Munising bay ice fishing

[UPnortherner]

How is the fishing by the Anna river mouth? Looking for some whitefish

[UPFishbucket]

I fished it on monday and yesterday, and couldnt catch a single whitefish.  Got 1 nice splake about 23 inches, and 6-7 throwbacks.  Missed a few fish but marking steady fish on a bottom that just arent comitting to a bite.  Maybe its just me or an underwater camera is needed to see the bite, but I think they are just being finicky and lethargic.

[rico1391]

I fished out there today, walked out from the docks.  One of the whitefish came from another guy.

[Beenmarkinemalot]

I sure wish the fish were bigger there.
Went there last week and caught 30 Whitefish and 20 Splake.
Nothing over 14". 

[UPFishbucket]

how were you getting the whities if u dont mind me asking, ive been out 5 or 6 times this year and last and havnt caught a single one.  I have a graph and have tried spring bobbers and slip bobbers, dropper rigs, small lures, tear drops, waxies, wigglers, eggs, chum and no chum, what am i doing wrong?!

[rico1391]

I know a lot of the guys use spawn, I tried it and didn't get any results.  I've been out there 3 times this year, and caught all 3 of my whitefish on one trip, and they were all on a teardrop with spikes.

[ER1993]

He is using dynamite on a small hook with a slip sinker. 60% of the time it works every time.


Almost all whitefish you will catch out of Munising (SMALL) will come on eggs. There is a art to catching whitefish with eggs. from the "feel" to the way you cook the eggs. Its not for everyone.

When you fish areas with real whitefish in Superior, pimples and other methods can work well  some days but you cant beat the perfectly cooked egg(s) most days.

[Beenmarkinemalot]

Like ER1993 said their not easy to catch. You gotta try and then try harder. Most people my brother or I have taken cannot get them to bite or ever go back to try again. I tell people you have to will them to bite. If you blink, look to the side, set your rod down for more then 2 seconds, or stop thinking about what your doing at all it's game over. Not one of the fish we got were over 15". But were tasty. Doesn't really matter where in the bay you fish for them. They are everywhere. I have only caught them in 45 to 90 fow water though if that helps.

[rico1391]

There were tons of whitefish down there today, the only problem is for every 50 fish you get to follow, you might get 1 bite.  I ended up with 3 small whitefish, an undersize splake and two Lota lota 

[Yooper350]

and two Lota lota 

haha Didn't think many people knew them by that name, only two fish that I know of that have the same genus and species name.  Mola mola is the other one.

[rico1391]

haha Didn't think many people knew them by that name, only two fish that I know of that have the same genus and species name.  Mola mola is the other one.

I'm pretty sure most people don't know them by any name, and even fewer have a clue they are found in cold waters all around the Northern Hemisphere.  They also have quite a few unique traits about their life cycle.  Pretty interesting fish, tasty too!

[Chris Raymond]

haha Didn't think many people knew them by that name, only two fish that I know of that have the same genus and species name.  Mola mola is the other one.

I think it's a Canuk thing...must have come across the bridge.  ;-)

[rico1391]

I think it's a Canuk thing...must have come across the bridge.  ;-)

Lol, it's not a Canadian thing, it's the a scientific name.  Lota is the genus, and lota is the species name.

[Chris Raymond]

Lol, it's not a Canadian thing, it's the a scientific name.  Lota is the genus, and lota is the species name.

I realize that; what I poorly attempted to communicate through humor is that I think only Canuks use the term lota lota.  Over here it's either burbot or lawyers, in MN its eelpout, in ME its cusk and out west I've heard people use both ling and lota lota. 

[Mdgrzenia]

I heard um called Shoepak.....any one else?

[Beenmarkinemalot]

I heard um called Shoepak.....any one else?

Only in Munising.

[Icefisher40]

Does anybody ever catch lakers out of Munising bay?

[rico1391]

Only in Munising.

I had a guy tell me he's caught a few Burbot and a couple Shoepak this season... I still don't know what he meant?

[UPFishbucket]

weve always referred to them as Losh in the eastern UP!

[ajhallfr]

Curious if anyone is willing to give me info on the snow depth on the bay. I should be up there this weekend and was curious if foot travel is still an option to the fishing grounds?

[mellowfellow777]

there is never to much snow to fish any U.P. lake...granted trudging through snow up to ur waist is tiring...if in doubt whip them darn snow shoes out!!!

p.s. snow is about 7-12inches

[ajhallfr]

there is never to much snow to fish any U.P. lake...granted trudging through snow up to ur waist is tiring...if in doubt whip them darn snow shoes out!!!

p.s. snow is about 7-12inches

That's true, in my younger days I walked through a lot of deep snow... I just find I'm getting too old for that anymore, at least to go more than a little ways.

Thanks for the info

[squidly454]

Was up there last weekend with some buddies for our annual trip.   We managed to get out at Sand Point on Sunday when the wind settled down and managed 19 (18 keeper) whitefish, 7 undersized splake and 3 burbot.    ~65' FOW with ~2' of ice under about 8-10" of snow then.  Probably a little more snow now.

[P Meyette]

nice going