7/21/08 Fishing on the inner Saginaw Bay has remained hot throughout the last few weeks.  Limits are common in the areas around the Black Hole and west of buoys 1 and 2.  Crawler harnesses are catching fish all over the water column.  Hot colors have chartreuse and more chartreuse.  Let’s hope that these fish hold up in these easy to get to areas for several more weeks.  I’ve been fishing a lot in the outer bay due to the fact that I have been involved in walleye tournaments the past two weekends.  Big fish are definitely out there, but they are tough to put in the boat with any consistency.  My partner and I weighed a five fish total of 11.47 lbs. finished 20th in the Michigan Walleye Tour event under some very tough fishing conditions.  The following weekend we weighed 37.36 lbs over two days to finish 9th in Masters Walleye Circuit tournament.  My tournament schedule is almost over for the season with only one more FLW event on Aug. 9th out of AuGres remaining.  I still have plenty of open charter dates for the first two weeks of August.

6-26 and 6-27 The fishing on the Saginaw Bay continues to be outstanding with limits on both trips.  It is truly amazing that the fishing is holding up this well considering we have had severe weather moving through the area daily.  The fish seem to be more concentrated in the upper part of the water column and are really on the feed, puking up all kinds of baitfish in the livewell.  Crawler harnesses 20 feet back with a 1 ounce weight caught the majority of the fish.  Waters from 18-24 feet were the hot depths.  We only caught one walleye on bottom bouncers in two days of fishing (I always have two dragging bottom) which contradicts a lot of the reports that are out there.  Raise the baits up high, get them away from the boat, and fill the livewell.

6-20, 6-21, and 6-22 Fishing remains hot on the Saginaw Bay with easy limits being taken on all three trips this weekend.  The fish are moving around a bit, but once you find them, you really find them.  Keeping 4 lines in the water was really a chore.  Crawler harnesses remain the hot bait with fish being found in 17-25 feet of water around the spark plug.  On the last trip we were marking huge pods of baitfish and the walleyes were right with them.  The fish are really chunky this year and appear to be eating well.  Since the fish were so plentiful, I decided to do a little experimentation with a new bait on the market called Bio Bait that is made by Big Bite Baits Inc.  My friend John Gillman, who is a Big Bite Baits pro-staffer and runs a boat with the Big Bite wrap on it, gave me a handful to try this weekend after he caught a 4 man limit on them earlier in the day.  I am not a big fan of artificial crawlers when trolling and I truly expected to be taking these baits off after 15 minutes, but to my amazement these new baits really did the job.  If fact, most of our larger fish came on the bio bait.  I will be getting some more of these new artificial crawlers and will be trying them again to see if they work under tougher fishing conditions, but as of this weekend I’m a believer.  Check them out!!!!  http://www.bigbitebaits.com/BioSite/biobaitmain.htm I hope everyone can get out soon and enjoy some of the best walleye fishing of the season. Capt. Ryan

6/13-6/16 4 days, 4 charters, 4 limits!!! Fishing on the Saginaw Bay has been nothing short of awesome so far this summer.  We have primarily been pulling crawler harnesses in water 17-22 feet deep NE of the spark plug.  Most of the fish are in the 16-19 inch range with an occasional 3-4 pounder thrown in the mix.  The fishing has held up very well considering all of the nasty weather that has been moving through the area.   The wind, waves, and storms have been relentless the last few days.  Waves coming from one direction and wind from another direction makes for some tough trolling conditions.

6-9-08 and 6-10-08 I fished the last couple of days with relatives from Alpena.  We managed to catch our 15 fish limit on both days with fish being plentiful in 17-24 feet of water.  Crawler harnesses trolled at 1mph, 25-35 feet behind the boards seemed to be the ticket.  We didn’t catch any monsters, but all of the fish were very healthy and chunky.  They made for an excellent family fish fry.  These guys do quite a bit of fishing in Alpena and they were very impressed with the great walleye fishery that the Saginaw Bay offers.

