Mbirdsley

The right sized Spro RKcrawlers finally showed up. A day later than what I was hoping. As im done for the year. Guess i’ll have them for the spring. I usually don’t buy doubles or put doubles in my crank box. Starting now though I will always carry doubles of this spro gobie. In all seriousness though, If you are fishing for bass on the great lakes and connecting waterway and are not throwing this color of RKCrawler. You are seriously missing out. Both types of bass, Walleye, Northern pike and everything else that eats gobies. Will smack this crank. Not just for numbers but, the big ones eat it too. This is my 3rd time buying this exact crank.

That Fat Lady is singing for my bass fishing of 2025. The weather forecast for the next 2 weeks is only forecasting highs reaching into the 40’s. I’m also starting to get excited for the annual Michigan firearm deer opener on November 15th. I decided that today would be my last fishing trip of 2025. I went back to the same place that I caught all of the big smallies last week on the Saginaw Bay. Left the Saginaw river mouth at day break and it was brisk with ice on the board wind shield. Leaving the river mouth the air temp was 35F. I had to wear my rain proof/wind proof hunting jacket and insulated hunting boots with wool socks. After a short 1.5 mile boat ride from the launch. I arrived at the island where I had caught the monster smallies last time. The Only difference is this time I had to move out a little deeper but, fished the same structure. I didn’t do as well last time but, did manage 3 smallies. The First small mouth bass of the day was a football shaped small mouth that weighed in at 5 lbs. The first fish came on a 4 inch gobey colored tube. I can’t for the life of me remember who made the tubes or where I bought them. I bought like 3 bags of these tubes this spring online somewhere. The other 2 smaller smallies came on a zman gobios natural colored swim bait. Though being smaller the bass fought well in 51F water. After 4 hours of fishing the wind started kicking up out of the NE and decided to call it a day. When I arrived back at the launch. I unhooked the fuel line while the motor was still running. Once the motor died I restarted the motor 2 more times and let it die each time. All of the gas in carbs had now been used up. soon as pulled in the driveway. I started draining the gear oil out of the lower unit on the outboard. There is little bit of water in the gear oil which, leads me to believe that I need a new top drain seal. All that there is left to do is pull the battery for main motor and the 2 trolling motor batteries. The boat then will be winterized at that point. March is only 5 months away. Sigh

They are trying to do an End around using the NRC. The NRC sets the policy for the DNR. The only thing the DNR can do is make suggestions to the NRC. It is the NRC that makes all of the policy and the DNR has to enforce it. The only thing that the NRC can’t do is add game species or set licenses prices. Those two things has to come from the state legislature. If the NRC votes to close the catch and release seasons on those lakes. The MiDNR is bound by law to follow the directive. The NRC started with good intentions however, it has turned into a special interest and political nightmare. There are people on the board who have zero idea most of the time of what is being proposed.

I don’t understand who or what group is proposing this But, it is completely nonsense. I know the MiDNR biologist are against it. Its only hope is getting this proposal rammed through the NRC (MI Natural Resources Commision). The NRC is basically, the board of directors that overseas the MiDNR. The NRC is all political appointees appointed by the sitting Governor which, has turned the NRC into a total clown show. I’m assuming it’s one of our lovely fishing guides with a buddy with a seat on the NRC trying to ram this through. So I have not fished the lakes mentioned but, have fished Crystal in Benzie county which, is a very similar lake. May and June is about the only time those fish are in a decent depth to catch. Once the water warms up above 65F those bass are heading for 40-70ft of water. The last thing we need are a bunch of jack wagons Ripping a bass out of 40-70 ft and trying to fizz a fish “ I saw it on Youtube how hard can it be”. I’m not a fan of bed fishing but, i’d rather allow bed fishing that than ripping them out of 40-70 ft. Ripping any fish out of those depths for catch and release is not a good idea. If your keeping them to eat than it is what it is. It took Michigan long enough to get a year round catch and release season. We have had year round catch and release for almost 10 years now. Allowing this to happen would be a major step backwards.

I have a pair of $8 rapala braid cutting scissors that I bought in 2018 at walmart. That pair is just now starting to get a little dull. By dull I mean, I just need to lift up a little when cutting braid. Still work great for regular mono or flouro. I did buy a back up pair of the same rapala scissors a couple years ago. I also have 2 pairs of kast king pliers with braid cutters on them. Those are just alright. Seems I always have to adjust the cutting carbide all the time. If the 2 carbides get crooked the will not cut braid. I have a spot for my rapala scissors, my rubber long handled net, and kast king pliers right behind where I fish on the bow of the boat.

