bigcreekdad

the Smitty is a hardwood bait, and I'm using a level wind ambassadeur

Broke a rod ( not on a fish) last week on the French that I used to throw jerkbaits ( primarily a Smitty Bait). I was not crazy about the rod and always felt it was a bit on the light side. Any recommendations from you jerkbait flingers out there........including lenghth and model? Thanks in advance.

I fished the Pickeral for 5 seasons in late 80's/early 90's. I found the walleye fishing only mediocre and you were limited as to the number of weedy bays to find them ( unlike the French). A guy by the nameof Danny Smith ran the marina at Hwy 69, and he was an avid walleye fisherman, but he spet most of his time running all the way dpwn the Pic and then back up the French to some rapids for most of his. If the water is high and moving fast there was also decent walleye fishing the narrows a few hundred yards down from the 69 bridge. If you head up, see if he still is at the marina and consult with him.....he and his dad, Harry, were quite good fellows. I also found pike fishing to be mediocre. On the other hand, I've seen many huge muskie on the Pickeral. I've personally caught several up to 38" or so, but have seen quite a few hogs. Personal best I've seen caught was a 49" I netted for a friend of mine, Luke Worline, who now owns Drifter Tackle. The day before this one we had a fish we both feel was close to mid 50's actually in the net, and it rolled out leaving the plug attached to the net. If you ever see Luke at one of the shows ask him to recount this event.....we still talk about it. I finally left the Pic for the French, primarily due to the limited islands, bays, and structure of the Pic in comparison. This was for my kids who started coming along and I felt overall fishing on the French would be better, which proved to be true. However, if muskie is your quest, give the Pic a try.....Luke and I talk often about returning there fora short muskies only trip some time. If you do go....report back.

Have fished the French for years for muskie, and will hit it 3 times before season ends. Just returned from first trip, and was talking to some other guys who also fish the French every year, and we all agreed that we will always fish the French, but that we should hit LOTW one time at least. Just starting to do some research and thought that this was the best place to start. We're not out to find the cheapest place, as we like to eat and sleep well when not on the water, and also have our own boats. Any recs would be appreciated.

Just returned from 5 days at Cranes. Experienced all kinds of weather from 85 degress to 36 degrees....all daytime temps! Tuesday was one of the worst days I have ever experienced on the water......temps as low as 30's, heavy winds, and rain/ice....only fished an hour and a half before being driven off the water, which is an all time low for me. Fishing overall was good, but no really big fish, and only one walleye at all, albeit a 24 incher. My son caught best fish, a pike of 32", and my berst was an 18" smallmouth that hit a large rapala. Had one topwater hit that may have been a muskie, but I could not confirm it. Met a couple of guys from NJ who cast for lunge all day.....as of yesterday when we left they had seen a half dozen muskie, but no hook ups. Folks at Cranes and food was good, as usual. I'll post a few pics when I'm at my computer at home. Used a new Minnkota Power Drive trolling motor this trip. I cannot tell you how disatisfied I am, and am posting this not so much to carp as to ask if anyone else has experienced this, and if so, how did they deal with it. When raising or lowering the unit I have extreme difficulty doing both. When lowering I release the lever which secures the prop head, but have a hell of a time getting it started off the area upon which the prop head sets. I jiggle, push the other end, bounc etc ( all the while cursing) to get it unseated. Once it gets off the resting spot it goes down smoothly, but I have spent at least a minute trying to get there many times. When raising the unit. it comes up easily, but the prop head needs to be horizontal to sit on the resting area, and the weight of the prop head naturally wants to go vertical, so you are trying to force it horizontal while trying to pull it up on the resting place, which is a chore itself. Once you do accomplish getting it on the area horizontal, trying to get it pulled up far enuf so that the lever to secure it can be in place is another chore....sometimes I just get it up on the resting place and don't worry about securing it until I dock, which is not the right thing to do. At the dock, I have to push the prop head while out of the boat to get it far enuf to secure the motor. I must say, my trusty old 13 year old Evinrude with its pull cord mechanism was a breeze in comparison. Nuf sais....anyonre have any thoughts on this?

