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Walleye anglers wonder: What’s wrong with the Sag?
By Kenny Darwin
Correspondent
Bay City, Mich.— When he heard that Jim Baker, fisheries unit manager for southern Lake Huron, labeled the fishing on Saginaw Bay in 2004 as “spotty” for walleye, Don Leuenberger, a well-known ice angler, laughed.
“It is the worst year ever,” he said. “The bay had plenty of ice, and we started fishing in January. It was tough fishing, few walleyes were caught, and we all hoped the action would pick up in February or March. But it did not.” Leuenberger said he fishes almost every day, along with other area walleye fanatics. “We started in the Linwood area with terrible walleye fishing, then we moved to the state park and the mouth of the Saginaw River, thinking fish could be congregated in the southern basin. We caught few.
“If there were 10 walleyes caught for every 100 ice fishermen, the action was good,” he said. “Some fishermen quit fishing the bay after several trips with no fish. By the middle of February the normally crowded bay had plenty of parking spaces on shore and few fishermen on the ice.”
Leuenberger said he wasn’t the only one experiencing a slow ice fishing season on the bay.
“I have contacts who regularly fish the bay, men who are equipped with heavy-duty 4-wheel ATVs, tires with chains, fishing electronics, underwater cameras, and GPS units. These are hard-core ice fishermen, local boys that know their home waters and use refined fishing techniques to catch bay ‘eyes. Many belong to our Saginaw Bay Walleye Club and they give me reports from Au Gres, Pinconning, Linwood, and Bay City, all around the bay,” he said. “When I had a difficult time catching fish, I started asking questions. The answers made one important point very clear — this is the worst year, ever, for ice fishermen on Saginaw Bay.”
Leuenberger said that last year he caught more walleyes the first two outings in January than has taken the entire winter of 2004.
Baker agreed that fishing success has been limited.
“The fishing has not been red hot anywhere on Saginaw Bay this year,” Baker said. “We had a lot of deep snow and slush that halted anglers from reaching quality fishing areas. The poor conditions cut way down on the number of fishermen trying for walleyes. Many could not get out at all without getting stuck and risking a long walk back to shore. Creel census data indicate the catches are way down from last year, and I think walleyes are holding in the deeper water of the outer Bay. The same thing happened last year, and numbers of fish showed up at the mouth of the Saginaw River March 12, just before the closing on March 15. I’ll get a better grasp of how poor the walleye fishing was this winter when I review the creel census data, sometime near the end of March.”
Baker said the good news is that the Saginaw River is packed with small walleyes, ranging in size from 8 to 14 inches.
“More fish than we have ever seen,” he said. “Of course, some are the result of the 2003 planting, which was 1,831,000 fingerlings. But studies indicate that we had spectacular natural spawning in ‘03, and 78.2 percent of the small walleyes in the Saginaw River are from natural reproduction. This means we had phenomenal recruitment — the best since ’94. And when those fingerlings hit the bay, they will produce 15-inch, catchable fish by late summer in 2005.
“Overall, we have had good success planting walleyes in the Saginaw system and I don’t understand what happened to those fish planted in previous years,” Baker said.
Jose Ruiz, of East Lansing, said he can’t remember a season like this one.
“I’ve never seen such poor walleye fishing on the Saginaw River and Bay,” Ruiz said. “I’ve been fishing the system for several years, know what to use and where to go, and this year I have caught no big fish. Have all the big fish been killed in Saginaw Bay perch nets, or have Canadian gill-netters wiped out the resource? You know, the same thing is happening on Lake Erie. Canadian gill nets have ruined the walleye fishery causing reduced sport fishing possession limits, increased minimum size to 15 inches, and fishing closures. Is Michigan’s splendid sport fishery for walleyes on the Great Lakes being destroyed by commercial harvest?”
Ruiz was interviewed while he was fishing the Saginaw River near a warm-water discharge at Bay City. The hot spot is found close to the mouth of the Saginaw River and is a draw for walleyes and baitfish. Ruiz held up a 5-pound whitefish he caught on a jig.
Saginaw Bay whitefish catches are at an all-time high. Some anglers have caught more whitefish this year than walleyes, they say.
