LATE ICE ON LITTLE BAY DE NOC - MI

Dateline: Little Bay de Noc near Gladstone, MI, 3-14-09

SEE THE “NOTES” AT THE END OF THIS PIECE FOR AN EXPLANATION OF THE TERMS USED HERE. THIS REPORT CONTAINS DETAILS ABOUT TWO ICE FISHING TRIPS ON SUBSEQUENT SATURDAYS.

I spent the morning chasing perch today, with fairly good results. Stopped at Bay View for wigglers, 2" minnows, waxies, and spikes before sunrise. Two of us drove north, heading out from the yellow gate access. We set up in 13' of water over the old weedbeds, The final tally was 22 keepers for about fifty fish landed. No real jumbos, but the ones we kept were just right for eating. The best presentation was a single wiggler on a thin wire hook and split shot at first, but changed to a single waxworm on the same rig later. I caught a few nice perch using a one-inch soft plastic crayfish in brown color on a 1/32 ounce jig - no live bait. We had to pay extremely close attention due to very light hits. We missed many, many fish the just fooled around with the bait. We each missed fish that felt heavier, but I'm not sure what they were. As a side note, the entrance road is very rutted and the shallows close to shore were in bad shape but passable with 4WD. Won't last much longer even if the ice out on the bay is over 30" thick.

Dateline: Little Bay de Noc near Gladstone, MI, 3-21-09

Today's perch expedition was almost a re-run of last weekends trip. Started at Bay View with fresh waxies, wigglers, spikes and 2" minnows. We walked out from yellow gate and set up in nine feet. The walk was not too strenuous. Some bad ice near shore. Road leading in is badly rutted. We had the camera and set it up in the shallows. Almost immediately, a walleye stopped for a look, followed by a pike. We tried for perch a while longer, but got no takers. Too many predators. After that we trudged out to fifteen feet and saw perch right away. We were one-half mile from shore. I'm sure because we drove to this spot previously and measured it on the trip mileage screen. The bite was fairly steady and we landed probably forty fish with ten keepers. Another walleye stopped by, but the perch returned quickly. We didn't have much time, so we started taking in lines. As the last waxworm and small jig combination was about to be reeled in a large pike head showed up on the screen and he inhaled the tidbit. My friend Duane had a strong two-second pull, one head shake, and it was all over. The pike snipped the line as they usually do in this situation. It was a great way to end the trip! Again, finesse presentation was necessary. Perch would grab only tiny jigs or plain hooks with a single waxie, or three spikes. They would not take minnows, and just played with wigglers. We could see them biting and re-acting to our baits. Good learning experience.

Notes:

“Bay View” is a local baitshop in Gladstone, MI owned by a friend, Chris Wahl.

“Spikes” are common maggots, used as ice fishing baits.

“Waxies” or “Waxworms” are beemoth larva, and look like white grubs found in lawns during warm weather.

“Wigglers” are hexagenia nymphs which look like tiny one-to two inch scorpions. They don’t bite, and are commonly used as ice fishing bait.

The camera I refer to is an underwater camera that is lowered down to bottom and allows the fisherman to watch his baits on a five-inch, black and white screen. You can see fish approach and hit your baits.

“4WD” means a four-wheel drive vehicle.

“Yellow Gate” is a public access point north of Gladstone, on Little Bay de Noc in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

On the 3-14 trip, Duane and I drove my truck directly out to the ice fishing destination on the ice and setting up the gear was easy. By 3-21 the ice had deteriorated near shore and we had to walk out to the spot pulling our gear on flat-bottomed ice sleds.

OBSERVATIONS FROM MICHIGAN

OBSERVATIONS FROM MICHIGAN
By: Ray Hansen

This is a great time to head for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The lakes are frozen and getting out to the perch, whitefish, walleye, pike, and burbot spots is easy. This year, walleye and pike season extends until March 15.

Ice fishing in relatively balmy temperatures of 20 to 35 degrees is common at this time, as are late season snowfalls that cover some potentially dangerous spots. Keep your eyes open and fish with a friend at all times. Wear a set of ice picks, and carry a length of rope where it is easily accessible. Having said that, as of this writing in late February, the ice I fished on the north end of Little Bay de Noc a couple days ago was still thirty inches thick. Most anglers are still driving trucks out on the ice, but that won’t last too much longer. Think safety first as the season extends into March.

