Thunder Bay, Au Sable, Singing Bridge

[Getaway]

You guys are not going to believe this!
First of all,
Friday late afternoon (3/9/01): I Surf fished Singing bridge and caught zip! I saw a small steelie that was taken by a guy who fished all day long for it.

Saturday dawn till dark: Fished the Thunder Bay river and saw only 2 fish landed all day. One of those fish was mine and it was a 15 lb female king salmon! Yes, KING salmon! She was bright silver and loaded with fairly loose eggs, but, the eggs were still in the skain. This fish must have been confused, but, she was a lot of fun. After a long run from the dam to the bridge and then back to the dam again, I finally landed her 20 minutes later-what a blast!. If any of you get in to Clems, check out my photo at the counter. Oh yeah, the other fish I saw caught was a 5 lb steelie down stream from the bridge. Lots of guys fishin, but, nobody's catching.

Sunday: Fished Au Sable all morning. NOTHING! I also talked to several people who had the same results I did. I heard of one fish caught near the dam and several fish caught last weekend, but today was not my day. I surf fished the Singing bridge again in the afternoon and saw a couple browns landed in the surf and one landed at the mouth of the river. The rifle river is froze solid from US-23 to the mouth. Winter still has a hold in the North-East.

Where's spring? There is still a lot of snow up there.

I'm looking forward to our outing coming up! Maybe the North-West will have a few fish for me.

[WEEZER]

The Rifle is open from 23 down to the mouth. At least from 23 to the old train bridge by the the public access in Omer I checked it out today .

[Getaway]

Weezer,

I was at the Rifle late Sunday afternoon (3/11/01). It is open at the US-23 bridge and down through the rapids, however, it is frozen solid from the park in Omer down past the tressel and around the next bend. I parked at the Omer public access and walked to the tressel and even stepped out on the ice. The ice is about 1-1/2" to 2" thick. There is even 1" of snow still on the ice. Hopefully with a little warmer weather this week it may open up.

[stelmon]

WoW, king salmon during the spring. Amazing, makes me wonder if there are anymore in there. Did u catch her off a bed or what. I wonna hear some details.

[Getaway]

Stelmon,

I think she was the only king in there. I saw her porpoise in front of me in a deep hole and I thought it was a huge steelie. After sending my spawn sac through the hole a couple of times, she took it on the third drift. I thought I hooked a freight train!

I talked to a guy who fishes that river a lot and he said she had been porpoising in that hole for a few days. I thought it was odd how healthy and strong that fish was. I doubt if there were anymore kings in there, she was probably confused.

[stelmon]

Thanks getaway, i appreciate it.

[Shoeman]

Late run fish are nature's way to protect the species. If something catastrophic happens during the main run, these late fish will make sure the species survives. It's like that will most lifeforms. Good going Bob!
See you guys this weekend

[stelmon]

WoW, never even thought about that shoe...Thanks