Harness's last sunday

[flying wasp]

I'm not really set up for jigging so sunday morning I decided to drown some crawlers. Got to the st. clair launch about 6:45am expecting to see quite a crowd,only 5 or 6 rigs parked. I read in one post that the mc launch was packed.Ran up past the marysville power plant and started back down river with harness's zigging and zagging between 35 and 25 feet of water. made it down to the south end of stag without a tap.Do I need to be closer to mc and algonac or further up into ph this time of year? I was hoping to start posting all my 2 man limit catches this spring. Any tips will be appreciated.

[Slick fishing]

It's still a tad early but keep trying, because once they decide to go on harnesses you will know it.. I tried one pass with harnesess last week "NADA" so back to jigging I go..Cya Slick

[flying wasp]

I spent a lot of time last year around stag and st clair. is this a good place to be starting?

[Slick fishing]

I spent a lot of time last year around stag and st clair. is this a good place to be starting?

Yep !!!!

[Topshelf]

I got tired of jigging on Sunday so I pulled harness's from MC ramp south to the Park with out a bump.

[MUSHY1]

It's still a tad early but keep trying, because once they decide to go on harnesses you will know it..

:yeahthat::yeahthat::yeahthat:

[YELLOWGIANTS]

I always jig and whip, I was wondering how fast do you pull your harnesses and what size bottom bouncers do you guys use and do you always go down stream pulling harnesses? I think I have every harness known to man just haven't used them yet.

[bounty hunter]

I always jig and whip, I was wondering how fast do you pull your harnesses and what size bottom bouncers do you guys use and do you always go down stream pulling harnesses? I think I have every harness known to man just haven't used them yet.

Well your in luck,If you look over Slick's past posts there is a lot of great info.A- pm. to him always helps because he is one of the good guys on here willing to help.

[sniper's mojo]

You are a bit early so do not fret at your results. That being said I believe that trolling will puck up earlier than normal this year since I have been picking up a random eye here and there while trolling for coho's. This cold snap will not help anything, but about a week or so of another nice weather pattern like the last week and a half and it will be go time.

[Slick fishing]

Thanks for the kind words bounty hunter I try, I troll down stream with 3oz or 4oz bottom bouncers at 2.3 gps speed and it works for me, slower speeds when the water is cooler ;)..Cya Slick

[flying wasp]

do you keep your harness's at any certain lenght??

[MarbleEyeMack]

The fish will usually go to harnesses when their mouths turn red/pink in color. I think this is when they grow new teeth, isn't it? I've heard it called "mushmouth", "fire mouth", etc. I'm no expert, but this is what I've been told and led to believe. When the mouths start looking tender is the indicator I use to start dragging harnesses. As far as speed, keeping the line at 30 to 45 degree angle is rule of thumb I've been taught. Depending on the fish, this can change, too. When they are aggressive, it is less critical. Just one fishin' opinion. I'd like to hear other input.

[new b]

Hi guys,

this is for slick (hiya slick)
you say you go 2.3 mph.
here's my dilemma: if i sit in my boat with my handheld magellan gps, it will show me moving 6-7 mph due to the current, right? so are you back trolling the harness's? i guess what I'm asking is if the current of the river is anywhere from 6-8 mph, how do you troll 2.3mph????

:dizzy:

[sweatyspartan]

Hi guys,

this is for slick (hiya slick)
you say you go 2.3 mph.
here's my dilemma: if i sit in my boat with my handheld magellan gps, it will show me moving 6-7 mph due to the current, right? so are you back trolling the harness's? i guess what I'm asking is if the current of the river is anywhere from 6-8 mph, how do you troll 2.3mph????

:dizzy:


its just a difference of how you measure your speed. Over land or over water. at 2.3 with a 6 mile current you'd be going 2.3mph over water and 8.3 over land.

[Big Daddy Benelli]

I still catch a bunch of Walleye's whipping even when they have pink mouth. I have a pic in my Gallery were most of the fish had a pink mouth.. When used to troll with my Dad (about 2 decades ago!:lol: bored me to death) we used to start getting them in May. I would go with Brent comments, just kepping doing it eventually you'll pound'em... Maybe even make your own log book for what the conditions were when you started to slay'em....