Keep your tackle selection light and portable. A size two Swedish Pimple spoon loaded with spikes (maggots) will catch perch all day. A couple rods, one small box with a few different color spoons, a skimmer, a locator, your bait, and a sled to pull along is just about all you need.

Deer are everywhere, looking for a change from the woody browse that keeps them alive during the winter. I have them in my yard daily, scrounging for tidbits I feed the local turkey flock with.

Logging operations cutting white cedar and other trees attract many whitetails. Deer eat the cedar tips like it is cotton candy. Maple and oak tips, poplar, and some osier dogwood rounded out the feast. Deer eat these things all winter long, but the difference here was that they could get to the tender tips of new, younger branches once the trees are down. Normally, they are restricted to standing on their hind legs and browsing up as high as they can reach during the winter in areas where no cutting takes place. They can’t reach the best browse in this way.

Turkeys flock everywhere. I honestly saw some birds gathered in groups of fifty or more. I watched a neat “parade” of the big birds at my friend Duane Deno’s house in Gladstone, Michigan. Here the turkeys wander the neighborhoods, trotting from one bird feeder to another looking for any spillage. Some people feed them whole kernel corn, and all Duane had to do was rattle some dried corn in a plastic bucket to get them to approach within six feet or so. I have had a flock numbering about sixty birds in my yard in Cornell, Michigan but most days about twenty show up.

Finally, the Escanaba River is still frozen on the mid to upper stretches, and cross-country skiing is possible along the main channel. Traversing this beautiful waterway is like stepping into a “coffee table” style photo book. Each bend and turn presents a new vista, and when I walk along a portion of the river with a lone eagle soaring overhead I realize it doesn’t get much better than this.
Copyright Ray Hansen, 2009

THE DAY THE FISH GOT AWAY - Part three

Author's note: This is the final part of the series I started Monday. I hope you have enjoyed it.

It was one-thirty in the afternoon when we got situated. Within the first half-hour something slammed a rod downward that I had balanced on a bucket while changing baits on another. It hit like a small pike does, slashing past, grabbing the bait like a running thief grabbing an apple off a fruit wagon without stopping. I missed that fish as well, and that’s when we packed it in for the day.

On the way back to the truck, we detoured past an eighty-acre island surrounded by marshlands with plenty of cat-tails and open areas between brushy pockets of cover. An ancient railroad grade crossed the island diagonally like the spine on a razorback hog. I once stalked to within twenty-five yards of two bedded deer on this island while hunting with a bow along the elevated trackway. Thick brush along its sides however, prevented me from getting a clear shot, and the deer soon bounded away.

We found several sets of coyote tracks leading into the interior, so we put together two brush blinds on the perimeter where we could hide while using predator calls and rabbit decoys to try to get the brush-wolves to show themselves. We’ll come back with small caliber rifles in late January when the coyotes are always hungry. I would like to get a big pelt to hang on the wall along with mounted fish and deer antlers.

As for today’s fishing, I enjoyed the experience despite the meager results. I’m lucky to be living in an area where I can enjoy the outdoors as often as I do, and we’ll have ice into April on the bays around here. I’ve got plenty of time to explore new areas and look for new ice-fishing adventures. And you can be sure I’ll have some new stories to tell around the campfire.

Copyright Ray Hansen, 2009

THE DAY THE FISH GOT AWAY - Part two

Author's note: This is part two of a blog that details one recent day of ice fishing on Little Bay de Noc in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The final installment will be posted tomorrow evening.


We set up the shanty directly at the point where the drop-off leveled out onto the flat. I baited a double-hook minnow rig with one flashy three-inch shiner at one foot off bottom and another at three feet up. That rod had a spring-steel strike indicator on the tip and I set it in a holder so it could work itself while a readied a second rig for perch. This one had a bright gold spoon as an attractor, a two-inch clear leader off the spoon, and a bright orange, needle-sharp plain hook on the end of the leader. It was baited with a live wiggler and lowered down so it rested just above the boulders.

