GULL LAKE

[GpaPerchEye]

Thanks 4 the open water smelt report SB. There must be a pattern key to be found. Maybe GLSF flies behind little tiny dodgers on down riggers. LOL. Good luck on the pike.

[ruttinbuck]

looks like lots of anglers are leaving the shanty for the summer, where
is everybody going

[smeltbuster]

Try the Mich. board on "Myfishfinder.com" . I will start posting over there, in the next week or 2. Others are on the Michigan sportsman forum. I don't do that one, but lots of folks do.

[DR.SPECKLER]

quite a few of us just stay here in the shanty.

[GpaPerchEye]

Well the ice in first bay finally went out last night. Hard to believe it held on that long.

[smeltbuster]

   I hate to admit it, but I finally put away most of my ice gear today. Still planning on trying open water smelt, this week-end. Probably time to put this thread to bed  . Watch for me over on "Myfishfinder".  "Stabin Cabin", thanks for starting this thread & thanks to everyone  that has posted here,   Phil

[Smeltman]

Well till next hard water season. Heading to the pier. Have a great soft water season everyone.

[steelheader32]

Was out walking around yesterday an a bunch of smelt are dead floating around and washed up on shore, been dead a few days as most are real nasty, also a few rock bass and gills floating. Cuz of the heat maybe?

[smeltbuster]

Stabin cabin called me last night & told me about it. They started showing up Sunday. I seen it at the north end & Baseline, today after work. Hoping to hear from the DNR , about what is happening. Most of the smelt are on the smaller side. We have been seeing a higher than usual # of dead Rock Bass & Gills, along w/ a few pike & bass. I have a feeling this thread is going to get busy, real soon. I will share any info I find, as soon as possible.

[wilsonmi]

The smelt we looked at on Monday showed no external signs of disease.  Unfortunately, we were unable to find any fish in the process of dying.  These are what is needed to be able to conduct tests for bacterial and viral diseases.  From what I saw, we can conclude that a few to several thousand 3-4 inch smelt were included in the die-off.  There were a few other fish that I saw, but smelt composed 99% of the mortalities.  Our current thought is that these fish might have experienced a thermal stress event given the high temperatures this past weekend.  Smelt are a schooling fish and will group to similar sizes.  There is a chance that large schools were in relatively cooler shallow water and a strong wind or wind shift could have pushed warmer waters to them and trapped them causing thermal stress and then death.  This is just speculation, but is a known cause of fish mortality on rare occasions.  Considering the mortalities seemed to only occur over a day or two and affected basically one species of a certain size, this seems to be the most plausible explanation at the time.  If anyone notices more smelt dying (not those from last Sunday), you can report them to the Plainwell DNR office at 269-685-6851.

[Wgorby]

Nice explanation Wilson, seems that's the most likely cause.....still a bummer though.

[P Meyette]

yes it is

[smeltbuster]

Wilsonmi, Thank You for the quick response. It is nice to know that we can rely on you to keep us informed I for sure, will be watching the lake very closely, as will my son. He told me that while fishing Sunday afternoon, he seen lots of 3"-4" minnows swimming on the surface & that the pike & bass were gorging themselves on them ! Again, Thank You, for keeping us informed,  Phil

[Wgorby]

Got a ? for the guys that have been fishing gull for smelt for years.  I watched a YouTube video last night from 2011..."Smelt town" was a short distance (easy walk) from the north end boat launch and the 3 guys in the video were catching smelt just below the ice, some in the hole itself...they caught like 300 of them or so.  So my ? is what has changed since then?  Every time I have gone to Gull, Smelt town is "a mile" from the launch and you have to fish like 50'+ down to get them.  Is it a time of year thing?  Do they move closer to that creek as winter is coming to an end?  Or is there some other factor that i'm not considering?  Just curious.....mornings are getting colder and ice is coming...can't wait!

[DaveSS1]

Those guys are fishing in roughly 40 up to 50 FOW and they are fishing mid-late March.  If I remember that year the ice wasn't the best and there was a crack going out to the deeper water.  Yes theoretically the fish should gather close to the creek, but I don't think you would see any great concentrations until April when the ice is usually gone/sketchy.  I have only fished it a handful of time in April and have to say only 1 time I was able to connect with an outstanding day bite.  I think if anything they stack up in the North Bay Basin as Spring approaches and why you see so many people out there at all depths.  I have been fishing smelt in gull for around 12 years and it seams like more and more people are now fishing the North End as oppose to other places in the lake.  I do recall that I never had to walk beyond the 50-70 FOW unless I wanted to get away from the crowd.
As far as catching them below the ice, I normally have no problems getting them within 5-10 feet of the hole and occasionally close to enough to sight fish but it can be difficult with large crowds as they can become spooked by noise or light.  I noticed the fish do come closer much quicker with the green LED light than the traditional methods.  In my early days all I ever used was lanterns and an old Humminbird LED fish finder and about 5/6 years ago started using green lights (multiple light sticks/allure green lines) tied to some braid.  I don't think I was bright enough to accomplish anything and I eventually made the $130 investment for the LED light.
Hope this helps.

[smeltbuster]

Having fished Gull, a few times, for smelt I have no tried & true definite answers for catching smelt, except to put your time in & sometimes you get LUCKY w/ the shallow water/ under the ice bite !  My best times catching them right under the ice , has been in south bay, at first ice.  Very rarely will I waste my time trying to catch them, when I can see them. The smelt usually spawn on the north end, well after ice-out, & it is awesome to see it. Gull suffered a smelt die off, this past June, of mostly smaller fish. Not sure what this is going to do to the fishery, but I can share what I have personally seen this past summer. Very few clouds of bait fish on the graph. ALL of the pike, Bass & 2 Lakers we have caught, have had empty stomachs. In years past, smelt were found in almost all the fish we kept. Most of our fish are caught at least 35' down (some down to 70'). We also have marked fewer big fish this year & it has been reflected in our catch numbers. In yrs. past, 12-15 fish was an avg. day, this yr. my best day was 6. Smelt jr. has had the same catch rates & he fishes 3-4 times a week. Several algae blooms have happened this year & water clarity has been terrible. BTW, we troll on Gull ,the same as if we were on LK. Mich., & will run either 6 or 9 rods, depending on the # of people on the toon.  I really am hoping that my expectations for this upcoming smelt season are wrong, but IMO, it aint lookin to good.