Who's ready for regular fishing season?

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

The temps have warmed up here in Michigan and all the lakes are open now. I'm thinking about trying to get out early (though when that happens it's always with little success). I just can't wait to get out on a boat again.

Already have our fishing trip planned for June and hoping to catch some more Walleye this year. In the mean time, I'm going to try the Huron River -- rumor is that there's some Walleye to be had that go in between the river and some local lakes. Trying to set up a tubing trip with my family to see if I can catch some.

 

[NEhomer]

I've caught so many fish in my lifetime but have never fished for walleye.

I just got my Harley out and fitted with a new battery and I have a brand new set of golf clubs.....almost forgot about fishing but hell yeah, can't wait!

 

[beardown07]

going tomorrow and sunday

 

[whywork2]

going tomorrow and sunday

for what?

 

[beardown07]

for what?

trout

browns en rainbows

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

trout

browns en rainbows

Nice!

I had a Cabelas gift card from x-mas and I just ordered some new lures. I got a jointed Rapala, one of their new Shadow Raps and another Chatterbait. I think the water up here is still a bit cold to reasonably fish but I might try to head out here in the next few weeks just to see what happens. It's pretty rare that the water isn't still unfreezing at this point in the year but all the lakes around here opened up in early March. So maybe I'll get lucky and the fishing will pick up earlier than normal.

We also have a smaller stream that feeds the Huron River close by and they have been stocking it with Brown trout for the past couple years -- so my goal this year is to catch one of those guys. No idea how to fish them though.

 

[Edisto_Tiger]

I'm going for a week starting next Monday. Stripers and largemouths. Mostly stripers.

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

I'm going for a week starting next Monday. Stripers and largemouths. Mostly stripers.

Nice. I'm thinking about picking a warm day in the next few weeks and heading out. Water is still a bit cold up here but I go out anyway.

 

[Edisto_Tiger]

Spent a couple of hours on the water today. Caught 10 on the ol' Rattlin Rogue. Nothing but little knotheads though. All of them were a pound and a half or smaller. It was still nice to stretch the line a little.

 

[beardown07]

We drove more than fished. Had the Fam with me, so....got to wet the line a bit, but that's about it. Beautiful country and drive tho.

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

I ordered a couple new lures and this one looks like it might be a winner:
Rapala® Shadow Rap® Shad : Cabela's



I got the silver because that's what I have the most luck with when it comes to crainkbaits. But this thing just looks solid. I have a very similar bass pro shops brand lure that just kills it on my local lakes. But it's fragile and cheap so I've needed to replace it a few times as it just stops floating right. This thing is shaped the same, has the rattle in the middle and swims in the 3-5' range. It just feels like it's made well when you hold it -- solid. Pretty excited to get out and try it. If it works well I think I'm going to get a few more colors, it comes in some pretty unique designs that I haven't seen before.

 

[Edisto_Tiger]

I ordered a couple new lures and this one looks like it might be a winner:
Rapala® Shadow Rap® Shad : Cabela's

View attachment 101198

I got the silver because that's what I have the most luck with when it comes to crainkbaits. But this thing just looks solid. I have a very similar bass pro shops brand lure that just kills it on my local lakes. But it's fragile and cheap so I've needed to replace it a few times as it just stops floating right. This thing is shaped the same, has the rattle in the middle and swims in the 3-5' range. It just feels like it's made well when you hold it -- solid. Pretty excited to get out and try it. If it works well I think I'm going to get a few more colors, it comes in some pretty unique designs that I haven't seen before.

That's funny, I just picked up a couple of those too @ our new Field and Stream (just a glorified Dick's) the other day. I got the blue-back herring pattern. They call it Blue Ghost:



I'll be throwing it next week and my fishing trip.

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

That's funny, I just picked up a couple of those too @ our new Field and Stream (just a glorified Dick's) the other day. I got the blue-back herring pattern. They call it Blue Ghost:

View attachment 101226

I'll be throwing it next week and my fishing trip.

I was looking at the Blue Ghost really hard. I like the yellow belly. I also like the all white "Ghost" and the white with yellow belly "Bone". I also don't have any green lures and there are plenty of different green designs that are interesting.

I have really high hopes for this lure given my success with the other one. Which is this:
Bass Pro Shops XTS Lures - Minnow | Bass Pro Shops: The Best Hunting, Fishing, Camping & Outdoor Gear



It has the same bill and this thing has great tail action. Just flicks back and fourth like crazy in a super quick way. It causes a lot of noise and rattling.

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

Amazon Prime is both awesome and terrible. Why yes, I'll buy another $7 fishing lure and have you deliver it to me for free in two days:

Just ordered one of these to see how they work out. A lot of people have been recommending square billed crankbaits to me lately so I pulled the trigger on one, something I'm entirely unfamiliar fishing with:

I went with the Sexy Sunfish 1.5 ounce:


I've never seen a patter like that. It's pretty nice looking.

 

[Skerpokes]

@Edisto_Tiger do you remove the front treble hook from your crank baits? I've read tips to do so in order to avoid snags and the rear treble will still hook fish.

I do most of my fishing with either live bait or plastics and haven't really experimented much with crank baits yet but I'm tip-toing into them and just curious.

 

[Edisto_Tiger]

@Edisto_Tiger do you remove the front treble hook from your crank baits? I've read tips to do so in order to avoid snags and the rear treble will still hook fish.

I do most of my fishing with either live bait or plastics and haven't really experimented much with crank baits yet but I'm tip-toing into them and just curious.

I do NOT remove the front hooks. It makes the bait unbalanced and it doesn't swim correctly.

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

@Edisto_Tiger do you remove the front treble hook from your crank baits? I've read tips to do so in order to avoid snags and the rear treble will still hook fish.

I do most of my fishing with either live bait or plastics and haven't really experimented much with crank baits yet but I'm tip-toing into them and just curious.

I've tried this before but it ends up screwing up how the bait swims most of the time.

What I've done instead is actually clip the barb off most of my front treble hooks. I just take some pliers and press down on the barb and twist. It will either pop off or smush down. So it can still hook something but there is no barb to keep it hooked. This way if it does hook anything, it comes out really easily and also avoids double hooking, and potentially injuring, the fish I catch that I don't plan to keep.

 

[Skerpokes]

Much obliged. Thanks fellers

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

I've caught so many fish in my lifetime but have never fished for walleye.

I just got my Harley out and fitted with a new battery and I have a brand new set of golf clubs.....almost forgot about fishing but hell yeah, can't wait!

I've never had consistent luck catching them. They're hard little buggers -- partially because people typically fish to eat them. The only times I've had a lot of luck is when I've gone with someone else with a bunch of rigs specifically designed to fish for them -- like 4-5 poles out at a time. IMO, it's kind of boring because you're mostly just trolling for them.

 

[handicappers]

Only crankbaits you'll ever need