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Author Topic: Grand traverse bay  (Read 10593 times)

Offline Bucket Rump

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Re: Grand traverse bay
« Reply #60 on: Mar 03, 2019, 11:43 AM »
I started in 7' of water to see if anything was cruising shallow above the steep break since the guys I spoke to who were walking off as I was coming on mentioned they hadn't even marked fish - they told me they had tried 40' to 60'.  That shallow area I started was a sand bottom in the area I punched holes - tried a few Rapala UL Rippin' Raps and Captain Jay's blade baits to try and draw something over, but no luck.  I made the move to the deeper side of the break and got on the perch in water 60' plus deep.  Was actually surprised they were perch since I couldn't get anything to bite on my typical perch setups - thought maybe they were indeed walleye that were following my baits up so I switched up to the bigger lures.  A couple guys who came in on snowmobiles as I walked in mentioned they had been targeting walleye in 30' and weren't able to get on any.  Most folks were setup on the east side of the bay so maybe that was the hot spot???

Offline Simek86

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Re: Grand traverse bay
« Reply #61 on: Mar 03, 2019, 04:51 PM »
In SB - I think the guys are targeting the big structures out in the middle. I didn't drive up there to check it out, but "walleye in SB" has been the talk of the county this past week. I imagine there were probably quite a few out there this weekend. I talked to one guy who got one keeper at about 19".

I fished west bay again this weekend. Saturday only managed 10 keeper perch. Today managed about 25. I've wanted to try for Lakers, but haven't.  With all that area to cover, it can be pretty intimidating trying to figure out where to set up.  Real good ice out there at about 12" - maybe 4" of snow on the top. Unfortunately it looks like there's more snow on the way.  Temps are cold over the next week, so should be back out next weekend. Good luck all.

Offline Doeslayer

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Re: Grand traverse bay
« Reply #62 on: Mar 03, 2019, 05:11 PM »
I was out today at lee point Area.... Cut 50 holes from 35' to 150' of water.... 0 fish... Did had a school of what i assume was smelt come in.... About 10' below the ice.... They were too small to be perch and there was a million of em clouded up my vex for a few minutes.... After that it was dead.... Not a mark not a nip..... Had golden shiners on tipups 3' off bottpm 15' off bottom and 30' off bottom in 115' fow.... Gave up at 2 to come home
Catch and release, into the grease!
"gotta be somebody needs some killin" ~ Major Payne

Offline jdgambler

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Re: Grand traverse bay
« Reply #63 on: Mar 03, 2019, 05:44 PM »
I think I’ll try Sutton’s on Thursday moon phase is going to get good
I'd rather be fishing than sleeping

Offline pyro261

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Re: Grand traverse bay
« Reply #64 on: Mar 03, 2019, 05:51 PM »
East Bay this weekend everywhere we fished had a minimum of 8” of clear ice with maybe an inch of white on top of that. Was a mile and a half off shore at the furthest we fished.

Good temps all week. Should give at least another weekend out there!

Offline Doeslayer

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Re: Grand traverse bay
« Reply #65 on: Mar 03, 2019, 07:37 PM »
I had 8 inches of snow this morning on west bay..... Tough draggin on foot....
Catch and release, into the grease!
"gotta be somebody needs some killin" ~ Major Payne

Offline jdgambler

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Re: Grand traverse bay
« Reply #66 on: Mar 04, 2019, 09:10 AM »
I guess better luck next time for you guys! I will probably be out on suttons bay Thursday - sunday. Or the saddle between borrows harbor and the bay
I'd rather be fishing than sleeping

Offline jdgambler

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Re: Grand traverse bay
« Reply #67 on: Mar 07, 2019, 12:15 PM »
Anyone going out on grand traverse bay tomorrow or this weekend? I’ll be in Sutton’s tomorrow
I'd rather be fishing than sleeping