I settled in to work the perch rig by lightly jigging it, while the walleye rig worked itself. The two shiner minnows swam around, keeping the strike indicator dancing lightly. After a while, the spring steel on the tip of the double-hook rig bent downward very slowly, which told me a fish was mouthing the bait. I rested the perch rig on the edge of the seat and took the other rod in hand. I lowered the rod tip for a few seconds to let the fish get the minnow fully, then I raised the rod tip until I started to feel the weight of the fish.

I was sure I’d set the hook into a walleye, but when I snapped the rod upward, the perch rod shot downward, falling to the floor. I grabbed for it while continuing to raise the other rod. Almost instantly I realized that whatever took the shiner minnow had crossed the line on the wiggler rig. The two were tangled! I tried to open the bail on the second rod so I would have a chance to land the other fish, but it just didn’t work. Whatever hit the shiner rig was gone and that was that!

While this was going on, Duane tried to quickly reel in his lines, and possibly take the perch rig from my side of the shanty, but it all happened quickly and we did not salvage anything from the brief flurry of excitement.

After a couple hours or so we had no more action on that spot, so we moved up to the weed edge on top of the underwater slope. There we could easily see the bottom in ten feet of water and we sight-fished small ice lures tipped with wigglers for perch, but had absolutely no action.

O.K., if nothing was going on shallow or at the base of the drop-off, we decided to head out to fifty feet of water east of the place we started and try for bigger perch from the depths. This was also the type of place whitefish sometimes hold in, so I put a simple split-shot and plain hook rig down, with the shot laying on bottom and the minnow swimming around it. This is generally the way whitefish like their bait presented.

Here again, we spent time trying to make something happen. I did see one fish approach on the screen of my locator and it may have picked up the minnow – the signal produced by my bait and that of the fish merged on the screen – but I did not get a good hookset. Too much stretch in fifty feet of four-pound test monofilament I guess. I also worked a deep-water perch rig baited with a wiggler here, but nothing bit.

We moved a few hundred yards at a time, working our way toward south toward the mouth of the Escanaba River, looking for roaming bands of perch, but it seemed that when we zigged, they zagged, when we hopped, they skipped. In the end our paths just didn’t cross. Arriving at the river mouth, we set up well out into the bay, because the constant flow of the river itself makes the ice there unstable. The mouth of the river forms a kind of broad delta that ranges from five to fourteen feet deep, then drops into twenty-six feet well out into the bay. That’s where we made a final attempt to salvage the day.

End of part two - check in tomorrow evening for part three.

Copyright Ray Hansen, 2009

DEEP WATER SPOON TRICKS - Part one

DEEP WATER SPOON TRICKS
By: Ray Hansen

I’ve been chasing perch in deeper water than ever in the past few years - often fifty feet or more, and this is true from late winter through early fall. If you are spending most of your time in twenty feet of water or less for these popular panfish, consider the following deep water methods for late ice fishing.

Start with the right rod and line. A short but thin and stiff spinning rod about twenty-four inches in length, a matching ultra-light reel and four pound test clear monofilament line is about right for ten to fifteen inch perch.

For late ice outings, run a size 3 Swedish Pimple spoon with a single hook and a fresh minnow head as bait. Work the range from two to six feet off bottom, but occasionally let the spoon fall to bottom where it stirs up some silt. Aggressive jigging attracts fish, while the stationary lure makes an easier target for fish to hit, so how do you compromise between the two? Let your electronics tell you.

When fish are present on the screen, use just a simple twitch of the rod tip to make the lure shudder and quiver in place like a live, nervous creature. Watch the screen closely. You’ll see fish approach your lure, and when the marks on the screen merge you know the fish is probably eyeing your bait. Raise the lure slowly while feeling for some extra weight. With a sharp hook, you just need to snap your wrist upward and start reeling the instant you detect a bite.

Some anglers use a variation of the presentation I detailed above. They let the Swedish Pimple “free-fall” on a completely slack line toward bottom. In this way, the lure darts off to one side by several feet. The angler lets the lure go until it is laying on bottom somewhere off to one side of the hole.

With the lure lying in the silt, the angler shakes the rod tip while very slowly reeling the lure forward. This makes it kick up more silt in a slight “trail” along bottom that can appeal strongly to perch that forage on bloodworms from soft bottomed areas. Once the lure is hanging straight beneath the hole, bring it up about four feet off bottom and twitch it while watching your electronics.

