chromage

So my alarm went off at 5 AM but I finally got out of bed about 5:20. Figured i'd hunt the stand closes to the road. On the way out there had a smart little fawn decide to stand in teh road and take on my truck. Luckily I wasn't going to fast and stop with plenty of time for her to get out of my way. However, several miles down the road I smoked a opossum. Seen several other deer and thought it was going to be a perfect mournin. So I get out to the tree and start climbing and get half way up. My head lamp goes out..just great. I get into my stand and start pulling. My bow catches a branch but I can't knock it off and there was no way I was climbing down from this tree. I called it the tree from **** for a reason. So I thought, heck, it's a small branch, I will just pull as hard a possible. SNAP!!! Maybe that wasn't such a great idea?? sure enough I pull the end of my stabilizer up. That's not good! So I climb down, grab my bow and get up into the tree. Time for relxation right?? WRONG!! I got went to knock an arrow and relize my string isn't in the right position. I then discovered all my strings popped off there cams. I tried to put them on up in the tree but that didn't happen. I eventaully said screw it. Ended up having a deer come in within hearing distance but she never came in close. At about 8:30 I said screw it and climb down from my tree. will be going to get it fixed tomarrow hopefully! What a crappy day! On the way home had a 4 point jump out in front of me. What a beautiful animal.

Re: A dying breed way farthur north. between whitehall and traverse

It started off in June hearing of all the alewives out in Lake Michigan. I could only imagine the huge kings I was going to see this year in the river. It seemed like just yesterday that I was in search of chrome salmon in the rivers in July. Where you had to hike miles upon miles to find these fresh fish from the great lakes. Many trips were made and only a few fish hooked. One day of 12 hours of casting and only 3 kings king caught all night. East winds made fishing just right, but of coarse I missed them always by a day or so due to work, something that stop my fishing majorly. Unlike last year when it wasn’t hard to catch a king off the pier heads due to east winds continue. Then it was middle of August and decent run of kings have not shown up. Yes, the boats were killing them, but where were the numbers. There was few showing up but not many with the inches of rain we were getting. Then in August when I walked down to the river expecting nothing and seeing a river choked full of kings. Yes, the run was on! The next day limiting out and then labor day hooking so many fish and praying another fish wouldn’t attack the bait. Man, it took a ton of time to learn where these early king hang out. It took a ton of time and gas money to learn about these early run kings. Also, understanding the winds and temps that these fish like took a major toll on my gas bill. And now here we are. Nasty white tailed kings on the side of shore meaning the end of the cycle. It’s sad but you can only go back and think of all the great memories of this salmon season. Or the one that got away. My season ended this past weekend which is really early for me. I always fish kings til the end but have image of silver torpedoes swimming around in my head rather then sick fugley looking kings. Of coarse you can’t forget the white tails in the woods. My weekend was spent on a river I enjoy fishing. I don’t know if it’s the people or the fish. I tend to think it’s the people I fish with because of all the fun we had. Anyways, fishing was tough this week. I did end up with 14 or so but the bite was tough. It took some switching from some of my fav. techniques to micro size bait and flies and bottom bouncing. Something I don’t do a ton.. Spawn tied in white and little glue eggs work efficient. It helped me get the spawn I needed for this coming steelie season. I landed a few 18 lbers and my buddy ended up with a huge 23-25 lb salmon. Couple high lights from this weekend was chucking and ducking and having dead weight on the hook. Then nothing, and then a head shaking. After a several minute fight I relized I had a huge hen on that had already been caught. It still had the stringer through it’s mouth. Then the guy across river who was trying to catch kings legally. However, he kept foul hooking them. The guy next to him advised him he needed 40 lb line to catch salmon. Now I am not a person that likes to butt into other people’s buissness but having a snagger tell someone they need to go up in line, I had to say something. I then let the whole river know that you don’t need anything over 12 lb line to catch these kings. The guy was curious and I helped him out with timing and techniques. The snagger I think was pretty embarrassed and kept his mouth shut. He ended up hooking a fair hooked fish but it broke his cheap line he had. I can only hope he takes my advice and get some better line and keeps trying to hook these fish legally. Now I didn’t land any giants this year like I thought I was going to but I honestly can say the size was def. up this year. Unlike last year where it took half the season to get an 18lber, it only took one trip off the pier to land a 17 lber. Yes, the average was up, and that’s what I wanted to see. I can only wait and dream of the next trip I make out into Lake Michigan next summer. The freight trains and the all night fishing. Will the fish be even bigger then this year, or will they be back to small bodies, big head. We can only wait and see, but until then, IT’S STEELHEAD TIME!!!

