Houghton Lake 6/29/11

12 3/4 - inch Perch hooked on a TD 7 Taildancer in 9 FOW

My nephew and I headed up to Houghton Lake yesterday at 7:30pm to try out the night bite. On our last trip to Houghton Lake we found a good concentration of walleyes holding in an area of scattered weeds in 9 to 11 FOW.   We headed back to the same spot to work on developing a trolling path around the weeds.  When building a trolling path I change the track color on my GPS when I arrive at the location so I can clearly see where my boat has been.  Then we drive the boat East and West over the area and then North and South to basically build a grid of the area we want to target.  While we are making the grid we mark weed structures that would cause trolling issues with GPS points.  Next, I change the track color and start trolling.  When we find bad spots trolling we mark them with GPS points.  After a few hours of driving the area the map starts to show a clear path around the weeds and at that point I go back and save a course.  It's a fair amount of work to develop trolling paths, but it pays off.

The fishing action was very slow for the most part.  We worked on  our trolling path during the daylight and hooked two bass, one pike, and a nice 12 3/4 - inch perch.  At dark we headed in close to the west shore and trolled in the dark without any luck at all.  The water temperature last night held at 67 F on both sides of the lake.  I suspect that the cold front and quick water cool down helped slow down the walleye bite yesterday. 

Good Luck...

Great Getaways Fishing Houghton Lake

Here is another video clip showing some Tips for Fishing Houghton lake.... Enjoy!

Lake Erie Walleye

A Nice Video from Mike Avery's Outdoor Magazine... Enjoy!

Houghton Lake Fishing Report 6/26/11

 

We got out on Houghton Lake Sunday afternoon to get some sun and do some fishing.  Started fishing at 1pm jigging in 10 FOW.  We hooked three keeper walleyes on gold jig heads tipped with a leech. The action slowed up at 4pm, so we moved to the West shore and trolled around the weeds clumps with stickbaits and hooked 3 walleye (1 keeper) and two pike by 8pm. 

Good Luck....

Littlefield Lake 6/24/11



Waiting for the fish to bite.



Littlefield Lake Shorline


Friday afternoon we headed down to Isabella County to fish Coldwater Lake, but our plans got changed.  When we arrived at the county park boat launch the ranger informed us that we could not go out on the lake because the sheriff had closed the launch for the day do to bad weather.   We made the best of the situation and headed over to Littlefield Lake to try our luck.  Not knowing much about the lake we spent an hour driving around marking out fish and structures.  The lake is very clear and deep, so we fished along the defined drop offs that you find all around the lake.  Overall in 5 hours we did not hook a fish jigging and trolling.  We saw lots of carp and a few bass in in the shallow. 

Houghton Lake Fishing Report 6/17/11



North Shore Walleye 11 FOW



North Shore 12.5 FOW



East Bay undersize walleye



South Shore Sunfish

Had lots of fun fishing Houghton Lake today.  Mark and I started our morning out trolling in 8 FOW on the West shore and quickly realized that the chopped up floating weeds that covered the lake were going to make trolling very difficult.  We packed up our trolling gear at 8am and made the best of a bad weed day by doing some traveling around the lake jigging and bobber fishing.  The best action was on the North shore in 12 FOW jigging around the weed clumps.  We used gold jig heads tipped with Gulp, plastic, and leaches.  Overall we hooked 7 walleyes and lots of pan fish.  If your heading to Houghton this weekend the water is holding at 70 F and you will find lots of dead mayflies and weeds on the surface.

Good Luck...

Houghton Lake Fishing Report 6/11 - 6/14

Jim's Monster 11-inch Sunfish.  Hooked on the North Shore.

Hothuntingspots,

Thank you for the tips on fishing Houghton Lake. Although the winds were high all week we made the best of it.

The Mayflies were out in force so we switch to fly's in 3 ft of water at night and we caught 7 keepers in about 90 minutes. Tuesday we went after bass and slammed them! Fished in 12 ft of water off the North shore twitching crawlers in the pockets of weeds. We boated 23 (15 smallies) with every one of them over 14 inches. The biggest was a 19 in Smally. Most of them were 16-17 inches. We ended the 3 1/2 days with 32 Walleye 17 of them keepers.

Attached is a picture of the 11 inch Sunfish Jim caught.

Have a nice day,

Mike Bennett

Pratt Lake 6/13/11

Fished Pratt Lake Monday night for the first time this summer.   We started on the South East side of the lake working leaches and crank baits in 10 to 14 FOW.  The bass and bluegill action was great on the South shore.  We hooked one small 10-inch walleye on a slip bobber rig in 13 FOW and a nice pike.  Closer to dark we trolled without any luck.  The lake is in great fishing condition right now, the water is clear and the weeds down. 
Good Luck...




 

Pratt Lake Sunset

 

Chachi and Grandpa



Budd Lake Report 6/10/11

Budd Lake in the rain

I fished Budd Lake from 7am to 1pm today checking out areas in preparation for the fishing tournament tomorrow. The fishing action was slow at best and it rained all day. Found some nice bluegills on the south east shore in 10 FOW. Water is fairly clear and 72 F at this time.



