Houghton Lake 5/24/13

10:20pm 8FOW West Shore

Small fish

First Walleye of the night.

Rapala Scatter Rap

The Houghton Lake walleye bite was back to normal on Friday night.  We started our trip on the South shore at 7:45pm trolling in 7 FOW.  The pike were active and on our first pass we hooked six pike and a ton of floating weeds that the NW wind had blown in.  We moved West and fished with the wind until we hooked our first walleye in 8 FOW.  From 9pm to 11pm we hooked sixteen undersized walleye and three keepers.  The best bite was on gold and black scatter rap minnow trolled back 55 foot.

 

Lake Mitchell Walleye Fishing 5/17/13

Lake Mitchell 4 FOW

 

 

Lake Mitchell 4 FOW

Lake Mitchell afternoon walleye trips.  We fished Lake Mitchell on Thursday and Friday afternoon hoping to find the walleyes in shallow after dark.  Thursday we started fishing at 7pm and caught lots of pike and a few sunfish while trolling in 4 to 9 FOW on the south shore.  At dark we moved in closer and hooked our first walleye in 4 FOW and lost another.  The walleye action was quick and right at dark.  By 10:00pm the bite was over and we fished on till 1am without another hit. 

 

Friday afternoon we got out at 7:30pm and trolled the East side of the lake in shallow and hooked two pan fish and one pike.  No walleye and a very slow evening of fishing.   The water temp was  57 to 59 F and the weeds are down.   We will be back on Houghton Lake Thursday night.

 

Good Luck...

 

East Shore Lake Mitchell

Houghton Lake 5/5/13

17 inch walleye 7 FOW North Shore

 

 

Opening day of walleye season started out with great weather and cold water.  We fished from noon till 10:00pm and never hooked a walleye.  The last time we had a shutout on the opener was back in 2007. At the launch we met up with Joe and his crew that had done well fishing up on the north shore by the cut river and Jason and his partner hooked two 17 inch fish on the south shore.

 

 On our second trip Sunday (5/5) we found good action on the north shore in 7 FOW in the weeds.  Trolling 1.8 to 2mph we hook a lot of pike and one walleye.  We only had three hours to fish and found the walleyes right when we had to go. 

 

 

Good luck..

 

 

 



Pratt Lake



Pratt Lake

Fished Pratt Lake on Sunday afternoon.  No walleye action but we found lots of bluegills as we searched the lake.  We found bluegill action all around the the lake.  Most of the bigger fish were in 20 to 27 FOW and from bottom suspended up to 15 foot.  Best action was on wax worm and orange tear drop.



Mark with the bass that broke
his fishing pole



Add caption

Saginaw River 3/1/13

Mark with his first Saginaw River Walleye of 2013



Slick jig walleye

Mark and I fished Saginaw River from 2pm - 6:50pm out of the Independence Bridge Launch.  We setup in 24 FOW along side of the ship docking area.  Lots of fishermen setup in the shipping channel fishing in 27 to 31 FOW.  We marked lots of fish all day from bottom to two foot off bottom.  The best bite was on a slow approach with whole minnows and a slick jig.  We hooked six keeper fish all 15 to 15.5 inches and lots of undersized fish.  The best bite today was from 5:50pm to 6:20pm. 

Good Luck.....



Sunset on the river

Saginaw River 2/26/13

Fished the Saginaw River out of Independence launch after work.  The ice conditions were good with close to six inches in our fishing area out in 25 FOW.  Started fishing at 4pm and marked lots of fish all afternoon.  The best action was on perch colored moxi minnow.   We hooked 4 walleye one keeper and lost two in two and a half hours of fishing. 



