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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Well it looks like we are finally getting close to the steelhead run here in upper Michigan. After two late snowstorms and temps way below normal we are finally warming up. Water levels may get a little high do to the run off. But in my mind better to start high -then too low. Steelhead fishing here usually peaks around the end of April. Thier is still a lot of ice on the bay keeping the water temperatures down. So I am looking for a late run. The salmon fishing is at a stand still do to the ice still in the bay. The inland lakes pretty much the same. As the week develops and warmer teperatures come in to the area I hope to have a steelhead fishing report for you. Be sure to subscribe to my feed.

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With the price of bait today it can really pay to catch your own minnows. Especially if you have a place you can store them. Catching minnows is not real hard. Be sure to check the laws for your state before you start. You can make your own trap or purchase one from a sporting goods store. Most of them are made from wire mesh. The most popular ones are round and have a funnel at each end. When the minnows go in for the bait, because of the funnels they cant find their way out. Dried bread works real well for bait in these traps. Find a creek you can legally trap in and walk the shore till you see some minnows. Try to pick out kind of a deep hole to lay the trap in. Let it go for a couple of hours or overnight before you check it. With any kind of luck you will be rewarded with a nice catch of minnows.If you plan on catching shiners you have to use a glass trap. Wire mesh traps are to rough. It will injure the shiners, they are more delicate.You can also purchase a square net. They are held to form with wire rods that form kind of an upside down umbrella. Also sometimes called an umbrella net. To use this you attach it to a long pole. Submerge the net into the water a couple feet below the surface. Sprinkle some wet oatmeal on top of the water over the net. It will sink and as it does the minnows will come in to feed on it. Then pull the net up. I have done this though the ice in the winter. It works great. Last but not least. If you don’t want to wait on a trap or stand over a net. Buy a seine. This is fast and effective. Make sure the one you buy is weighted on the bottom. Grab a buddy and go. Run the seine though shallow weed beds or deep holes in the creeks. Some times in the middle of the summer minnows even get hard to catch. Like most other fish -in the evening and at night they will come into shallow water. So if you’re not having any luck in the day. Try it in the evening or after dark.

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It is good finally to see some warmer weather here in Upper Michigan. A major snow storm last Monday dumped about a foot of snow on us. But I guess that’s what it takes -we are in the fifty’s here today. One nice thing about lake superior and its bays, when it warms up they start to break up quickly. Fishing activity has slowed way down do to the warmer temps making the ice areas a little shaky. Its time to start keeping an eye out for the steelhead to start coming up the rivers. We are expecting some high water do to the run off from the snow storm. But I guess too high is better than too low. I will keep you posted as the month progresses.Tags: fiahing, fishing report, fresh water fishing, lake superior

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I stood on the shore looking out over the Baraga county marina. The water was calm and the air was starting to cool down as it approached the evening hours. It had been an extremely hot day in the middle of July. Earlier that day while sitting at home trying to stay cool I started thinking. Theirs a good amount of perch in that bay and they come into the marina around spawning time. They hang in their for about 2 weeks, and their gone. Where do they go? Deeper water, or maybe into the weed beds? It was hot and I thought why not just take a first hand look. So their I stood with mask and snorkel in hand ready to enter the water.Fish locators and sonar’s are great but they don’t even come close to seeing it for yourself!If you have ever had a chance to swim lake superior in the summer time you know that even in the middle of July the water is still quite cold. What a way to cool off.

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Well it’s the end of March. You can see from the picture above the chance of an early steelhead run up the rivers here is vanishing quickly. Due to an over extended winter. However the ice is hanging in their on the lakes and is providing some good late ice fishing opportunities. Fishing here on the bay for lake trout and salmon is very heavy and producing some nice fish. There is also some nice fish being caught on the inland lakes. See the picture below 5 nice brook trout caught here on a local lake yesterday (03/30/08). If you haven’t read it yet, read my article on brook trout fishing in non designated lakes. As the weather improves I will keep you posted on our local steelhead and smelt activity. If you are from Michigan remember new Fishing Licenses are required the 1^st of April.

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Things have quieted down pretty much on the bay. With spring coming all ice fishing shanties have to be off the bay by the end of the month. The lake trout are still being caught in the deeper water. Some salmon also being caught at the head of the bay. The weather has remained cool. We need warmer weather for the steelhead to start their run up the rivers. Hopefully this will start to happen with in a couple of weeks. Smelt fishing here for the last several years has been very slow. I will keep an eye on it and let you know if anything is happening. If you would like to know when the steelhead or smelt start running subscribe to my feed and I will keep you posted. I hope you have a GREAT Easter

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I pulled my little pick-up truck to the side of the road, and gathering my fishing gear. I walked back to the bridge that crossed the Menominee river outside the town of Vulcan in the beautiful U.P.( Upper Peninsula of Michigan) When I got to the bridge a new sign had been posted, “ No Loitering on Bridge“. “Well, I thought to myself,” I’m not loitering , I’m fishing! My favorite spot was on the rocks down below the bridge, but since my arthritis had got the best of me, I could no longer get to my favorite spots. But ,“ah ha”! my little Killer Bee will come through for me.I set my fishing equipment down against the rail. I picked my little Killer Bee out of the box and tied it to the end of my line. After placing a nice juicy night crawler on the hook, I cast it out.It was early morning. The sky was over cast with no breeze, a perfect morning for fishing. As I stood their waiting for a nibble, My thoughts drifted back to when I was a tiny Kid. I was born in Detroit Michigan. Every summer my family went on vacation. We always went to the “Lone Pine Lodge” which was located on Houghton Lake which was located in the Northern part of the Mitt. To us this was going up North. I loved it. And even as a tiny Kid, I hated to come back to the City. I loved the lakes and the trees and the wilderness. But as the years went by, the wilderness gradually disappeared.After I grew up, I moved to Pontiac Michigan. That’s where I met my Husband. When I asked Him where he was from he said,” Iron Mountain.” I said ”where in earth is that?” And he told me, across the straights in the U.P.” Upper Peninsula!” I said again. I didn’t think their was any civilization up their; I thought it was all wilderness. He laughed. Well, I was right and so was he. This is a real wilderness area with its forests, lakes and streams. But it also has its towns and good people.

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The stars were starting to fade now. I could see a hint of daylight in the eastern sky. I looked down at my stringer just below the surface of the water. Attached to it, I could see the outline of three monster small mouth bass. What a night it had been. My brother Don had been over to the house the day before. “You have to try it” he said. “ I have been getting to the lake at about 1 or 2 in the morning.  I’ve been catching some big bass. Fish the North shore. With Rattle spoons.” “ What “I said? “Use rattle spoons” he said. Ok surface I could understand-but rattle spoons? “I’ll give it a try”. I laid in bed that night. God it was hot! I couldn’t sleep and I keep thinking about what my brother had said earlier that day. Hell with it! I jumped out of bed, it was midnight. I was heading for the lake.The lake was perfectly calm except for the occasional ripple of some bait fish breaking the water. The stars were bright in the sky with no moon. The lake was dark, but even so you could see the outline of tree shadows on the water created by the lights from a near by town. This lake has a campground on it and is very hard to fish in the summer due to jet skis, water skies, and any other water sport you can think of.

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