Any little screw driver bit set will work. If you are working on bait casters. The bearing removal tool is handy. It removes and installs the pin on the spool that holds the handle side spool bearing to the spool. This pin also locks the spool shaft into the drive pinion. You can find these on ebay. One of the bigger ceramic bearing outlets also have them. A bearing checker isn’t necessary but, I find it Handy. I bought mine on ebay. A lot of the bait casting handle nuts are 10mm. It would be the outer most nut on the reel assembly that holds the handle together and keeps it on the shaft. I use cheap little hobby paint brushes to apply grease. Q-tips with alcohol to help clean parts. Windex and or dish soap would work as they have de greasing agents in them. Get some reel grease, some bearing oil and you’re ready to go.

Replacement tackle of what was lost last week while catching those giant smallies on the Saginaw Bay. Apparently, I ordered the wrong size RKCrawler from FishUSA. I ordered the 50 instead of the 55. So I ordered the correct size 55 this morning. I think i can still use the smaller diving ones. The 55’s should be here by Monday. Which, is when I plan on going back to the bay again. This Gobey color absolutely crushes both types of bass and pike on Saginaw Bay and great lakes. Bought another KVD 300 deep in chrome gold black back from kVD warehouse here in michigan. This jerk bait has caught a lot fish on cloudy days with stained-dirty water. last 3 photos is of the one it is replacing. it has been through some beatings. Between the 5.5 smallie and it taking a direct hit being thrown at a metal over hang. It has been retired.

10 lbs probably would work too. When I was in my river rat days. 8 lbs berkley mono( the red one) was just what I used. This was during the historic dry years of 2012-2014. Honestly, it wouldn’t be beneath me to use a real crawler. T-rig that bad boy throw it up stream and let the current bring it back. You could use a small circle hook and nose hook them if you’re worried about gutting fish. Maybe put enough split shots on it just to make it sink.

need to get finesse. 8lbs test of whatever your choice IE mono, flouro, and or braid with 8lbs flouro leader. ned rigs, tubes, and plastic hellgrammites. If you have enough water, I suppose a drop shot would work.

Wading small rivers for smallies is how it started for me in bass fishing. You will be very surprised by the size of small mouth in my local Mid-michigan rivers. I actually waded a couple times this summer while I was killing time waiting for my daughter’s dance class to finish up. It’s pretty simple fishing. in the spring and fall in-line spinners and float f-7 rapala’s. Summer time ned rigs, tubes, and plastic helgamites.

Cranks and Jerk baits can kinda be used on whatever rod you have laying around. Before I built my dedicated jerk rod (which, is a 7ft rod geek MH fast spinning rod that has a very soft tip to it ) . I was using a 7ft M/l St croix premier spinning rod which, worked fine. I caught a lot of fishing doing it that way Generally speaking both cranks and jerk baits are used in slower actions rods due the treble hooks. However,If you’re going to use a faster rod use mono. if your are going to use a rod with a slower action use braid to a flouro leader. This will get you by until you can buy dedicated rods.

I go through all of my tackle at the beginning of the year. If I haven’t used a lure or haven’t caught anything worth wild on it in 2 years I get rid of it. Luckily I have a local kid who will buy my old or unopened lures for penny’s. So i’m just not putting it in the trash. in the last 1.5 years since the twins have been born. I have not purchased a lot of new tackle to just try. It’s just basically restocking been what i’m currently using or losing.

Thank you

I’m going to preface this by saying that today has been the single best day of fishing in my life. I have fished for many different types of freshwater fish through out my 40 years on this earth. In 2017 I made the decision to primarily stick with bass fishing. I left out of the Saginaw river mouth Mi DNR Patterson boat launch at sun up today. Wind was 10-15 blowing SE. Water temp was 58-59F. I didn’t think today would be a smallie day. I’ve fished the Saginaw bay all summer and fall. Which, I have just caught Large mouths. the totals for individual fish caught are 5.5 lbs, 5.21lbs 4.9 lbs 4.5 lbs 4.04 lbs 3.6 lbs and a couple smaller ones. The 5.5 lbs is my personal best. The first small mouth of day was the 5.12 lbs ( was my personal best). When the first small mouth jumped. I thought it was a lost king salmon due to how black it was. I caught the 5.5 over on a jerk bait rod that built 2 years ago. That’s makes more cooler/special I Literally caught all of these fish in the same spot. Which, was in 5.5ft of water underneath an Army Corp dredging spoils dock. The majority came on a spro 55 rkcrawler gobey crank. The 5.5 lbs smallie came on a KVD 300 deep gold and black back jerk bait. I only started throwing the jerk bait because, I wanted to see if they were keyed on strictly gobeys or if i could throw something else in there. I think what was going on is the smallesies were corralling bait fish into the dock pylons. So any time my crank or jerk bait went by the hammered it. Only thing that sucks is I ended up breaking the gobey rock crawler off. I ordered 2 more from fish USA while on the water. Between the last big smallie and accidentally throwing the jerk bait up against a metal part of the dock. The jerk bait was toast. as it split on a mold seam along the center line of the body. Now the kvd jerk bait can retire to the hall of fame board where I out all good wore out lures. This is a day i’ll remember for the rest of my life.

