Houghton Lake

[chuckwagon157]

Any good word from there this year? I'm heading up in February and I want to catch more than just pike. any ideas?

[ih772]

I just spent a week up there with very little to show for it. Try a different lake.

[Jigster]

Went out yesterday(Sat) off the South shore DNR launch.
Started out about 300yds out and to the east in 8ft of water.
10+ inches of ice 6" bottom ice good and clear. Sunshine and
26deg. Wind out of the E/SE at 5-7mph. Used waxies on glow drops.
A few dink perch. Some others were getting "questionable" keeper pike
on tip-ups using shiners and blues. Moved in 100yds to 11ft of water.
Switched up lures all day long. Nuttin but dinks. Talked to others
with same outcome. Oh well it was still a fine day for fishin!

Jigster

[chuckwagon157]

Well, hoefully, things will get better. The Up North Journal team is doing a show from up there in Feb and we would like to have something more than us just standing around talking about the ones that got away!

[ih772]

You won't have to worry about the ones that got away, because what you do catch will be 4" perch or 18" hammer handle pike.

Try going to Higgins for lakers or smelt. At least you'll catch something worthwhile there.

[walleye]

I second finding a different lake to fish. Houghton Lake has been in the tank since the milfoil problems started. It's not the lake it used to be.

:(

[fishhogster]

theres good fishing on houghton its a big lake you just gotta find them. we always do decent on gills once we find them.

[maddiedog]

Well I was up there about a week ago and we had what my cousin called a horrible day. I honestly can't tell you where we were but it was about 3/4 of a mile off shore. We jigged with swedish pimples and caught 6 walleye in the first hour and a half. We switched to tip ups and had 5 flags with some smaller pike. One keeper but was a snake so back he went. I had to drive home but quite a few others heading out to that spot for the afternoon. My cousin caught 13 walleye there 2 weeks ago.

[ih772]

How many are keeper walleye? For me about 1 out of every 7 is a keeper just over 15". I'll catch one or two eyes in the morning and one or two in the evening and be lucky if I get one keeper. When someone can catch a keeper every trip out on the ice, they are doing very well by the current HL standards.

In the past five years I've never caught a gill through the ice. I know the lake well and I travel all over it in the winter. I have friends that grew up on the lake and they will tell you the same thing, Houghton Lake is a mere shadow of its former self.

Try fishing Lake Margrethe instead.

[chuckwagon157]

theres good fishing on houghton its a big lake you just gotta find them. we always do decent on gills once we find them.

any hints on where to start looking? and we can not change the lake because a large portion of the show is going to be about camping out on the ice also, and we need the sleeper shanties from Lyman's on Houghton. Besides, Last year we went, and we did well on the pike pulled up some where around 40 or 50 pike in 2 1/2 days with one monster. :)

[stinky reinke]

The Middle Ground is the place to be for gills and crappie. Pike can be caught anywhere.

[beer and nuts]

Mmmm....I've heard decent reports for walleye this year. I don't fish it much but those that do..well...its a big lake and the rule that "10% of fisherman catch 90% of the fish" applies to HL.

[Bobby]

Mmmm....I've heard decent reports for walleye this year. I don't fish it much but those that do..well...its a big lake and the rule that "10% of fisherman catch 90% of the fish" applies to HL.

I think that rule applies just about everywhere, except maybe Saginaw Bay in June & July.

[fishhogster]

[quote=ih772;2488676]

In the past five years I've never caught a gill through the ice.

quote]

Im sorry i dont know where ur fishing or what ur doing wrong but I caught a decent number of gills last year. i would end up with 10 or 15 every time out. i dont start fishing it till mid feb. i ve been there once this year i stoped on my way home from higgins and i got 2 gills. so there still there ya gotta find them.

[tommy-n]

:lol::lol::lol:

Thats funny, but you have to admit, that lake is not was it was 10 years ago;)

[beer and nuts]

I guess it depends on who ya ask...the fishing for wallyeye 10 years ago was decent but in the past 1-2 years thefishing for walleye has been very good...And I guess the pike fishing is very good too..small ones but they have always been hammers in HL.

[tommy-n]

Actually 5-6 years ago we were having 30-50 fish walleye days in june after they killed the weeds. Bigger fish than I seen in 20 years , some were up to 26 inches. The panfishing was great for awhile as well, but that has gone down hill the last 4 or 5 years. You know what I'm talking about the first full year after the big weed kill, every bent dick in michigan that had a clue could limit out on gill's on the south shore weed bed all winter long.

[krt]

I guess it depends on who ya ask...the fishing for wallyeye 10 years ago was decent but in the past 1-2 years thefishing for walleye has been very good...And I guess the pike fishing is very good too..small ones but they have always been hammers in HL.

Interesting info B & N, this seems to be the case.

[beer and nuts]

tommy, yes that summer when the weeds were killed really showed what was hiding in the weeds. It dipped a little after that but the last 1-2 years has been good. I know a guy that has been going steady here the last 2 weeks and has been getting 1-3 keepers every morning and evening, only fishes the 1-2 prime hours. I might go this weekend with him!!

[tommy-n]

BEER&NUTS, To be honest with you I have not been there in a couple years because some of the prior trips left a sour taste in my mouth:yikes: Your right about the weeds though, I think with so many of the weeds gone it made some trolling presentations so much more effective and you could cover more water effectively . All inland lakes go through cycles, and probably the ones that get treated for weeds more so. I'm sure there's spots on the lake where there's always fish biting, different programs all happening at the same time ect, afterall it's the largest inland lake in michigan;)