Minnow heads work very well as bait, but what about the remainder of the minnow? I like to chum with minnow meat. Toss the headless minnow on the ice next to the hole and mash it with a metal skimmer. Push it into the water where it sinks to bottom leaving a scent trail on the way.

End of part one – check in tomorrow for part two

TACKLING DEEP WATER PERCH

Author's note: Ice fishing season is just starting here on the north end of the Great Lakes in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The action id still in shallow water, but I can tell you from experience that winter anglers will hit deep spots as soon as the ice out there becomes safe. Here are some tactics for perch found deeper.

TACKLING DEEP WATER PERCH
Great Lakes Water Clarity Moves Fish Deeper
By: Ray Hansen

The improvement in water clarity on many bodies of water in the past ten years or so has been nothing short of amazing. Non-native invasive species such as zebra mussels that filter sediment from the water have dramatically changed their chosen habitat. Lake Michigan for example commonly has places where the bottom can be seen in fifteen feet and deeper – especially along the northernmost parts of this Great Lake.

Whereas many fishermen chasing salmon and other species that commonly suspend at some mid-point in the water column have noticed fish hold deeper, perch anglers have really seen the difference. Since they typically find these fish close to bottom, they quickly noticed dramatic changes. Catching these popular panfish in depths to seventy-five feet is now common. The same patterns can be seen through the ice.

Using lightweight lures to tempt fickle biters in shallower water still works on occasion, but much of the time you’ll have to get much deeper – especially on huge bodies of water where schools of smelt or alewives provide forage.

Using compact lures that are “heavy for their size” is the best approach to catching deep-water dwellers. Lures that have enough weight to zip down to bottom in fifty or more feet let you get your bait back in front of fish faster than a presentation that sinks slowly.

One of my favorite deep-water perch rigs is an eighteen-inch ice rod coupled with a tiny spinning reel and spooled with four-pound test monofilament line. I attach a size 2 or 3 “Swedish Pimple” spoon (Bay de Noc Tackle Company), using a very small, thin wire snap (not a snap swivel) to clip my lure to the line. The snap allows maximum lure action while jigging it to attract bites.

Use the small treble hook this lure is packaged with, and load each hook point with two or three “spikes” (maggots) as bait. This means you’ll be hooking six to nine spikes on the lure. Remember to remove a few old spikes frequently, replacing them with fresh bait. The maggots exude a milky fluid into the surrounding water when fresh, which attracts and holds perch in your spot.

The rest is simple. Let the lure plunge to bottom by opening the reel’s bail, and when it stops sinking you know it is resting on the lake’s floor. Next reel in a little line so that the lure hangs two or three feet up from the rocks, sand, or mud. As always, run a locator constantly while fishing. That shows you what level fish are holding at, and indicates when fish are approaching your lure.

Two different actions may attract fish: “shaking”, or “ripping”. Shaking is done by simply shaking the rod tip to make the Pimple “dance in place for five to ten seconds, then pausing to watch for a hit. The sequence is: shake – pause – shake – pause, until you get bit.

“Ripping “means to start just off bottom, rip the spoon upward one to three feet, then allowing it to settle back into place. Again, pause to watch for a bite. This lure is a proven perch killer, and it is especially effective when you need to work great depths.
Copyright Ray Hansen, 2008

PRIME TIME WALLEYES AND THE SEARCH FOR PERCH - PART TWO

PRIME TIME WALLEYES AND THE SEARCH FOR PERCH - PART TWO
By: Ray Hansen

START ON THE FLATS

My search for perch normally starts on the deeper flats near the place I found walleyes. I do not start fishing blindly however. The first thing to do is start searching for a likely spot. This is done by drilling holes and looking for perch with your locator. Team up with a friend to make this process faster. One person augers a couple holes, while the other runs the locator.
You should keep moving in a “leapfrog” fashion as you cover the area. Look for smaller, individual marks one to three feet off bottom, or a kind of “bumpy bottom” signal on the screen. Of course, some anglers use cameras to speed this process. The trick is to spend time searching instead of simply “fishing and wishing”.

