Captain Terry Walsh of Termar Charters reports from AuGres:

There has been a lot of wind for the past several days, but the walleye action continues to be excellent on Saginaw Bay when angers can get out. It looks like the summer bite is on, as most ports are reporting good catches. I talked with Doug down at Linwood Bait & Tackle, and he said there is no shortage of walleye. “Anglers are telling me it’s as good as four years ago,” he said, “but a lot of sorting is going on. A lot of undersized fish most days.” That seems to be the trend in the lower bay, as a number of anglers have told me the same thing–lots of fish, but keeping one for every five caught. This same thing happened a few years ago, and then the bay produced fantastic walleye fishing for several years in a row!

Further north at AuGres the walleye action is equally good, and the fish are definitely from an older year class, as there is very little sorting, maybe one going back for every five caught with most fish in the 18-21 inch range. The best fishing has been in 24-32 feet of water straight out of the AuGres Rivermouth and south to the Pinconning Bar area. The lower bay has been producing fine catches from just north of Linwood out to Buoys One and Two and the reef areas further to the east. A lot of fish are being caught around the sailboat buoys, but “10 go back for every legal fish caught”. Sunset Bay anglers also reported excellent catches in 10-11 feet of water.
Safety tip for the day: cell phones are a wonder device, BUT they don’t receive signals in every part of the bay! EVERY boat needs to be equipped with a reliable marine radio before leaving port.
Have a great time fishing!

Capt. Ken Deaton of J-Lyn Charters reports from Harbor Beach:

Steelhead fishing is good. Try running some long lines with the Offshore boards with clean spoons. Try some 2, 5, and 8 and 10 color lead lines as well. Bright colors have been working best. Try to find the color lines and fish them for best results.

Lake Trout fishing is still very good straight out and North of the harbor. The clean spoons off the downriggers, and dodgers with spin and glows close to the bottom are still working well. Fish 45 foot down to the bottom for best results. Best colors have still been the white with pink dots, purple, green, and black. Start fishing in 65 feet of water and work your way out to the deeper water.

Some Brown Trout are still being taken in close to shore working the 30 to 55 foot of water areas South of the harbor. Body baits and clean spoons are still working, try the green, and blue colors.

A few salmon continue to be taken straight out, and North of the harbor. For best results, fish clean spoons off the downriggers 20 to 40 feet down. Good colors have been purple, black glows, green, and silver. Also try some flashers with flys off the dowriggers or dipsey divers as well. Start in 60 feet of water and work out till you find where they are setting.

Try for the perch by the lighthouse or South by the cemetery using minnows in 20 to 30 feet of water.

If you want to try for some walleye try North of the harbor working in close to shore, 30 to 60 feet of water. Clean small spoons or crawler harnesses should work.

Starting June 25th we will be starting the Harbor Beach Light House Tours call 989-479-9707 for more information. Come enjoy a wonderful tour and learn about our great lakes light house.

Keep those lines tight!

Capt. Ken Deaton of J-Lyn Charters reports from Harbor Beach:

Lake Trout fishing continues to be very good straight out and North of the harbor. The clean spoons off the downriggers, and flashers or dodgers with flys or spin and glows close to the bottom are still working well. Fish 55 foot down to the bottom for best results. Best colors have been white with pink dots, purple, green, and black. Start fishing in 65 feet of water and work your way out to the deeper water.

Some Brown Trout are still being taken in close to shore working the 25 to 45 foot of water areas South of the harbor. Body baits and clean spoons are still working, try perch, green, and silver colors.

Steelhead fishing is good. Try running some long lines with the Offshore boards with clean spoons. Try some 2, 5, and 8 and 10 color lead lines as well. Bright colors have been working best. Try to find the color lines and fish them for best results.

Some salmon continue to be taken straight out, and North of the harbor. For best results, fish clean spoons off the downriggers 15 to 40 feet down. Good colors have been silver, greens, black, glows, and blues. Also try some flashers with flys off the dowriggers or dipsey divers as well. Start in 45 feet of water and work out till you find where they are setting.

Try for the perch by the lighthouse or South by the cemetery using minnows in 20 to 30 feet of water.

If you want to try for some walleye try North of the harbor working in close to shore, 30 to 60 feet of water. Clean small spoons or crawler harnesses should work.

