I stopped for a break. Scuba equipment gets pretty heavy when you have to carry it up a two rut gravel road for ¾ of a mile.I decided to go out of the box on this one. I grew up in the area that this mine pit was located in. Many times I stood on the steep rock embankment overlooking the pit and watched two very large small mouth bass swimming their way along the rock shelf 30 feet below the surface of the water.Over the past couple of years I had emptied my tackle box on these two small mouth bass, trying to get them to strike. I tried early morning, evening, and the middle of the night. I tried sneaking up to the shore line quietly and casting from a stooped position over the shale layered rock on the edge of the pit. No hits- no misses-just nothing.

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Using surface lures for fishing has always been one of my favorite techniques. It doesn’t matter if I am Pike Fishing, Bass Fishing or fishing for gills. If there is any sign at all they are feeding on the surface-I will try it before anything else. I guess one of the best fishing tips I can give you with this type of fishing is take your time. I have caught many fish while the lure was floating on the surface doing nothing. There is a variety of fishing tackle that you can purchase for this. You are probably aware of most of it such us, Hula Poppers and Jitterbugs and ect… I pretty much use them all. For the purpose of this article I am going to focus on one you don’t here a lot about. The Smithwick Devils Horse.I remember back when I was first introduced to this fishing lure. I owned a sport shop at that time and was working on my order to restock my fishing tackle for the month. One of my customers came in and saw me going though the catalogue and asked me if I could order a Devils Horse. I had never heard of them before but they were in the catalogue. So I ordered a couple extra for myself. That was 30 years ago and I still use them. They are not real easy to find. Not here in Upper Michigan anyway. Bass Pro shops does carry them in their catalogue, I have not been able to find them in Cabelas. I am sure if you look around you can find more sources. For colors I like the silver with a black back and the perch color. These seem to do well for me. As far as size. I like the larger size- 3/8 oz.When you make a cast and the lure erupts the surface take your time and let the ripples settle down before you begin the retrieval. Many times you will get a strike before you even have a chance to move it. So be prepared. Depending on the distance of the cast I like to stop the lure at least once or twice before it gets back to the shore or boat. I can’t count the number of fish I missed because after I stopped the lure I started monk eying with something, or stated talking to one of my fishing partners and missed setting the hook.I can remember a time a buddy of mine asked me if I wanted to go try fishing a back water in Leona, Wisconsin. It was a great day for fishing. It was cloudy with a chance of rain and very little wind. The area had a lot of dead trees extending out of the water along with some very decent weed beds. The Pike Fishing was suppose to be good. I dug into my tackle box and pulled out a perch colored Devils Horse. I made the cast so the fishing lure would parallel a weed bed just outside a drop off. While I was waiting for the water to settle down from the cast before I started my retrieval I turned to talk to my partner. His eyes were locked in the area where my surface lure had landed. “Where did that log come from” he asked? It was not a log- it was a very large Northern Pike. Poised floating on the surface with its back extended out of the water ready to make its killing strike. The water exploded and the battle was on. I think that was the largest Pike we caught that day-in the 40 inch range. We landed many more that were over 30. Every perch colored Devils Horse I had was ripped to shreds by the time we ended our fishing trip.So the next time you are updating your fishing tackle add a Smithwick Devils Horse. It will soon become one of your favorite surface lures.
Tags:fishing, pike fishing, northern pike fishing, fishing tackle, surface lures, surface fishing

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I think we all have had a day out fishing that the fish weren’t biting. But they were really jumping. Jitter bugs, Hula poppers, crazy crawlers, devils hoarse -you threw it all at them and nothing would work. Something to keep in mind is that things are not always as they appear. By appearance you would think that those monster bass are jumping at bugs on the surface. But in all reality it could be a feeding run on a school of minnows under the surface. I guess what I am saying is look at the big picture. Anyone that says they catch fish every time out either doesn’t fish or they are much better at telling stories then I am. But there are ways to increase your chances. Something that works for me quite often in this situation is a number 11 floating Rapala. Weighted with a split shot sinker. The idea behind this is to get the lure to sink a little deeper and weighed enough so when you stop retrieving the Rapala it returns to the surface very slowly. Almost suspending it self just below the surface of the water. When you are retrieving the lure stop a couple of times and let the lure make its way toward the surface. Don’t be in a rush. Take your time. The strike will usually come while the lure is slowly floating upwards. This also works real well if you are fishing a river in a current. The split shot will hold the Rapala just below the surface.This article was really not meant to be an ad for Rapala- its just the way it came out. This may work equally as well with other brands of crank baits. But the floating Rapala is the one I have had my best luck with. Another good time to use this technique is when you have one of those outings that the fish keep following the lure in but wont take it. This will allow you to stop your retrieval 10 or 15 feet from the tip of your rod, with the lure suspended in the water to give the fish a chance to strike. And they usually will. So the next time out when the fish are throwing you a curve ball. Give this a try.

