sag river near independance

[limige]

well tried walleye fishing today, only done it a handful of times through the ice with no success again. first time out this year, fished near the pilings and the short pier there. used a camera to check it out and the bottom was muddy with not much contour or weeds, did see a few eye's checking out the camera though. that was pretty neat.


anyhow, jigged silver and gold hopkins spoons tipped with some thawed out minnows i had in the freezer. got a few nibbles that felt like perch but no walleye's.

talked to some others that managed a few keepers but caught alot of undersized fish. one guy said he was using a jigging rap.

so what am i doing wrong here? i bounced the bottom at least half the time, tried up alittle with no luck...


mike

[Ralph Smith]

Keep at it, you'll get some. Have fished there last 2 days morning and evening with only small ones. Most guys using jiggin raps are snaggin fish. My buddy uses those, and this morning I kept on him while he proceeded to keep count of his 12 to 14 sub legal walleye that came in hooked under bottom jaw with nose hook on jiggin rap. Granted he did get two that ate the treble and minnow on bottom hook with stinger, but most are snagged, and I don't use them. The fish have got to be investigating lure and then wham! it get lifted right into them, thats why they say pound the bottom with them, so you can get under fish. I'll probobly get flack for this, but I sit and watch it next to me, and thats not for me. I only caught 3, but mine all hit the minnow and were hooked in mouth. Going to try rivermouth in morning, will post results.

[kingfisher 11]

My son and I fished with three other guys tonight, out there. My son and I caught around 75 fish tonight. Only three legal fish between him and I. About the same for the other three guys. Most of our fish came on lead heads and my son even used a perch rig. The walleye are hitting light. Most of the time when you go to pick up the bait they are holding on. Make sure you fish right at the bottom. Bounce the bottom real slow and lower it slow. Most hits that you feel will be on the way down. You don't need 17# test like many here have stated. I use 8-10# all the time. Just make sure you have a good knot.
If you need more exact info PM me and I will help you out.

We are thinking about going back to the bay. I am tired of all the small fish. The bay should shape up pretty good after the weekend temps. Tomorrow might be a trip to the east side of the bay.

Don't feel bad, Hawg hunter was with me in the shanty tonight. He had one of those nights where everything he tried did not work. I sat next to him all evening one fish after another and he was 30" away and could not buy a bite. He finally got going just at dark. Fishing can really make you over think sometimes.

[Quakmaster316]

NO worthing just dont know how to fish thats all

[kingfisher 11]

NO worthing just dont know how to fish thats all

I think he caught more fish then you did last night....you better be careful.

[J.Harrington]

I fished there all last weekend and most of the fish were suspended. It was not uncommon to lift my lure 8-10' off the bottom and see 6-7 fish on the vexilar, following my lure. I had two rods with two different lures and when one wasn't working, I would real up fast and drop my other rod down quick and almost like clockwork they'd be on my line. That was last weekend, things might have changed since then though.

[walleyeman2006]

fish were still up high like 5 ft down...didnt figure that out till about 10 pm lol i need my flasher but its on my boat yet ...had a 20 inch fishj rip a shad off my jig as i was letting it down was nice to see but woulda been better to catch lol with the amount of feed in there its wonder any ones doing anything..\

those little nibbles mean your doing things near right lol just wait till one of those little pecks is a wall hanger.....walleye will come in and nose your lure then inhale it ive gotten to watch it many times on the bay..when you get the bump try moving your rod tip slightly then increase the movemnt until you figure out what they want

[limige]

well, heading back out to try again guys. thanks for the tips, we'll see what we can figure out. i'll be in a blue suburban with an old minute man shanty.

thanks
mike

[kingfisher 11]

Looks like we will be there tonight again. We will have three shanties, 2- 3000's and a 4000 schappel's

I drive a red F-250 super crew with topper.

[jig head]

Ill be there also, in a purple otter near the pilings.

[limige]

well, we took my buddies black chevy with a hardtop tonno cover.....

did better today! my buddy was killing me. i've been using a light braided line, i added some mono leaders and used my jigging raps. landed 3 or4 sublegals. my buddy got one for the bucket and threw back 5 or 6. we'll probably be back out there tonight.

btw, threw the camera down today and saw quite a few more fish. got to see one take my rapala while i had it set down! saw others watch it but only 1 taker! how cool is that! i told my buddy i got to hook it up to a cannon ball this summer salmon fishing!

later
mike

[MuskyDan]

I will be there but in a different spot, good luck all of you.

