First trip to sturgeon bay, later this week. Looking to have a great time any of you guys got any tips. Thanks BR.

Just got back from a guided trip there. I wish you luck. There will be increased pressure and you have the ELITE tournament coming up and they should get there a few days prior (3 days i think) to prefish it for Sept. 17th. To give you a background to my trip, i originally had the guided trip scheduled for a week earlier but the guide called me and cancelled since he and his clients had not caught a bass in over 5 days. While the guide had hooked 1 fish the day before, he told me he has never seen the bay this bad. So i rescheduled. When i got there a week later (Aug 31st). I saw at 1:00 PM dropping off his clients and they were not happy. The guide was quiet and only one client shook his hand... So, it made for an awkward truck ride to the ramp 30 minutes away. Turns out since he talked to me last, his clients had not caught a bass that week. He hooked into a 4 pounder at the boat earlier in the morning and lost it which also made his clients mad since he was "catching their fish." Needless to say, the Bay was going to be tough and he told us, "i am really eerie about us catching anything."

 

So, i was just excited to get out and i did not see any benefit to dwelling on how bad it was going to be. Me and my buddy focused on the positive with him and i just flat out told him, "look i get that we could get skunked, let's just go have fun." I think that completely changed his mindset (and i get it, that has to be hard since he takes his job seriously). He works hard, i just didn't want any negative attitude affecting a trip i was paying a pretty penny on. So we go out and try some shallow waters and get nothing. Try an 8 feet ledge and he catches one small bass and i catch an nice size goby... So, i was still having fun and it was great to be in a great boat and i got ALL of my money's worth with him since i asked him every question i could possibly ask about smallmouth and the Bay. I loved it, he probably thought i needed a muzzle or something but i was going to make sure i got my money's worth. As we continued to catch nothing, he then went to deeper water at 20 feet deep and we fished a new spot with a short drop to 15 feet. But in all honesty, i was having fun and with fishing, regardless, there is always a chance to catch one! So as we are fishing this new spot, i am working the tube bait and hook into a smallmouth over 4 pounds. It was great and even better, the guide was super excited to see something. So we spent the rest of the evening fishing this deeper drop and caught over 10 with our top 5 going around 20 pounds. The guide was as happy as a clam and we just had a great time with him and he really is a great guide, just has had bad luck. He will be housing Skeet Reese and other anglers coming up. He is the former world record holder for walleye through the ice. He had a plethora of tv appearances and front page covers on magazines for smallmouth and walleye. I think it was no coincidence that we did better than he had done in a very long time. Definitely lucky, but i think that luck increased with helping he guide to relax, not having big expectations, and having fun realizing there is always a chance. 

 

Best lures were a 4" green pumpkin tube 20 feet deep ledges worked relatively slow. Who knows, maybe you destroy them with your own approach. All i can say is that a lot of guides are struggling with the Bay due to poor fishing regulations. Let us know how you do. It was gorgeous out there and the smallmouth were so unbelievably fun to catch from 20 feet down.

 

 

 

Guide was excellent in my mind and did the best he could and it was a great service.

 

WackyWalleye guide service: Captain Dale