FIRST ANNUAL "BAY BASH" JULY 20-23, 2006 FISH POINT LODGE
Our first venture to Saginaw Bay turned out to be a case of "should have been here yesterday" and a tough test for the 31 anglers who attended. The weeks prior to-even the day before-had saw the Bay back to form with 20-40 fish days common. Fish in the 17-22" range were plentiful, with a few bigger fish thrown in to keep things exciting. But, oh how things can change on a big body of water!
As the troops were gathering for check in and dinner on Thursday the wind began switching from the south to the Northeast-a curse for the Bay. Neither Mark or I had seen North winds in the forecast and the look we exchanged when it started blowing was enough to make my heart sink.. Having fished on this body of water for almost two decades, I knew that a Northeast wind in the summer meant one thing-terrible fishing for a day or two and unfortunately it held true.
Day 1 dawned with high NE winds and a delay in getting started due to the high winds. When we finally hit the water in late morning the water had been dirtied by the wind and 3-4' rollers greeted our group. At the end of the day about a dozen fish had been caught by those able to navigate the tough conditions, and we ate dinner with thoughts of a better day on Saturday.
Saturday saw the waves subside a little, but the wind stayed NE and the remnant rollers made fishing a little uncomfortable and the dirty water kept it tough. A few more fish than Friday were boated, but the numbers were still disappointing and the weather chased most of the anglers off the water early in the afternoon. The good thing was that most of our fish the first two days had come from 3 small areas and seemed to be in 18-23' of water, so we were getting closer to a good pattern.
Sunday was the best weather day at the start, and the best day for fishing as the wind had started to work its way East/Southeast by late morning. The day was cut short early in the afternoon when waterspouts around the Tawas area were visible on the Inner Bay and a storm front moved in.
Unfortunately the weather put a major hurt on this trip, but those who were persistent and able to adapt caught a few fish and hopefully learned a few things about fishing in tough conditions. Outdoor writer Roger Beukema from the Oakland Press was my guest this weekend and he was amazed at the friendship and cooperation shown by anglers who had never met. Roger will be writing several pieces about the trip, and I will post copies here when they are published.
On the positive side, the food on this trip was the best on any trip to date. My good friends Doug and Chris Deming, who own Fish Point Lodge, rolled out the red carpet for us and Doug held up his reputation as a world class fish camp cook with the spreads set out for us each morning and evening. Many of the attendees commented on the "hominess" of the Lodge and we are planning on returning here 3 times in 2007. Once in January for an ice fishing weekend and then again in May and July. Hopefully the weather will cooperate next year!
Thanks again to all of you who made this trip possible, and for your patience as we battled tough conditions. If you have any pictures of the trip, please e-mail them to me so I can add them here.
(click on a picture to see an enlarged view)
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