Ice Fishing Report 12-24-08

Ice fishing season started early in Northern Michigan this year.

Budd Lake: Fished Budd on 12-14 and 12-24. We were after perch on both trips, but didn't find many fish over 10-inches. As of 12-24 Budd Lake had about a foot of snow on 8-inches of ice.

Pratt Lake: Fished Pratt on 12-23 and picked up two walleyes in 12 FOW jigging a white DOJIGGER with a whole shiner minnow. As of 12-23 Pratt had 6-inches of ice.

Houghton Lake: Fished Houghton on 12-20 and couldn't find a walleye. We worked an area 2.25 miles east of the West public boat ramp. HL had 10-inches of ice.

We just purchased a MarCum 825c fish camera to replace the old Auquview, so we should have some great fish pictures in the next reports.

Good luck and be safe on the ice.

Houghton Lake 9-19-08

Walleye fishing continues to be very good on Houghton Lake. It's been two weeks since my last trip, but the walleyes are still just as active as they were at the beginning of the month.

We trolled in 6.5 FOW with tail dancers running them back 45 and 52 foot. My father and I fished for three hours and boated seven walleyes the best one being 20-inches. On top of the walleye action we hooked a 38-inch or larger norther pike that broke off at the boat. The fishing conditions are changing and as the water temperature continues to drop we will be moving in closer to shore to fish our spring areas.

8/30 & 9/1 Fishing Action

The walleye action was redhot again this weekend on Houghton Lake. With 8 keeper walleyes on saturday and 18 keepers on monday. We boated over 60 fish monday between the three teams boats on the water. A lot of 14" fish, so next year should be productive also.

All of our fish were caught in 4 to 6 FOW, dragging Storm thundersticks and Rapala tail dancers. The most productive lures being the white thunderstick and the blue/silver taildancer. This is in an area we have been fishing most of the summer with some really good success.

It's getting closer to the well antipated hunting season with early goose season starting 9/1. So get out on the water before your hanging in a tree or laying in a cornfield. There is still plenty of good weather to go catch fish.

We plan to fish Houghton Lake as much as possible before our Wyoming trip in October, we will reply back soon with more great fishing action.

Houghton Lake 8-29-08

Walleye fishing is still excellent on Houghton Lake. We made it out for three hours Friday and boated twelve keeper walleyes fishing with the North West wind. Trolled taildancers 55 foot back and D.A.M. 3" minnows 30 foot back at 1.95mph.

The D.A.M. baits are a new bait to our collection and are working very well. I purchased them at Northwoods in Pinconning for $1.99 each which is a great price for a lure of this quality.

I'll be back on Houghton tonight and will report back.

Houghton Lake August 22nd, 23rd, and 24th

Houghton Lake Walleye Fishing continues to be excellent. We made it out fishing over the weekend and limited out everyday.

Friday (8-22)
Headed out of the West launch at 12:30pm and fished in 6.5 FOW one mile out. We trolled with the South wind using Blue and White Tail Dancers 50' back and White thunder sticks trolled at 1.98mph. Boated 32 walleyes and kept 15 with the best fish being 22-inches.

Saturday (8-23)
Fished out of the South DNR launch out in 4 to 5 FOW. We got out on the lake at 5:45pm after the storm and had our 4 man limit by 8:30pm. Fished our normal setup.

Sunday (8-24)
Fished out of the South DNR launch and headed out to 7 FOW. We started fishing at 7:45am and had to work to get a three man limit. We boated 30 walleyes and lost 11 at the net.

Local fishermen will tell you to fish in the weeds to find the walleyes. My suggestion is to find the bait fish and follow them. Find the bait, match the bait in color and depth and you will catch walleyes on Houghton. The lake is know for it's large weed beds, but it also has small pockets without weed that make trolling a great method.

I'll report back.

Houghton Lake 8-15-08

Another excellent Friday morning on Houghton Lake. When we hit the water this morning we were greeted with water temperatures ranging from 66 to 68 degrees. We setup to troll off of the south point with tail dancers (Blue / Silver) and white storm thundersticks running at 1.65 mph using the north wind to keep us on our troll line. Over three and a half hours we boated nine walleyes with the best fish being 16 inches.

I'm planning on fishing Saturday evening in my quest to find larger walleyes on Houghton. I'll report back. Good Luck!

Houghton Lake 8-8-08

Fished Houghton Lake Friday morning and landed seven walleyes trolling in 6.5 FOW.

Were starting to explore some new areas on the lake hoping to find some bigger fish. I'll be back on Houghton Lake this week and will report back.

Go Fishing.

Houghton Lake 8-3-08

Houghton Lake walleyes were feeding a bit on the light side this weekend. We made it out on Friday morning and picked up seven walleyes fishing in 6.5 FOW trolling 2.5mph with Storm thundersticks and taildancer. Our other team members fished Houghton on Sunday night and boated fifteen walleyes, six bass, and a ton of pike trolling 1.5 to 2mph in the same area.

Saginaw Bay:
Joey and his team fished out of Standish on Saturday afternoon and boated seventeen walleyes in three hours with only five keepers in 21 FOW trolling meat.

Good Luck.

Big Manistique Lake, Curtis 7-27-08

Big Manistique Lake walleye fishing is slow this time of the year, but if you can find structure you will normally find some very nice perch. Team members fished Big Manistique last week and produced several limits of 12" to 14" perch fishing in 10 FOW using perch rigs and minnows.

Good Luck.

Houghton Lake 7-25-08

Another excellent fishing morning on Houghton Lake. We started fishing at 8:00am and had our walleye limit at 11:10am. Not may fishermen out on the lake this morning. The majority of the fishing pressure is out in front of the Limber Lost.

We'll be back out fishing Sunday morning and I'll report back.

Houghton Lake 7-24-08

Another beautiful night of fishing on Houghon Lake. I got out of work early and was able to make a quick trip up to Houghton with my niece and two nephews to do some walleye scouting.

We headed out just south of the area where we have been producing walleyes and setup to troll in 5 FOW using our normal setup. After fishing for about ten minutes we had a double header with two 14" walleyes which good the kids attention and kept them focused on fishing most of the night. Tonights weather conditions were great and the slight West wind created a perfect walleye chop.

Over all we boated eleven walleyes six of which we kept. Four pike, four small mouths and one small perch. Fishing pressure was zero out in the lake, but closer to the Limber Lost the boats are piled up in 10 FOW. The main fishing method in that area is jigging the weed beds and working the 8' to 12' ledge. My suggestion to anyone fishing Houghton is to find structure the is not a weed bed. The lake is full of drops and sand bars that hold fish year round, you just have to go find them. The best part is that most of the time you will be fishing in less then 7 FOW. I'll be back on Houghton at 6:00am Friday morning and will report back. Good Luck.