FISH REPORT 2015
Link to HOME, OLDER FISH REPORTS
Saturday, September 12,2015
Bruce is down and the weather forecast was for calm seas so we headed out in the Roamer at 8:30. The temperature was a cool 45 degrees when we left the dock and sailed slowly into the white misty fog that surrounds the channel this time of year. The fog cleared by the time we reached the big lake and Bruce powered up the boat and headed out to the fishing grounds. Lines went in at 75 feet and the first trout hit at about 90 feet. It was a dink so it went back. Then a nice trout came in followed by another dink. Looking for bigger trout Bruce headed out to deeper water. 135 to 145 seemed to be the right depth. Large hooks from suspended trout were showing up on the sonar and we had a couple of doubles. I was the deck hand today and had to do a lot of work just to keep the lines in the water. At 11:00 there were 9 in the box and we needed one more for our limit. Line two tripped and I was on to a nice fish, then line three tripped and Bruce grabbed that. Now we had two larger trout coming in. Both trout made it to the boat but only one made it to the cooler. The lucky fish was a nice six pound Mackinaw that lived to fight another day.
Thursday, September 10, 2015
I needed to take the boat out for a spin to warm the oil so I naturally had to go out to Lake Superior just to make sure the oil got warm enough. While I was out there I sent one of the lures from Ohlu Finnland down on one side and put another Finnish lure on the other line. While hooking up the second line I looked at the line already set and it was tripped, what the H. I grabbed that line and it had a fish on it. After I boated that fish I sent the other custom made lure down. Before I could get the first fish out of the net the second line was tripped with a nice trout on it. That fish stayed on too and was soon in the cooler. One more trout hit as I was turning back to the "hot spot ". I circled one more time and put trout number four in the box. The boats Low Fuel light was flashing so I headed the Kala Moiakka towards the breakwall and trolled the entire length of the bay without another hit. Here is a picture of the fish along with the custom Finnish lures that Sauli sent.
Friday, September 5, 2015
Wendell's son Brian was up from Iowa to help his dad with a few chores around the house and eat some of his mothers good cooking. The weather looked good for Friday so we headed out. The lake was calm and when we set lines in 120 feet, suspended fish showed up on the fish finder. The guys were busy with phone calls to plumbers and didn't see that #2 rod had a hit. Then we had a hit that we lost. Then another fish got away. The phones went away and we started to concentrate on fishing. The best fishing seemed to be down 140 in 150 feet of water although fish marks were showing up from 90 feet to 150 feet. The question was where to set your lines. #2 rod did the majority of the work while we changed the lure on #3. We ended up with 8 nice trout in the box when we quit. Another nice day on the lake. Here is a picture of Brian with a nice trout. Bruces boat is in the background.
Monday, August 31
Paul's cousin Carl and his son Brady wanted to fish. They had been up in the Copper Country a couple of weeks earlier but it was too windy to fish. Today it was very calm with some swells coming from the South East. The first fish showed up in 140 feet and soon one was on line two, then line three tripped and we had a double going. We landed them and were into another double as soon as the lines hit the bottom. This was the start of a good day. The fish hit well till around 11:30 and then they got tight lipped. We fished till 1:30 and headed in with 18 trout and one salmon in the box. A very good day on the water. Here is a picture of Carl and his son Brady.
Sunday, August 30
The morning was calm but I was busy and didn't get going. I launched at 2:00 in the afternoon and the plan was to go out and try for whitefish. I jigged in 75 feet for an hour or so and only had one tap on the jig. When we had fished in Gene's boat earlier in the week there were lots of fish marks from 80 to 100 feet so I thought I would go and jig there. When I passed over the most productive area there was not a mark to be seen. The thermocline that was very prominent was gone along with the fish. After a few more passes over the shallow water I decided to troll out deeper. I marked the first fish in 140 feet and there were fish marks all the way out to 180 feet. I quit with 4 trout and headed in for supper.
Wednesday, August 25
Gene brought his boat over from Eagle Harbor. The north shore doesn't have any fish this year because of overfishing by the indians from Bad River. They are putting a gill net out every 1/4 mile from Eagle Harbor all the way to Keweenaw Point.
Emil joined us at the launch and we headed out. Lines went in at 75 feet and we were in 85 by the time the first line hit the bottom. It tripped right away with a nice laker on it. We fished our way out to 110 feet and noticed that the most fish were in 100 to 105 feet. Two lines were all we fished and that was all that was needed. We caught our limit of 15 trout and were were back by 2:00. Gene's boat is working great.