[MichiganOutdoorFan]

btw, threw the camera down today and saw quite a few more fish. got to see one take my rapala while i had it set down! saw others watch it but only 1 taker! how cool is that! i told my buddy i got to hook it up to a cannon ball this summer salmon fishing!

later
mike

what camera are you using? I tried my aqua vu but the water was too cloudy and I could not see a thing.

[wolverine301]

How thick is the ice near the bridge? How far out towards the channel are you guys fishing? I have heard 3" and that scares me abit, but if all of you are having no issues I don't see why I should either? Maybe I will try it out next week after this cold snap coming...

[olddog413]

wolverine, two mornings ago, I checked the ice on the east side in front of the water plant up near the bridge. The plan was to get in one of the troughs. Found less then 2" of snow covered ice. Got the heck out of there. While there, I did see two guys walk right across the channel from the west side without even checking once, beyond belief !!There are guys fiishing right in it out there, and lots of guys on the edge of the channel. In my opinion, that cold blast can't come soon enough.

[walleyeman2006]

the ice is not the same one day to the next...water must still be warm i had 5 inches one day and 3 the next in the same spot..im done with the river untill after the cold snap comes through....olddog i know what ya mean its nuts..it should allways be a seriuos issue walking on that river...even after the next few days theres still going to be 2 inches or less of ice in some spots

[WHITE BEAR]

I agree,some spots on the river never get safe ice. A couple years ago there was 7-10" on most of the river but the area out from vets park had spots that were only an inch thick. A few brave souls found a path of safe ice out to the middle but one step off the path and you got wet. I saw a couple guys fell through there within a few days. Luckilly no one went under the ice and they were able to get themselves out. I did well on the edge of the chanel there in 16-18fow without having to risk my life. I always use my spud on the river no matter what the conditions. One thing to think about is if the water level drops and there's still thin spots there's no way for those spots to get thicker if the ice is not in contact with the water. This is what I believe the situation was by vets park. One of the guys that fell through was only 10' from me and I could see the air pocket under the thin ice where he went in. Be careful out there.

[limige]

How thick is the ice near the bridge? How far out towards the channel are you guys fishing? I have heard 3" and that scares me abit, but if all of you are having no issues I don't see why I should either? Maybe I will try it out next week after this cold snap coming...

i've been going out near the ramps straight out not quite half way across, maybe 1/3 and we've had a solid 5" plenty safe. same yesterday near the pilings and short peir.

we've been using an aqua cam from menards, not great visibility but it picks up the eye's on the walleyes' pretty good. first time we've tried it.

tonight we banged them when we first got there around 4:30 then it shutdown about an hour before dark. no keepers tonight.


mike

[adam bomb]

32 eyes....1 keeper:rolleyes: :lol:

[Southend517]

the bait shop on Marquette is OPEN, it is on the corner of Marquette and Banger St. just down the road from the launch.

http://img77.imageshack.us/img77/6613/baitshopbaycityrf2.jpg

[BlackRhino]

the bait shop on Marquette is OPEN, it is on the corner of Marquette and Banger St. just down the road from the launch.



Thanks for the info, do you happen to know the name of the shop or have a phone number for them?

[limige]

fishing was much worst today, got one keeper threw back 6 or so, missed several.

river current really picked up today! watch that ice!

[Southend517]

only a few guys out there right now with the wind and the bay blowen out the river water level is probably dropping some. So be safe out there today. The dude that owns the body shop acrossed the street also own the bait shop. So you could call the body shop - it is Master's Body Shop on Marquette

[msujberry]

Fished indy bridge today in 15-18'. Day started out great with gr8catcher getting one in the first 2 mins but then that was the last fish for a long time.
Fished from 3:30 to 7:30. Only pulled in 3 between us. One was 14 3/4", no matter what way we measured just couldnt get 15" out of her. Were using silver and blue, 1/2 oz rapala and 1/2 oz silver and blue casting spoon, both tipped with minnow heads.

about 4-5 inches of ice, lots of guys out there, and snowmobiles buzzing the shantys within feet of my door:rant:.

thanks to all who provided some info so it wast a complete waste of trip. We'll be back again and hopefully with a few more fish and a lot less wind.