Tungsten is 100% a better fishing weight. It is more dense, transmits very well. However, it is also very expensive and can only be mfg over seas. Tungsten melts around 2500 F and takes very specialized equipment to melt and mold. Tungsten is all I use for t-rigging. I have spent a lot of money to acquire my tungsten. Out of all my family that fishes which, is a lot . I am the only who uses it. No one else takes fishing that seriously. Why would they use anything else. when lead gets the job done for a fraction of the price. There was a time (20 yrs ago) in the state of Michigan. that even if a person didn’t hunt or fish they knew some one who did. Which, led to a lot of political power for the state conservation groups. Now we are getting to the point where less and less people are pursuing outdoor activities. Which, means less power for the conservation groups to fight the anti’s. Many people in the southern 1/3 of the state ( where 2/3 population lives) do not know any one who hunts or fishes anymore. In Michigan we are having to fight for things that 15-20 years ago that were inconceivable and seemingly set in stone. Most of the time we are winning but, it takes a lot of money and man power to win. The point being the State Game Departments, hunting, and fishing mfg survive on the recreational outdoorsman. The vast majority of which, may only get out 3-4 times a year. You force a nationwide ban on lead it is probably going to force out Grandpa who likes his 3-4 fishing/hunting trips a year with his grandsons. Fast forward and Those Grandkids are now adults and they want to take their children out fishing/hunting to relive the times with there Grandfather. Which, means they are buying licenses and equipment for those 3-4 trips a year. Consequently, when a ballot initiative is thrown up about limiting hunting or fishing privileges. The grandkids think back to grandpa taking them hunting and fishing and vote against the measure. Ensuring fishing privileges for all in that state. These types of equipment bans are designed to divide and conquer. Eventually they will get the sportsmen and conservation groups numbers low enough and weak enough to where the anti’s can knock us around at will. Mark my words i’m currently 40. When our parents and grandparents are gone in the next 20 years. Outdoorsmen are going to be in the fight of our lives.

I don’t use them as much as I used to. I either used to twitch them on the surface or just throw them like a regular crank bait. Two of my biggest river smallies was caught on F7 clown and a black and silver J7 ( at the same place almost a year apart) Snap with split ring has always worked for me. the J7 is at the top left of the net for size comparison.