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
Suspended fish
The crew today was Emil, Wendell, and his friend Vergil. The prediction was not good but we headed out anyway. Lines dropped in 85 feet of water. When we hit 90 feet a line tripped and the first trout was headed for the boat. It fell off before it could be netted. The depth finder showed lots of red arches from trout and we managed to catch 5 in a half an hour. The trout were right on top of a rock pile in 110 feet of water. After a few passes the fish were gone. I guess they didn't like to see their buddies hauled to the surface. The wind was picking up so we trolled out to 150 feet and noticed some trout suspended at 100 feet. One of the bottom lines was raised to 100 feet and soon there was a large trout on it. We managed to catch 9 more trout and one salmon. The crew was all smiles when we got back to the dock.
Monday, August 10, 2015
"Fish don't bite in the afternoon"
Gene was having some trouble with the steering on his boat. When you would let go of the wheel the boat would do an abrupt turn to port. It took a couple of adjustments and soon we had it working better so what else could we do but go fishing. There was a North West wind of about 10 when we got out on the blue water. Lines went in and we worked the 45 foot depths, no luck. One salmon came as the Sunbird went out into 55 feet. We worked the drops from 50 feet to 90 feet with only 2 more trout to show for it. The sun was shining. We had a beautiful calm blue sea as we turned the boat towards home, another beautiful day on the water.
Sunday, August 9, 2015
They moved
Another evening trip and this time it was Bruce and me on the Roamer. We set up and ran the same route that was full of salmon the day before. Well "You can't catch yesterdays fish". They had moved out a little and they were near the bottom. We ended up fishing 45 to 55 feet down in 60 to 80 feet. There were both salmon and trout there. We quit at 7:30 with 4 trout and 4 salmon in the box.
Saturday August 8, 2015
A little rough
Four of us went out after tending the Dumpster on the annual dumpster day at Lac La Belle. It was windy when we cleared the break wall, not too bad with one footers from the South East. Lines went down in 45 feet of water and it wasn't long that a pole was shaking with a coho on it. We landed the first one but then things took a turn for the worse. We were having hits on the down riggers, dipseys, and even on surface lines. The wind picked up and so did the fishing, we just couldn't put the fish on the boat. When the waves were two to three feet we pulled lines and headed in. The old salt, Bill Stocker was a little green by the time we made it back to shore. The waves were coming over the wall as we motored into the channel with four salmon in the box and six more still swimming.
Tuesday, August 4
Indian DNR picking nets
Karyl, Erick, Kelsey, and Bruce were our crack crew today. We had some delay in fishing as Captain Dan North of Great Lakes Indian Fisheries was out picking up some old abandoned gill nets. We helped them get right on the right spot to hook onto a net in 131 feet of water. We trolled around them while they were pulling the net. A couple of fish came on board while we circled them. We moved out to 200 feet of water to locate another net. The coordinets were given to Dan and we started to troll that area. The bottom of the lake had a large school of trout so we were busy hauling them in. We really worked Kelsey pulling up trout from 200 feet of water. It was a good day, abandoned nets were removed and Erik and family went home with 8 nice trout. Here are some pictures of Kelsey catching her first lake trout.
Tuesday, July 28
Trying a new old spot
There was a heavy dew on the Kala Moiakka when I went down to make her ready for fishing. Someone had forgot to put the cover on her the night before so the old girl was covered with a heavy dew, inside and out. I figured our seasoned crew of Emil, Helltown Willie, and Gene could handle the wet seats. Everybody showed up at 8:30 and headed off across a very smooth Lac La Belle. The big lake was calm and there were pods of salmon chasing minnows on the surface. We powered through the salmon, trout were the targeted species. I powered down just past a trap net and switched the fish finder to Low Frequency, Bottom Lock. There were fish showing up before the first line went down. The lines went to the bottom and we expected a strike because there were lots of fish showing up on the sonar. It didn't take long and a rod tip took on the familiar wiggle that indicates a fish, when the rigger was tripped there was no fish there. Then number three line tripped with no fish on it, what is going on? My hooks are sharp because I had just sharpened them, I guess the fish were just hitting short. I took a little while to finally land the first trout. Things went a little better after that, the fish started to hit and stick . Lines were pulled at 1:30 and we headed in with 12 trout, 2 cohos, and one pink salmon.
