2011 Lake Erie Creel Limit for Walleyes is ( 6 ) Six - May 1st

Lake Erie Dally Creel Limit for Walleyes Is Six Beginning May 1

Contact:  Liz Hay-Chmielewski, 734-663-3554 or Mary Dettloff, 517-335-3014 
Agency: Natural Resources

March 28, 2011

The daily creel limit for walleyes in Michigan's waters of Lake Erie will be six beginning May 1, the Department of Natural Resources announced today.

Michigan has adopted a process for setting regulations that allows the DNR to use real-time population data instead of using year-old survey results. This process parallels one adopted by Ohio last year.

"This change to the regulations process is critical to helping us manage walleyes in Lake Erie in a timely manner," said DNR Lake Erie Basin Coordinator Liz Hay-Chmielewski. "In order to do that, we have to set regulations in March instead of the previous autumn."

Michigan's daily creel limit for walleyes on Lake Erie is based on its share of the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) for the lake, which is determined by the Lake Erie Committee under the aegis of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission. The TAC is generally based on overall abundance of walleyes; the Committee establishes quotas for each jurisdiction based on the percentage of habitat for adult walleyes in each jurisdiction's waters of the lake. The daily limit is based on a formula that projects how many walleyes anglers can keep but still remain within the quota.

See the attached table for an explanation of the formula used to set the daily creel limit.

The Total Allowable Catch for Lake Erie for 2011 is 2.919 million fish, making Michigan's quota 0.17 million fish.

The new regulations process means that the creel limit for walleyes on Lake Erie will not be set until TACs are determined each March, after the Michigan Fishing Guide goes to press. Anglers will need to check for changes annually.

There are no changes to either the fishing season or size limit for walleyes on Lake Erie.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is committed to the conservation, protection, management, use and enjoyment of the state's natural and cultural resources for current and future generations. For more information, go towww.michigan.gov/dnr.

If Michigan's share of the annual TAC is	Then the daily possession limit for walleye shall be
greater than 108,364	six (6)
96,958 to 108,364	five (5)
85,551 to 96,957	four (4)
74,144 to 85,550	three (3)
62,737 to 74,143	two (2)
less than 62,737	one (1)

Lowrance Rebate

REBATE Lowrance® HDS-8 Fishfinder/GPS Chartplotter

Lowrance HD-8

Lowrance is offering rebates on most models up to $200.00 until 3/27/11. 

I'm updating the electronics in the Tundra this year and adding an HD8 and a HD7 with the structure scan. 

Saginaw Bay Ice Floes On St. Patrick's Day

UPDATE: U.S. Coast Guard rescues 12 people from Saginaw Bay ice floes on St. Patrick's Day

Published: Friday, March 18, 2011, 11:15 AM

By Michael Wayland | The Bay City Times

 ESSEXVILLE — A dozen people were rescued by U.S. Coast Guard officials from ice floes on the Saginaw Bay.

Lt. Justin Westmiller, of the U.S. Coast Guard Detroit, said from 7-11 p.m. Thursday crews from theStation Saginaw River, along with three fire departments, assisted with four rescues.

Westmiller said two of the 12 people rescued fell into the water and were sent to a nearby hospital to be treated for hypothermia.

The Coast Guard advises all ice-sport enthusiasts to check the weather prior to going out on the ice and to recognize that warming temperatures can make for extremely unsafe conditions.

“At this point the ice is extremely unsafe," Westmiller said. "We can’t force people to stay off the ice, but we ask that they be extremely extremely cautious and stay off the ice.”
Westmiller said fire departments from the townships of Bangor, Kawkawlin and Pinconning assisted with the rescues.

New UV Bright Lure Finish

Open water fishing is just around the corner and its time to get ready to go.  Last night I purchased a few new Storm stick baits with the UV Bright finish to add to my collection.  The UV finish is a new concept that will be fun to test out this year.  

Budd Lake & Pratt Lake Report



Pratt Lake Blue Gills



Friday was the last day of ice fishing for Mark and I, so we decided to put in a full day looking for anything that would bite.  We started out on Budd Lake at 6:00am on the South shore in 14 FOW.   We saw lots of small blue gills, bass, and several nice walleye on the camera.  The action started at 8:11am when we had our first flag (lost it) and then at 8:40am a big walleye came in and checkout my jig before swimming off. The North wind picked up at 9:00am and I was cold, so went out and I did more camera work.  I checked out the flat areas and found two big walleyes laying on the bottom half buried in silt which was a sign that the bite was going to be slow.  I had to leave the lake at 9:30am for a quick meeting with a customer which kept me off the ice until 1pm when I met back up with Mark at Pratt Lake.  We started on the West side of the lake and checked out three areas that normally hold walleyes and after an hour of looking at empty water we packed up and moved East.  On the North East shore we found two walleyes and lots of blue gills in our first set of holes, so we decided to setup and try the area.  We had fourteen flags, four missed fish, six bass, and the rest were pike.  The blue gills fishing was hot and the fish were scattered from the bottom to 3 foot under the ice in depths of 7 to 16 foot.  Total pan fish action we hooked twenty three keeper gills for our dinner.  Mark and I spent the last three hours of the day jigging for walleyes and trolling all of the open holes in search of a big walleye without any luck.  The bite finally slowed down and so did we and at seven thirty another great ice fishing season for came to a close.