Saginaw River

Moxi minnow walleye 25 FOW

14 inch fish 4:45pm

Houghton Lake 2/22/13




Mark with his first tip up walleye of 2013

Friday afternoon Mark, Matt, and I  fished the West side of Houghton Lake.  We headed out of the West boat launch about 2 miles and started looking for fish in 11 FOW.  After an hour of drilling we found a good weed area and setup.  Fishing action was good from 3:30pm to 7pm.  We caught two walleyes and lots of small pike on tip up rigs set 18 inches of bottom.  Jigging was also working well and we hooked two walleye and lost a few on buck shot spoons with whole minnows.  Overall we caught two keeper walleyes, two throw backs, five perch and a lot of small pike.

Good luck...




Small walleye buck shot spoon / minnow.  11 FOW




Perch on Tip up 11 FOW

Budd Lake Fishing Report 2/24/13:

Four of us fished the Frost Bite Open fishing tournament on Sunday from 8am-2pm.  The weather was great, but the fishing action was super slow.  Thirty plus teams entered and the winning fish was a 5.08 lb pike caught by Mike Meir.




Mark and Chachi Budd Lake

Houghton Lake 1/17/13

Small walleye caught in 12 FOW on a
 jigging spoon

Fished the north shore of Houghton Lake on Thursday.  Headed out to check some of my summer spots and did lots of hole drilling without finding any fish.  After three hours of searching around I headed back toward the boat launch and found a good looking spot on the map to drill.  On the first hole I check I saw two walleye, so I setup and got out of the wind.  I fished the area for three hours and hooked 4 walleyes all 14 to 14.5 inches and a few pike. 

 

Ice conditions are very good 8 to 10 inches with very little snow cover.

 

Good Luck.....



First Pike of the day.

GPS Location N 44 19.791    W 84 39.949

Lake Mitchell 1/11/13

Lots of water flowing to the hole.
 Floating Tip Up. 

Lake Mitchell. 

Fishermen in front of the boat launch.  Lots of fog and slush.

 It seems like every time I get a day to go ice fishing this season mother nature doesn't want to cooperate.  Despite the warm temperatures and rain on Friday I made a trip over to Lake Mitchell to try out the walleye action.  When I arrived at the lake the ice had 2 inches of slush and the fog was thick enough that I couldn't see across the lake.  Ready to fish I headed out of the launch to fish on the south shore.  After searching for an hour I saw a few walleyes on the camera in 10 to 11 FOW.   The fishing action was just as bad as the weather.  In six hours of fishing I saw five walleyes and never hooked anything.   Lake Mitchell had 9 to 10 inches of ice and should be good fishing when the weather straightens up.

 

Good Luck....

Pratt Lake Fishing Trip 12/30/12

Mark and I fished the East side of Pratt Lake Sunday afternoon.  The ice conditions around our fishing area were 3 to 3.5 inches at best.  Had lots of action but didn't catch any walleyes on this trip.  We had lots of fun catching small pike and bass until dark.  My MarCum 820 camera stopped working on this trip killing our scouting plan.  I've used the MarCum 820 for three seasons now and had tons of problems with it, so now that it's dead I'll replace it with a different brand before my next trip. 

 

Good Luck....

 



Pratt Lake 12/30/12

Pratt Lake 12/30/12

Pratt Lake

Pratt Lake 12-27-12

Holly and I ventured out onto Pratt Lake this afternoon to check the ice conditions.  The lake is completely frozen over and on the South East shoreline we found 4 inches of ice in close.  As we moved out 50 yards into 8 FOW we hit 2 inches of ice which was not enough ice to make me comfortable.  I'll check the ice again in a few days.

We did see fishermen out in front of the beach and on NE shoreline.

Houghton Lake 12/26/12

Houghton Lake South Shore 12/26/12

Houghton Lake Heights Shoreline 12/26/12

Houghton Lake is not completely frozen over as of 12/26/12.  We did see fishermen out a few hundred yards in mud bay and two shanties in the SW corner of East Bay.  Lots of open water all around the lake which means we will not be fishing HL for a few more weeks.    

