K-Bay

[sodaboy]

two tent on the head of the bay today.

[bigmike7272]

I bet one of em was Terry Lee, he's always the first one on the ice there.

[rricchi]

Finally! The scoop I've been waiting for.  Please keep us posted as to ice thickness, apparent number of tents, or whatnot.  I live in Hancock so I always wait to hear (read) that there is safe ice before I make the trip to my favorite ice fishing grounds.  Two tents; I'm a little leary because you might have just a few inches of ice and it's a ways out there to get in the 35-40 foot depths that everyone seems to fish for salmon at the head of the bay (even though the salmon hover around from 5 to 15 feet below the ice).  If there is 6 or more inches, I'm there! (that's what she said)

[MichiganMan]

Oops, sorry I guess it was a differant K-Bay the post was refering to. Depths are wrong for Kates bay.

[Chris Raymond]

It's on baby!  Great to be back on that slab again.  Screw the slush and snow on the Portage right now and the inconsistency of Copper Harbor.  ;-)

Ice was a consistent 5" - 6" over most of the bay, broken but glued ice on the eastern side a bit though.  Folks were fishing at Squaw Beach but were tucked in more toward the light house.  Major cracks to the north of that and open water not too much further north yet.   

[chasepalosaari]

Any ice updates as of today/yesterday?

[Chris Raymond]

Oops, sorry I guess it was a differant K-Bay the post was refering to. Depths are wrong for Kates bay.

Keweenaw Bay

[chasepalosaari]

What's the latest on the bay? I was out Monday afternoon and did great in the few hours I was there. 165 ft of water out from squaw beach. Got 5 lakers and kept 4. The 6th one snapped me off! I was using a gebu and 20lb flurocarbon leader with a white 1.5 oz spro buck-tail jig with tail pieces of pike suckers.

I'm down in SC for a few days visiting family so I should be fishing Sunday if the ice decides to hang around.

[Chris Raymond]

What's the latest on the bay? I was out Monday afternoon and did great in the few hours I was there. 165 ft of water out from squaw beach. Got 5 lakers and kept 4. The 6th one snapped me off! I was using a gebu and 20lb flurocarbon leader with a white 1.5 oz spro buck-tail jig with tail pieces of pike suckers.

I'm down in SC for a few days visiting family so I should be fishing Sunday if the ice decides to hang around.

Chase--Any size for the greasers?  I'm guessing the ice was at least in the 7" or thicker range, yes?  Headed down tomorrow night for smelt/burbs and then the weekend for salmon, herring, whities and trout.

[ER1993]

East winds now and NE up to 25mph tonight. Followed by south this weekend. Not good. Its was fun while it lasted.

[Chris Raymond]

East winds now and NE up to 25mph tonight. Followed by south this weekend. Not good. Its was fun while it lasted.

Think positive.  ;-)

[chasepalosaari]

Chase--Any size for the greasers?  I'm guessing the ice was at least in the 7" or thicker range, yes?  Headed down tomorrow night for smelt/burbs and then the weekend for salmon, herring, whities and trout.

15-19 inches. 3 inches of ice

[FF/EMT Axman]

Headed down tomorrow night for smelt/burbs and then the weekend for salmon, herring, whities and trout.

Chris--May I have some of your secret "tips/tricks" on pouts (Depth of water/fish, baits, location on bay)? I've got all the "hows" on trout/salmon but never tried for pouts on the bay. Been DYIN' to get out there but been waiting for decent weather and stable ice.

Thanks!

[Chris Raymond]

3 inches of ice

You're nuts.  ;-)

[Chris Raymond]

Chris--May I have some of your secret "tips/tricks" on pouts (Depth of water/fish, baits, location on bay)? I've got all the "hows" on trout/salmon but never tried for pouts on the bay. Been DYIN' to get out there but been waiting for decent weather and stable ice.

Thanks!

I don't really have them figured out on K-Bay; it's been hit or miss for me in the past.  But in all honesty, I haven't chased them as much up here as I used to.  I used to have them figured out on West Bay in Traverse City and nearby Crystal Lake when I lived down there.  I've caught them in the Bays de Noc and Huron Bay as well but don't fish either of those waters all that much.  What I try to focus on are flats in 55' - 40' of water on top of the first significantly stepped ledge.  If I can find this relatively close to a river mouth mores the better but don't see that as necessary.  Spawing should start about now and run for a couple of weeks so they're grouping up. 

I happen to fish at night with glow baits (jigging spoons or plain jig heads w/ some glow plastic as well) and minnow heads.  Tip-ups are just whole dead, not spoiled, minnows.  Baits are typically kept within 6" of the bottom.  Jigs are chugged into the bottom pretty aggressively at first so as to create a bit of a dustcloud...burbs seem to be curious fish...and then fished dead sticked for the most part once they're in the area.  I usually set up while it's still light if I can help it and the bite for me has always been better within the first couple of hours of dark vs. later in the evening.  There's really not much to it. 

