Gull Lake 2022 Ice & Fishing Reports

[smeltbuster]

This year & lastyear, the smelt have been running smaller. There are a few nice ones being caught. One of the biggest smelt I have ever seen caught in Gull, was 2 weeks ago,by Smeltman. It was definitely a master angler fish. He threw it back before we could measure it. He does not keep the big mature spawners. There are plentyof big ones in there. Smelt jr. & me seen them this past spring when they were spawning on another small creek that flows into Gull. Lots of big ones.

[skibumm100]

Thanks SB. Might give it another go tonight. I left my flip in the truck, so why not? Maybe they'll feel like biting a little better tonight. I watched your video on tying your smelt rig on FB and it was pretty helpful. I think I've been shorting myself a few hooks. Need to read the regs closer.

[Smeltman]

Sorry to hear you only caught 25 skibumm100. Next time try deeper. I only caught one really big one this year. But they are bigger than last year. I believe there are many year classes. I haven't heard of many big ones being caught. Not sure where they are. I prefer the smaller ones anyway.

[wyatt_8]

Fished the north end last night, 79 FOW, mainly to get some distance from the others.  Same story as everyone else, 40 feet of fish from just below the ice to half way down.  The wind sucked - I had 6 anchors in and it bent one pretty good.  We only fished until 9:30, ended up with a 100 or so.  Ice was slushy and wet, pretty slick in spots.  Shore ice was ok but sinking a little, if it makes it through tomorrow should be good for a bit.

[skibumm100]

Went out again last night for a couple hours. Moved out another 150 yds or so. 85 FOW a little ways away from the other guys. Farther west than most. Plenty of smelt on the graph but not a real hot bite. Quit about 9:30 also. Spoke to a couple guys coming off the ice and they had 44 between the two of them. I had 25 or 30, didn't count, but I think a few more than Sunday. I added another four hooks to my rig but caught 90% of them on Hali at the bottom. Three doubles, which was nice. Same size as Sunday, on the small side. The bites came in bunches. I'd catch three or four in succession and then it would die down. I would guess between 8 and 10 inches of ice. Should make it through today's mess. I don't think I'll go tonight but it's supposed to cool down again so maybe it will get rid of some of the slush on top. Hope we don't get too much snow.

Tight lines boys!

[smeltbuster]

Last night was a different kind of smelt trip for us. I fished for a short period of time & caught 60. I had 8 doubles & 1 triple. Met a guy that knew me from a FB group & let him sit in my chair & use my rod. He beat his record catch by quite a bit & ended up w/ 97 in less than 1 1/2 hrs. . It was fun sitting there unhooking fish for him & re-baiting hooks. I am at the point where I'd rather do that than keep railing the fish every night. Smelt jr. gave half of his 125 smelt to the guy & the other 1/2 to another guy that was fishing near us. Giving my catch to a sport shop owner today .Gave some to the guys at Smittys in Battle Creek yesterday. These folks cant get out fishing,so just trying to share w/ them. Funny thing, I have given away so many smelt this year,I only have 50 for myself at this point .

[Iceassin]

Last night was a different kind of smelt trip for us. I fished for a short period of time & caught 60. I had 8 doubles & 1 triple. Met a guy that knew me from a FB group & let him sit in my chair & use my rod. He beat his record catch by quite a bit & ended up w/ 97 in less than 1 1/2 hrs. . It was fun sitting there unhooking fish for him & re-baiting hooks. I am at the point where I'd rather do that than keep railing the fish every night. Smelt jr. gave half of his 125 smelt to the guy & the other 1/2 to another guy that was fishing near us. Giving my catch to a sport shop owner today .Gave some to the guys at Smittys in Battle Creek yesterday. These folks cant get out fishing,so just trying to share w/ them. Funny thing, I have given away so many smelt this year,I only have 50 for myself at this point .

Well done SB... Curious... how was the ice conditions? Might be making my first trip this year Thursday night. Thinking this rain certainly hasn't helped but supposed to get cold again. Thoughts?

[smeltbuster]

Baseline rd. is a mess due to some guys that busted it up w/ a quad & trailer last night. Checked it this afternoon & with the cold weather coming, it should freeze back up if idiots dont destroy it. I picked up my season pass for the north end today, so I will now be able to check that too. I think the ice will be fine,its just the shore ice that we need to worry about right now.

[Iceassin]

Baseline rd. is a mess due to some guys that busted it up w/ a quad & trailer last night. Checked it this afternoon & with the cold weather coming, it should freeze back up if idiots dont destroy it. I picked up my season pass for the north end today, so I will now be able to check that too. I think the ice will be fine,its just the shore ice that we need to worry about right now.

10-4. Thank you sir.

