Saginaw Bay update

We just finished our third tournamnet of the season on Saginaw Bay. We camped at Linwood Beach Marina Campground and didn't have to drive very far with the gas prices as they are. It is bad enough to run our Yamaha 300HP and fill it up every other day. Gas has been over $4.00 for the last few months. However we did get out every day for 2 weeks. We went from 103 degrees to bug hatch, to waves over the bow. The only place that produced walleye each day was by the #11-12 spark plug. The biggest we got was only 3 pounds, and that just wasn't the weight we wanted. We fished Thomas Reef, Calahan Reef, Pinconning Bar, Three Sister Humps, The Fingers, The Slot, The Bean.............you name it, we were there. But we never could get a spot to produce 2 days in a row. Weather was a huge factor sure, but it wasn't worth running around from place to place on tournament day when the waves were against us, so we stuck it out in the one place that produced. We took in over 30 fish, and kept culling them to keep the biggest ones. The Bay is going to be a good producer of Walleye in the next few years considering what we caught. All I can say is "I AM GLAD IT IS OVER!"

Saginaw Bay here we come.

Getting the fifth wheel packed, and ready to leave next week for Linwood Beach Campground and pre fish on Saginaw Bay for our third tournament with Michigan Walleye Tour. We fished there last week and picked up a few but very small. Hmm now the big question is where will we start? What presentation will we use?

tournament line up

Lake St. Clair.........history!

Rain, rain, and more rain is all I remember about the 2 weeks we spent at Algonac State Park and fishing the channels and Lake St. Clair. Yes we caught fish, but never could get a program going from one day to another. All the fish were hit and miss. If we ever got 2 we were very fortunate. So therefore we finished up in 15th place, and that tournament is now history....2 weeks we gear up for Saginaw Bay and hit the waves!

Getting Ready For Second Tournament with Michigan Walleye Tour

There wasn't much to post from our first tournament on Detroit River. It was terrible rain all week and we tied with many others..with a zero. But now the skunk is out of the box. We are fishing on the St. Clair River and I will be posting pictures soon. Finally the rain quit today and we even had some sunshine. Had some electronic problems and came in early, but did get 2 nice 3 pounders.

Palm Sunday, back yard 2" of snow, and still snowing!

Detroit River tournament is history!

It is over..we went there, we fished, we froze, we got wet...and couldn't get a single fish to bite! The water temperature was 36 and 38 degrees. We tried every method we could and after 4 days realized, it didn't matter how much skill we had. The only ones who got fish was not because of skill, but luck. If they just happened to drop it in the right place, they were able to connect. It was discouraging, and with the terrible weather it made it more depressing. On day two of the tournament we sat out in the river for over 4 hours in the rain and fog. The fog didn't lift enough to be able to fish safely, so the tournament was cancelled on day two. We are back home, all the wet clothes are dried out, and we are eager for our second tournament which is on the St. Clair river system. We are looking forward to that!! Because of the cold and rain I never got any pictures of Detroit River fishing, so will have to wait to see some fish pictures next month. Right now it is snowing like crazy and thundering. We had 2 inches of snow on Palm Sunday, and more snow is on the way for the rest of the week. Guess I will post snow pictures if I can't post fish pictures!...Michigan, gotta love it.

Detroit River tournament

Whenver the Detroit River tournament is this early in April, we never know what to expect. Like just leaving the yard at home we had still a foot of snow, and now staying at Sterling State Park there is no snow, but enough rain to make up for it. At least it isn't muddy. There is enough gravel around the camper that we aren't tracking mud in. It is enough we have wet raingear and clothes hanging from every available place we can hang it. We could look out the window and see the vast water of Lake Erie, but the windows are so steamed up from running the heater and the wet clothes...who cares about looking out them! The tournament is Saturday and Sunday. It is Friday afternoon and we quit a little early today cause our hands were frozen and the one Lowrance quit and we had to fix it. Right now Bill is drilling new holes and fixing my 'butt seat' so I can sit down to jig instead of standing all day. Wat a good man.

Getting ready for first tournament of the year 2011

Well Bill's knee has healed from arthroscopy surgery and we are getting ready to leave on Tuesday. Today we began packing the fifth wheel and put the boat cover on the boat with all the tackle we think we will need for Detroit River. We are really looking forward to leaving this snow behind!!

Getting ready for first tournament of 2011

It has been a long winter; especially since we weren't able to ice fish like we usually do. To much snow and slush, and a few minor health issues made it almost impossible. We are getting all the tackle back in the boat and getting things ready for our first tournament. Hopefully Bill will be able to heal fast from the knee arthroscopy surgery he will have a week before the tournament...Looking forward to a great year. We are boat number 5, and would like to end up with that number in the top 10! WooHoo..

