Lk MI Harbors

Well, the first step onto the ice for me this 2010-11 season proved to be costly and a bit of a disaster. I was carrying my stuff down over the rocks to the ice and took a heck of a spill. Foot slipped down between the rocks, and down I went, bouncing like a ping-pong ball. Broken rod, bent shaft on the auger, crushed my new camera, bruised up, and I suspect a X-ray of my arm will be today.

I took my youngest daughter and one of her friends. Since they were so hyped, I did my best to struggle through about 4 hours. They definitely benefited from my mishap. I could barely hold a rod, and couldn’t take the pain in my elbow with a fish screaming drag…so I had to hand the rod off to them on every hook set.
Overall, we hit 7 fish. From the reports from a couple guys that wondered over by us, it sounded like no one else was doing much of anything.
I wasn’t too surprised to hear that though. The ice is still relatively thin, at 3 to 8 inches. With only patches of discolored ice, it is critical to stay away from the crowds and stand still. I was in disbelief looking at the large crowd that had assembled in a popular area of the harbor. Constantly, there were guys walking back and forth and it sounded like being in the middle of a crowded mall.

We set up as far from the crowd as possible. We never had a hot bait going, and our fish came from a variety of tactics. I was switching off between jigging Flukes, Gulp, and Blade Baits. Nearly every fish came on a different bait or different color. We also had shiners and spawn dead sticked. With hooking up on a fish about every 20 to 30 minutes for the first couple of hours, I think we were off to a pretty good ice season. Just wish my camera would have survived. I love the color of the browns this time of year as they are transitioning from their fall spawning colors back to their summer silver.
Good Luck, and be safe!

Ouch Randy. At least you could set the hook. Randy is this something anybody could do on theyre own or would I need a guide? I’ve wanted to do this for a long time but have no idea where to start.

Definitely can be done on your own. Like any new technique or body of water, a guide can greatly reduce the learning curve.

There are a lot of posts here on IDO for tons of information over the last couple of years. The popularity of fishing the harbors has grown, so it can get crowded. Week days are better, but usually best to move around away from anyone else. Gear is simple, and seems everyone has their reference. I like my 42″ rods when I’m sitting, and 5′ when I’m hole hoping. I use Quantum Catalyst PTi (CT30PTIB)for spinning reels and Accurist PT (AC100HPT) bait casting reels. Steelhead tend to make a lot of slashing runs, browns are a coin flip – sometimes they sit beneath a hole and spin, and sometimes they make some long runs.
I use tip-ups on occasion, but they need to be ultra smooth. Seems like the browns will hit and drop a lot of baits on tipups.

Sorry to hear that Randy. Get the arm healed up, you’ve got a lot more fish to catch.