1st Fishing Report of 2012 - Saginaw Bay

[Getaway]

To fire off the start cannons for the 2012 season, we splashed the boat on Friday afternoon 3/16 in Bay City and ran her up to Saginaw and back on the big river. The ole girl ran spectacular and the weather was beautiful.

On Saturday morning, after being all pumped up from the Friday night cruise, I settled on a walleye trip in the Saginaw Bay with my dad and my 2 boys. For some odd reason, I decided to launch out of Linwood Beach Marina for Saturdays trip. We were initially headed to Au Gres and looking back, we should have stuck to our plans.

They are dredging the harbor and the water is really low. Had 2-3ft under the boat in the harbor and 2-3 ft of water for about a mile past the last buoy marking the channel. I'm not sure how guys are taking the bigger boats in and out of that port. Too many boats, people, dredging, and shallow water to make this even close to a fun trip.

Well, after taking the tops off of about every rock in the area, we finally bumped and grinded out to deeper water. After the beating the prop took, luckily she did not vibrate too bad, but I did not go out very far.

We ran plugs for walleyes for a while in the pack out in 17-18fow. Then we came up to 10 ft and perch fished. Nothing...nada.

Word at the dock was zero to 1 or 2 fish. Perch were being caught in the harbor. Should have stayed there I guess.

Off to buy another freaking prop today and get the new-used one fixed for a spare. Lovely trip.

This pic shows the only high points:

The boat ran like a dream too. I guess 2 high points...

Hopefully I got all the bad %$#@ out of the way early this year.:smt021

 

[Gofirstclass]

Sounds like your day was kind of a bust, except that ANY day on the boat can't be a total bust unless the boat sank!

 

[1956olds]

did you go up the augres river or to northport marina? last fall we went in to northpoint and it was shallow then.You know the ice moves the bouys and they probably wernt reset this year yet,and you do not want to go outside of them then either.Still looks like you were fishing and not waiting for may.

 

[Getaway]

All-in-all, it was still a nice trip. Replaced the prop today and having the old one fixed. It's all good, I needed a better spare prop anyways.

We actually launched at Linwood Beach Marina. I wish we had gone to Au Gres, but I cut the road trip short and launched in Linwood. Big mistake.

Hope to check out Au Gres soon. Last year we did pretty well out of that port. We went out of the DNR launch at the Au Gres River. Much better launch. My boat gets hung up on the trailer at the launch at Northport. Way too steep and my bow pulpit catches the upright on the front of the trailer.... about ripped the pulpit off last year.

 

[dmcb]

Saginaw Bay was our boating area from the mid 50's until we moved to the UP in 1984. I remember talk about the great walleye fishing in the bay but by the time I started boating, it was pretty much a memory.
I happened to be present when the DNR re introduced them to the bay. I can't remember but it must have been the late 60's or early 70's. For several years there was no reports of them then one year the seemed to show up. I have not fished them but I have friends who have. Pollution was contained and reversed and that helped. Perch was our favorite fish but they became hard to find for a while. Glad to see they are again a favorite target. I never heard of catching them in the Saginaw River but I see that has changed also.
My old dock partner grew up in Bay City. He said when he was young, you could see to the bottom of Saginaw Bay. It was that clear.
The Zebra Mussels have helped clean it up also.
I am glad to see this happen in my lifetime.
Doug

 

[Getaway]

dmcb, When we were out on 3/16, you could see bottom clearly in 19 fow. The water is an ice blue color. Very clear. Almost too clear for fishing.

The Bay has cleared dramatically in the past few years. I really hope the zebra and quagga muscles don't clear it up too much. They have a tendency to sterilize the water.

Since the alewife crash in Lake Huron, the walleyes have a chance to now reproduce and they are doing a great job of that. It is very common in the fall and winter to catch small 5"-14" walleyes in the Saginaw River as they feed and grow.

 

[dmcb]

You don't know how glad I am to hear that. I used to boat out of Bayport. At the time they planted the walleyes the marina was called Steeles Marina. They took them out of that marina. Perhaps at other locations. For years they couldn't find any sign of them then one year they were there.
We used to fish in the natural channel at the tip of Sand Point and around Charity Islands. There was always talk about making a marina and resort on Big Charity using the inland lake on the island. I understand they have done it now.
Doug

 

[Getaway]

Yes, there is a marina on Big Charity and they run a restaurant out there. There are boat tours that leave Au Gres and go out to the island where you have dinner and hang out for a while, then they run you back. My parents took the dinner tour last year and loved it.

 

[dmcb]

Thanks for filling me in. A big part of my life was spent on those waters.
If you are ever on Big Charity, look around the old light house for round holes in the stone there. There used to be hard round black rock in those holes. Like a cannon ball. I don't know what they were but I gave one to a rock collector one time. He never got back to me to identify what it was.
There were a lot of them in the late 50's/early 60's but I am sure they are all gone now. The holes should still be there.
Also in Wildfowl Bay on North Island there is a cut in the island I used to take my 46' Chris in. Unless someone has built a home there it would be a place for a weekend trip. It wasn't big enough to turn around so I used to beach the bow and turn around that way but there was lots of water.
At the tip of Sand Point there is a natural channel. It is quite deep and not wide. Even in low water there is lots of water to get between Sand Point and Little Charity. Beyond the channel is quite low water with rocks.
Doug

 

[1956olds]

Where i,s banagy he should be reading these posts too as he lives half the year in bayport and was on the commitee to get the channel dredged last year,finally.We were up at the boat today also the water is a nice blue right now and i didnt see any debris in the river like last year.

 

[Getaway]

Glenn,
Yes, the river is clear and water is ice blue. Kinda weird for the Bay.

When you launching?