USE SEARCH LURES

Since most of the perch action takes place during the day and in deeper water, I use compact and slightly heavy lures to “zip” my bait to bottom quickly. I like a size 2 or 3 Swedish Pimple spoon for this approach because it gets you back in the “strike zone” as quickly as possible.

My friend Duane Deno who fishes Little Bay De Noc in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula throughout the winter, uses this tactic as well as working the smallest Jigging Rapala lures in deep water. It is very similar to the walleye tactics I mentioned, just on a smaller scale.

THE OLD “DOUBLE BAIT” TRICK

One of the deadliest live baits for perch is the “wiggler” which is a larvae type perch can’t resist. The problem with using this bait however is that they come off the hook so easily. If you get a bite in forty feet of water, but miss the fish, you might as well reel in immediately and put another wiggler on your hook. This wastes a lot of time. Perch move frequently and you have to work them as fast as you can while they are holding on your spot.

There is an approach that can help overcome this problem. Use a Swedish Pimple with a small treble hook as an example to see how this works. Load two of the hook points with at least two “spikes” (maggots) on each one. On the remaining hook point, put one spike on “sideways” first, then impale a wiggler. The spikes are a lot tougher and much harder to pull off. Even if you lose the wiggler, you still have bait down there working for you.

FINAL THOUGHTS

After you have a lengthy line of holes drilled, it can pay to go back to your starting point to re-check for active fish. Perch move a lot, and you might find some fresh action.

Lean toward orange! This color is frequently the best choice for perch.

The higher off bottom the marks on your locator show, the better. Those perch are more actively roaming and feeding. In a related observation, if you are going to run a stationary rod with a live minnow on it while jigging a second rod, use a large minnow and set it about six feet off bottom. Perch passing below your bait are more likely to see it.
And finally, keep a confident attitude! Move until you find fish and move again when the bite slows. You’ll work harder, but you’ll catch more fish.
Copyright Ray Hansen, 2008

FALL FAVORITES ON THE GREAT LAKES - PART 2

This is part two of the drift fishing tactic I began describing yesterday. It can produce some nice surprises at this time of year on the Great Lakes and other large bodies of water.

BOOST THE ODDS - RUN MORE RODS
While drift fishing, you are looking for actively feeding fish, so running more rods covers more water, increasing the odds for finding some action. Most anglers like to hold one rod in hand while setting out a second in a holder.

With two anglers in the boat, one should fish from the stern with a drift rod set straight out the back while the other angler works from the bow with a rod set to provide the widest range of coverage.

LONG, LIGHT ACTION RODS IN THE HOLDERS
By running a long rod in the nine foot range from the holders, you “automatically” cover a wider range and because these long rods have a lighter tip action, they give you a little extra time to hook light-biting fish.

CONTROL YOUR DRIFT
Anytime you set up a drift-fishing pass, you should put your electric trolling motor in the water and have it ready to use. Gusts of wind, or a breeze that does not quite propel you on the desired path, can be corrected quickly and quietly with the electric motor.

BE READY TO MARK GOOD SPOTS
Once in a while you’ll be drifting along when two rods “go off” simultaneously – often when passing over an active school of perch or white bass. This is the time to circle back upwind of the spot (toss in a floating marker to stay in touch with the strike zone) and slip an anchor overboard. You should have it on a seventy-five to one-hundred foot rope so you can let the breeze slide you back toward the marked spot.

HAVE A “BACKUP” PRESENTATION READY
I like to stay slightly back from the floating marker, and cast small jigs using ultra-lite action spinning gear toward the spot I believe fish are holding in. Another great choice – especially in waters over ten feet deep - is to work a small spoon baited with a piece of minnow meat or a short section of nightcrawler. Run a “Swedish Pimple” spoon in bright colors vertically just above the fish. Tip it with a minnow tail. You know how well these spoons work through the ice. They are just as deadly in open water.

MOVE WHEN THE BITE SLOWS
You know how hard it can be to pry a stubborn fisherman off a spot he catches fish in. He just doesn’t want to move, and repeatedly returns to the same spot. In my experience certain structures like long drop-offs hold fall fish fairly consistently, but where fish are found along these drop-offs or weed edges can change by the hour. For this reason, you need to start another drift fishing pass when the action slows in one area.

