FLIES FLIES FLIES!

I've been cranking them out, anybody need any? I've got black, olive and orange woolly buggers, esl's, leech worms, red and white clousers, coho crack, black leeches. Sitting in Tawas this past sunday at the hospital all day, didn't have much else to do. 1 buck a fly, not a bad deal if I say so myself. I'll be doing alot of bead head buggers and mixed color buggers this weekend I think.

Report from 3/26pm into 3/27am

Got down to Flat Rock Thursday night, met up with Jay, he had already been fishing most of the day and had caught a lot of fish during the day, but I conned him into coming back for the late night/early am fish. We were down there to chase chrome, but a lot of incidental Walleye catches were had. I got down there around 11:30 and started to fish, Jay was catching some, but it took me a while to get my first eye landed, started off with flies as always, but ended up switching to crank baits, ended up sticking with a yellow perch patterned hot n' tot.

My first one was a little guy about 20 inches or so, would've been a great meal fish if i could've kept him. Every fish after that was no smaller than 25" and all males with the exception of one very nice, female, she went 32" and around 8lbs, definately a beauty. They all went back in to spawn and fight again another day.

I might try and get down to the river tomorrow night after work, not too sure yet, gotta see how everything is going.
good luck, tight lines.
-Zach

Wow! It's definately been a while!

Well, I was finally able to get out and wet a line once again this past weekend, due to school, work schedule, and other things, I haven't been able to get out in over a month! I was definately going through withdrawls. Anyways, managed to hit the Huron for about an hour and a half Saturday afternoon, hooked into something for about 5 seconds before it shook me off, I was running a black ESL at the time. Seen a couple suckers caught along with some shad, no eyes or chromers.

Got down to an unmentionable location last night for about 2 hours before dark with tree to go after some perch, well after getting there and dipping some minnows, we were able to fish and land 10 perch between the two of us, all in the 10" range, in the freezer they went! i'll be back down there Thursday morning and back on the Huron after work Wednesday night if all goes well.

sorry, no pics to post, hardly had enough gear in the truck for saturday as it was, and forgot it sunday.

good luck to all, tight lines!

TRIED to fish last Thursday...

Well, I knew it would only be a small open window of opportunity last week. I knew the water was rising quickly as of wednesday judging by the gages, but since I had school and other stuff I needed to take care of before work, I wasn't able to get down to the river til Thursday morning and by then it was completley blown out, few feet high actually. Trees, ice flows, ice bergs and other debris shootin down stream. I still couldn't resist the opportunity to throw a few flies, but I sure as hell wasn't getting in that water, I wish I hadn't forgotten the camera, definatley cool to see the river rippin that quick. I'm hoping to get on the hard water or maybe back down to the river this sunday, but I'm not sure yet with the new job and all. I do know I am definately looking forward to the upcoming midwest fly fishing expo on march 7th and 8th, doubt i'll hit outdooramma this year, but we shall see.

good luck out there, catch some fish, stay warm!

Trout, sink-tips, hex hatch, and spring on my mind

All of the above related, but not in any particular order there. Don't know if it's the weather or what, but I have trout on my mind. I guess it all started last week when I finally ordered up a couple Marble's trout knives for Andy and myself. I found them cheaper online, but ordering them from Andy at the Old AuSable Fly Shop gave me an excuse to give him a call and shoot the breeze with him about the goings on in the area. So along with ordering the knives I had him take and send me some photos of a nice old JW Young Beaudex reel, i'm still kickin the idea of spending the $80 on it, I don't really need it, I just want it. Along with all that we talked about some different shooting lines and sinking heads and sinking methods of fishing.

