QUANTITY & QUALITY

Since my last post ten day's ago, I have been on a terror in the land of the smallmouth! The fishing on the inland lakes has been absolutely fantastic to say the least. The quality and quantity of fish that have been caught is absolutely amazing.

Quality has been the most consistent. Most fish that have been caught are in the three to five pound plus range. Several fish have been over six pounds. The biggest smallmouth of the year so far was caught just the other day and it came in at 7lbs 4oz!! What a giant fish!!!!

Quantity has not been an issue other than wearing a guy out. The best day of my fishing life was just the other day. We boated 201 smallmouth with over 100 of these fish over four pounds!!!!! That is no fish story. My arms are still rehabilitating themselves. The average day has bee 20-50 fish with the occasional 100 fish plus day in there. What a great start to the year.

The lakes are still extremely cold for this time of year. Almost all of the inland lakes are still in the low to mid fifties for temps as of today. I was on Grand Traverse Bay looking for fish and the water was 41 degrees!! Holy coldness!!! Back to the inland lakes I went and it has been great. Most fish are responding well to jerk baits and starting to eat lipless cranks fairly well.

I'm looking forward to being on the water for the next few weeks straight! Until next time Good Luck and Happy Fishing.

Capt Chris

Spring Madness

What a last couple of weeks. The fishing on the inland lakes has been spectacular for early spring. The water temperatures are still cool for this time of year, but the fish have responded nicely. Several smallmouth, as well as a few largemouth have been caught. The quality of the fish has been absolutely amazing!! We are only two weeks into the season and have boated four fish over six pounds and several over five pounds. The three biggest fish of the year so far a 7lb smallmouth, a 6lb 12oz smallmouth and a 7lb 3oz monster largemouth that is my personal best largemouth bass ever! What a great start to the year.

These fish have slowly starting to get more active as the water warms. The water temperatures are still in the mid to high 40's for the most part, but a few lakes have crept into the mid 50's. Most of the fish we have been catching are still fairly deep. The shallow jerk bait bite has been slowly picking up. A twister tail grub has been good as well fished on a slow steady retrieve.

There is a shallow bite that has produced fish also. I have been making extremely long cast into 2 feet of water with a small #8 X-Rap targeting fish that are desperately trying to warm up and feeding on shiners doing the same thing. The ability to cast this small bait a long distance, has been due the new Microwave guide that Castaway has introduced to there spinning rods. The performance of this guide is awesome! The Microwave guide has definitely increased the distance that I am able to cast. The complete set up is a WaveSpin 3000z spooled with 8# Vicious Pro Elite fluorocarbon on a Castaway SKMDSM7. Be sure to check these rods out at www.castawayrods.com.

I'll be giving fishing reports and reviews on the equipment/products that we are using to catch these monster smallmouth in the coming weeks. I need to get back out on the water and enjoy the Spring Madness while it last! Until next time, Good Luck and Happy Fishing.

Capt Chris

Fishing Again

After a long cold winter, the season has finally begun. We are fishing again here in Northern Michigan even though the temperatures don't seem to be much different than a month ago. It has been a slow warm up but the fishing has started off extremely well.

Most of the lakes here have not warmed past the 50 degree mark as of today. The fish are slowly starting to move up, but most are still being caught deep(25-45 feet). We have caught several fish in the 3-5 pound class this year already and were just getting started!

The majority of the bites have been on a jigging spoon or blade style bait. The few shallow bites have come on jerk baits or twister tail grubs. The most interesting bites this year have been the number of northern pike we have caught in deep water. These fish have been real aggressive and fun to catch even though they are not the intended species.

I'm looking forward to getting back on the water! The wind is howling here today, so I'll get caught up on a few of the "honey do" items and then it's back to fishing!Until next time Good Luck and Happy Fishing!

Capt Chris

Getting Ready

Here in Northern Michigan, the ice is finally starting to disappear after a long winter. If all went well when the boat was put away, getting the boat ready should be a fairly easy chore. I look forward to getting out on the water as soon as the ice is gone. Hopefully this will be in the next few day's.

Over the winter, you have a lot of time to look at new and old tackle. You remember the baits that worked, as well as the ones that made there way to the recycle bin. There were baits that consistently caught fish and ones that worked for a special situation. Now after going to Outdoor Expo's, looking at catalogs and reading product reviews all winter, you have ordered or bought a new arsenal of tackle/gear for the season ahead.

This year we will be using some of the same gear as last, but there will be some new additions as well. For starters, sight fishing is a very large part of smallmouth fishing in these parts and good glasses are the key to success. Costa Del Mar has a 580 lens that is out of this world for clarity!! I have these in different lens colors so I am able to see the best, depending on the brightness of the day. Costa glasses are available in several different frame styles and lens colors. Be sure to check them out.

Another important piece of equipment is your rain gear. Frabil has introduced a new rain suit that has been thought out really well! There are several features on this suit that will make fishing in the rain a lot more comfortable for me this year. This suit is definitely worth a look at!