[MarbleEyeMack]

True on the catchin' fish whippin' when the mouths are tender, but that is when it slows and harnesses pick up. Always been my experience, and that's the explanation I got.

[newtothervr]

Hi guys,

this is for slick (hiya slick)
you say you go 2.3 mph.
here's my dilemma: if i sit in my boat with my handheld magellan gps, it will show me moving 6-7 mph due to the current, right? so are you back trolling the harness's? i guess what I'm asking is if the current of the river is anywhere from 6-8 mph, how do you troll 2.3mph????

:dizzy:

2.3mph on your GPS near St. Clair will put you slightly faster than the current. Other locations might be a little more or a little less. Wind direction plays a part also.

[new b]

its just a difference of how you measure your speed. Over land or over water. at 2.3 with a 6 mile current you'd be going 2.3mph over water and 8.3 over land.

thanks spartan.

so how would I troll at 2.3 mph? would i have to stop, measure how fast the drift is and then add my desired speed (current =6, desired troll speed=2 means i'd go 8??)

I guess the current speed is the same most of the time so i could probably just always add it's speed....

when guys like slick say they are going 2.3, are they using a different type gps than a handheld one?

why would it matter if you are on land or sea- gps gets its info from satellites???

[Slick fishing]

sorry I havent had time to post with fishing and working there hasent been a lot of time to post much.. You should be able to look at your gps and it should say how fast your going, no special math or anything like that just read your gps and you should be good to go.. Like I said I like to run from 2.0 to 2.4 thats when the fish are on and biting harnesses.. Cya Slick

[sportyjd]

2.3mph on your GPS near St. Clair will put you slightly faster than the current. Other locations might be a little more or a little less. Wind direction plays a part also.

The St. Clair does not flow 6 mph. After taking Slick's advice, he is the BB expert of the St. Clair, I troll 2.3 mph out of MC-which is slightly faster than the current. I use my handheld gps and electric trolling motor. Keep the handheld at 2.3mph as advised. And use GULP!!!!:lol:

[new b]

ok...thanks you guys.
I guess the problem has been I've always operated under the thought that the scr ran at like 8 mph. not sure where i got that stuck in my head.

gulp is already onboard my boat!

in fact, last year after reading slicks posts, i went and got some gulp 4"pumkin seeds and promptly landed a 60 inch sturgeon :)

[flying wasp]

I have a hand held magellan explorist 400 and when just drifting it will read anywhere from 1.5 -2.0 mph most of the time. You may want to set yours on the dashboard of your vehicle and check it against the speedo.

[Slick fishing]

in fact, last year after reading slicks posts, i went and got some gulp 4"pumkin seeds and promptly landed a 60 inch sturgeon :)

Hey I never caught a Sturgeon on gulp or anything for that matter:D..Cya Slick

[new b]

Hey I never caught a Sturgeon on gulp or anything for that matter:D..Cya Slick

yea, i had it on a chugging weight and was after walleye. It was the second day we owned our home on the island and we (me and wife) decided to go float the mc at like 11pm on a friday last june.
We're not there 10 minutes and i feel something hit, tell my wife, but then i say ahh must be a snag cause i'm stuck.
about 2 seconds after that comment, the water exploded just 5 feet off the back of the boat and this monster flew straight up!!!

very exciting!!! the coast guard even slowed and watched me fight him for a few minutes.

we were able to record the last 7 minutes on my phone:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs8Tyf6GHl0

volume needs to be way up.
it was also the first time i even saw one so rather than get bit or eaten I cut him loose at the end.
it took about 25 minutes to get him to the boat.

[donbtanner]

WOW! Cool video! He should be fine, looks like you cut the line close enough to the hook that there would be no problems for him w\ it. Also, having a de-hooker on board may be a good idea as well for anyone who doesn't want to (or cant) get a fish that size in your boat. I think Arc makes a de-hooker that you can work over the line, get it to the hook, then just keep twisting till the hook comes out. Great Gadzooks, theres big fish in the MC!!

[gilly]

Once the water reaches the 50 degree mark and better yet 53 degrees they will start to go BB. This is usually about the time you see lots of worms on the sidewalks after a good rain. SCR surface water temp was 47.5 this morning on my lowrance. Won't be long now :)