Sall-Mar/Little Bay De Noc

[rector piscator]

Thinking of heading up there for a long 4 day weekend in early June. Looking to target pike and smallies, but won't pass up any easy walleye :lol:.

Never been on the bay before and am aware of how big it is, so I am seriously considering a guide for the first day. Can anyone give me some feed back as to the timing of my trip in reference to my targeted species and also what Sall-Mar and their guide service are like.

This will be my 10 yr old son's first real big fishing trip, so I want to catch alot, not so concerned about trophy size...but would be nice.

Thanks

[Cedar River FinAddict]

I am very good friends with the Lee brothers at Sallmar resort in Rapid River. Ken Lee is one of the best guides in the area and they are very honest and down to earth guys. I would highly recommend a charter with Ken for a day to learn the area and techniques that will produce.

The spring walleye bite should be in full swing that time of year with limits of eater size fish the norm. Most of the larger "trophy" size fish will probably have headed south into Green Bay already so don't expect a lunker unless you want to fish down by Ford River or further south towards Cedar River. Ken Lee is an expert at locating and catching limits of walleye.

While I don't target smallmouth, the fishing will probably be very good in the time frame that you will be there. In the Bay, look for fish to be bedding on the numerous flats on the east side of the bay south of Gladstone and Escanaba. Don't overlook the Escanaba River which also produces lots of pigs and it would probably be worthwhile to spend some time in there. I know down at Cedar River (35 miles south of Esky) that limits of fish up to 5 pounds are pretty common. Chris Wahl (The Baitshop Guy) is a real avid smallmouth fisherman and would probably give you some pretty good info if you gave him a call at BayView Bait & Tackle at 906 786 1488.

I think the best northern fishing occurs in late-August and September but you can probably catch a few in the numerous weedbeds thoughout the bay. I got lucky and caught this beauty northern that went about 46 inches and 25# on June 9th while trolling for walleye down by Cedar River, but it was the only one I caught all spring.

Check out http://www.baysdenoc.com/fishing-reports.shtml for up to date reports for the area. Make sure to go back in the pages to early June from last year to see how the bite was for the smallies.


http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg247/CR_Finaddict/albe065.jpg

[CaptainKenLee]

Thanks Jim, appreciate the nice words. Capt. Jim is top notch also, if you want a great salmon trip or some hawg walleyes after the sun goes down...Jim is your man. I know for a fact that he is honest and hard-working too, something we have always strived to do in our business here at Sall-Mar and Bay de Noc Charters.

Now...for the gentleman wanting to know about fishing pike and bass in early June. To be honest...I'd wait until later in the summer for numbers of both species. Bass can be caught, but typically the fish are spawning until mid-June up here and I quite honestly don't like targeting them until after they're done making more bass. Pike can be caught too, but not in great numbers until the weedbeds start growing better. Anytime in August all the way until the middle of September is much better for bass and pike, and the walleye fishing is always good at that time too, so you can get multiple species all in one day. If I had to pick a "peak" time for all three species, it would be the 2nd and 3rd week of August.

If you have to come up in June, like Jim said, the walleye fishing should be great. I can not say that about the bass and pike fishing. If you decide to come up in June and don't hire a local charter, at least stop in to our store and we can point you in the right direction to help you get started. Chris at BayView Bait and Tackle can also give you some pointers as well. Hope the info. helps and good luck whenever you do make it up to our neck of the woods!

[rector piscator]

I appreciate the info from both of u. U have both given me something to stew over. August is unfortunately not possible. Would the last week in June be enough time to make a difference? U can pm me if u would like.

Thanks

[CaptainKenLee]

Late June would be a little better for the pike, weeds still won't be thick yet, so the fish might still be a little scattered. Not sure about the bass fishing, I usually don't start targeting smallies until sometime in July. Walleyes can usually be caught then too, but it might slow some if the alewives come into the bay to spawn. That typically happens the last week of June or first week of July. Those two weeks are usually considered to be the slowest weeks of the year for walleyes, mainly because of alewives and the mayflies also hatching out in full force at that time. I guess anytime you can go fishing is the time to go. :cool:

[pikenetter]

have spent may the weekends at salmar, top notch guys, you can't go wrong with anything they tell you.