Re: 1 stand left....two spots Thanks for your imput!

I went out scouting friday and found two spot. The rut is going to start here in Michigan anytime in the next few weeks. I found these two spots but I am not sure about them. Maybe I shouldn't even put a stand up in these area's but continue looking. The first is an acorn grove next to a very small creek if you want to call it that. To the south east of the creek is a guy who is baiting with sugar beats. The acord grove has a trail on the far east of it but doesn't look like any trails are in the acorn grove. However, there are trails all around the area. The other spot is down in a thicket/swamp. If you walk north you hit swamp and thick stuff. Then there is the trail, at least I think it's a trail. There are some old pink tape on tree's. I don't think the trail would still be there if something was no using it. If you continue walking pass the trail it's nothing but THICK stuff. Not much hunting pressure here. Where would you guys put up your last stand if you were me? I was thinking of putting my stand in the thick stuff and just using my climber in the acrons. However, to get to the acorns you go through thick stuff and I could imagine a ton of racket being made. Any insight would be nice. Thanks I did go out hunting this evening and was expecting wsw winds. When I got to my stand is was blowing directly south meaning my scent all over the trails. I ended up choosing not to go to this stand but another one. Unfor. I left my climber at home which I was bummed out about. Ended up hunting from the ground and didn't see squat. Same winds are suppose to happen tomarrow. Think I might go back to this area but w/ my climber this time.

Re: How many time do you hunt befor moving Hey Guys, Thanks for the advice. I was thinking with the current rain conditions it would have been a perfect time. I'll sit in it a few more times and then move if it continues. I got a perfect new tree if it happens again. Wish I could have got out. Won't beable to get out to this stand til friday mournin. Hopefully it's not pouring like this mournin. Why did the weatherman have to be right this time:(

How many times do you guys hunt a stand to know it's no good and needs to be moved. The reason I asked is I hung a stand sunday and hunted it this mournin(tues). The deer walked in the same way I did and all walked the other way. I think they smelled me. However, it's the only way I can get into my stand. I was thinking about moving my stand above the trails they came in to the point where I would not have to cross paths. I am just worried I am doing it do early and might want to hunt a few more days but i figure this rain would be a perfect oppurtunity.. Any advice?

Re: Moving a stand this late in the game? How many times do you guys hunt a stand to know it's no good and needs to be moved. The reason I asked is I hung a stand sunday and hunted it this mournin(tues). The deer walked in the same way I did and all walked the other way. I think they smelled me. I was thinking about moving my stand above the trails they came in to the point where I would not have to cross paths. I am just worried I am doing it do early and might want to hunt a few more days but i figure this rain would be a perfect oppurtunity.. Any advice?