I do happen to like Lake Michigan burbs better than Lake Superior burbs as they are bigger fish on average and not quite as gray in tone.  When I catch them, I let them roll around on the ice in the snow to remove as much slime as possible as it makes cleaning easier.  There's not much flesh for the size of the fish and smaller ones are let go simply because cleaning them isn't worth it for the little bit of meat they'll have.   Good luck if you get out.   

[chasepalosaari]

I heard the ice held up out there? Am I correct?

[FF/EMT Axman]

Thank you, Mr. Raymond, sir, for your "secrets"...lol. I shall give it my best when I can make it out there! The lake I live on is big and deep enough to have burbs and whities but I have never fished for them here (western Marquette county). It seems to turn into the Dead Sea once ice forms on it so I thought I'd give it a try on the "Big Puddle".

[ER1993]

I heard the ice held up out there? Am I correct?

Ya, pack ice as far as you can see now. Should be interesting to see how much the South wind takes 2mrw.

[chasepalosaari]

Ya, pack ice as far as you can see now. Should be interesting to see how much the South wind takes 2mrw.

Pack ice is better than no ice!

[FF/EMT Axman]

Check this out.
                                                                                                                       http://coastwatch.glerl.noaa.gov/modis/modis.cgi/modis?region=s&page=1&template=sub&image=a1.13039.1917.LakeSuperior.143.250m.jpg

Hopefully the south winds don't do much damage. Looks pretty wide open to the north.

[Chris Raymond]

Thank you, Mr. Raymond, sir, for your "secrets"...lol. I shall give it my best when I can make it out there! The lake I live on is big and deep enough to have burbs and whities but I have never fished for them here (western Marquette county). It seems to turn into the Dead Sea once ice forms on it so I thought I'd give it a try on the "Big Puddle".

If that lake almost shares a border with Baraga county, I've heard it a dead sea in the winter and while it has whities have never heard of it having burbs.  BTW, got skunked for burbs and may as well have been skunked for smelt on Friday night. 

[Chris Raymond]

I heard the ice held up out there? Am I correct?

I pulled off today at 1:30 and ended up in 80' while running from the L'Anse side.  Ice was fine then but wind was coming from the north.  In fact, ice in the slight tombstone field south and east of the WF Hole was thicker than the smoother stuff closer in to the river. 

[Chris R]

Was wondering how the ice was holding up over by squaw beach and the lighthouse? If so what is the thickness and is it fishable? Want to target some herring and coho.

[FF/EMT Axman]

[/i][/i]

If that lake almost shares a border with Baraga county, I've heard it a dead sea in the winter and while it has whities have never heard of it having burbs.  BTW, got skunked for burbs and may as well have been skunked for smelt on Friday night.

It DOES share a border with Baraga county at the extreme western end. It DOES turn into the Dead Sea in the winter (Save for a few Northerns through the ice). And it DOES have burbs. It shall remain nameless here. A few friends have caught them on the bottom with crawlers in the spring trying for walleye. Scared the hell outta them! Wrapped around their arms like a snake..LMAO! The DNR handbook shows legalities on hoop net dates (P. 12-Table 5...Dec.15-end of Feb. Permit req'd.) for them in the main river inlet off the highway. I had thought about trying for them at the inlet but have heard that the lake has gotten reeeeallly slushy as of late. My wheeler doesn't like slush. 

[sunup]

Measured 8" off the lighthouse today.  The ice has a little snow and slush on it but not bad. Caught one coho and a lawyer this morning before moving deeper for lakers.  Didn't see anyone on the broken up stuff to the North but tents were all over the bay in the good ice.

[63rfisher]

Anyone been picking up any steelhead?

[63rfisher]

Any new reports at all?

[Chris Raymond]

I fished at the head of the bay Thursday night in 40' of water and surprisingly found myself on only 5" of black with an additional 1" of white ice on top of that.  I ATVed from the Baraga marina and ran across 4 small slush pockets in a few areas and some decent snow drifts.  Nothing that stopped my bike but they were noticeable. 

[Beenmarkinemalot]

Is anyone fishing for Lake Trout there yet? Is there ice out in deep water?

[FF/EMT Axman]

Taken from the DNR's weekly report...

Keweenaw Bay: Catch rates were up and down. Those fishing off Sand Point and Lighthouse Point caught coho and lake herring eight to 20 feet down in 30 to 90 feet of water. Those fishing on the Center Reef did well for lake trout in 80 to 110 feet of water. For whitefish, anglers did well east of the Baraga Marina in 70 to 95 feet of water. Lake trout were taken in 145 to 180 feet of water out from Jentoff’s Dock but ice conditions were not consistent. Don’t assume the ice is good just because you see someone else out there because some are still going out even though their spud broke through the ice. Those fishing at night caught smelt near the Baraga Marina or Bucks Marina.

Dunno how accurate or who reports to the DNR...

I STILLLLLL haven't made it out there yet...