Scott O.
Well-known member
Yesterday, we started out on the Bay at Linwood at 7am and motored north in my buddy's 17.5' Key West center console.
The weather called for rain early with thunderstorms after noon but the surface was fairly flat for Saginaw Bay.
Went north to the Saganing Bar (care of a little intel from the guy at Frank's Outdoors) and started fishing in 17' of water. The walleye bite has slowed and Michiganders were waiting for the perch to start up. There were reports on Wednesday that a few boats had some decent catches of 9" plus fish. That may seem small to many but the perch run is a blast when the action starts...its school fishing and once you get over one, the fish just start hitting.
Well thats what finally happened for us after a few exciting moments. My partner's ultralight (in a holder) bends over right to the water...he grabs it and fights what we thought was a decent walleye...gets it to the surface and it spits the hook. I asked, "Walleye?" he responds, "Smallmouth". I laughed at that because I saw the fish for an instant and it was huge, a lot bigger than your average smallie. Ten minutes later, an exact replay happens and this time he gets the 4 lb smallmouth on board...on 4lb test. Very cool.
We suffer thru a 30 minute doldrum but then it was on. Perch start hitting...9", 10"...13"...one after the other. We were using 2 hook spreaders and the fish started hitting them 2 at a time. All told, we had 5 doubles including a perch/white bass combo. It was a great day and signaled the next Great Lakes "perch season". What a great place to live!
So the live well is getting full and we are watching the skies and decide to head back the long way, north, checking out Wig Wam Bay and south to Nyanquing, looking for waterfowl. I can't even begin to estimate how many birds are out there all along the shoreline but suffice it to say, we have a few spots saved on the GPS for next week. That should be another story....
[inline fish.jpg]
View attachment fish.JPG
The weather called for rain early with thunderstorms after noon but the surface was fairly flat for Saginaw Bay.
Went north to the Saganing Bar (care of a little intel from the guy at Frank's Outdoors) and started fishing in 17' of water. The walleye bite has slowed and Michiganders were waiting for the perch to start up. There were reports on Wednesday that a few boats had some decent catches of 9" plus fish. That may seem small to many but the perch run is a blast when the action starts...its school fishing and once you get over one, the fish just start hitting.
Well thats what finally happened for us after a few exciting moments. My partner's ultralight (in a holder) bends over right to the water...he grabs it and fights what we thought was a decent walleye...gets it to the surface and it spits the hook. I asked, "Walleye?" he responds, "Smallmouth". I laughed at that because I saw the fish for an instant and it was huge, a lot bigger than your average smallie. Ten minutes later, an exact replay happens and this time he gets the 4 lb smallmouth on board...on 4lb test. Very cool.
We suffer thru a 30 minute doldrum but then it was on. Perch start hitting...9", 10"...13"...one after the other. We were using 2 hook spreaders and the fish started hitting them 2 at a time. All told, we had 5 doubles including a perch/white bass combo. It was a great day and signaled the next Great Lakes "perch season". What a great place to live!
So the live well is getting full and we are watching the skies and decide to head back the long way, north, checking out Wig Wam Bay and south to Nyanquing, looking for waterfowl. I can't even begin to estimate how many birds are out there all along the shoreline but suffice it to say, we have a few spots saved on the GPS for next week. That should be another story....
[inline fish.jpg]
View attachment fish.JPG
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