Gull Lake 2022 Ice & Fishing Reports

[odabe]

Hey Phil thanks for all the tips that you share with everyone. I took 3 newbies out last night & they had a blast. All 3 guys are in there 70s and had never fished smelt with hook & line. Using your "Smelt Buster Flies", we caught just over 300 between the four of us. NO record for sure, but that's not what we were out there for. Every one has enough to enjoy a good meal with their family & some good stories to share around the dinner table.
Thanks Again & Thanks for the "little care package" you gave us, they worked just as you advertise.

[smeltbuster]

Hey Phil thanks for all the tips that you share with everyone. I took 3 newbies out last night & they had a blast. All 3 guys are in there 70s and had never fished smelt with hook & line. Using your "Smelt Buster Flies", we caught just over 300 between the four of us. NO record for sure, but that's not what we were out there for. Every one has enough to enjoy a good meal with their family & some good stories to share around the dinner table.
Thanks Again & Thanks for the "little care package" you gave us, they worked just as you advertise.

You sir are very welcome !  Glad to hear that you got into them & that the new flies worked! Smelt Jr. & me each ended up w/ 102 apiece. I was done at about 8:45 or so.  Also Thanks for the ride out,that was very nice . Hope to see you out there again soon. Took tonight off because of the wind forecast & I needed to tie a bunch of flies. 3rd. night I have missed since Jan. 11th. ! Cant keep stores stocked w/ the flies right now.

[skibumm100]

I loaded up my junk and went over to the boat launch on Tuesday night just to fish for an hour or two only to find out my gate code didn't work. Turned around and went home but since I had all my stuff on I went out on LLL for about an hour just to see what was biting. Answer..... not much. One small crappie and a little gill. I should have just gone to Baseline since I had my stuff in the truck. I really want to see if I can tune my depth finder to reject other fish finder signal. It's a Humminbird graph and work fine when I'm by myself but it was pretty much unusable if I share a hub with someone with a Vex.

I called the township and it turns out the gate code wasn't activated when they sent my hang tag out. I should be all set now.

[wyatt_8]

Can you still pay to park at the north end or do you have to have a pass now?  Sorry it’s been a few years.  Thanks!

[outdoor junkie]

What’s up gentleman?  Haven’t been on the site in a few years. Cool to see some of the same guys commenting on gull lake. Haven’t been to Gull in years. Probably since an old iceshanty outing. Was gonna take my boys to Higgins this Sunday, but may just make the king drive to Gull instead. We never do that well at Higgins and I’d like them to catch a few more than a handful seeings we only get out usually once a year for them. Too busy chasing walleye in our area. How did the ice hold up down there in the north end area the last few days?  Thanks guys and good luck out there.

[Fish Killa]

Yes the north end accepts other payment methods besides the annual pass.

[Fish Killa]

Junkie, They are doing good at Higgins but they are north of the west launch. West launch has been dead. Gull has seen a very solid year if you know what you are doing.

[outdoor junkie]

Junkie, They are doing good at Higgins but they are north of the west launch. West launch has been dead. Gull has seen a very solid year if you know what you are doing.

Thanks Bud. Guess I’ll decide Sunday by which drive I’m up for making.

[smeltbuster]

The ice held up fine w/ the warm spell. Baseline was busted up last night at the launch, but should freeze back up & be OK if guys are careful. The Smelt fishing has been very good for myself & folks that fish w/ me. I have fished 34 of the past 37 nights & have personally caught 3,590 smelt.Smelt jr. hit 2,300 last night,just for trips on the north 1/2 of the lake this year. A good green light & getting away from everyone seems to work the best.

[skibumm100]

I hope to get out tomorrow night for a few hours. I need to check to make sure my pass code works on my way home. I'll post back if I have any luck. Just got my new Clam Rise float bibs in the mail yesterday. Most places I checked were either out for the year or full price (~$180). A place in WI had them on sale for $109 in regular sizes besides small or 3XL. Showed up in a couple days.

[iceon]

I been wanting to come up to Gull lake for years and life has always got in the way. This morning I watched Michigan out of doors Gull lake smelt fishing. Did I see right they don’t use bait and use a green light. I now am amped up to get up there and try it. Thanks Iceon

[Smeltman]

Most use spike's or wax worms iceon. There is other bait that works also. Smelt flies above a hali.  They didn't mention on the show about the  smelt flies they were using which they were catching most of their fish on. And yes to the green light. Smelt flies are getting really hard to find this time of year. Good luck if you try it iceon.

[smeltbuster]

Most use spike's or wax worms iceon. There is other bait that works also. Smelt flies above a hali.  They didn't mention on the show about the  smelt flies they were using which they were catching most of their fish on. And yes to the green light. Smelt flies are getting really hard to find this time of year. Good luck if you try it iceon.

Hey, I know the guy that ties those Smelt flies  .  He's so busy fishing,he doesn't have time tie any for himself ! The flies were not mentioned probably because of show sponsor rules. Jimmy has to take care of his sponsors. The smelt fly guy is doing fine w/out them being mentioned. Run the green light 2' down & about 4'-6' from your fishing hole. If you can keep it inside your shanty,it wont ice in.  White spikes are my favorite bait,followed closely by Berkley Gulp maggots (white), & also smelt eyes. Concentrate on the fish that are 10'-25' down. The higher ones will bite but not as well. Same goes for deeper fish. Get away from everyone, I try to keep at least 150 yds. between me & anyone else. 65' depths at least. 70'-75' is better. If you decide to come up,shoot me a PM. I pretty much fish every night. Missed 4 nights since 1/11/22. 