Wednesday, July 23, 2015
After the Big Blow
Emil, Gene, Paul and Doctor John arrived at 8:30. It was another calm day on the lake but it was after a three day blow. The lake was upside down, cold on top and some warmer water deeper. The depth finder was showing two thermoclines, one down 80 and one down at 150. The fish that were in 80 feet were gone. We started there but didn't find a fish until we hit 150 feet. Then we found a couple of nice bunches near the bottom. There were also a few salmon marks showing up at 50 feet. The fishing was good and soon the cooler looked good. One fish that hit tangled in the other down rigger so we had to pull both riggers up from 150 feet. When we got the fish it was a nice 7 pound steelhead that hit at 150 feet. Why was he down that deep, we figure an upside down lake, warm on the bottom and cold on top. Another interesting fish was a large trout that we marked at 150 feet, we watched the fish come up from the bottom and hit the 50 foot line. Can a trout see 100 feet in clear Lake Superior? It sure looked like it. We ended up with 10 trout, one steelhead and one coho, a beautiful day on the water.
Thursday, July 16, 2015
Start Shallow
My cousin Ron was up in Helltown working on the deer camp. We spent one day fixing the roof and decided to fish the next day. Ron spent the morning fixing a window and came down for lunch. A quick call to another boat on the lake confirmed that the lake was calm. It didn't take us long to get the boat ready and head out through the channel on to a beautiful calm lake. We powered down in 75 feet of water. Ron put the first line down and when he set it in the rod holder we noticed at it didn't look right. He tripped the down rigger and there was a coho on it. That one went into the cooler and we set the second line down. That one tripped within two minutes and a nice lake trout came into the boat. We hit fish after fish in 80 to 100 feet of water. In a few hours we landed 4 cohos and 5 lake trout. We also had 8 other fish that were hooked and got off. The trout were near the bottom and the cohos were down 40 feet.
Saturday, July 11, 2015
Calm Again
The weater was getting hot and muggy on shore. Maybe summer is arriving. Bruce said it was calm on the lake so I talked the first mate, Marge, into a trip out onto the big water. We packed sandwiches and snacks and headed out. We went exploring to new waters south of Bete Grise Bay. When the bottom came up from 220 feet to 130 feet we set lines. I didn't even have the second line in when the first down rigger went off. It turned out the be a nice 26 inch lean trout. It put up a good battle and we had to stop the boat to land it. Another pass across the reef produced a 4 pounder and then Marge hooked into a large trout. It put up quite a battle but we finally landed it. The trout went from end to end in the cooler, 28 inches, a very nice lean trout for the smoker.
Wednesday, July 8, 2015
Class of 63 plus 1
Jerry Davison joined Emil, Paul, and Gene for another trip. The seas were calm and out we went to where we fished the last trip out. We set up in 150 feet and started trolling into the 130 foot humps. We caught a couple of fish right away and then it slowed a little. We had 5 fish in our boat and Bruce had 2 in his. The captain (me) decided that there weren't enough fish here so off we go to catch "last years fish". Bruce was on the radio saying "Don't leave fish to find fish" but did we listen, NO. While we were over in last years fishing hole Bruce was catching doubles right where we left. He limited out and headed for port so we picked up and ran to the fishing hole we left. We ended up catching 4 more fish so we came in with 9 fish for the day.
How many fishermen does it take to land a small trout?
Saturday, July 4, 2015
Parade day
The family wanted to go over to the Gay Parade in Gay, Michigan to watch the parade. This meant that we would have to fish early and be back in time to get to the parade. We were crossing Lac La Belle by 8:00. It didn't take us long to get out to the 130 foot water. The seas were calm and fish started to hit right away. We were busy boys catching fish and getting the lines back down. We caught 9 trout and headed in at 10:30 so we could make the parade. A much better day on the water then the previous day.
Friday, July 3, 2015
Family Arrived
All the relatives from Wisconsin arrived and we loaded up a crew to try some fishing. There was a brisk Southwest blowing so we set up in the bay. It is early yet but maybe there would be some salmon. We trolled the bay for two hours and caught one small salmon. The crew was getting used to the boat and rolling seas so we headed out to deeper water. A few marks started to show up in 130 feet of water and it didn't take to long to put some fish in the boat. One of our crew was turning green so we cut the trip short and headed for shore with 4 trout and one salmon.
Kamdans first trout.
