Fishing Reports for Saginaw Bay from Capt. Dan Manyen

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Fishing Report from Capt. Dan Manyen for Saginaw Bay
Last Updated
02-24-02

February 24th, 2002

Hey sports fans.

Yours truly has been down for the last 10 days. That little bout of sinus infection and strep throat turned into a kick butt case of walking pneumonia. I finally couldn't stand it anymore and decided to see what was really shaking out in front of the Bay City State Park. I've included a couple of very unusual and intriguing pictures. They were taken from our boat in open water and show the mass of people ice fishing on the frozen ice flows that have stuck together out in front of the State Park. I've heard a lot of different stories, both from friends and the fishing reports on other sites. One of my buds, whom I golf with, said him and his 2 brothers have iced 19 walleyes in 3 days starting last Wednesday. I temper his fishing reports with the fact that he to often shoots in the high 30's in golf, to be the (go-to) man for reliable fishing reports. Anyway, Saturday afternoon we launched at the DNR ramp on the Saginaw and worked our way around in front of the Park. In about 4 ½ hours of jigging, both in close and a ways off the ice pack, I had one savage strike that caught me unprepared and half way through a dirty joke I was telling my buddy. It came on the Pearl/Orange-Tape Do-Jigger, tipped with a whole minnow. That was it for the whole evening. We also had a great view of what was happening on the ice and not one person we could see caught a single fish. If it did happen, it happened after dark. That's not to say it couldn't get hot in the next few days though. As the Kawkawlin River has opened up the last few days and is at flood stage at its head waters. This being the second most popular river for spawning walleye, its only a matter of time before this warmer, fresher water reaches out in the Saginaw Bay itself and temps those heavy spawners in close. The Saginaw River was getting ready to produce some good catches, until that 1 inch of rain we received last week. One of my buds caught 9 nice walleyes in front of Kentucky Fried Chicken on the river, the day before the rain. Since the rain, the river has turned to chocolate milk and has turned the walleye off. Of course this will change as the river clears itself off. The Tittabawassee is also running at higher than average levels. I just got off the cell phone with two of my buds who fished the Tittabawassee. Today 02/24/02. They had only 2 solid hits and suspect they may have been suckers, as they seen a few other boats who caught a couple white suckers today. This isn't what I'd call really bad news, as the sucker and walleye spawning runs pretty much coincide with each other on the Tittabawassee. I really think this high water will spell success by next week. I still have a few open dates left before the closing on the river. Give me a shout and we'll hunt for your wall hanger.

Capt: Dan.

Captain Dan Manyen
Walleye Express Fishing Charters
1686 S.E. Boutell Rd.
Essexville, Mi.
48732-1562
1-989-892-1920 E-Mail Capt. Dan
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