Good Luck....



Moxie Minnow, Bro Bug, Gulp 1" leaches, Sting'r Hooks




Pratt Lake Tip Up Action



Budd Lake Fishing Contest Video Clip

Video clip from the Budd Lake Fishing Contest.

 

Budd Lake Fishing Report 3/7/11

Two Bass Checking Out the Camera in 12 FOW

The weather was so nice today that I had to make a point to stop by Budd Lake on my way home from work and spend a few hours looking for a big walleye.  I fished in 6 to 17 FOW on the West side of the lake about a quarter mile north of the power dock.  I didn't catch any walleyes, but I did find schools of  blue gills in 6 to 10 FOW. 

Good Luck... 

3" Magnum report

Well, I braved the weather on saturday and left monroe county at 3:45 am to head up to saginaw bay for a day trip. Once I landed at my spot 3 miles out I coulnt get my auger to start. After 30 minutes of brutal effort I decided to head back to the truck to work on it. On my way back with shanty and jet sled in tow my sled broke through the ice on the pressure crack. Luckily I have a 1.5" paddle track on my sled that allowed me to pull out of the hole but my shanty wasn't so lucky, it nose dived into water breaking the floor in half and snapped the tow rope. Now its sticking half way out of water and I carefully retrieved it.
After all the morning troubles I ended up fishing till dark with no success most likely due to strong east winds. I did however have an 8 lb walleye swim between my 2 jigs, that was exciting.
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

Budd Lake Fishing Report 3/4/11



Perch 10 FOW

We started fishing at 2:30am and put in fourteen hours of fishing time Friday in an attempted to catch a 10 pound walleye out of Budd Lake.  Over the course of the day we found walleyes and lots of bass in about every location we drilled holes, but just couldn't make the walleyes bite. 

Morning Setup

The weather turned bad at 8am and the rain hit hard keeping us in one location until noon.  Most of the fish we found around the lake were in 10 to 15 FOW with the best concentration of fish on the North East side of the lake. 

Good Luck...



On the move looking for fish



3" Magnum report

Hello fishermen and woman, just letting everyone know that me and my hot rod yellow snow machine will be making an appearance on saginaw bay 3 miles out from the state park on saturday. Hopefully I'll see some fellow hhs pro staff and freinds out there to help me slay some of them lunker glow-eyes.
On another note I've been hearing rumor that the michigan dnr is reducing walley catch limits to either 2 or 3 fish per day statewide. This is outrageous! It will kill the charter captains and make it difficult for regular sportsmen like you and me to justify the cost of fuel and tackle etc to go out and catch dinner. The impact will be huge for our mom and pop bait shops and trickle down is guaranteed. We need to come together and make our voices heard on this matter. This might not be so bad if it were a temporary change but when is the last time you've heard of the dnr raising catch limits or lowering size limits?
I'm very concerned and would encourage your comments on this matter. The thoughts of this message are that of the 3" magnum and not necisarilly that of hot hunting spots.
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Saginaw Bay 2/26/11

When I arrived at work this morning I was updated by my team that the walleye action is very hot right now three miles out in front of the Bay City State Park.  I'll confirm the report as soon as I can get out of the plant in the daylight....

Houghton Lake Walleye Report 2/25/11

First Walleye of the day 3:00pm

First walleye of the day for Mark and Tommy.  The walleye bite has been hit and miss so far with two missed fish and one keeper.  

Good Luck...

Fishing Camp North Shore 10 FOW

Budd Lake Fishing Report 2/25/11

Budd Lake Early Monring Setup

The Big Walleye Hole 17 FOW

I woke up at 3:00am this morning dreaming about ice fishing and feeling excited about getting back on Budd Lake this weekend.  Then I remembered that I'm working all weekend on a new program start up and fishing will not be an option.   The thought of the monster walleye that Chachi and I lost last Sunday is still driving me crazy and all I want to do is keep fishing until I get another crack at him.  With work getting very busy and walleye season coming to a close in eighteen days I decided that I needed to get up and head to Budd Lake before work.   I ran out to the barn and scaled down my fishing setup to what I can carry and took off for the lake.  I walked on to the lake at 4:20am  and was fishing by 4:40am.  Fishing was slow in the dark, but I did see a few fish the sonar around 5:15am come in and look at my jig.  Fishing action got hot at 7:40am when I missed a fish jigging and a few minutes later I had a tip up go off but no fish.  I fished until 8:30am the packed up to head to work.

Mark and Tommy traveled up to Houghton Lake this morning, so we should have a walleye report later today.

Rapala Jigging Rap ( Hot Lures )

The Rapala name is a Old School Standard for most of us.
If you are on the ice and you are looking for a hot lure as the big Walleyes start to feed....

Try the Rapala Jigging Rap.