Well, my season is slowly coming to an end w/ bow season starting. However, the past two wks have been awesome. It seems that if you can get out to the river before the snaggers show up, expect to walk away w/ soar arms. Last wkd I headed north. Friday there were a few fish in. I fished the surf til 8 until I had a wave roll over me. I landed one little 5 pound male and had two other slams but they didn't connect. After having the wave go over me I opted to hit the river. It didn't take long for me to hook up with a hog of a chrome hen. She was easily 18 lbs. Last year it took all season long to get a large fish but not this river season. Saturday the 1rst shift of snaggers showed up early and it put the fish down. With major kurplunking of 3 ounce weights and crystal clear water the fishing was going to suck all day unless we got the rain the whether men were calling for. Only one out of the few locals there hooked up with a decent hen. My family and I opted to head farther north in search of some unmolested kings. Well, we ended up finding some but they were very spookiest. I even went down to 6 lb line and dime size chunks of skein. We checked out 2 other creeks but nothing was happening. It was a beautiful ride any how. We then headed back to the original river and around dark, it finally started raining. In a half an hour I had 3 fair hooked fish on including the brightest fish I have seen. Almost had it landed and that's when it decided it didn't want anything to do w/ me and head shook and jumped all over the place. After a half an hour of fishing in miserable condition my parents had enough and we watch MSU hand over the game to Notre dame. It was alright we had to leave because I knew what was coming. Sunday mourning we woke up and was down to the river before first light. As we drove there I seen a flag blowing hard from the north. I knew what that meant and was current on my 2nd cast with a bobber down. It was non-stop fishing all mourning long. Finally, after two years of putting them on fish, both my parents hooked up with many fish. My mom ended up walking out with her limit. My dad landed several more but released a ton. I walked out also with 2 hens and released many. One of the local guys were down there and after he limited he let my mom reel in some of his fish. Between the times I handed my pole off and the local, my mom could barely reel in the last fish which was a 15 lb buck. Needless to say, I didn't want to leave but had to. This past wkd was also great. Jasontheoutdoorsman joined me for the adventure. Our first night resulted in a ton of fish caught and released. Then we found ourselves on the beach sipping on some beer and grilling up brawts thinking of what to do next. Saturday mourning was pretty much the same as Thursday night fishing skein under a bob. The water was a little bit more clear but there was just so many fish and little snagging going on you couldn't help but have a bobber down every cast. Finally our eyes gave way and we had to pass out around 2:30 P.M. After a two hour nap my room mate called and told me he was in traverse and ready to fish. We went down to the river in which he hooked up but the fish through the hook a lot. I ended up landing two before the blackness showed up. Then we started throwing fly's and even, my room mate showed us how it was done when he landed a decent size bucks. Congrat's were in order to him for this being his first trip ever and then landing his first salmon legally. Between the 3 of us, many fish were hooked but not many landed. Finally we were chased off the river by guys tossing ten pounds of led and weights attached to the treble. A call was made after seeing this and people fishing in illegal areas. Saturday mourning found us back on the river w/ a river litterly choked full of fish and nothing but the locals. Usually I would just slide in with them but having a few other guys with me we went looking for other fish. We ended up finding a pod of 100 or so fish under a tree. It didn't take long for us to hook up with fish. Even got his second which took the skein so far down it's throat there was no way of releasing the fish. Not too long after I landed a fish the snaggers showed up and scared most of the fish. We went in search of more fish and found some room with the locals. Then it got real bad and the bite but non existent. We made sure to have fun making a huge rucus on the river making fun of snaggers like no other. Heck, the C.O. was down there and told us in the parking lot it was extremely hard for her not to laugh hearing us diss snaggers w/o them even knowing. She made a few major bust thanks to jasontheoutdoorsman. Finally after a few hours of no head shakers all of us and the locals had enough and went our different ways. Sunday found me in the woods which you can read that in the deer hunting forum. I couldn't of asked for a better couple of weeks. I caught the most fish I have ever caught these past two weekend but it's the friends and family that made the trip the greatest. It was great seeing my parents fighting fish all the time and seeing my room mate hooking up with a consistent number of legal hook ups. Who said these fish don't bite? I talked to a lot of my local buddies. They said the fishing has been out of this world where ever they go. I though the D.N.R stopped planting as many fish? It's been fun! Also, it's good to hear the D.N.R have been out busting people. I heard a lot from the guys that the CO's have been down every day busting and arresting people. Hopefully one day we can fish in peace and quiet. The rods are going to be hung up for a few weeks now. Time to get some hours of deer hunting in. Hopefully I can fill my tags in time to get into some river steel this fall. Good Luck to anyone still out fishing. I also apologize for this being so long.

Re: What should I choose great! I was just starting to think of getting a moultree and now you bring up an IR. How much are those??? I just want to know whats out there!

