| FISHING TRIPS 2003 Page 1 |
| HOUGHTON LAKE- MAY 8-10, 2003 For our first fishing trip of the year we traveled to Houghton Lake Michigan. Tim and & I fished out of Tim's Starcraft while the Mader brother's, Charlie, Ron & Tom fished out of Tom's Raycraft. The water temp on the lake ranged from 52 to 58 over the two and a half days that we were there. Our plan was to go after walleye and crappie but we could not find an area that produced. We tried to find the edges of the weed beds where we normally find them but the weeds were killed off by a chemical that was sprayed on the lake the previous year. Between the 5 of us we only managed to catch 2 or 3 crappies and 2 walleyes. We ended up fishing the 7-ft. channel that runs East and West out in front of the cottages. We caught hundreds of largemouth and small pike. Most were caught on the black marabou but Shadraps and grubs also produced. Charlie managed to catch a 21-inch smallmouth that was estimated to weigh over 5 pounds! We also caught smallmouth and largemouth up in the shallows on Rouges and Senkos. All bass were released. All in all we caught a lot of fish and had good weather. We also partook in a steak dinner, which Charlie prepared, and had a fish fry and the customary campfire where we swapped fish stories to late into the night. The Mader brothers upheld a long-standing family tradition of catching 3 Dogfish. Tom "Dogfish" Mader still reigns as 'King Dog". |
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| LAKE ST. CLAIR MAY 26-28, 2003 Earl Crabtree, Roger Liken, Ron Hedges joined Tim and I on our first trip of the year to LSC. Earl and Roger fished out of Earl's DynaTrac while Ron and I fished with Tim out of his Starcraft. The water temps ranged from 56-60 degrees during our two and a half days on the big lake. We endured wind and rain as well as calm overcast days. It seemed that everywhere we went we caught fish, from rock bass and smallmouth to an occasional perch, bluegill and walleye. |
| LAKE ST. CLAIR JUNE 13-20, 2003 On the 13th of June Tim, Dan, Jeff, Earl and myself hooked up with Bob "Heavy" Zolman for a week of fishing at Lake St. Clair. Pip and his dad, Paul, were up at their trailer and Denny came up later in the week. The weather was about perfect for most of the week with temperatures ranging from the upper 50's at night to the mid-70's during the day. The water temperature stayed around the mid to upper 60's. Rockbass, perch, walleye, sheephead, both largemouth and smallmouth bass were found everywhere in 12 foot of water or less and were biting on just about anything you put in front of them. We caught plenty of fish for a fish fry and had a few bags to take home. All largemouth and smallmouth were released. It was and eventful trip with Heavy's motor breaking a piston and getting a tow in from a couple miles out on the lake; Tim wiping out on his bike and going to the hospital to get stitched up; Earl and I making a trip back home to pick up his boat and returning in 24 hours??; and Jeff finally getting his picture on my homepage! |
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