A new addition in the line department will be the Vicious Pro Elite Fluorocarbon. This is a new line for Vicious. This fluorocarbon has less memory, cast smoother, has great knot strength and abrasion resistance. These are all essential qualities for fishing in clear water. I am excited to "GET VICIOUS" on the fish this year!

There is a company that has been out for a while, but I have never fished there baits. The Zipper Worm Company has a great selection of soft plastics and jigs. They are unique in there design and have my interest. I will be giving a few of there baits the ultimate test for Mister Bronzeback this season. Check them out at www.zipperwormcompany.com

It has been fun getting ready for this upcoming season. With the new gear and anticipation of catching the first bronzeback of the season, I am ready to go have some fun! You can follow Northern Adventures Fishing daily on Facebook www.facebook.com/northernadventuresfishing or on Twitter at Fishin4alivn. I will be updating the fishing report often as possible. Until next time Good Luck and Happy Fishing!

Capt Chris

Family, Friendships & Fishing

It has been quite some time since my last post!! Between hunting trips, end of season fishing trips, and holiday's, the time has flown by. It is now time to open the chapter on 2011. I look forward to what this year will bring in the way of family, friendships and fishing. These are three of the most important things to me in life.

Family to me is the most important thing of all! My wife and kids always make me happy no matter what. I love spending time with them whenever possible. We look forward to the slow time of the year so we can spend quality time together. Unfortunately, there is no warm weather get away this winter season, just hot chocolate after shoveling snow. I can't wait to get the boat out and take them on the first fishing trip of the year! It is always a great time.

Friendships come and go through the years, but every year I look forward to new friendships that will be made fishing. It is always fun to meet new people and go different places to fish. Watching people catch fish to me never gets old, especially when it is there personal best or there first. Let us not forget about good times to be had with old friends. Fishing with old buddies is a good time that never gets old. There always seems to be the one that got away or a fish tale of great proportion to be re-lived.

Fishing for me, has been more along the lines of work now for over 20+ years. I still look forward to the challenges of figuring those finned critters out. Also, I enjoy taking people fishing, no matter if they are a rookie or the next Fishing Hall of Fame inductee. This is always rewarding no matter what the outcome. This is why fishing never gets old to me.

We will see what 2011 has to offer in the way of family, friendships, and fishing. I'm sure it will be great. Hope to see you on the water Until next time Good Luck and Happy Fishing.

Capt Chris

What to do?

What a wonderful time of year! The leaves are turning to there vibrant colors,the smallmouth are starting to put on the feeding frenzy, the madness of chasing whitetails has begun and waterfowl season is in full swing. This leaves me with this question every year. What should I do, hunt or fish? I'm not sure If their is a right answer for this. I love all of it! Lately the fishing has been fairly tough. However, it has picked up steam here lately.

Since my last post, I have been out to Kansas chasing the MONSTER whitetails that live out there. What a great hunt, seeing friends you haven't seen in a while and enjoying the outdoors. I spent a full week in the stand and did not fill my tag. That is completely fine with me. I saw several deer all week long and had opportunities to shoot small bucks, but that is not what you travel 1200 miles for! I'll make the journey back in December to see if we can seal the deal then.

For now, I am getting back into the fall fishing groove. The fish are starting to sense the change of season on all fronts. The salmon fishing in the rivers is still going and the big lake is starting to heat back up with steelhead and three year old salmon action! On the inland lakes, perch and walleye action is heating up as well. The inland water temps range from the high fifties to low sixties depending on what lake you are on. The smallmouth are starting to move up on the flats from the depths. Some lakes they have been shallow, less than 12 feet. Other lakes they are still up to 40 feet deep. I am looking forward to the upcoming week! I will let the weather dictate the question of what to do. Until next time, Good luck and Happy Fishing!

Capt Chris

The Doldrums

What a change the last few weeks have brought to the entire fishing community here in Northern Michigan. We went from the best fishing some of us have ever seen, to the worst fishing that I can remember. Mother Nature has not been very friendly to either big lake or inland lake fisherman. The bite has been extremely difficult.

Over the last week I have been chasing the mighty bronzeback with little success. We did catch fish, however nothing like it was three weeks ago. The fish in the bay have moved to the deep haunts and hideaways. Most of the Smallies we found were from 35 feet to 60 plus feet of water. The average size was down as well. I did switch gears and go inland for a couple days. The fish that were caught were dandy's, just not many. These fish were found in less than 12 feet. The water temps are still in the low to mid 60's and it won't be long before the fall Malay begins.

The salmon bite on the big lake has been extremely poor to say the least. I have talked with several charter captains that say the same thing 1-5 fish a trip if your lucky. I did run a salmon trip last week and for the first time ever in four hours of trolling never had a bite!!!!!!!!! not even a sniff. The up side to the salmon bite is there are several fish in the river ready to do battle with any angler that wants to chase them.

The other up side is walleye's and perch have begun to put the fall feed on. As of yesterday there are scattered reports of decent perch and walleye action on a handful of lakes in the Traverse City area.

I will be back at it next week after a quest in the land of Oz for a giant whitetail. There early muzzle loader has presented me with a tag and I am going to take full advantage of the early season. Until next time Good Luck and Happy Fishing.

Capt Chris