[Iceassin]

Just got back from an ice check. Boat launch is a go. Baseline...not so much. Open water to about 20' out. Gonna give it a shot tomorrow evening.

[smeltbuster]

Wed. Night Trip; Smelt jr. jigged up a couple of Slimers !   206  Smelt.

[Iceassin]

Wed. Night Trip; Smelt jr. jigged up a couple of Slimers !   206  Smelt.

Nice job fellas. Sent you a PM sir.

[smeltbuster]

Fri. night 2/25;  After 2 nights of a bit slower bite, Fri night was pretty good. We had 4 guys in our group & ended the night w/ a total of 553 smelt .Plus, Smelt jr. iced another pike ! i shared my shanty w/ WGorby, he is a member on here. 1st. time we have fished together in the same shanty & it was fun. He had a new PB of 136 fish, & also had 6 doubles ! Up till then,he had never caught a double. I only had 18 doubles  . Lots of guys out there & a few snow machines coming off the north end. Baseline rd. is only foot traffic, due to busted up shore ice.

[Smeltman]

Glad you had a good night again Smeltbuster. My night was slow. Had a hard time finding a consistent depth where the biters were. Might of been the last time on Gull. Suppoe to warm up this week. Baseline was a mess, people continually take Quads and dogs off there and braking up the shore ice. It has had time to freeze back up, then they drive on it. 

[Iceassin]

Glad you had a good night again Smeltbuster. My night was slow. Had a hard time finding a consistent depth where the biters were. Might of been the last time on Gull. Suppoe to warm up this week. Baseline was a mess, people continually take Quads and dogs off there and braking up the shore ice. It has had time to freeze back up, then they drive on it. 

Yeah. I don't understand the taking quads and sleds from Baseline. What's wrong with going from the boat launch...other than not wanting to pony up a couple of bucks to get in? Geesh. Be nice if someone could post signs...
"No vehicle access allowed from this launch from Dec. 1st to April 1st"...or something like that.

[Smeltman]

I think someone launched or tried to launch one of those mobile ice shanties last weekend too  . Parking is easier at the boat launch for them too.

[smeltbuster]

Sat. nite Solo trip; had a last minute cancellation on a FREE guided smelt trip. Their loss ! 193 iced & all were given away to others that had a slow bite tonight. 21 doubles 3 triples ,Stopped at 9:00 p.m. Personal season total catch so far for 41 trips, 4,515 smelt. "Iceassin" ,I like your idea about no motor vehicle launch at Baseline. Sadly,some idiots ruin it for other guys that are very careful there. Also,there was a BIG ice shack being hauled out from the north end tonight, at around 10:00 p.m., last I seen of them,they were down past Johnson's point.

[skibumm100]

I went out Sat night but didn't get out until about 9 PM. Set up away from the crowd but ended up in the 50 FOW flats to the west. Saw very few fish on the finder so moved out deeper to the 85 FOW near where I was the other night. Very slow bite for me and only pulled up a few. Spoke to a guy coming off the ice when I was headed out and he and his buddy got (24). I quit and went home about 11:30.

[steely456]

We started in 70' closest group to the creek and marked nothing by 7:25pm. Grabbed our gear and heading out to 80'+ and set up in and we were on fish by 7:40pm. Picked away at them until 10:15pm and ended with 172.  Very light bite and they stayed pretty deep most of the night 20-40' down. Vibrating fishing pole, red spikes, and eye balls helped our bite out.

[skibumm100]

I broke the tip off the UL rod I use for smelt a couple hours earlier on panfish. It was new this year so I hated to see that. Switched rods to my next lighter one and took that one with me. I probably should have put a spring bobber on it but I wanted to get going.  Might get out sometime later this week, maybe Wednesday.

[Wgorby]

136 smelt for me Friday night (2/25/22)...and i owe it all to Smeltbuster!  Thanks again for letting me share a shanty with ya.  Gull is a hike for me and i usually can only make it there once a winter. 

[fishin4smelt]

Fished solo last night (N) ended up with 77. Bite started later than usual. They were still biting when I packed up at 10:00. When I came in the creek was flowing pretty strong. I could hear it from the launch with no problem. The water seemed to be flowing West as there was about a 6” opening all the way down the shoreline. Anyone headed out use caution, I may have just had my last trip…🙁

[skibumm100]

Went out on the north end for a couple hours last night. Got there late, as usual. Quite about 9:30. Mostly a slow bite for me but there were fish on the graph the whole time. Fished 75 FOW. I had six hooks on my line and almost all came on the Hali at the bottom. Next jig up caught a couple. White spikes for bait. Still 8+ inches of good ice out in the lake but the shore ice at the launch is deteriorating. Be careful and stay away from the creek mouth if you go out. I only caught 21, which isn't good, but was about the same as what a couple other guys got. I don't have SB's touch. Must be all in the wrist. :-)