Saturday, June 17, 2015
Trolling Started
Dead calm again, boy Lake Superior sure is a dangerous lake. The biggest waves today were caused by the ever present seagulls. The gulls keep a close eye on the boat in case you throw some bait over. We tried a new jigging hole instead of the place that Bruce, Emil and Wendell limited out in. This hole was 220 feet and we did mark quite a few fish 10 to 20 feet off bottom. They would check out our jigs but they would not bite. Bruce caught one fish. We gave up on jigging and started trolling. 200 feet is a little deep for trolling so we headed into shallower water. It didn't take long and we saw some marks and started to get some fish in 150 feet. We ended up with 7 fish. The wakes from the seagulls were still the biggest waves on the lake but they didn't give us much trouble on the way in.
Saturday, June 21, 2015
Still Bobbing
The phone rang in the morning and it was Bruce wanting to go out. A quick check of the weather radar showed some rain in Minnesota and it was headed our way. We could get a couple of hours of fishing in before it arrived. Once we cleared the break wall there were some two footers to contend with as Bruce motored his boat out to the jigging hole. We dropped anchor in 200 feet and by the time the boat settled on the hook we were in 190 feet. It was quite a while before the first hit. It was on Bruce's line of course. We could see some rain in the distance and a check on the boats radar showed it to be south of us. It wasn't long and there was rain west of us and heading right at us. The fish started to bite just as the rain found us. We ended up with six fish, Bruce caught 4 and I caught 2. That is about right, fishing with Bruce is like fishing with Whitefish Willie. They catch twice the number of fish then any body else on the boat.
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
No Whitefish
It was a dead calm morning and I took the 16 footer out to look for whitefish. I tried 50 foot, 60, 70, 80 and 90 feet. Not one bite from whitefish. I got bored and headed out to 200 feet to look for trout. I managed one small trout while Bruce and his friend caught there limit of 10 trout from deeper water. I decided to troll on the way in and picked up another trout. Those whitefish are still elusive. Some day I will catch one out there.
Thursday, June 11, 2015
Still Calm out there
Another calm day on the big pond. When Bruce, Emil and Gene showed up it was still cool. We all had our cold weather jackets on. With no wind, our first try was to drift through a 200 foot hole, it produced two bites but no fish. While we were there Joe and Tom showed up in Toms boat. I got restless and decided to move to spot number two. This spot has an abandoned gill net in it so you have to be careful. We picked up a couple of fish on the first drift. The second drift took us right across the net. Lines were raised until the fish finder showed that we had cleared the net. Bruce and Emil put on a clinic, showing Gene and me how to catch trout with a Geppo, (Finnish jigging stick). Emil even broke his line on a fish and Bruce caught the line a few minutes later. Our total for the day was 13 trout. Joe and Tom did better in the hole we left. Don't leave fish to find fish.
Monday, June 1, 2015
Old Timers Go Fishing Again
It was a cold morning and there was widespread frost. I forgot about the frost and almost slipped into the drink when I jumped onto the boat. The crew today was Emil, Ed and Wendell. There was a spot that my dad and I used to fish about 20 years ago and I thought we would try that. The lake was beautiful, glassy calm with some small swells from the South East. The Kala Makos just skimmed across this gentle sea. She seem to know where she was going and soon the depth finder showed 200 feet. It was so calm that our lines hung straight down, even without the anchor. The first drift produced only one trout. When moving the boat to do another drift fish marks showed up so we set our drift to cross through that area. It seemed that the fish were in 185 feet and quite a few showed up on the fish finder. It didn't take long and Emil started pulling up fish. The rest of us were content to net fish and cut bait for Emil. After a number of lure changes I landed a trout. Ed never had a hit and Wendell lost every one that hit on his line. It was just a beautiful day, the sun was shining and there was no wind. We enjoyed the company of a few seagulls that enjoyed the scraps that didn't go to Rowdy the fishing dog. The day ended up with 11 fish, enough for everyone to go home with enough fillets to feed our families for a few days.
Thursday, May 21, 2015
Boat in the water
Joe arrived yesterday, Dave and Ernie came today, Thursday morning. We started putting the dock in and completed it around noon time. The only casualty was an eighteen volt drill motor that went swimming at the end of the dock. It is still swimming out there in about 6 feet of water. We tried retrieving it with nets and a magnet, no luck.
When Fred arrived we launched the boat and picked up the crew. Bruce had his boat in and we split the crews up with Dave and Ernie going with Bruce. The crew on the Kala Moiakka was Emil, Joe, Fred and me.
We tried a couple of drifts with no luck. We lost a few fish and found a likely place to fish. To make a long story short Fish Hog Joe caught the two fish on our boat and Bruce caught the four fish that were caught on his boat.