Have your gear ready, and fish confidently. You’ll run into another school of biters if you just keep looking.

Copyright Ray Hansen, 2008

FALL FAVORITES ON THE GREAT LAKES - PART 1

Author's note: I have written about drift fishing in previous blogs, because this is one of my favorite ways to work the Great Lakes in the fall season. This blog details a variation of drift fishing rigs that has worked well for me. Watch for part two of this blog tomorrow.

By: Ray Hansen

Surprises. In a word, that is what makes fall fishing on the Great Lakes so much fun. You may wish for walleyes, plan for pike, or want some white bass, but you never know for sure what you might catch. In this article I’ll pass along some strategies and locations that can produce just about anything that swims in these waters. Try them and you’ll get some new stories this autumn.

START WITH CURRENT INFORMATION
I’m going to recommend a few tactics that require live bait in this article, and the place you stop to get this bait is also a good place to ask about places to use it at the current time. Local baitshops have given me plenty of great tips over the years.

USE A WIND-POWERED DRIFT
One of the most productive ways I’ve found for covering water in search of active fish is to drift with the wind along some structure that extends in the direction (or close to the direction) you will naturally drift in.

On the Great Lakes, the land points with deep weed edges nearby, long drop-offs running parallel to shore, and the flats up on the shallow sides of these drop-offs are proven spots for this approach.

SET UP A PROVEN DRIFT RIG
I like to rig a seven-foot spinning rod with eight pound test monofilament, pass my line through a one-quarter ounce egg sinker, and tie on a barrel swivel as a stopper. To the remaining free end of the swivel, I tie a four-foot leader of six-pound test monofilament. On this leader, I slide two bright orange plastic beads up the line, before tying on a size two, four, or six chartreuse colored hook. This is the basic drift rig. Use smaller hooks for panfish, and larger hooks for gamefish. Rig up for what you want to catch.

HAVE A BAIT SELECTION READY
It’s tough to beat a lively two to three inch minnow for all-around fall success, but you cannot ignore the potential “crawler bite” at this time of year. I like one third to one-half a medium sized crawler threaded on the hook. You will find the water is never too cold for this common bait to work its magic.

Stay tuned for part two of this blog tomorrow!

Copyright Ray Hansen, 2008

GREAT DAY ON THE BAY

By: Ray Hansen

Life-long friend Duane Deno and I went out on Little Bay de Noc in Delta County, Michigan near Escanaba on August 25, 2008. This is one of the northernmost bays on Lake Michigan, one of the Great Lakes. At 5 a.m. we launched his boat in the dark, bundled up in multiple layers of wool shirts and jackets against the 45 degree temperatures and foggy conditions. The day turned quite warm later on, but pre-dawn was cold.

I made the first catch of the day, and it was a fifteen pound heavyweight that was as solid as iron…. because it was iron! I’ll explain.

One of our first stops was a rocky submerged reef that is five feet deep on top and quickly drops into depths of thirty feet and more. While casting a diving crankbait to work the underwater slope along the east side of the rocky hump, I snagged into a piece of rope. Fortunately, this rope was long enough so I could get the lure back to the boat without losing it. Wondering what it was attached to, I began pulling it up, and found the other end connected to a fifteen pound navy style anchor! It was in very good shape so it will make a great spare.

The surprises were not done for the day. In another spot we were using two-hook perch rigs baited with nightcrawler pieces and fishing straight over the side of the boat in seventeen feet of water. Duane got a bite and set the hook into two smallmouth bass, one on each hook! Talk about a fight. They bulldogged back to the boat pulling against the line as well as each other. We released them alive as we did for the other fifteen or so bass we caught.

Perch were co-operating today and we landed a dozen with the largest measuring 12 ½”. These were kept, cleaned and frozen. They are among the tastiest fish found in these waters.

Three pike also came aboard long enough to be unhooked and released. No big ones today, but fun nevertheless.

Last but not least, we caught ten walleyes, but just two were above the fifteen inch minimum length for kept fish. So ended a great day on the bay. Old friends fishing together and a couple new stories to tell around the campfire.

Copyright Ray Hansen, 2008