[smeltbuster]

Went out on the north end for a couple hours last night. Got there late, as usual. Quite about 9:30. Mostly a slow bite for me but there were fish on the graph the whole time. Fished 75 FOW. I had six hooks on my line and almost all came on the Hali at the bottom. Next jig up caught a couple. White spikes for bait. Still 8+ inches of good ice out in the lake but the shore ice at the launch is deteriorating. Be careful and stay away from the creek mouth if you go out. I only caught 21, which isn't good, but was about the same as what a couple other guys got. I don't have SB's touch. Must be all in the wrist. :-)

A quick flick of the wrist does work better than the standard "Bassmater hook set "  .However, even I am guilty of that move way too often ! We are still fishing 74' of water, This weeks catch #s have slowed a bit (my catch #s only ) 2/28-130, 3/1-130, 3/2-60, 3/3-120. Wed. night (3/2) we tried some deeper water after a 1,200 yd. walk & it did not pan out. We quickly packed up & went back to our secret spot ,where we managed to pick up a few in an hour. Smelt jr. & I are smashing our previous years catch #s. Friday or Sat. will be the end of my smelt fishing season. It has been nothing short of Phenomenal ! Baseline rd. ice should hold up for foot traffic through Saturday at least. No motor vehicles, Please. it will destroy any chance for anyone to get on. I have my season pass for the north end,but have not been up there yet.

[Fish Killa]

For those that haven't met Smeltbuster, he does have wrists of steel!! His off season conditioning program must be stellar!

I don't start smelt fishing until later in the season so that commenced a week ago. I have made three trips so far off the north launch. 1st trip was 90' and that didn't pan out to well. Didn't mark that many fish. The second and third trip set up around 75' of water and marked fish 10-65' down the whole time. Did well on the smelt both of these nights and left them biting at 10:30pm both nights. All three trips I landed keeper pike. Some on the Hali jigs and some on tip ups. Released several 25' on down to swim another day. The pike are looking healthy again. Fat for their length. The last few years the pike have been skinny but now its back to normal. Also made a separate run at the pike only one morning at an undisclosed location on Gull. Tagged out then in quick order. Again good healthy, fat, clean looking fish.

Pretty sure that's a wrap on the smelt and pike for this winter season. Good luck to all that are still fishing.

[skibumm100]

I have my parking pass and I stopped in the lot after work to see what the shore ice looked like. It was OK so I went home, grabbed my stuff and when I got back to the gate my code wouldn't work. I had to pay to get in. I need to call the town hall and see if they will credit me my fee. That's the whole reason I got my pass early this year, so I didn't have to pay at the gate. I might go out one more time and then hang up the smelt rod. It would be nice to have one good night out there. Still have plenty of ice on LLL but we'll see how it holds up.

Fish Killa: What do you typically use for bait on pike? Are you buying minnows/chubs or using fresh caught bait? I put a dead smelt on a tip up and tried it in LLL last weekend and never had a hit. I've used little gills before and had some action.

[Fish Killa]

I start with a dead shiner or sucker and then upgrade to live smelt. So there is some truth to me eating my bait. 

[smeltbuster]

skibumm100, the twp. has gone to a new pin code program & they are having lots of problems w/ it. I have not tried my pass yet,but guess I should. They heav sent Smelt jr. 3 different pin #s & none of them have worked. Thye should refund your entrance fee, A few yrs. ago,before I was able to get my pass, I paid 2 times to get into the launch. They applied it to the purchase of my season pass. I did keep my receipts, so if you have yours, you should be good. As long as I can catch at least 45 smelt tonight, it will be my last trip of the year. Time to start tying more smelt flies for next year.

[skibumm100]

I start with a dead shiner or sucker and then upgrade to live smelt. So there is some truth to me eating my bait. 

An article I was reading about smelt says everything loves smelt.... humans, game fish, bigger smelt.....

[skibumm100]

skibumm100, the twp. has gone to a new pin code program & they are having lots of problems w/ it. I have not tried my pass yet,but guess I should. They heav sent Smelt jr. 3 different pin #s & none of them have worked. Thye should refund your entrance fee, A few yrs. ago,before I was able to get my pass, I paid 2 times to get into the launch. They applied it to the purchase of my season pass. I did keep my receipts, so if you have yours, you should be good. As long as I can catch at least 45 smelt tonight, it will be my last trip of the year. Time to start tying more smelt flies for next year.

I would recommend checking your code also. Turns out they didn't upload mine when they issued the pass. I called and they fixed it and it worked. I was wondering if there was a limit to how many times you can use it in an hour or something like that. Maybe to discourage people from sharing their codes. I'll call an find out. Is Ken's sold out of your flies?