Dave set up our salad bar. It was excellent as usual.
Friday, May 22, 2015
An earlier start
The plan was to leave at 8:00 after a good breakfast of bacon and eggs. We were on the dock a little early and headed out leaving Dave and Ernie on the dock waiting for Bruce to pick them up. It was calm when we got there and we did a couple of drifts in 200 feet of water. A couple of drifts produced doubles and triples. They seemed to be located on a drop off from 195 to 200 feet. Out came the anchor and down it went and the boat actually ended up in the right spot. Fishing was fairly steady and the Kala Moiakka crew caught 20 fish and the Roamer crew ended up with 14. The fish were from 2 1/2 pounds to 8 pounds with and average of 4 pounds. This was a real nice batch of fish for the first real trip out to deep water. Emil caught the most and Fish Hog Joe came in second. Once again he out fished the captain.
Saturday, May 23, 2015
Willy joins the crew
Cold and windy. It didn't look bad until we cleared the channel and headed out to deep water. There were 3 footers with a brisk SW wind. Too much for us so we headed back in without wetting a line. The Roamer tried trolling the shallows but had no hits. Dave and Willy went to the mouth of a local river to look for whitefish, no luck. The beer and bloody Mary's sure tasted good though. This was steak night so Bruce and Emil came down to help us survive on meager rations of fish, steak, potatoes, and veggies. We killed the "Fine Box of Dinner Wine" too.
Sunday, May 24, 2015
Calm in Morning
It was calm when we got out there. We ran right out to one of the 200 foot holes and dropped anchor, again in a good spot. Fish were showing up on sonar and we were catching them on a regular basis. Bruce was set up about 200 feet off our starboard beam. Then the wind picked up from the SW again. our anchor cut loose and we tried anchoring a few more times. It would not stick. Thank God for our anchor retriever, it would have been brutal to have to pull a heavy anchor from 200 feet four or five times. The heavy jigs came out and we did a few drifts with a large drift sock out, it just was not working out so we quit to fish another day. Our total was 14 and the Roamer had 10. If our math is correct we caught 60 trout over the Memorial Day weekend. There are no pictures of this catch because Dave and Willy had the fish cleaned before I had the boat put away. It sure doesn't take long when you have two experienced anglers with electric knifes.
Once again Fish Hog Joe out fished the captain. This time it was on Bruces Boat. If Joe doesn't change his ways he will not have a boat to fish from.
Tuesday, May 26, 2015
Still fish out there
Dave Dudek and his friend Ryan wanted to fish. Ryan is from North Carolina and had never fished for trout before. By the time everybody had their license it was 9:00 when we left the dock. I had put a larger anchor on and added some more chain. There was still a SW wind when we got out there. The new anchor system worked and we ended up anchored in 196 feet of water, right near where we wanted to be. Fishing was slow for a while and Rookie Ryan caught the first fish, then Fish Hog Joe, then Ryan, then Joe. Dave Dudek and I just strained water. The fishing was slower than we wanted it to be so we figured it would be better if we let out a little more anchor line, big mistake. We did that and then ended up on top of the reef. After some more monkeying around we pulled the anchor and reset, still no fish. It looks like we fished out our hole. It really calmed down so up came the anchor and we went exploring. The next drift produced a fish for Dave and one for me, at least Dave and I would not be skunked. At the end of the day we ended up with 10 trout, Ryan caught the most, Fish Hog Joe next, Dave next and me at the end of the list.
April 30, 2015
There are still smelt
I went up to Lac La Belle to open up the camp. The weather was warm and the river heights looked good. I tried for menominee whitefish at the mouth of the Tobacco River but never had a bite, must be too early. There were rumors of smelt being caught at the Little Gratiot so I got my waders and net out to try that. It has been many years since I have caught smelt. Emil and Paul came down to drink beer and discuss world problems. We solved all of them and now I had to stay awake till after 11:00 PM to go and check the smelt stream. I managed to do that and hit the stream about 11:30. A quick check with a flash light and I could see some smelt in the river. There seems to be a new high tech method of catching smelt. You need a super high power head lamp and you run up and down the stream chasing a single smelt. I guess the old timers never taught the younger generation how to dip for smelt. I found a nice dark corner and started the rhythmical dipping of my net into the current. Soon I was catching one a dip, not bad. Then the run started and I was catching up to eight in an dip. This hasn't happened in years. By the end of the night, I ended up with two smaller buckets of smelt.