Seasons magazine Spring 2011 from Houghton Lake Resorter

If you can get your hands on the free magazine that is distributed in the Houghton Lake area there is an article I wrote a couple years ago about "A woman and fishing" they just changed it around the title, but it is all there, and you may find it interesting. It is on page 19.

Seasons magazine available now!

A couple years ago I wrote an article for the Houghton Lake Resorter about a woman and fishing. They recently contacted me and are going to run it in the summer edition of Season's Magazine which is available free throughout Roscommon county. They changed it so it is like they wrote it, but hey that is alright. It is all my own words, so they had to make it a lot of quotes. I am anxious to see it, we will get it in the mail tomorrow.

One month from today tournament season starts!!

It is hard to believe, but exactly in one month we will be putting out boat in Detroit River for the first tournament of the year. We already know we are boat #5..I believe that number will be good for us. We do have some issues that we are really praying about. First of all is Bill's knee. He slipped on a chunk of snow while getting wood in for our wood stove (that is how we heat our home) and after a week and it still hurting we went to the doctor, well he ordered a MRI, had to wait for that to get done, then wait for an appointment for the doctor to see the MRI, then wait for the surgeon to get back from vacation, and schedule surgery to repair the problem...all this happening at a crucial time. Wish the process would hurry up, the surgery is scheduled a week before our tournament..our prayer is someone will cancel their surgery and we can take their appointment. This will really cut down our pre fishing time, but after 8 years fishing down there, we have a plan, but really like to fish there, so even if we don't get to pre fish we will still make it. Not our choice of how to prepare for a tournament, but a person has to do what you can do when this old body gets worn out.

Forget the Expo...it didn't happen!

We were all packed and ready to get set up at the Great Outdoors Expo at Dow Diamond, and they changed their mind...so that was the end of that story. We heard that it wasn't all that great so we don't feel bad about not going there. We are now concentrating on our day at Cabela's. We have gone there for the last five years during their Spring Fishing Expo at Dundee Michigan. We have a booth set up in the fishing department and get lots of traffic. In the past we also had a seminar in one of the upstairs rooms, but it was always a hastle getting all our gear up there and back down. As soon as the seminar was over our booth would be swamped, so we opted to just stay at the booth. We have a tank set up like in one of the pictures. It is really neat. We always enjoy going there, and we get to do some shopping with our points we have accumulated with our Cabela's card. So it is a good time.

Summer Seasons Magazine

Last year I wrote an article to our local newspaper The Hougton Lake Resorter and it was about a woman and fishing. The other day I get a call....could I send some pictures they are going to feature the story in the summer edition of Seasons magazine which is available everywhere free! Wow...I am excited. As soon as it comes out I will let you know. I enjoy writing, and especially about something I enjoy. I never fished before in my life until ten years ago when my husband Bill and I found a boat behind someone's garage that was going to waste. We sandblasted it, painted it, and it was amazing. We called it our 12 foot no name no paint boat...well until we painted it. We spent many enjoyable hours in it and then worked our way up to a 14 foot, then a 16 foot and now we have a 20.6 one. We never forget where we came from, and thank God everyday for the opportunity to do what we are doing. I feel very blessed today.

The Great Outdoors Expo at Dow Diamond

We will be at the Dow Diamond on February 19th and 20th with a booth and display with Mack's Lure. We have been on their pro staff for seven years and promote their products because we use them and believe in them. We conduct seminars with another great fishing team, Jared Ayres and Tony Glynn. The four of us have a display and seminars each March at Cabela's on their fishing weekend. This year we will be there on March 5th.

Another way to enjoy winter!

Ice fishing has always been a passion of ours. Recently Bill got all the equipment ready so he could began guide trips on the ice. We will began scheduling trips for the winter of 2011-2012. I know that sounds like a long time away from now, as we are just in the second month of 2011, but we have realized how fast time really does go.

State Championship St. Mary's River

Well as you can tell by now. I missed a couple tournaments, and we did make it to the championship in 10th place. One of the higlights of the summer was at Tawas. On day one we were in first place,and on day two we ended up in fourth. We had a terriffic time and used the same pattern each day.
At the championship we fished in Lake George. We were on them big time, and so were our good friends Joel and Gordie. We knew they were ahead of us in the standings, so as good anglers we are, we backed off. They won the championship and we were elated! It was only a few months later Gordie died suddenly of a heart attack while deer hunting. We lost a very dear friend.

State Championship St. Mary