Weekly Update!!!

[CaptainKenLee]

I look forward to this week every year because not only do I get to spend some time chasing other fish than just walleyes, but I get to fish with a couple of great guys that have become really good friends over the years. Patrick Scheidt and Jeff Koopman from the Chicago area and I have been plying the waters of both bays this week. Monday we chased smallies and pike on Little Bay. Fishing was slow, only a few bass and pike. Tuesday we headed to Sault Ste. Marie to fish salmon with a buddy of mine, but the salmon have not shown up yet in any numbers and we got skunked. Wednesday we golfed 18 holes and realized that it's more frustrating golfing than fishing! Yesterday we headed out from Esky around 3 p.m. and the 5-10 mph winds they were forecasting were more like 15 -25 mph so we stayed in the bay and I went back to a technique I used to use many years ago when the wind blows hard and it's impossible to troll, jig, etc. We drifted floaters tipped with crawler halves along sharp breaklines and the fishing was fantastic. We limited out with some really nice fish. Most were in the 18 to 20 inch range, but we did have a 27 1/2 incher that didn't make it after a long hard battle, so we had to keep it. We headed back in at dusk just beating the rain showers. Today we headed to Big Bay and got on the water shortly after 9 a.m. We had an incredible day on Big Bay today with well over 100 smallmouth caught as well as one nice northern. All the fish were released. Nothing big today, I think the biggest bass was around 16-17 inches, but man do they fight. We caught fish on tubes, rattle traps, x-raps, grubs, spinnerbaits, you name it and the smallies were all over it. We saw three or four fish in the 20 inch range that followed us up to the boat, I guess they'll have to wait for next year. It was a strange week, we caught several walleyes on spinnerbaits, pike on tube jigs, and a salmon while casting a husky jerk. Here's a few pictures from the last few days, good luck from all of us in the Bay de Noc area.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0qAB1CqJNs