2-16 evening bite was on fire!

[The Bait Shop Guy]

Well, the fishing gods must have figured I've finally paid my dues for this season, and blessed me with an awesome night of fishing! Fished just south of Gladstone in 30 FOW. Was on the ice by 5pm. Didn't mark much until around 5:30. Marked good numbers, but they weren't very active until about 5:45. Apparently that's when somebody rang the dinner bell, and it was on! Between 5:45 and 6:30, I landed 11 walleyes, and lost a 12th! Only two of the fish I landed, and the one that got off in the hole, were undersized! The other nine were 16 to 24 inches. All on #9 Jigging Raps. The first two were on the Glow Hot Perch pattern, and the rest were on Glow Tiger. I was fishing them naked, jigging aggressively about 4 feet off bottom. Considering I was only jigging with one line, (no tip-ups,) I couldn't have asked for a much better 45 minutes of fishing!

Hopefully this means the late season bite is starting to turn on. We did hear of several nice fish being caught in the morning. Doug Belhumeur stopped by the shop today with a 28 inch, 9 pounder he caught on a tip-up and sucker minnow "south of Gladstone."

Other than that, the ice is still in good shape. The snow drifts are pretty well knocked down. A person could get around with a 2WD car easily, now. Sounds like most of the accesses are still in good shape, but we did hear that the Terrace access is getting bad, and the crack out front of it is REALLY bad. I wouldn't recommend taking a truck out from there, now.

Here's a couple pics from tonight, and Doug's fish.

[slammer]

Hey Chris ,
Congrats on a nice mess of fish, and now I know why I didn't catch anything yesterday and last night. You caught em all!!!
Was a beautiful day yesterday and went back to my spot where I spanked em on Sunday morning and got skunked. Then did a little perch searching in the afternoon and caught a few but were running small for a change. Fished the mud flats for eyes late afternoon and had one flag and marked quite a few with no takers . They looked aggressive on the Vex, but wouldn't commit. Ended with 2 dandy perch and another crappie , all released cuz I didn't feel like cleaning fish in my foul mood!!!
Slammer!!!

[YooperTroll]

Ugh. I had to leave the ice at 5 p.m. because my wife had an appointment. I sat there from 2-5 without a nibble.

Glad to hear I quit 30 minutes before it all took off!! :mad:

I was going to go off the yellow gate later this afternoon...maybe I'll hit off Gladstone again instead--and this time stay longer!!

I haven't been off the Terrace, but even from the highway that pressure crack looks horrid.

[BiG ARN]

Nice job chris! From looking at a few other reports on some others sites I frequent........yesterday was thanksgiving in the fish world! Actually even read a report saying 'the fish were jumping out of the holes.....it was the best I've ever seen' some warm weather after a cold spell sure can make it happen!

[tomjohn]

Nice going on the walleyes Chris. I need to get a handle on fishing them. I just haven't fished walleyes hardly at all through the ice. Right now all they do is frustrate me...lol

[tipup_time]

yeah i had a sturgeon swim up my hole and almost jump out yesterday!! by the way BAIT SHOP GUY; do you have those big dipper scoops in the store for sale? I will be up from marinette the last weekend in feb. and am looking to pick one up.

[YooperTroll]

Nothing, nada, zip tonight. It didn't help that my graph's battery went dead at 5:20...but before that I wasn't marking anything. Quite a bit of traffic on the bay for it being so foggy. I felt like I needed to have a traffic light by my shanty. Apparently a lot of people saw Chris' post ;) I even heard one guy yell through the fog "This spot should be good--it said on the Internet they were getting them in 30 feet of water!!"

True story :)

Btw: Don't forget your GPS and/or compass! When the fog rolls in or there's a squall and you're out on the bay it's pretty disorienting.

[CrankYanker]

to bad 600 people decide to fish the same 1 acre spot at the same time... I think the walleye get confused with 600 tiger jiggin raps goin like beat hell everywhere they look!! With the weather turnin crap this weekend I predict a tough weekend. good luck
Also use caution with the trucks. I heard some ramble on the scanner of two takin a drink at saunders this afternoon aparently the drivers got out ok... don't know the details but I'm sure we will know more soon. Goes along with the GPS statement above. Really no business to be there on a day like today without it. (or ever for that matter)

[The Bait Shop Guy]

It's hardly a secret spot out there. It was only the biggest colony of shacks south of Gladstone, with the possible exception of the Escanaba River mouth, before I mentioned anything. No rhyme or reason for the depth. Just happened to be that deep in the spot I stopped to fish at on the outskirts of the colony.

Headed out again this evening. Caught 5 fish, with two being legal. All were on the a #9 Glow Hot Perch Jigging Rap.

[YooperTroll]

It's hardly a secret spot out there. It was only the biggest colony of shacks south of Gladstone, with the possible exception of the Escanaba River mouth, before I mentioned anything. No rhyme or reason for the depth. Just happened to be that deep in the spot I stopped to fish at on the outskirts of the colony.

Headed out again this evening. Caught 5 fish, with two being legal. All were on the a #9 Glow Hot Perch Jigging Rap.

I didn't get out that far yesterday (to the shack group)...there does appear to places out there they sort of bunch up or maybe pinch spots. Where I was I bet I marked two fish in three hours.

[YooperTroll]

to bad 600 people decide to fish the same 1 acre spot at the same time... I think the walleye get confused with 600 tiger jiggin raps goin like beat hell everywhere they look!! With the weather turnin crap this weekend I predict a tough weekend. good luck
Also use caution with the trucks. I heard some ramble on the scanner of two takin a drink at saunders this afternoon aparently the drivers got out ok... don't know the details but I'm sure we will know more soon. Goes along with the GPS statement above. Really no business to be there on a day like today without it. (or ever for that matter)

If you seen a green Ford Ranger out there and a Quickfish 3 (well, maybe I won't be driving out there anymore, we'll see), don't drill by me: I have no idea what the hell I'm doing! :p I don't catch fish (or nearly as much as others). I'm bumbling around out there.

Follow Chris instead :D

I will say that even on the days I haven't caught anything, I still have fun. This is my first "serious" season fishing the bay. I've learned quite a bit--and I learn something new every time out. And while I haven't caught a lot of fish this winter, the fish I have caught have been quality fish. I can't thank Chris and his shop and all the posters here enough. It's fun to get out no matter what the result and it's fun to get educated.

[CrankYanker]

Bait shop guy, I didn't mean anything bad by the above comment. I just wish people wouldn't flock like seagulls when you make a post. USUALLY when you slay um one day the next you don't.... which is especially true when you have a bunch of people around the next day. Anyway Good luck

[The Bait Shop Guy]

No offense taken. I generally try not to be too specific about exact locations, to avoid just that. Kind of hard to say you're "fishing south of the Gladstone harbor in 30 FOW" without people knowing exactly where you are at, though.