Things never really worked out the way I had planned them. I thought I was going to be fishing all week but that didn't happen. However, we did head out to my hunting spot at 1 AM and fished the river. First cast, snag, second cast, snag. It just didn't seem like it was going to work out. Finally we found a hole we could get a few drifts through. For a few hours we worked this hole but never got anything. Really, really tired we packed it up and headed in. I was going to go back out at sunrise but my body had other ideas. Looks like there is still fishable numbers of steelies around but without spawn, it's basically impossible to fish unless you want to catch a million smolts. However, I did see a jack king in the river. Fork tail, pretty chrome. Pretty sure it wasn't a laker. Also it looks as if the carp and bass are moving in. Sunday mournin headed back out to my little piece of heaven in the woods. Fished many holes, log jams, run, ect without much luck. I did catch two of the most beautiful brook trout I have ever seen. For some reason the first brook came right near a deer rub, and the second came in front of a tree I plan on putting a stand for the 06 bow season. I think god is trying to tell me something, lol. Unfor, my battery for my digi decided to die on me, so no pics:( After that I did some more scouting, and found another excellent spot to put a stand right over 6 runs criss croosing each other where deer have been heavely working the area. Then I started morel looking. Right when I was about to give up I looked down in a conifer forest and seen some morels. Thought they were pines cones at first. Problem was, they were only 3/4 of an inch. I decided to leave them and hope they grow bigger. We just got a ton of rain so I might go pick them tonight.

Re: few recent pics! what kind of camera you using??? BTW, nice pics

Re: this weekends steelheading (nice fish): Sounds like you had about the same day we had up here last week. On a river that doesn't get much of a steelie run a guy went 20-30. I went 5-9 in only a few hours. Glad to hear you murdered them though. Sounds like it's going real good just about everywhere. I have to get down there sometime. Thanks for sharing!

Well, steelheading is starting to pick up finally. Went down state last week and went 2-3 last weekend. We all got a few fish which was cool. Guess after a left a whole ton of them came in. Here are some pics from that trip. The temps then got warm and the fish decided to come in from the big lake. Friday mournin I had 3 fsh to shore by 7:30. Then it slowed down and I didn't hook up again til 4. Here are the pics: Checks out thos erosey cheeks Saturday we hit up the pier heads and my buddy ended up with the only fish. Sunday I roled a fish instantly but it was pretty fricken slow. Finally around 1:30 I landed this pretty little skipper. This pic didn't do it justice. If only she was 10 lbs heaviar. Looks like it's suppose to get cold again and hopefully that will be another decent week of steelhead. Plan on being at it tomarrow. Taking the day off today,lol

Hey, A bunch of friends and I are heading to either ohio, PA, or possibly indiana, or might just stay in Michigan. Basically, where ever the road takes us is where we will go. Neither of us have ever been to any of these state in search of steel and was wondering if anyone would provide any light on the steelhead fishing available. What is froze up, what is not? What rivers have fish in, which don't. Where are the access. Were not looking for anyones honey hole or anything, we can find our own, were just hoping someone will shed some light for us. Also, what are the license fee's for out of state residence. Feel free to email me at [email protected]. Thank you for your time

Well, some of the party(steelhead) showed up and decided to play last week. It was a better weekend then it usually has been and if you put in your time you could get a fair share of fish. The fish still pretty much have their eyes on waxies because nothing else is working lately. One of the guys who is a very good steelhead is taking some steel on spawn. Unfor. the bite has slowed since then. Saturday, I put in my time walkin up and down the river and fishin some holes. I didn't have any success until I fished this one whole. At first nothing was happening and then four o'clock rolled around and something must of triggered a bite. Bobber went down and I was into a very mad steelhead. It barrel rolled continuously and the only time he would stop that is when I put the rod in the water. Finally, after several strong runs, a ton of barrel rolling, he was beached. A little while later I seen this guy out doing a little water skiing. Talk about nuts! Couple cast later I did hook up with another steelhead but this was on the smaller size. I ended up moving to the next hole where I got the fish from last night and ended up with this wierd smaller steelhead. Satday I woke up late and had very litte time to fish. I did get lucky enough to hook up with this pretty little hen. After a quick pic she was slid back into the water for another angler to fight with. She also had both her fins and I try to release all fish with all their fins. Sunday I woke up and went scouting. Found some bedding area's and some heavy runs. Hopefully they will be on this run next fall, lol Fishing was bad in the after noon because of mud. Monday wasn't much better and either all the fish pushed up or the mudd pushed them out. Yesterday I seen a steelhead in the tail out of a hole. After several consecutive drifts I got it in his face and down went the float. Unfor. the hook didn't stick. Today ended up 2/2 on skipper. Buddy did land a nice 6 lb male with great colors. Will be at it again tomarrow hopefully. Look for pictures in my journal. I have to completely erase this computer this weekend and don't want to put the pics on until the stuff is taken care of.