Houghton Lake Fishing Report 8/24/12

13.5 inch HL Crappy Caught Trolling on
the North Shore

 

After a very busy month at work Mark and I finally made it back to Houghton Lake fishing.  We headed out of the North DNR launch at 8:45am and targeted fish in 8 to 12 FOW.  The first half of the morning we trolled around our fishing areas without much luck.  Trolling produced a few pike and two nice crappy down around 8 foot in 10 FOW.  At noon we took a trip across the lake to the South shore to get out of the wind and do some casting.  The South shore report was slow and by 2pm we called it a day.  Overall we hooked some nice pan fish while walleye fishing.  No walleye on this trip, but a great morning on the lake.  The best action this year has been close to weed cover in 8 to 12 FOW.

 

Budd Lake Report:

Winning Bass Team (Haskell, Wade, Matt),
Largest Bass 19 inches Matt Mondue

Saturday morning we fished in the Second Annual Summer Classic Bass Tournament on Budd Lake.  We had a great time and hooked a lot of bass our best was 17 3/4 hooked on the East shore with a drop shot rig.  The best bass of the tournament was a 19 inch bass  hooked on a drop shot rig by Matt Mondu.  Only two pike were hooked during the morning event, the winning Pike was 34 inches hooked on the South shore. 

Releasing the Winning Pike 34 inches

Houghton Lake 7/22/12

North Shore pan fish. 

Headed to the North Shore this morning looking for walleyes and ended up finding a nice school of pan fish in 12 FOW.  We hooked all of the gills on jigs and slip bobbers fished 18 inches off bottom.  The bite was hot until the rain moved through.  Overall we hooked 26 gills and a few nice perch.  No walleye action today.

Good Luck....

Houghton Lake 7/20/12

Gold jig / Leech 12 FOW

Last Friday we fished the Saginaw Bay from 7am to 2pm and hooked one keeper and a boat load of 14 inch fish in 26 to 30 FOW Straight out of Standish.  The hot weather and the bugs made the trip a challenge.  

Houghton Lake Report 7/20: We started our morning on the West end of the lake trolling in 9 to 11 FOW working with the NW wind.  We trolled around the weeds for two hours and ended up hooking three pike.   At 9am we headed to the East end of the lake to get out of the wind and do some jigging.  The walleye bite was slow at best until noon and then we found good action in 12 FOW just south of Harvey's Marina.  Best action was on gold jigs tipped with leeches fished about 18 inches off bottom with a slow presentation.  Overall we hooked 5 keepers and 2 undersized by 3pm. 

GPS point for Harvey's area  N 44 19.232  W 84 38.295

Good Luck.....

Keeper 1:15pm gold jig / leech 12.5  FOW

Mill Lake fishing trip

http://www.mytriprecorder.com/myTripRecorder.html#userid=1372001&trip=Mill%20Lake

Houghton Lake Fishing Report 7/1/12

West Shore Pan Fish and Walleyes

The West shore of Houghton Lake is heating up. We started fishing at 9:30am this morning in 11 FOW slowly working our way around the weeds jigging Berkeley Gulp minnows and leeches. No wind and 80 degree water temps made ideal conditions for working in and around the weeds. We setup slip bobbers with leeches 18 inches off bottom as our secondary rods. At noon we stumbled across a nice school of pan fish that ended up producing four gills at the ten inch mark one at 10.5 and a nice mess for our dinner. The walleye action was best on Berkeley Gulp minnows orange / yellow jigs fished up off bottom. We hooked 10 walleyes and 4 keepers by 1pm.

I talked to a group of fishermen at the dock that had a few walleyes and some big pike. They said they were jig fishing east of the Limber Lost in 10 to 12 FOW.

Crooked Lake:  Saturday morning we fished in a bass tournament on Crooked Lake in Lake Station and had a wonderful time.  This was our first time on the lake and we found lots of bass and big pan fish.   I marked out a few spots and plan to return in January to try hooking some of the big crappy the lake is known for.  Overall the lake is worth fishing if you like to catch bass.

Good Luck.....

Berkeley Gulp Minnow Walleye

  

Alex with his first fish 11 FOW