6-2-08 I had a morning charter with some very nice people from Traverse City.  The fishing was not nearly as hot as the weather, but we did have steady action throughout the trip.  We managed to scratch out our 15 walleye limit, with a couple of good sized fish in the mix.  Crawler harnesses were the ticket in 17-20 feet of water around the spark plug.  The fish are scattered and were biting very lightly.  It took a lot of finesse and a total team effort to boat fish today.  5/16-18/08 I was lucky enough to be able to ride along and net fish for some of the top walleye fisherman in the world at the Professional Walleye Tour championship on Saginaw Bay this past weekend.  It was very exciting netting fish for these guys, as they are fishing for $100,000 worth of cash and prizes.  I was pair with Ernie Olsen, Johnnie Candle, and Bobby Crow during the three day championship.  All of these guys were great to fish with and they are true professionals in every sense of the word.  OK, here’s the fishing report. Day 1: I fished the east side of the bay with Ernie Olsen from Oak Park, MN.  The fishing was outstanding in depths from 11-15 feet.  He was using crawler harnesses behind one ounce weights.  Purple and pink seemed to be his hot colors.  We cycled through close to 20 fish and Ernie ended up weighing 12.37 lbs to place him in 13th place after day one.  Ernie ended up finishing in 5th place. Day 2: I drew Johnnie Candle from Garrison, ND on day 2.  Johnnie was sitting in 12th place after day one and had a hot shallow bite going in 6-8 feet of water.  Unfortunately, the wind was blowing hard out of the west and when he got to his spot the area was unfishable due to floating weeds from the wind and rough seas.  Johnnie quickly adjusted to plans B, C, and D, but fishing was tough at his other spots also due to the high winds and dirty water.  He ended up scratching out a limit of smaller fish on crawler harnesses, but didn’t make the cut for day 3.  Johnnie ended up finishing 38th. Day 3: The field had been cut to the top 25 anglers for the final day and I ended up drawing Bobby Crow from Peterson, WA.  Bobby was tied for 24th place after the first two days of fishing.  The wind was blowing hard out of the north and the bay was very muddy and full of 4-5 foot waves.  Bobby fished several spots on the east side of the bay in 10-12 feet of water, could only catch 1 walleye in very tough fishing conditions.  Bobby ended up cashing a check for 25th place. Hopefully the weather will stabilize and the fishing will improve before next weekend. 5/5/08 The Michigan Walleye Tour was on Saginaw Bay this past weekend and limits were the norm at the weigh in.  Congratulations to Rick and Kal Ustishen, who brought in a two-day total of 44.65 lbs., to take home the first place trophy.  Ed Clements and I finished a very disappointing 17th in the event.  We caught a ton of fish on both Saturday and Sunday, but good sized fish were difficult to come by.  Fish have started to move out of the shallow water and can be found in 11-15 feet.  Try pulling either crawler harnesses or stickbaits around the old dumping grounds area just west of the shipping channel and around Callahan Reef.     4/28/08 The wind was blowing hard out of the north today.  Ed Z. and I decided to fish the river and we ended up landing 13 walleye.  Lots of eater sized fish with one 3 pounder in the mix.  Ed had the hot hand and caught 10 by himself.  Lots of fish, but boat control was a nightmare due to the wind.  If you’re on the river, check out the bald eagle nest located just to the south of the middle grounds across from the airport.  We saw a bald eagle tending to the nest that was built there last year.  It appears that they will be using the same nest again this spring. 4/27/08 We made the trip up to AuGres in the morning.  It was blowing like crazy and freezing cold.  We decided to pack it in after only two passes.  We put the boat on the trailer and headed back to Bay City, launched in the river ~10:30, and fished all over the inner bay.  We caught ~15 walleye with the largest weighing just under 5 lbs. 4/22/08 Fished from 4:30-7:30 with my buddy Ed Zielinski.  Boated 6 walleyes with the biggest fish weighing 5.5 lbs.  Also caught a pike that had to measure 37-38 inches.  Nothing like breaking in the new boat with some pike slime.  The water cleared up quite a bit from this past weekend and the water temperature was ~60 degrees.  Put the stickbaits away, bust out the crawlers, and think shallow. 4/20/08 It felt great to finally get on the bay and do some fishing this weekend.  It's been a long winter!  Saturday morning started off great with 5 nice walleyes boated before 11am.  Then the wind kicked up out of the north and the fishing went south.  By Sunday morning the bay was an absolute mud pit and was rough as can be.  We made two passes Sunday morning and decided that time would be better spent cleaning the garage.  I'm giving the bay a couple of days to settle down before trying it again.  I should have another report after next weekend.  Good luck to everyone fishing the inland opener.