Re: ATTN: NASCAR NUTS....LET\'S GO RACING BOYS Nobody is a racin fan??? Little surprized there, lol

Re: My first pics new cam mind if I ask how much??? Nice pics! I also like the temp guage.

It's been a long time... I promised myself to fish all last week. Not like I usually don't but I was really looking forward to it. I fished friday and we did decent on skipper steelhead between my buddy and I. I went 3/3 while he went 2/3, no adults though. When I left the river I started not feeling good. I ended up being bed ridden all last weekend because of a stupid cold and trying to re-cooperate while going to class and doing homework. I did sneak out saturday for 20 minutes but didn't catch anything. I also started feeling worse so I left. Didn't sound like I missed much from some locals. So I have been wanting to fish all week and finally found the energy today to give it a go. One of my teachers cancelled class and I was on the river in no time. For awhile I could find any fish until I came to this one hole that I fished salmon alot. Not alot was happening. So I switched jigs and made a drift. The bobber went under a spot I have gone over a half dozen times. I missed the fish:( Few minutes later a fish rolled a little up river. I decided to go up to the next hole and give it a try. No luck there! Off to the salmon hole again where I hit another fish and it came up jumping. However, it was a small one. Fished that for while and decided to check out one more spot and then I would come back. I knew there had to be fish in this hole. So I went down river to the next street and tried some. No luck there. Went back up to my salmon hole and kept doing what I was doing. It started getting dark really quick so I loaded on a ton of waxies and shortened my bobber and jig. Made a cast to spot I had not drifted to and the bobbber disappeared and I set the hook and felt the head throbbing of a mighty steelhead..YEAH!!!! So I fought the fish and took my time. No sence in rushing the fight. At first I thought it was another skipper but when she came to the surface all I seen was 25 inches of chrome. She made one more long run and then was done. Plus, she was a hatchery fish and I needed some eggs, so I was one happy camper. Gave it a few more drifts but couldn't see my bobber so I gave up. The fish took a jig in rainbow colors with waxies. I'll be back at it tomorrow and all weekend long and will hopefully have another story. Thinking about going ice fishing but who wants to fish for ice when you can fish for steel:P Think I will go home, and have some fresh steelhead for dinner...ymmmm

If there is already a league set up that I am unaware of I hope you guys will join in both. I can't believe daytona is right around the corner. It seems the season just ended and tony stewart was victorious(UGH!!!) The way to sign up is a few paragraph's down BUT I would like to try something this year. I tried it last year but it didn't work out. I would like to have teams inside this league to help your score. I belong to many different sites and would like it if everyone that joins this leagues would put down the initials to the site they would like to be a team of. For an example, if you belong to Fredoutdoors.com you would put FO(then your team name). The initials you use for this site are RT and then your name. If you don't do this, your are on your own and won't know who is on your team like me, lol. You have been invited to join stelmon21's Private Group in Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Auto Racing. In order to join the group, just go to this site http://racing.fantasysports.yahoo.com/auto and click on the "Sign Up" button to create a team. After completing registration, or if you already have a team, click the "Create or Join Group" button and follow the path to join an existing private group. Then, when prompted, enter the following information... Group ID#: 5942 Password: fishing I hope everyone that loves to watch nascar will join in and I wish everyone a great season. As long as you can follow it every weekend you should have no problem keeping up. If you fall down a week, that is no problem either. Last season the top 5 spots were decided by the last race. I got lucky and took first:yikes: :lol: LET'S GO RACING!!