Good luck....

Houghton Lake Fishing Report 6/9/11



Bill with a nice walleye caught on a white Thunderstick.



South Shore 10.25 inch Bluegill caught on a black and silver TD5 Taildancer

                                                                                                                                                                      Fished Houghton Lake Thursday afternoon. I met up Bill Caldwell a gentlemen I got to know this winter after he sent us a very detailed email inquiring about how and where to catch walleyes on Houghton Lake. Bill and his fishing crew normally spend a week every year on Houghton looking for pike and walleye. Well, things worked out and Bill and I were able to spend an enjoyable afternoon fishing and talking about walleyes. The original plan was to head to the East Bay and spend the afternoon slip bobber fishing along the West shore, but when we got out at 6:00pm the wind was wrong. We changed plans and started out fishing on the South shore just west of the Elks club. The action was good and we hooked one walleye, two pike, and a 10.25-inch blue gill. After about 45 minutes of fishing the north wind and weeds shut us down and trolling was impossible so we packed up and headed to the north shore. On our way across the lake we marked some suspended fish in 9.5 FOW, so we stopped and trolled back with the wind. The area paid off with five walleyes and two keepers. We worked the area until 8:00pm then packed up and moved to the north shore where we fished in 6 to 9 FOW. The action was ok and we ended up hooking four walleyes and one keeper.

14.75 inch North Shore walleye. 

Nice walleye 9 FOW

Overall, we landed three keepers, seven undersized, lost six, hooked a 10.25 blue gill, and broke two lines along with having a great afternoon fishing in the cold with Bill. If you’re heading to Houghton this weekend the mayflies hatch is on so be prepared to work a bit. The water temp was 69 F on the South shore and 72 F on the north shore. Our best colors were white and black / silver. The fish we targeted were about 1.5 foot off the bottom and were holding in 7 to 9 FOW. I’ll post some GPS point tomorrow.



Good Luck…


Follow-up from Bill:

Hello Dennis, Thanks again for the truly great fishing trip on Houghton Lake. I have waited for a couple of days to try to understand various elements of the trip. I have a few more questions about what I perceived we were doing to catch Walleyes. Can you tell me if we varied speed of the boat and approx. what the range was (1.5 to2.2 mph) ? Also you wanted to try slip bobber fishing with leaches as a second method. This might be fine, but could you also have slow trolled with crawler harnesses after fast trolling with stick baits? Example:  fast troll- then slow troll- then drift with crawler harnesses? Or would this be too difficult to do in such weeded conditions and wind conditions? I hope all these questions doesn't bother you, but I am trying to learn more about walleye fishing. I am serious about fishing with you again  and my wife said she would just love to go. Do you fish Black Lake in Onaway, Mi.? The crew was talking about trying there again, (before you talked with them and actually caught Walleye). live)  Thank You for everything and take your time answering!!!!!!!!!!!!! You have a great Fishing year..... Bill Caldwell---

Houghton Lake Fishing Report



Early morning catch.  Jeff and Bruce with an 18.5 walleye
and a big crappy.  Caught drift fishing with leaches.

 Lots of fishermen hit Houghton Lake over the Memorial Day Weekend looking for walleyes. The weather was on and off all weekend which kept a lot of fishermen grounded, but the guys who got out on the water caught fish.  The water clarity is remarkable these days and you can now see bottom in 8 FOW which is not the norm for Houghton and is changing the fish patterns. 

Trolling is working well just before dark in 7 to 9 FOW and white is still our best color.  The best bite is now happening on slip bobbers and leaches / minnow fished in the weeds 8 to 12 FOW.  

We have not be out fishing as much we would like this year because lots of start ups at work and bad weather conditions on the open days.  I'll be out this Thursday / Friday and will report back.

Good Luck...

Close Call (ELECTRICITY) - May 29th

Like everyone else in Michigan, we have been watching the storms and looking for windows of good weather to try to get out and do some fishing.

We tracked the storm all day Sunday waiting to see if it would come North and it did not, so we elected to go out and try to get a couple hours of evening fishing.

We set out working the south shore of Houghton Lake about 7:45 pm and the lake was very calm.  There were probably 40 or 50 boats on the lake fishing that we could spot off in the distance.

The fishing was slow and we moved to the SW side of the lake near Lyman's.   We began to hear a noise that we could not identify that sounded like a buzz and clicking or snapping sound.  We searched around for a moment until we realized that small sparks were coming down from the (6) six rods in the fishing rod holders to the boat.

It was about that exact time you could see every boat roaring toward the shoreline in every direction.

We quickly switched over from the trolling motor to the big motor and we were getting shocks from the fishing rods ( all graphite ) as well as the net.  Everyone was a bit freaked out as we headed FOR THE NEAREST LAND.

We were fortunate to find shelter at Tom's place - a great guy we met from the web site a couple years ago and we stayed at his place for a couple hours waiting for things to calm down.

There was never a lightning strike near by - but it did rain briefly after we got to shore.

