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Salmon fishing winding down
Fall means an opportunity to take some big trout on the inland
lakes. This big male brown trout was caught in shallow water on Crooked
Lake on Sunday.
Salmon fishing around Northwest Michigan is seeing the beginning of the
end.
There may be about 10 days to two weeks left for the downrigger set,
but the bank anglers are just getting into their own. They will be able
to catch darkening salmon off the piers and docks and breakwalls for
several weeks yet. Perch and walleye fishing on the inland lakes is
good and still getting better.
Dave at Young’s in Alanson reports perch are being caught now on the
Crooked River on Crooked Lake and on Burt Lake. Crooked Lake anglers
are also getting some walleyes. Petoskey anglers are still catching
salmon off the breakwall.
Dave at the Boyne River Bait Company in Boyne City says the perch
fishing is “real good” citing fish up to 14 inches off the city docks
and good catches in many other areas. Salmon are up in the local
rivers.
Lisa at Ward Brothers in Charlevoix says their single charter on Sunday
was unable to catch a fish on Lake Michigan, but they did get one in
Round Lake. The fish are getting dark now. They have had quite a few
cancellations because of the weather.
Tom at Tom’s Tackle in East Jordan says the salmon fishing is good off
Medusa Creek and off the docks and piers in the area. The hot baits are
glow spoons.
Ryan at Chain O’Lakes Outdoor Sports in Ellsworth reports Intermediate
Lake anglers are still catching walleyes. Big perch are being caught on
Six Mile Lake. Crappies are biting now on the chain and another muskie
has been caught. Ryan says bird hunters are seeing (hearing) lots of
grouse.
Tom Bagwell, the Department of Natural Resource’s creel census worker
for this area, reports that action for salmon has been good one day and
slow the next because of the many weather changes of late. The majority
of salmon being taken now have been caught on small boats running
dipsies or longlining in shallower waters, 30-100 feet off creeks and
rivers that are spawning sites.
Lures in fire tiger colors have produced well. Wading anglers and pier
anglers have turned up some nice catches at night or very early and
late in the day at Petoskey and Charlevoix, casting spoons and diving
plugs. Although some balmy days with sunshine have slowed results, fish
have been biting well on windy and overcast days. Look for better runs
in the rivers with the next good rain and try spawn or nymph flies. A
few cohos and steelhead have shown up in the catch.
A check with Glen Mathews, Game Biologist at the DNR’s Gaylord office,
provided a lot of outdoor information. There are still some antlerless
licenses left over and available over the counter for Antrim and
Charlevoix Counties with 914 for Antrim and 609 for Charlevoix as of
Sept. 17.
There are also some leftover turkey licenses for our Area J. They went
on sale on Sept. 17 to anyone, after a brief period in which they were
only available to those who were unsuccessful in the drawing. As of
Sept. 17, there were 427 available.
The Upper Peninsula bear season is open now and the season in the Lower
Peninsula will be starting this weekend. The early elk hunt is well
along with 42 hunters out of 54 taking animals including all 15 of
those holding permits for bulls. The objective for this hunt was 35
animals so the hunt is considered very successful. The game biologists
feel that the recent cold spell is at least partly responsible for the
good hunt.
The youth deer hunt is coming up, on Sept. 22-23. A significant change
this year is to permit the youth hunters to take an antlerless deer or
a buck. In the past, they were limited to bucks. That applies even in
those DMUs or counties for which there are no regular antlerless
permits. |
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