He got me tuned in on what I was looking for that would do for chasing chromers on the big waters of the Huron and Lower AuSable, along with doing the job for chasing kings come fall on the Betsie and Manistee. So I ended up ordering some frog hair gamma shooting line and Rio T-14 sinking head, I'm gonna chop the head into three sections, a 15ft a 10ft and a 5ft, that will give me a fair ammount of options with some loop to loop connections. Also when Ordering the lines, I also ordered me up a small chest pack to try out, seems to be the new thing, see if they're all they are talked up to be. I must say though, when the trout knives arrived, I was slightly disappointed to see that Marble's is no longer making a good part of their product in Gladstone anymore, and it had literally no out of the box edge on it, barely would've cut butter, but it's still cool nonetheless. I plan on getting out on the ice tomorrow with Jay, hopefully we catch some, then thursday's plan as of right now is to get down and try and chase some chrome on the Huron.

good luck out there, tight lines!

Superbowl sunday fishing

Managed to get out on the ice for a couple hours this afternoon. didn't catch anything though moved a lot the entire thime I was there but still, nothing, everyone I talked to said the same thing. This midwinter slow down in the fishing has me longing for some warm days casting a fly on a northern stream.

I'm gonna try and get back out tuesday morning to try again. Good luck out there, tight lines!

Fished this morning...

Got back out on the ice this morning with Dave and Jay. Been busy with work, so I haven't been able to get out since last Tuesday. Well, Aside from a couple bites, there was no action for us, none, what so ever, seen one dink caught by a fellow fishing nearby. Jay had his new vexilar with him, kind of cool, i've never seen one used before, definately interesting. Bounced around from hole to hole, but no action, none. Big thanks to the guys who gave me their minnows when they were getting ready to leave, that'll save us some cash for a few fishin runs provided I keep'em tended properly. So since there wasn't much to report from today, that's all for today. hopefully I'll have something good to report from over the weekend.
good luck out there and stay warm!

Report from the 20th

Been busy the past couple days. Was able to get out tuesday morning with Levi along the Detroit river. Seen a lot of fish under the ice all morning long, came through in waves. I ended up catching 5 and Levi ended up catching 4. We were catching them on waxies and minnows, teardrops, and jiggin raps. The fishin was slow, "beyond slow". Ended up keeping three for the freezer though.

Little bit of open water on the river down there, but not much.

Hopefully I'll be able to get out somewhere this weekend. need to catch some more fish!

Sunday afternoon fishing...

Managed to get down to carleton this afternoon to get out on the ice. Dave his dad and myself were the only ones who went. didn't get down there until about 4pm, and only fished til dark,about an hour and a half. caught fish right from the time we got there til the time we left, I ended up landing 17 small gills, Dave and his dad caught some fish as well. Once again, waxies were the trick, minnows under the tip-up never even produced a false flag today. Might get out somewhere tomorrow morning, but i'm not sure yet, definately will be out tuesday morning though, levi wants to get out, so hopefully i can put him in some fish. Sorry, no pictures from today.

Been tending the same minnows for a week now, pretty suprising. I have them out on the back porch, it's insulated out there, but not heated, so ice still forms on the water surface of the cut down 55gal drum i have them stored in. I've just been going out there and knockin the ice loose, scoopin it all out, and dumping in a fresh gallon or two a day, I keep a plug in fish tank aeorator going in it constantly, and knock on wood, I have not lost a single minnow yet other than ones that I had hooked for fishing and then threw back in the bucket when done. it takes some work to keep them living for so long, but it's better and cheaper than buying more every time I go out.

finally!

Got out on the ice this morning right before 8am, got set up in a spot where I seen a fellow catching fish the other day. Was able to try out my new rod holders I made the other night, and they worked amazingly well in my opinion, they do everything I need and want them to do. anyways I sat down and bam, right of the bat, caught one, unhooked it, and the other rod was getting a hit, yanked up, brought in another one. This went on for about 20 minutes and then it just shut right off?!?!?! no idea why, but it definately pissed me off.

I met Jay from mi sportsman forum this morning, he showed up about 8:30(right after they stopped biting), i got one more bite while in that spot, we fished there for a little while longer, then went and tried a few other spots before eventually going back to where I started off.