I have never experienced anything like that - and I am glad to be able to write the story.

In the few seconds it took the 150 HP motor to get us to shore....  the seconds seemed like hours wondering if you were going make it safely.

I know others had a similar experience.... feel free to share your comments.

Douglas
Hot Hunting Spots

Houghton Lake Fishing Report 5/18/11

First Walleye 7.5 FOW South Shore



Undersized Walleye 9 FOW North of the Heights Marina


Fished by myself after work from 7pm - 9:30pm and hooked six walleyes and four keepers.  My original plan was to fish the West shore, but the NE wind kept me contained to the South shore all evening.  I started fishing directly out of the South DNR launch and hooked my first fish just past the Elks club.  I spent an hour and a half fishing the South shore, hooked two walleyes, three pike, and one bass.  My next stop was the weed edge East of Lyman's where I started my troll North.  On my first pass I fished in close and didn't hook anything.  On the return back I started in 10 FOW and worked into 7.5 FOW hooking four walleyes along the way.  I wanted to fish later, but I had an early meeting I needed to prepare for, so I don't have any report on the late bite.  The water temp was 57 F when I arrived which is where it was last Tuesday. 

So far this year I've caught 90% of my fish in three locations which is odd for HL.  On the South shore I have an area about 60 yards long and 30 yards wide that I've hooked over twenty walleyes.  Spot two is a bit smaller and is just West of the Elks in 7 FOW.  Spot three is the area in front of the Heights Marina from 4 to 8 FOW which has produced twelve walleyes.  Overall most fish are 13 to 17 inches with the majority being undersized.  I'm looking forward to some better weather and calmer winds so I can get out to fish the East Bay and North Shore where I'm hoping the bigger fish are hanging out. 

Good Luck..

Fishing Report From Matt 5/20:

Well so far for today we started out trolling the south and west sides with limited success. Only boated 1 or 2 walleye trolling. After a lil thought we decided to still fish leaches under slip bobbers around weed beds we marked trolling. We ended up boating 20 walleye. 19 of which were 14 3/4" and 15 hammer handle pike. Overall, its been a blast so far. Thanks again man, were are still deciding if we wanna troll tonight, since I also boated one heck of a sun burn this afternoon. Lol. Thanks again man.


-Matt

Keeper Walleye 9 FOW in Front of the
Heights Marina.  Rapala Shad Rap 40 Foot back.





South Shore 7 FOW.



Budd Lake 5/12/11

Perch on a Deep 20 taildancer

Made it out on Budd Lake and fished from 7 to 10pm.  Fished the South end of the lake from 7 to 22 FOW and hooked everything but a walleye.  We had a great time fishing and enjoyed first warm weather of the spring.  Water temps ranged from 60 to 63 F on the South end and the water is very clear for this time of the year. 

Good Luck.... 



Small pike hooked in 20 FOW trolling 14 foot down.



Houghton Lake Walleye Report 5/10/11



Ed with the first walleye of the trip

 Fished the South Shore of Houghton Lake yesterday from 6:45pm -10:15pm.  We hooked eight walleyes in the 13 to 14 inch range and two keepers.  The SE wind kept us contained along the South Shore, so we made the best of the situation and fished from the DNR launch to Lyman's in 4 to 9 FOW.  Fishing action was slow for the most part and the walleye bite was concentrated in two locations both of which were small weed structures in 7 FOW.  We caught fish on TD 05 taildancers trolled back 50 foot, Berkley Flicker Shade back 25 foot and Berkley Frenzy Minnows 23 foot back all trolled from 1.9 to 2.3 mph.   The water temp is on the rise and up 2 degrees from Saturday afternoon to 57 F.  

Good Luck...

13-inch HL walleye

Houghton Lake East Shore Fishing Location

Walleye Trolling Area.  East Shore Line May - June Area.  (Click on the picture)

The East Bay on Houghton Lake is a great walleye area.  Last year in May we limited out on two times working these points.  Good Luck...

Houghton Lake Fishing Report 5/7/11



Houghton Lake Walleye

 We got out fishing for a few hours this afternoon (12 - 4pm) and hooked and released two walleyes trolling on the South Shore East of the Elks.  The water has warmed up to 55 F, so the bite should start getting good.  We worked our way in close to shore today and found lots of minnow on the sand which is a great sign.  I'll be out this week to fish the 6pm to 10pm time in shallow to see how many walleyes we can find in close to shore.

Good Luck....

Houghton Lake Walleye 5/7/11

Chachi and Holly having a fun time landing the first walleye of the day.  South Shore 12:42pm, 8 foot of water.

Saginaw River DNR Launch 5/6/11

DNR Launch at the mouth of the Saginaw River

The DNR launch at the mouth of the Saginaw river has two docks in the water.  Eleven trucks in the parking lot at noon.  I talk to a group of fishermen that had just got in and they only hooked one fish.  They said the water was very dirty.  

Houghton Lake Walleye Area

North Shore Walleye Area

Here is a nice spot to try out later this month when the water warms a little more.  We started fishing this area back in 2008.

(Click on the photo to enlarge)