Throw a plastic Helgramite in the muddy water. The smallies will find it 😉

Little late getting this up. This Report is from last Thursday 10-9 Set out from Patterson boat launch at the mouth of the Saginaw River at day break. Originally, winds were forecasted for being light and variable. Winds were a little more brisk than light and variable running 8-12 mph out of the north. Which, on the Saginaw bay wind from the north is the worst possible direction. As the waves are coming from lake huron and in theory the Canadian shore. Waves were only running 1.0-1.5 On an inland lake wouldn’t be an issue. Even if I had a glass 17ft boat it wouldn’t have been much of an issue. In my 17 ft aluminum it was a bit bumpy and I got pretty wet in high 40’s F temp. what should have been a 12-15 minute boat ride turned into a 40-45 minute boat ride to cover the 12 miles to reef which, is smack dab in the middle of the inner Saginaw bay. On the way out I followed the shipping channel out about 5-6 miles. I than took a hard right about 1.5 miles south of bouy 8 “ The spark plug”. While in the channel I passed the Canadian freighter the Algoma Explorer which, was heading up river to Zillwaukkee to unload salt. After hanging the right. I continued on to the reef only running about 15-17 mph ( usually I run 30-35 mph). I get out there and the wind had let up a bit. Other than the adventure going out there. I didn’t really have much to show for running way out to the reef. other than catching a huge Jumbo perch on a Berkley max scent gobey ned rig. Another boat showed up fishing for perch. I didn’t have a cooler so I gave them the perch. after another 1.5 hours I figured the “ juice wasn’t worth squeeze”. I decided to make 40-45 minute run back towards The Kawkawlin River. The Kawkalin River mouth is located 1.5 miles west of the mouth of the Saginaw River. Which, is where I had originally started. Shortly after getting inside the Kawkalin river mouth. I caught another 3lbs bass on a canadian craw fish ned rig. Seems to be the common theme this summer and fall. I am slaying them on ned rigs this year. I’ve been able to get a good system down as far when I use what size ned jigs. So far i’ve only had to use 3 different colors; GP, Canadian craw fish, and berkley gobey/gobeylicous. only thing i can’t discern is if it matters weather I throw the GP or Canadian craw. Both are dark green but the canadian craw has some red, gold and black flake mixed in. I lost a couple other fish. For the last month I have not felt the bass hit the ned rig. I believe the are just slurping the ned rig up while either the lure is stationary on the bottom or as it is gliding down near the bottom. I’m running braid and flouro leader. If I feel them bite the ned rig it means, they have already spit it out. Lastly I caught a fat 23 inch Northern pike on a jerk bait. He hit it like a Frieght train. As soon as he hit it the pike started peeling drag. About 3pm the wind started picking up again and decided i needed to get going. I motored out of the river and took of for the Saginaw River and went home. Im hoping to go back out fishing friday. I’m thinking i’ll head back to the bay.

For me 2025 has been a weird and different year but, good. I didn’t do a lot of fishing early due to boat issues. Eventually, I was able to sort the motor out. I had to rebuild my ignition system, Carbs, and the rest of my fuel delivery system on my 1986 90 hp ( tower of power merc). So i didn’t get on the water until almost may. Usually, ice is off the lakes/rivers early-mid march. I’ve been tracking my start since 2017 and i’m usually Bass fishing by March 25ish. Winter of 2024 nothing froze up here and i was walleye fishing all of February and March. Overall fishing has been good. it has been either feast or famine. I’m Averaging 3 lbs a fish which, is good. However, not all trips have i caught fish. The lakes and rivers up here haven’t been this low since 2012. We haven’t had much rain since end of July August was a total bust. I took my boat up north to northern michigan 2nd week in August on a family trip and only caught 1 little smallie for 3 days of fishing. August traditionally has always been a tough month to catch bass for me. as they tend to go really deep if the have the water available. Fishing was so bad i decided to take a break and rebuild my front fishing deck on the bow of the boat. It’s Funny because, I loaded up on yum spine craws this spring trying to save some shipping. Spine craws had been killer for me 2023 and 2024. Ive had one day this year where a Berkeley creature hog and jig worked. Other than that. Not one fish has been caught on a plastic craw this year. The ned rig in either zman Gp, and zman Canadian craw have caught the majority and the biggest fish so far. I did try Berkeley’s max scent gobey on a ned rig and caught some walleye this week. I believe the low clear water is why i’m having to rely on the ned rig this year. I should probably be trying to throw some straight tail and curly tail worms. 2021 was similar on the craw deal and they readily took both types worms instead of craws. I’ve had zero success fishing the saginaw river this year. Which, sucks because it’s only 30 minutes from my house. I believe low water and refilling of the 3 reservoirs further up on the Tittabwasse river from the 2020 floods is part of the issue . i’ve not had good success on some of the lakes I usually fish. So I have been Focusing on going to the Saginaw bay. It’s an hour to “The Bay” or an hour to the nearest lake. So far The Bay has paid off. My worst day up there has been catching *** lbs bass and losing one a little bit bigger. It has definitely been a different year. Sometime adapting is the name of the game.

Strike king 1.5, 2.5’s booya or norman for square bills. For regular billed Norman, Bandits, strike king. I don’t know what your definition of inexpensive is but, rapala OG’s are only 7-8 bucks a piece. I know recently Bandit and Norman aka Pradco have been updating paint schemes on their cranks.