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With the weather warming up a little bit and the water coming down into a reasonable fishing range, we could have a great fishing week end here. Unfortunately I will be out of town. Some smelt have been taken in the falls river in the very early morning hours. The water level is now down but the steelhead fishing is kind of spotty. It has warmed up a little and that should help.The water in the Huron river has also come down quite a bit. Some fish are being taken but it is also on the light side. Hopefully we will see an increase in activity over the week end.

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Well a little warmer here today. The water in the rivers are still quite high. Some smelt and Steelhead are being taken from the Falls River. The smelt run here over the last 5 or 6 years has been almost non existent. So I am anticipating this run will be short. The cold weather and high water not helping much. I will keep you informed as things develop though out the week.

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It had stormed violently the night before. Thunder, lighting and heavy rain fell for a good hour. I was now kneeling in the long marsh grass along water works creek. The air was fresh, with only the kind off freshness you can get after thunderstorms pass though an area.This creek was very small. It feed into a much larger river that had a good Brook Trout population in it. If you looked at this creek after a dry spell you would think it could hardly support a minnow. But after a heavy rain this little creek was dynamite for Trout fishing. The erosion caused from the very short lived high water would deposit worms and crawlers into the water for the trout to feed on. Then the trout would come up into the small creek from the river to feed. These weren’t small fish either. It was not uncommon to catch Brook Trout in the 14 to 16 inch range.

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Sitting here at my computer. It is April 27^th and snowing again. A little snow for this part of the country -this time of year is not real unusual. But it could at lest be mixed with some rain to show its attempting to warm up. Not a chance at 22 degrees.Last week we had a nice warming trend. I was hoping that would spark things a little bit and the smelt and steelhead would start to run. Their were a few steelhead being caught in the Falls River this past week. This cold trend that has now settled in here makes it a little hard to predict. The water levels are very high making it hard to fish. If we are going to have a smelt run here it should happen shortly. Will keep you posted.The bay is completely free of ice now. If this weather straitens out I should have a report on the salmon fishing for you later in the week.Many of the inlands lakes here still have some ice on them.

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I have been getting some questions on how to fish steelhead using spawn bags. There are a number of artificial spawn products being offered. Bottled spawn, colored yarn and rubber eggs just to mention a few. At times they will work. But fresh is always the best. Most sport shops in the areas where the steelhead run will sell pre tied fresh spawn bags. This will get you started. Once you catch a female steelhead you can tie your own bags. I use a salmon colored netting along with some colored Styrofoam pellets. The pellets add some color and help keep it off the bottom a little bit. Rig your line with a slip sinker and a number 4 or 6 bait holder hook. I also use a small split shot in front of the slip singer and give the spawn bag about a foot of free line to the hook.
You can use either fresh salmon eggs or steelhead spawn. I freeze some of the spawn for later use. You can also treat the spawn by mixing it with borax. The borax gives the eggs a rubbery texture which makes them great for single egg use. The picture above will give you an idea of the type of material I use.

Needed:
Netting
Styrofoam pellets-colors your choice
Thread-to tie the bags
Slip sinkers and split shots
Number 4 or 6 bait holder hooks

There are a lot of books written on how to fish steelhead. But sometimes keeping it simple works the best. If the spawn is not working get out the night crawlers. At times they will hit on the crawlers when nothing else will work. If you have any questions put them in the comments area or feel free to email my at larry@fishhuntexplore.com.

For more imformation see my other article on steelhead fishing.

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Just a short note:Well another great day here. With the warmer weather the Steelhead fishing is starting to kick into gear. The water is quite high which is making fishing difficult- but some steelhead are being caught . The Huron river is very high. The warmer weather is suppose to last into the week end with a chance of showers tonight. This looks like it could be a set up for a very good fishing weekend.

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It was a beautiful day here in upper Michigan. 62 degrees with a strong wind that took the snow down like crazy. The warmer weather bringing some fisherman out to try their luck at some early steelhead fishing. Nothing happening yet. Due to the runoff from the last two snow storms the rivers are running a little high. With the warmer temperatures and the increased current feeding the bay, we may see some steelhead being caught by the end of the week. The ice on the bay is pretty well broken up. A strong south wind would probably push the ice out into lake Superior and open the bay up. I have not heard anything on the smelt run yet- but it is a little early. With the kind of winter most of us have had in the North Country- it just seems good to be dealing with open water.

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