inline boards or big boards. I dont even have the hot colors yet because of the recent winds/rain/weather. Last year red beads with gold blades was the ticket. With the muddy water, anything chartreuse will probably work right now. Just get yourself a couple dozen crawlers cause you are bound to catch catfish, sheephead, perch, pike, bass and walleye. Head out the river mouth and then just past 3rd river channel bouy before the island turn right and head east (thats the hot ponds that Dan was talking about) be careful going through there it does get as shallow as 4' in some areas. Set up in 6' to 8' of water. If boats are shallower or deeper then just slow troll to them. Listen to channel 68 or 69. The "old timers" will be out there talking and you can ask them for help, usually they are more than willing. They'll be out there before 6am, have their fish and be gone by 11am when things start to get busy. Good luck!!

[Capt Hook]

Years ago in a early MWC tournament I placed in top 10 drifting A floater and crawler in 20 fow off Hoyles. Used a slip weight and gave um some line when they hit. Ran the weight just off bottom. Have not done that in years but it should still work. Also there are always some eyes down near the bottom they just are not as active. Look for the ones a little off bottom as those fish are getting ready to move up and feed. I prefer to troll but I have had hugh catches, size and number, running bouncers and spinner/crawlers.

[Deer Slayer]

I want to thank all of you that have responded. It appears as though I should change my tactics and experiment with these new techniques. Again thanks and this just shows what a nice friendly fisherperson site this is.;)

Deer Slayer