I stop changing baits/ presentations when I start catching fish. Especially, if i’m fishing an area that i know holds fish. I know if a lure is going to work with in the first 4-5 casts. If i haven’t caught a fish by the 5th cast i know whatever i’m throwing they are not interested in. If i start getting bites but, not hooking up. I know I’m close. That’s when i’ll dial in size and color. Generally speaking when i’m fishing a wacky rig i’m sight fishing. if i see a fish and throw a wacky rig at it and the fish just takes one look at it and runs away. ill just put the wacky rig up and try something else. A color change in that instance is not going to make the fish bite the rig. I may move and try the wacky rig on a different part of the lake though

last 3 photos from the above post. 1st photo match the hatch!!! snagging gobeys that apparently all over the reef. 2nd photo walleye. Last photo is the Robert S Pierson passing 3-4 miles to the west of me in the Channel

Great day on the Saginaw bay. Started out on the quinacassee river. This river is literally the farthest south one can get on the Saginaw Bay. I have been wanting to fish the Coreyon Reef for a long time. Just have been able to make it out there due to the wind. Coreyon reef was built by the MiDNR roughly 6-8 years ago. it was put in place to give the walleye a natural spawning reef in the southern 1/3 of the saginaw bay. the reef comes out of 13-15 ft of water and tops off at about 7-9 feet. Boulders and gravel were placed there by tug and drop barges. I was hoping there would be smallies roaming around it. First i fished the quinacasse river and caught a 3.08 lbs bass on a canadian craw ned rig. Caught a smaller bass on a wacky worm. Fished the river for about 3 hours before i headed out to the reef. my 17 ft sea nymph made the 10 mile trip with no problem. I wanted it to be a bass trip However, take what your given. I switched The ned rig up to a Berkly max scent goby and started railing walleye . Nothing very big but, they would have been good eating size if I had a cooler. The catch of the day was a 33 inch 9.5 lbs northern pike. The biggest Northern i have ever caught on a spro rock crawler 55 gobey . She actually started pulling the boat around and I had to use the trolling motor to stop her from getting tangled around the motor. I was able to get her in the boat, I weighed her, took a picture, measured,was able to revive her , and she swam off. The girth of this pike was so massive I couldn’t get 2 hands around her mid section I was snagging gobeys with the gobey maxx scent ned lime it was my job. Match the Hatch!!! So with the pike, 2 walleye couple mandatory sheep heads. It was a good first trip out to the reef. I waited around for The 630 ft lower laker/ bulk freighter Robert S Person to come out of the Saginaw river mouth. she had been unloading stone in Saginaw. she passed to the west about 4-5 miles and i took off. I don’t know if it is the lower water levels or just coincidence but, I have destroyed the bass on Ned rigs this year. I have not been fishing as much as i have in years past but, my average is way way up. Total fish is down. I’m averaging at least a 3 lbs fish a trip. Good trade off.

Hit up the Quinacassee river today that leads to the Saginaw bay. I had all intentions of going out into The Bay but, the wind had other ideas. Luckily there is still roughly a 1-1.5 worth of river to fish. This has been the first time that i’ve been out in a month. With school starting again my oldest is at school during the day and the twins are at day care. So being it is my off day. I went fishing. It was kind of a slow day. However, the first bass of the day was a nice 3.12 lbs fish. I then caught a second bass smaller than the first. I lost a bigger largemouth than the first one at the boat. it may have went 3.5lbs. I also caught a sheep head. I caught all of these fish on a GP ned rig. I caught a nice walleye spro little john DD. it was a weird bite. the fish were just slurping it up. I’d go to pop the ned rig and a fish would be on. A tournament trail was up from indiana for their classic tournament. I talked to the one guy at the mouth of the river. He seemed cool. All in all not a bad day. back to work tommrow. hoping to put a good push of fishing on before deer season and ice up. Nov 15 is the firearm opener. So I still have roughly 2 months of fishing left up here.

Great day fishing on the Saginaw bay out of Quinacassee MIchigan. Haven’t had a day like this in a long time. With working and the kids this is only my 3rd time out all year. The previous 2 times wasn’t all that great. it was a little windy so I mainly stayed in the quinacassee river and only ventured out into the Saginaw bay briefly. Averaged 2.5 lbs for the day on fish caught. I caught numerous fish in the same general areas a couple different times. it was actually very amazing. I believe, I boated 12-15 total plus a good sized dog fish caught 2-3 3 lbs bass. most fish were caught in 3-4 ft water I started fishing with googan summer craw colored craw t-rigged. I got hit right of the bat but, they kept short striking. thinking that I needed to make an adjustment I tied on GP zman trd with ned head which, caught the majority of my fish. 2nd most caught came off a rapala OG tiny 4 in perch. I used that lure to pull 3-4 fish out of the same boat dock. great thing sbout being on days again is i can start fishing early and get off the water early. i’ve had been on nights for 3.5 yrs before coming back to days in march.