Offline netminder34

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Re: Grand traverse bay
« Reply #68 on: Mar 11, 2019, 12:29 PM »
Decided to go out Saturday on the bay and hooked up on some trout.  Weather was good on Saturday but pretty nasty yesterday as indicated by the amount of people out and our group the only ones braving it yesterday that we saw.  Got on trout both days 125-200 fow, jigging spoons were the hot bite.  Fish were pretty active on the graph and usually got at least a hit if you saw them chasing.  Tip ups which I usually do well on did not take a bite mainly due to lack of smelt for bait, in my opinion, although I did tip a spoon with a minnow during some slow fishing and took some fish that way.  Most noticeable detail from this weekend would be the amount and size of alewife we found in the stomach contents of the ones we kept, some alewife were up to 5-6 in.

Offline Simek86

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Re: Grand traverse bay
« Reply #69 on: Mar 11, 2019, 01:42 PM »
Nice report- good to hear the alewife are around. I'm hoping to get out on the bay once more before the warm and rain hit Wed and Thursday. Question - is it worth going after lakers in the afternoon/evening? I've always heard they were a better fish to target in the morning - but never put in enough time to figure that out. Thanks!

Offline netminder34

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Re: Grand traverse bay
« Reply #70 on: Mar 12, 2019, 06:39 AM »
We fished until 1 on Saturday and 230 on Sunday and had action up to pulling gear.  Fish were moving in and out on the graph throughout the day for us, if we didn't see them for an extended period then we moved in or out and tried a different depth.  I would guess they would have been active all day if we would have stayed.  We tried working areas with points or ledges so the moves were not far when we relocated to different depths.

Offline bluegillJake

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Re: Grand traverse bay
« Reply #71 on: Mar 12, 2019, 09:32 AM »
We were out from Deepwater Pointe in East Bay on Sat.  Covered from 80' to 150' and didn't mark a fish and no action on tip-ups or spoons.  Are you guys that are catching fish in West Bay?

Offline pyro261

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Re: Grand traverse bay
« Reply #72 on: Mar 12, 2019, 09:59 AM »
Nice report- good to hear the alewife are around. I'm hoping to get out on the bay once more before the warm and rain hit Wed and Thursday. Question - is it worth going after lakers in the afternoon/evening? I've always heard they were a better fish to target in the morning - but never put in enough time to figure that out. Thanks!
My experience has always been a better bite during the morning. Three times this year we would catch lakers just as fast as you could get a lure back down 150'. This kind of action was good from about 7-10 then it was noticeably slower, but not at all dead. A few years ago we stayed out all day fishing trout and they picked back up again later in the afternoon like you'd expect with most other fish. Never stayed out past noon this year though.

Offline netminder34

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Re: Grand traverse bay
« Reply #73 on: Mar 12, 2019, 10:58 AM »
We were out from Deepwater Pointe in East Bay on Sat.  Covered from 80' to 150' and didn't mark a fish and no action on tip-ups or spoons.  Are you guys that are catching fish in West Bay?

I fished West Bay last weekend and again we moved around working drop off and ledges to stay on fish through the day.

Offline Bucket Rump

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Re: Grand traverse bay
« Reply #74 on: Mar 14, 2019, 07:55 PM »
Anybody heard how the GT Bay ice has fared?

Offline Bucket Rump

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Re: Grand traverse bay
« Reply #75 on: Mar 17, 2019, 05:38 AM »
Still about 8" of ice at Clinch Park.  Fished from 6 to 8 pm last night in a spot my flasher showed as 108' deep - had (5) marks that came off bottom to chase up a few feet, but no takers.  Bounced a Moonshine jigging spoon hard off the bottom just before coming in and felt a strange pull - snagged an old line from a troller and ended up pulling a Dipsey Diver, a fish shaped flasher, a tube jig, and about 200 yards of fishing line out of the hole.


Offline pyro261

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Re: Grand traverse bay
« Reply #76 on: Mar 21, 2019, 11:28 AM »
Anyone know if the bay is still safe to walk out on?

 



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