Walleye 101 "Bay Bash"
July 19-22, 2007
The second annual "Bay Bash" Trophy Hunt on Saginaw Bay was another great fishing adventure! Once again Doug and Chris Deming of Fish Point Lodge rolled out the red carpet for our gang and the fish even cooperated-even if the weather didn't. The fishing had been spectacular for the days and weeks prior to the event, and hopes were high for a great catch.
Day one dawned with NE winds of 20 -25 mph and a small craft advisory issued by the Coast Guard. Always remembering that safety is our first priority, day 1 was cancelled. Most of the anglers headed off for a quick shopping trip at Frank's Bait and Tackle in Linwood. Doug was kind enough to host a crawler harness tying seminar while Lance and Mark set up their boats in front of the lodge and spent the day holding impromptu seminars and just talking fishing and boat rigging with the group.
Day 2 saw a little better weather with 1-3' waves and a slight 10-15 mph breeze from the North. The big wind on Day 1 had riled and muddied the water and had the fish scattered and a little off the bite. Most of the 12 boats headed toward the north end of the Saginaw River channel and were not disappointed. When the fish were located, the fishing was fair, with the fish still a little turned off from the change in weather only a day earlier. 28 anglers netted a slim total of 49 fish, but they were all caught with grit and determination! The presentation of the day seemed to be crawlers fished close to the bottom behind 1 or 2 ounce inline weights and slow was definitely the speed! Some to the bites were so light you would see the tattle flag go down slightly, then you would have to free spool the reel and feed the fish 20-30 feet of line before the fish would get hooked.
After a fantastic fish fry and good wrap up meeting on Saturday night all the anglers were ready for Sunday morning. Clear skies and calm winds created an ideal situation for walleye fishing in summer on the Bay. The radio began crackling with reports of fish being caught right from the start of the day. As the morning wore on most of our boats were working a large school of walleye Northeast of Buoys 1 and 2 at the end of the Saginaw River channel. The deeper water was holding lots of fish and anglers properly presenting crawlers and spinners at the correct depth were rewarded with easy limits of 16-23" walleye. Other anglers were scoring on bottom bouncers, Pa's and even crankbaits!
Another great Trophy Hunt is in the books! With a little effort most of our anglers caught some fish and hopefully went away with a better understanding and confidence in running spinners and crawlers. It was definitely a text book example of "Fish where there are catchable fish" as the walleye were concentrated in 3 or 4 small areas on the entire bay. Great to see was the amount of family participation on this trip. The Gagnon brothers (Naldo, Gaylen and Martin) fished together with Naldo and Gaylen coming all the way from Maine and Connecticut! Harry Hallmark fished with his grandson Travis, dad Paul Demarco fished with his son Joel, Gary Unger brought his 2 daughters Trina and Samantha and the Husband/Wife team of Joe and Val Zanotti had 2 successful days of fishing!
Thanks to all of the anglers for attending, the Walleye 101 staff for their help and especially Doug and Chris Deming at Fish Point Lodge for their hard work, hospitality and great food!
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