Starting June 25th we will be starting the Harbor Beach Light House Tours call 989-479-9707 for more information. Come enjoy a wonderful tour and learn about our great lakes light house.

Keep those lines tight!

Capt. Ken Deaton of J-Lyn Charters reports from Harbor Beach:

Some Brown Trout are still being taken in close to shore working the 25 to 45 foot of water areas South of the harbor. Body baits and clean spoons are working, try perch, green, and silver colors.

Steelhead fishing is fair and getting better. Try running some long lines with the Offshore boards with clean spoons. Try some 2, 5, and 8 color lead lines as well. Bright colors have been working best. Try to find the color lines and fish them for best results.

Lake Trout fishing continues to be very good straight out and North of the harbor. The clean spoons off the downriggers, and flashers or dodgers with flys or spin and glows close to the bottom are still working well. Fish 45 foot down to the bottom for best results. Best colors have been white, purple, pinks, green, and black. Start fishing in 60 feet of water and work your way out to the deeper water.

Some salmon continue to be taken straight out, and North of the harbor. For best results, fish clean spoons off the downriggers 15 to 40 feet down. Good colors have been silver, greens, black, glows, and blues. Also try some flashers with flys off the dowriggers or dipsey divers as well. Start in 40 feet of water and work out till you find where they are setting.

Try for the perch by the lighthouse or South by the cemetery using minnows in 20 to 30 feet of water.

If you want to try for some walleye try North of the harbor working in close to shore, 30 to 60 feet of water. Clean small spoons or crawler harnesses should work.

Keep those lines tight!

Captain Terry Walsh of Termar Charters reports from AuGres:

The WALLEYE action off AuGres just keeps getting better and better every day, and the weather has been absolutely perfect for an enjoyable day on the water. Our biggest fish today was 5 1/2 pounds, while the average walleye was roughly 2 1/2 pounds–nice fish. And with the weekend crowd gone, there couldn’t have been more than 20 boats fishing the area at most. Several boats reported, “Going in. We’ve boxed out. Back out tomorrow.” Some three-man boats had their 15 fish in a little less than three hours!

Again, the best action was from AuGres all the way down to Standish, a 13 mile stretch of water. Boats fishing as shallow as 17 feet were taking limits as well as boats fishing as deep as 34 feet of water. The active fish are all suspended, and crawler harnesses behind two-ounce in-line sinkers got the job done. Some anglers were also using the “Snap Weight System” and others were using bottom bouncers very effectively. Chartreuse, green, and hammered gold were excellent blade colors on the harnesses. Best trolling speeds (for us) were 1.5 to 1.9 mph with the baits 30-45 feet back behind in-line planer boards.

If a walleye fishing trip is in your summer plans, now is the time to go, and AuGres is a genuine “Hot Spot”! This is a super time to take the kids fishing, as the action is steady all day.

Tip of the day: be sure your gas tanks are full before leaving port. At least one boat I know of had to be towed in because he ran out of gas!

Captain Terry Walsh of Termar Charters reports from AuGres:

Another splendid day walleye fishing on the Saginaw Bay waters off the port of AuGres. It was essentially a repeat of yesterday, only with BIGGER fish. Again, crawler harnesses and in-line weights ruled the program, run anywhere from 30 to 45 feet back behind the small, Offshore Planer Boards. There had to be over a 100 boats within a three or four mile stretch and all were catching fish. Best trolling speed was 1.5 mph going upwind and 1.8 going downwind. Thirty-one to 32feet of water seemed to be the magic depth with the fish suspended between 12 and 20 feet below the surface.

The “Tattle-tail Flags” on Offshore’s In-Line Boards are worth spending the extra money on, as the bite is still light, and these flags will indicate the slightest take by walleye. A nine-inch walleye can trip the flag! Without such an indicator, anglers could be pulling small fish for hours and never know it. We also had several nice fish in the three-pound class trip the flags but never move the boards, merely swimming along with the bait in their mouths. The boards/flags have to be watched closely.

Finally, stay away from the “packs” of boats. I’ve found over years of experience just inside the flotillas or outside of them is far more productive than getting amongst them. Another tactic is to go back an hour or so later and work the areas where fish had previously shut down because of too much boat traffic. Once the boats move out and the fish settle down a bit, the bite normally starts right back up again.

And a reminder: the USCG and DNR are checking boats for life jackets and other safety equipment.