One of my friends was over friday and was tellin me how much she wanted to go fishing. I figured I would just take her out ice fishing or wait til the steelies come in a little thicker. She then mentioned something about going skiing/snowboarding sunday down near her parents and that was right near a river I have been learning the past several years. I also knew there was several steel around and I really, really wanted to fish for some steelies. Turned out she wanted to go which I was schocked about. I wanted to be on the river earliar but I needed to get some stuff done. Finally around 12 o'clock I arrived on the river. Our first hole I had to teach my friend how to cast a spinnin reel. Guess she had never used anything better then a snoopy rod, lol. Her first cast resulted in a snag, along with the second, and the third. Boy, did I think I was in for a long day, lol. finally, she got the hang of it. While tying up a rig for me, I hear her say, uh oh, think I got the snag again. Turns out that snag is a fiesty little brown attached to a spawn bag. I told her to start reeling but the fish threw the hook. We then moved to a hole I never fished and I started killing the browns on waxies. I also hooked a steelie but it also through the hook. The wind started picking up and it got a little cold. Ambria started complainin and I thought my day was going to be over before it even started but I figured that was going to happen. She asked when we were going to catch one and I explained patience would be the key. She asked if I wanted to go eat, but I didn't think there was any place around to eat so I told her I would continue to fish. Half hour after she left the bobber was under and I was into a flipping chrome steelhead. Put up and excellent fight for it's size but finally was banked. Also, had both fins so she was released. She came at the back of the hole up near some gravel. I then started exploring some other water. Ran into a buddy of mine and he was having some sucess with the trout. Eventaully, Ambria showed up and I had one more hole in mine. That was the hole my buddy got his fish out of the other day. We fished that hole hard but never even had a bobber down or a busted spawn bag or missing waxies. I decided to give a little test to the theory of fishing too deep. So I went from fishing this deep whole with a 9 foot lead to 4 feet. First cast I let it drift to the back of the hole and the bobber slipped under and I was into a hot fish. The fish went ballistics, jumping, flipping, running like mad. Only problem was, I was fishing a reel with not that much line on it since ambria was using my good reel. Once the fish was calmed down I asked if she would like to land it but she turned my down and continue to film the fight. There were snags all over the place and I thought landing this fish was out of questions. But after 10 minutes of battle, and just staying put where I hooked the fish, it was beached, photo and released. What a nice fish, again, with both fins. He smashed steelie bag with red netting. I also think it was the same fish my buddy got thursday, lol. It then got dark and it was time to get going so we could get home for dinner. Sunday was spent snowboarding. Hopefully i'll beable to get back to te river sometime this week. Of coarse with school starting, that will be a little hard:(

Re: Back to \"winter\" steelheading As long as you have nothing against the bait dunkers, I have nothing against fly dunking. Heck, I toss some flies every once in awhile:) I am using 10 lb p-line to a swivel. Depening on the depth, I have the bobber somewhere above the swivel. After the swivel I tied on some leader line, usually maxima, and then I tie on a jig. That also depends on the conditions in the sky, the water clarity, and what fish are feeding on. It's been waxies lately. Good Luck, and make sure you post if you go out! Getting kids into fish is the coolest thing:)

Re: Steelhead success! (photo) That fish has some nice shoulders. Congrat's on the beauty.

So my buddy and I headed out to the river yesterday. What a great day and beautiful weather. I started off the day with loosing a nice mint hen. Was I pissed, lol. I made up for it with the next cast on landing a smaller hen that was chrome. She looked to of been doing battle with a pike. My buddy ended up catching 2 steelies later on that were one the small side but pretty none the less. We did see a bald eagle flying around. Something you never see down state or some of the other rivers I fish. We moved around quite a bit but didn't have any luck once we left that hole. After getting home and talkin to a knowledgeable resource it sounds like I was fishing too deep. Lesson learned! We then moved to another section of river with limited sucess. I did get into a scrappy little fighter of a brown. Right when it was almost too dark to tie a knot my buddy tied into a strong native steelhead. This fish put up an excellent fight in cold water. Def. put a great end to the trip. Snapped a pic with the point and shoot and off he went. Hopefully i'll get him in a few weeks If it wasn't for gas being so high, I know where I would be on saturday, lol Today, friday, I headed to another river in search of the mighy steelhead. The weather was COLD with a little bit of wind. Plus some rain and a mixture of snow at times. Once again my fishing partner was down there and I found him in a hole that produced alot of salmon for us. Guess he had already had a great day with going 3-4. We then searched for some steelhead and finally found one. Bill made a drift towards the fish and he went for it but turned around. 3 drift through, bobber down, and FISH On!!! After takin his time with landing the fish, it was in the net. What a pretty little chrome hen. The north wind was pickin up so we gave it another hour. Then we headed in in hopes of a good day tomarrow.

Re: Nice buck caught by his rub Awesome buck