Little Bay de Noc Fishing Reports

Dooger · Veteran Member

Tip-Up Tips in Current

CrankYanker · Veteran Member

I like a heavy split shot as close to the hook as your comfortable with. Usually about 4-6 inches. Works for me!

bgrood · Member

Ive used an ole steel head drift technique... 4-6 splits spaced 6 or so inches apart starting 2 ft above hook. seems to work ok.

catman · Guru

I use either a size 1 or 2 (large) split shot. I don't worry about the bait getting swept off bottom. Most of the time the current is not steady so your bait may sweep off the bottom, but it then falls gently back. Unless your bait is getting swept more than 12-14 feet off bottom and staying there, I would not worry about it. There was one year where I fishing 42 feet of water and setting my tip-ups only 20 feet down. Caught plenty of walleye. The fish were not suspended either. With the clear water they will see your bait and if they are hungry, they will come up for it.

Captain Ken Lee · Senior Member

I agree bro, I think too many people fish too close to the bottom now. Walleyes have exceptional vision, and you always want to be above them anyways...because a walleye will come up a long ways to grab a bait, but will seldom go down for a bait. Look where we jig now compared to years ago, now we have our best luck keeping our baits 4 to 8 feet off bottom while jigging. Seems like we draw more fish in by keeping it farther off bottom too, and the more you draw in...the more chances of catching one.

steelyboy67 · Member

confuse Thanks for the info on the current swing. I just got back from my first trip to LBDN last night. Fished Friday afternoon and all day Saturday with a friend who knows more about this than me(had to drive home Sunday). We struggled both days and only managed four Walleye and one Northern between all five of us. I wished I had read your post before going up...I would have done my jigging higher off the bottom. I'll bet i never got my bait more than 3'-0" off the bottom. Sometimes I'd have a mark come in but just couldn't get it to commit. My 14 year old son managed to catch 2 of the 4 Walleye(I got the Northern on a tip-up). So, I have yet to catch my first eye through the ice. I'm a little frustrated, but understand the "learning curve" and was glad my son was able to get in on a little action. Looking forward to coming back up with hopefully a little more success. We got on at Terrace and basically fished out and South. I called Sall-Mar and they said that the fishing had been slow, so I didn't feel too bad. This is my first time on any kind of a forum, so hopefully I'm posting this correctly.

schmutzomatic 5000 · Senior Member

Hey Steely, Glad to have ya on board... Glad you had some success.. Ya see it is planned that way that your son shows the ol'man up.. This way he is hooked and begs ya to come back every day.. Ya see it is so much easier to justify the trip because you cant disappoint the boy now can ya. He gets to go to and tell all his friends he schooled the ol'man again and now next time it is game on.. A word of advice... if next time he takes ya to the house again, tell him it is all in the plan to keep him interested in fishing and not those evil girls..lol Glad you made some memories and dont be a stranger to the site.... tight lines..Schmutz

Tomjohn - PERCHER · Guru

Your posting is great. Welcome to the board. Don't give up on the trying to learn. When I first started fishing whitefish it took me two years to catch just one. I have learned a bunch since then.

slammer · Senior Member

Ataboy Steely!!! Get back on that horse and do it again. A lot of it is a numbers game. Still waiting for my number and been doin this for a long time! Congrats to Sonnyboy!!! Slammer!!!

catman · Guru

Glad to see you caught some fish. This is one of the toughest bodies of water to learn in my view. Big Bay de Noc is even harder (for walleye). Over all, the fishing itself seems to be picking up compared to a couple weeks ago. But it depends on what day it is. Yesterday a friend of mine did pretty good. Today, Nada-Nothing-Zilch! But that just means no fish came thru the area he was at tonight. Maybe the currents were different tonight. Who knows. It can drive a person nuts. One day you smoke them, and the next day you swear there is not a single fish in the whole bay!

steelyboy67 · Member

Thanks for the quick response guys. My son enjoyed the "schooling the old man" too, but its definitely game on next time. Any input on lures...colors...etc. would be appreciated. Obviously, I've got a few basics, but really all we used were either size 7 and size 5 jigging rapalas. I had a few swedish pimples, do-jiggers and some rattlin flyer spoons, but really didn't try them too much.
Any favorites or go-to's that you definitely take with you everytime you go? I want to make sure that I start with the "this is what you definitely want in your tackle box" repertoire. From there I'm sure I'll turn it into something like my big lake salmon/steelhead tackle selection(fairly obscene LOL).
Again, thanks for the warm reception and encouragement. Any and all advice is welcome and appreciated.

schmutzomatic 5000 · Senior Member

Dont forget to try a #9 GGT.. (7 and 5 also) but that bigger one will get slapped by even a perch... If you think it is too big your lying to youself... It is not.....