Went up to my cabin in Northern Michigan last Wednesday for a week of trout fishing and relaxation, and to put my new Minnkota bow mount on the Alumacraft. Saturday morning, 5 minutes into the mounting process and.....ping.....I pull a muscle in my back. No worry, just a little pain. Needed to go to hardwarefor a drill bit when pain REALLY kicks in......can hardly get back into car to go back to cabin. Spend next 4 days basically either in bed, or in a recliner. Forced to watch trout greadily slurping drakes below my deck......could hardly walk, much less wade. Finally able to drive home. Drving back up Saturday with my son and plan to leave for the French eraly Sunday AM. At least I think that's what I'm doing......back still hurts some, and trolling motor still needs to be mounted and wired. Wish me luck!!

Just bought a Minnkota 65 lb 24v bow mount. It is replacing an old Evinrude 24v ( unsure of power). Althoug there is no such info in the wiring diagram or other info in the installation manual, a tag attached to the motor says a minimum of 6 ga wire should be used to connect to batteries. Also, indicates a 50 amp manual circuit breaker s/b installed. I was just going to connect the motor wiring to the electrical plug I was using for the Evinrude, but the guauge is not 6, and all my present system had is a fuse vs. a manual circuit breaker. I'm confused why the manual does not talk of this, and whether the tag warning is overkill. Anyone help me out here?

I got a call last week from a buddy who has a place in the Florida Keys. He wanted to know if I wanted to come down first week of June and fly fish for tarpon. He and I did this 3 years ago and it was awesome! He has his own flats boat and knows the water. On that trip we had 6 hook ups, and although none were landed, we faught a few of them for more than a half hour. All it cost me was a plane and a rental car for 3 guided days of fly rod tarpon fishing. So.....did I jump at the chance when he called this year? Unfortunately, I've put off too long getting a jointreplacement in one of my big toes and standing all day either fishing or poling the boat is definitely out. Pretty bumbed out, and pretty ticked at myself for waiting too long. So.....hmm.....I don't have to stand all day when fishing for walleye on the French, so I'm taking my one son up to Cranes on the French instead. I love the French which I first fished in 1966, and have been quite happy at Cranes. I was already planning to go there for our annual trip with my two boys in July ( although only one of them this year as his brother is in Iraq), and then with some pals in September. But, what the heck.....what's wrong wth another earlier trip? This retirement gig sure is nice when ideas like this come up. So...long story short.......anyone fish the opener up there and have any reports? THanks in advance.

When I was kid, some folks I knew used to spear them, and smoke them. As I remember, they indicated that they were oily and thus were quite good smoked. Never tried it, but these people were far from riff-raff, so there must have been something to it. If I had access to a smoker I'd give it a go, but like another respondent< I'd let the big guys go.

Saw Al Lindner on TV today advertsing a Merc Tiller outboard at, I believe, 150 Hp on what appeared to be no more than an 18' boat. Motor did not look that big and looked like it was flying. Also, it eqipped so that when he took his hand off the tiller it would hold course andcould not even be moved until he grabbed tiller handle again. It was quite impressive. While I may be a year or so from a new tiller outboard ( have a 9 year old Yamaha 4 stroke 50hp) this motor intrigued me. Anyone familiar with it? Also, when I was growing up we had three different Merc outboards.....all of which were consistently unreliable. Don't know why my dad hept buying them as he would get so ticked off I thought he would stroke out. Even ran into a Florida guide a few years ago who referred to Mercs as "black anchors". How do Mercs of today compare with Yamaha for both performance and dependability?

After 13 years, getting a new one. For all you pike/muskie fishermen with trolling motors out there, do you have just the basic bow mount model, with none of the gizmos, or have you invested in any? ( ie sonar, wireless, automatic depth motoring etc). If you have the gizmos, do you think they are worth it, and if so, what do you like about it? I'm probably more interested in dependability and am thinking the simpler the better, however, I want to get other folks thoughts.I fish the French River 2-3 weeks a years to give you an idea of the type of water I am mostly on. Thanks in advance. Is this winter ever going to end??