I missed a nibble or two including one that hung on right up to the hole, and Jay ended up hooking and getting one on the ice, so atleast he didn't get skunked. I ended up hooking and landing 7 perch total this morning, felt good to finally catch some keepers, they surely aren't jumbo's but they will most definately eat the same. minnows were the ticket when there was action.

It was below zero when I got out there today, wind chill was -16, Although i didnt take the shanty, I never got cold, it's all in the gear, gotta be prepared. doubt i'll get out again til next week, maybe sunday, but im not planning on it, tuesday however, levi and i will be hitting the same ice i was on this morning.

good luck, stay warm!

Rod holders!

Spent some time wisely at work tonight...

I'm tired of the chincy wire/rod- rod holders, So I came up with something better (hopefully) was gonna go with aluminum, but it was too light when completed, so I made it from mild steel and SS tubing. they've got some heft to them, a little extra weight to haul out with me, but it's not gonna flip forward if and when a big fish hits. notched out just right to hold in most standard ice rods a sifficiant ammount without falling out or being pulled out during hard hits. Also i made them the perfect height for when one is sitting in the standard fold out hunting seats, or bucket seats that most ice fishers use.

Thinking about selling them on a order by order basis depending on the feedback I receive.

would love to try them out in the morning, but i'll probably stay home today, it's a school day. But Thursday I would like to get back out and give it a shot to see how they work. I have a feeling they're just what I've been looking for.

Fished this morning

Buza and I decided to head out on the ice this morning, got out there for daylight. Got the holes auged and the shanty popped up. No luck though, fished 5fow over weeds, seen a lot of fish, mainly dink perch, but a few small largemouth werealso seen through the holes, fished with minnows, probably would've gotten some of the dinks if we had some waxies with us. Tried everything in the arsenal, had ALOT of looks from some very curious dink perch when I threw one of my red and white Clouser minnow streamers on the line. but none of them curious enough to hit it .

Decided to break down the shanty around 9:30, fished in the open for about a half hour before we left, no luck there either. maybe next time.

This weekend's fishing

First blog post here people, hope you enjoy whats to come.


Well, after a little debating amongst myself, buza and I decided to go hit the huron for some chrome saturday night, other than each of us getting one bite a piece, we had no luck, i was drifting waxies on albino jigs 4ft under a float, and he was throwin tots, the river was up about a foot or so, and running fast, lots of slush in the river,but no ice. fished from about 7pm-830ish. I will be back this week.

Sunday afternoon we decided to head down to try a new place in monroe county, a small inland lake. The whole crew was there just about... Ashley, Buza, Manda, Cady, Tree, Dave, and myself. Set one tip-up in the water bout 5ft off of the bottom in about 12fow, it was tripped a couple times throughtout the afternoon, but nothing was ever on it. I ended up catchin 12 dink blue gills, ashley caught 7 or 8(she's gonna be better at this ice fishin thing than me some day), then we had to leave for my sister's b-day dinner. everyone was catching fish down there, guy fishing near us said he had caught 40 throughout the day, but all dinks as well he had told dave. they all stayed for a while after we left and fished some more, it shut off after dark except for the girls fishing in the shanty with the lantern, the light definately seemed to continue bringing them in dave and tree said. Waxies on small tear drops were the ticket,no weight, no bobber, just when the line started to move, giver it a yank. As ashley and I were leaving, I went to pull my tip-up and as soon as iI lifted up on it,the flag shot off, i grabbed the line and pulled up a beautiful 3ish pound largemouth, made my night because i just wanted to catch one more before iI left, and I caught the biggest fish of the day:) definately a great few hours of fishing that everyone seemed to enjoy, im glad i was able to turn us all onto the spot, im sure we'll definately be going back there soon! Wish we would've gotten more pics, but we were busy catchin fish, maybe next time.
-Zach