By Kenny Darwin
Correspondent
Bay City, Mich.— When he heard that Jim Baker, fisheries unit manager for southern Lake Huron, labeled the fishing on Saginaw Bay in 2004 as “spotty” for walleye, Don Leuenberger, a well-known ice angler, laughed.
“It is the worst year ever,” he said. “The bay had plenty of ice, and we started fishing in January. It was tough fishing, few walleyes were caught, and we all hoped the action would pick up in February or March. But it did not.” Leuenberger said he fishes almost every day, along with other area walleye fanatics. “We started in the Linwood area with terrible walleye fishing, then we moved to the state park and the mouth of the Saginaw River, thinking fish could be congregated in the southern basin. We caught few.
“If there were 10 walleyes caught for every 100 ice fishermen, the action was good,” he said. “Some fishermen quit fishing the bay after several trips with no fish. By the middle of February the normally crowded bay had plenty of parking spaces on shore and few fishermen on the ice.”
Leuenberger said he wasn’t the only one experiencing a slow ice fishing season on the bay.
“I have contacts who regularly fish the bay, men who are equipped with heavy-duty 4-wheel ATVs, tires with chains, fishing electronics, underwater cameras, and GPS units. These are hard-core ice fishermen, local boys that know their home waters and use refined fishing techniques to catch bay ‘eyes. Many belong to our Saginaw Bay Walleye Club and they give me reports from Au Gres, Pinconning, Linwood, and Bay City, all around the bay,” he said. “When I had a difficult time catching fish, I started asking questions. The answers made one important point very clear — this is the worst year, ever, for ice fishermen on Saginaw Bay.”
Leuenberger said that last year he caught more walleyes the first two outings in January than has taken the entire winter of 2004.
Baker agreed that fishing success has been limited.
“The fishing has not been red hot anywhere on Saginaw Bay this year,” Baker said. “We had a lot of deep snow and slush that halted anglers from reaching quality fishing areas. The poor conditions cut way down on the number of fishermen trying for walleyes. Many could not get out at all without getting stuck and risking a long walk back to shore. Creel census data indicate the catches are way down from last year, and I think walleyes are holding in the deeper water of the outer Bay. The same thing happened last year, and numbers of fish showed up at the mouth of the Saginaw River March 12, just before the closing on March 15. I’ll get a better grasp of how poor the walleye fishing was this winter when I review the creel census data, sometime near the end of March.”
Baker said the good news is that the Saginaw River is packed with small walleyes, ranging in size from 8 to 14 inches.
“More fish than we have ever seen,” he said. “Of course, some are the result of the 2003 planting, which was 1,831,000 fingerlings. But studies indicate that we had spectacular natural spawning in ‘03, and 78.2 percent of the small walleyes in the Saginaw River are from natural reproduction. This means we had phenomenal recruitment — the best since ’94. And when those fingerlings hit the bay, they will produce 15-inch, catchable fish by late summer in 2005.
“Overall, we have had good success planting walleyes in the Saginaw system and I don’t understand what happened to those fish planted in previous years,” Baker said.
Jose Ruiz, of East Lansing, said he can’t remember a season like this one.
“I’ve never seen such poor walleye fishing on the Saginaw River and Bay,” Ruiz said. “I’ve been fishing the system for several years, know what to use and where to go, and this year I have caught no big fish. Have all the big fish been killed in Saginaw Bay perch nets, or have Canadian gill-netters wiped out the resource? You know, the same thing is happening on Lake Erie. Canadian gill nets have ruined the walleye fishery causing reduced sport fishing possession limits, increased minimum size to 15 inches, and fishing closures. Is Michigan’s splendid sport fishery for walleyes on the Great Lakes being destroyed by commercial harvest?”
Ruiz was interviewed while he was fishing the Saginaw River near a warm-water discharge at Bay City. The hot spot is found close to the mouth of the Saginaw River and is a draw for walleyes and baitfish. Ruiz held up a 5-pound whitefish he caught on a jig.
Saginaw Bay whitefish catches are at an all-time high. Some anglers have caught more whitefish this year than walleyes, they say.