After 13 years, I've decided to replace my bow mounted Evinrude 24v motor. It has served me well. I have heard quite a bit about the motors that can be set to a certain depth and they will automaticaly keep you there. I use the motor primarily while pike/muskie fishing on the French River. This constant depth feature at first sounds nice while fishing shoreline/structure, but I wonder if the erratic reefs of the French won't confuse the motor guidance and you end up with a very erratic movement. In other words sounds great to stay on course fishing weedlines and contours, but maybe not with wildly erratic structure. Anyone have any experience with this? Also, from what I've read, Miikota sounds like the trolling motor of choice here, but I'd appreciate any further opinions. As a side note, my wife got me a rather nice gift certificate to Cabelas to buy this. Plus, I work there part time in the fly fishing department so i get a bii of a discount. I've decided to keep her afterall. Thanks in advance for any advice.

Live in Toledo, Ohio, but spend much time at our cabin on Big Creek, a stream that feeds Michigan's Au Sable River

Look up "North of Sixty" lodge in Yahoo. It's in NWT, but is not as pricy as some. We were there two years ago and caught lakers up to 35 pounds, although our primary quary was nothern pike. Also caught lakers up to 10 pounds on a fly rod there in the rapids. THAT was a gas!!

For anyone who's ever troutfished with a fly, and maybe all other fishers, the absolute best fishing novel I've ever read is "Snowfly" by Joseph Heywood. As for anecdotal books, I've liked all of Gierach and Traver. Also, "Fly Fishin Fool" by James Babb, editor of Gray's Journal, is fantastic.....I still laugh recalling some of the pieces. Another one I read on fishing trips to get psyched up is Rizzo's "Secrets of a Muskie Guide".

This spot was the base of a huge set of rapids on the LeGrande River. We came in to the left of me in the picture to a group of mid rapid islands, where we junped off boat and threw streamers below into pools. Fantastic water up there......huge lake systems formed by several massive dam projects. We crossed lakes a few times in 6 foot waves in 18 foot boats with flat bottoms. Guide said he's been out crossing in 12 footers.....I said.."not with me you ain't". But the guides were excellent boatmen, and after the first few scary minutes you knew you were safe and it became more of an adventure. Some days these vast expanses were dead calm. Most of our fishing was for pike, with half of our group of six fishing only fly rods. Simply amazing pike fishing......our last day myself and another guy in our boat caught easily 150 pike....biggest was 44". He was using a big rapala type bait with all trebles removed and one large single hook on the rear of the plug. When he threw it back into some shallows almost immediately several wakes headed for it. I'd say I caught 3 fish on fly rod to every 4 he caught spinning. Going back next year to one of their outpost camps where there is more fast water, and more ( and bigger) brookies and lakers.

Blow by Blow??? Well, I'll try. We were fishing French River below Chaudiere dams out of Crane's Lochaven Lodge. It was our first day ( mid September), ands it rained all damn day......no shore lunch that day. We took a guide as my two companions had never fished these waters and I thought it would be a good way for them to see several spots. Our guide, Jackie ( who's a dman good guide) uses a pontoon boat. At first this seems a bit ackward, but is really kind of nice, and he moves that thing into all kinds of spots with ease. Caught this guy on a topwater before lunch. Hit right at side of boat. I was actually throwig a smaller bass-sized topwater as we were fishing a shallow weedy area more known for nice largemouth. First spot we went to was in deeper and faster water below the dams for walleye. Jackie was reeling in a small rockbass when a muskie took it. He fought it but it broke off after a few minutes. Coming back to the lodge that day for lunch we sawa guy waving from one of the lodge's cabin docks. We cruised over and fond a guy with a large muskie on that he hooked while casting for walleye with a light spinning rod. Jackie jumped off and helped the guy land the fish ( 46")....his first muskie in 15 years of trying. Saw several others that week. Good spot, and a great lodge.

Odd looking muskie......it's actually a Quebec brookie Guess you can tell I'm still working on this picture posting thing

Hopefully you will see three pics.....me with pike and brookie from Quebec, and a French River muskie.....my first on a surface plug. Damn.....makes me want to go fishing!! What the heck???? Still no pics......I did instructions in the FAQ section.......anyone else having trouble?

need help with posting pics

Just signed on to new forum. I've attached a pic or two from my Quebec trip primarily to see if it works OK. I retired from 32 years being a CPA in June, and now work part time in fly fishing department at Cabelas in Dundee......paid to talk fishing all day!! A special gift for us this year as my son drew random R&R and is with us from Iraq, where he is a combat platoon leader with 10th Mountain Division. Life is indeed good, and much to be thankful for. Best to all out there. Let me know if pics don't come thru.