[outdoor junkie]

Thinking me and my boys are gonna head down there instead of Higgins tomorrow night. They’ve only smelt fished Higgins so I’m gonna show them a new lake. Probably just fish out of the north launch. Don’t know the lake well enough to go elsewhere. Just gonna venture out, find some deep water, and break off from the others. Best of luck to all hitting it this weekend.

[fintastic]

Went with brotherNlaw last night. Caught 3/4 of a 5gal bucket in 3 hrs.  First time catching smelt for each of us.
Thanks to everyone on this site for all the info!  I wanted to say the ice at ramp on north side is slushy and we both had ice break under our feet until we were 50' or so away from bank.  There was a trailered shanty that one tire had gone thru and was stuck when we arrived.  With warmer temps today be careful.

[outdoor junkie]

Went with brotherNlaw last night. Caught 3/4 of a 5gal bucket in 3 hrs.  First time catching smelt for each of us.
Thanks to everyone on this site for all the info!  I wanted to say the ice at ramp on north side is slushy and we both had ice break under our feet until we were 50' or so away from bank.  There was a trailered shanty that one tire had gone thru and was stuck when we arrived.  With warmer temps today be careful.

Heading there tonight with my boys. What depth were you fishing if you don’t mind sharing. Congrats on the fish.

[bobberbill]

Smelt: Congrats on the shoutout from MOOD segment on TV a few nights ago. That was fun to watch. bb

[smeltbuster]

Smelt: Congrats on the shoutout from MOOD segment on TV a few nights ago. That was fun to watch. bb

Thanks ! Chris is a good friend of mine 1 When I seen him last night, I had to ask for his autograph. He declined to give me one. Some guys just cant handle all the fame  .

[fintastic]

Heading there tonight with my boys. What depth were you fishing if you don’t mind sharing. Congrats on the fish.

75ft.  Fish at 6p started at bottom, then at dark with green light we were watching them in our holes. 

[outdoor junkie]

Thank you.

[smeltbuster]

  Got to fish w/ "Smeltman" last night & had a great time as usual. Dont know what it is about him, but he tends to catch pike when we smelt fish ! He iced a nice 27" Slimer on one of my flies. We ended the night w/ 340 smelt & were done by 10:00 p.m. !

[outdoor junkie]

  Got to fish w/ "Smeltman" last night & had a great time as usual. Dont know what it is about him, but he tends to catch pike when we smelt fish ! He iced a nice 27" Slimer on one of my flies. We ended the night w/ 340


smelt & were done by 10:00 p.m. !

Hoping for a night like that with the boys. Nice catch.

[Smeltman]

Thanks again for letting me fish with you Smeltbuster. It has to be you that brings out the Pike. I don't catch them when I'm not fishing with you. You might have to change the name of the flies from Smelt flies to Smelt/Pike flies   . It's always a good time fishing with you. We both broke our record last night. Even though we got spudded in. Just don't get people. You Try to help them catch fish. And they don't listen. It's not the location you catch smelt,  it's how far away you are from other's.

[outdoor junkie]

People do the same thing to me on the river. I always fish well away from the packs and people always show up on my doorstep. Especially if I hit the same spot a couple days in a row. I appreciate the tips Phil, but I will not come sit on top of you. Promise.

[wyatt_8]

Heading there tonight with my boys. What depth were you fishing if you don’t mind sharing. Congrats on the fish.

I’m doing the same, first trip for my son as they don’t have school tomorrow.  Hopefully the shore ice isn’t gone with the warm up

[outdoor junkie]

I’m doing the same, first trip for my son as they don’t have school tomorrow.  Hopefully the shore ice isn’t gone with the warm up

Hopefully. Just tread lightly. Best of luck to you guys. That’s why we’re hitting it too. Good ol Presidents’ Day, no school.

[outdoor junkie]

Just got set up on the north end. 73’ of water.

[smeltbuster]

Fished tonight w/ Smelt jr. & a couple of his friends & 1 other guy we met on the ice that recognized me from posts on a FB page. We fished 2 green lights(4,800 lumens & 3,450 lumens) that were spaced about 8' apart. When I left,our group catch was 765 fish. I had 204 by myself. The wind was terrible & I thought my new shanty was going to be destroyed , but it held up w/ 12 ice anchors in it ! The ice was going out at Baseline when we came in at about 11:00 p.m. . It was a good 15' of open water. There also was a large crack that developed about 30' out from the edge. Going to be a skating rink again. All the snow melted.

[outdoor junkie]

We ended up with about 150, missed twice as many off the north end. Only the fish at the top of the schools would bite. Ice was slick as snot leaving at 11. Lots of slush, especially at shore.

[skibumm100]

I went out last night around 7 PM for a few hours, just to get out. Parked at the boat launch and walked out a couple hundred yards and drilled a couple holes away from other shanties. I didn't have my depth map and was guessing at where to drill. I was in 54 feet of water but there were smelt below as soon as I put the transducer in the water so, rather than move, I figured I'd fish. Pretty much stacked from 10 feet down to 45 feet. I only caught about 25 and they were all small. French fries. I had a Hali on the bottom with a white spike and a gold tungsten jig/fly about two feet up. Everything I caught was on the Hali. I used the same spikes all night. Tough to tell when you had a fish on, they were so small. The bite was kind of slow for me. Two years ago I don't think I ever caught one under 5 " with plenty of 8"+ fish. I didn't go out last year so I have nothing to measure against.

Is the size class much smaller this year? Are there bigger size class schools around or is there a reason they're all small (in my bucket, at least). I might try it again tonight in deeper water. It's gonna be a sloppy mess out there. I did not find any weak spots near the launch but I give the creek mouth a wide berth. I don't really wanna try out the float suit. I went on the ice right next to the bathroom building and it was OK.