Welcome Fish H8 Me (Raz)

Hot Hunting Spots is happy to welcome "Raz" from Fish H8 Me.  If you have a chance to check out the site it has lots of great information!   ( http://www.fishh8me.com ) or just click on the image.

Welcome Ken's Landing!

Hot Hunting Spots would like to welcome another great outdoor resource located in Clare County for all your hunting and fishing needs.  Check out the team at Ken's Landing with two locations:

Ken's Landing
704 N. First Street
Harrison, MI. 48625
(989) 539-3700

Ken's Landing ( Seasonal )
201 West Park
Lake George, MI 48633
(989) 588-6317

Budd Lake Tournament 2/20/11

A few extra photos from the Weigh in Station of the 1st Place Walleye caught at Winterfest 2011.
Great Job Chachi!

Budd Lake Fishing Report 2/20/11

Chachi with his 26- inch long 7-pound Budd Lake walleye 

Prefishing pays off for Chachi.  Last weekend the kids and I hiked through the deep snow to prepare our fishing plan for the Frost Bite Fishing Contest that took place today on Budd Lake.  This morning when the teams were released to fish Chachi and I headed north to our go to walleye spot.  Shortly after getting our holes drilled and in position three other teams arrived and setup on both side of us. This wasn't a big deal, but it was going to make it difficult for us to move and scout for fish.  We made a quick decision to pack up and move to our second spot located at the South end of the lake where we had fished last Sunday.  Good thing for fishing pressure because it moved us right into lots of walleye.  We drilled our normal setup of 25 holes then took the camera and tip up gear to setup our still baits.  On our second hole we spotted a nice walleye a foot of the bottom on the break in 12 FOW and we placed our first tip up.  Moving on we found more walleyes which was very encouraging and helped us get our tip ups set quickly.  While scouting we found a mix of fish activity with most of the walleyes cursing the break and then we found several fish just laying flat on the bottom.  Well what looked like a jackpot of fish turned out to be a very slow bite for the most part.  At 9:20am Chachi yelled from the shanty that he had hooked a big fish and sure enough it was a big 20-inch large mouth bass.  It was the big bass we prayed for in the summer contest, it was just delivered seven months late.  With the edge of the early morning just about to wearing off we got our first flag at 10:33am.  Being the first fish of the day and possibly a money fish Chachi gave me the line and he held the video camera.  Well this is the big fish that got away story and it hurt at the time.   The fish spooled three quarters of the line on the reel before stopping, then I set the hook and thought I lost him, then the fight was on all the way back to the hole only to find that we couldn't control the fish or get him into the eight inch hole.  We worked hard, but the big walleye never gave us a head shot and he ended up breaking off on the third attempt.  The heart breaker was that I'm positive this fish was 10-pounds or better and would have been a great ice fishing trophy.  After the loss and a big adrenalin headache I reset the tip up and headed off to jig without any luck until around noon when we started seeing walleyes again.  Then at 1:15pm with hope fading we had a flag in the big walleye hole and this time Chachi would have the line.  We got to the hole to find the reel hung up on the ice.  I picked up the tip up and then he fish started spooling line like crazy.  Chachi waited for the fish to stop and then set the hook. With the fish hooked Chachi worked the fish to the ice where we lost the fist fish and with only 45 minutes left to fish Chachi got the walleye straight in the hole on the second try and pulled it into my hand.  With the fish on the ice it was now an awesome moment for the twelve year old fishermen and I have to say this was one of the best walleye fishing trips I have ever been on.  I've caught hundreds of walleyes and everyone of them made my day, but getting to be part of my nephews first big walleye and seeing the excitement was awesome.    I know this will be a fishing trip he will always remember and I'm sure he will tell all of his friends how he won the walleye division with his 7-pound 26-inch last minute Budd Lake walleye.

Good Luck...

Caught on a Tip Up in 14 FOW at 1:15pm

Chachi and Uncle Den

20-inch large mouth 9:20am

3" Magnum report

I fished lake erie's brest bay in search of some hogg walleyes this past weekend and found that I was the only person out there both mornings with the exception of one fisherman making the 2 mile walk through the drifted snow out to the pressure crack. My customized snow machine and I had to stop and offer a ride out there since I am a good sportsman for which he gladly accepted. We found our way to 18' of water at the pressure crack and I set up there only to get skunked both days. Fyi the ice is about 12" before crack and 5" after crack.
I'm very dissapointed with the fishing as a whole in s/e mich this year, I haven't heard of anyone cathing much.
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Budd Lake Fishing Report 2/12/11

First fish of the day.

Fished Budd Lake today to do some scouting around before the fishing tournament next Sunday.  The kids and I spent the whole day drilling holes and checking out areas trying to pin point where Chachi and I are going to setup on Sunday morning.  Overall, we found lots of small perch and a few nice bluegills in about every area we checked out, but no big fish today.   If you head out to Budd Lake be prepared for deep snow and slush, it will give you a good workout.

Good Luck....

Chachi having fun bluegill fishing.

Drying out in the shanty after a long day of fishing