# Tippy Dam report



## koditten (Sep 3, 2016)

Don't worry, we all know the bait shops tend to embellish. So what. 

Catching no fish, but not dealing with day to day bull **** makes the trip worth it.

I can find 10 chores to keep me home, but that won't keep me sane.

Believe me. The dam area never looks better when there are few fish. In 2 weeks, it will look like a 3rd world county.

Please, guys, just carry a waded up Wal-Mart bag to toss in random trash. The true sportsman are the ones picking up the trash.


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## fishinfever (Feb 14, 2005)

thegospelisgood said:


> Stopped in hanks Cuz it's where I'm camped and needed some hooks and line. Sure had plenty of fresh wax worms ready to go.


Did they show you pictures of the fish being caught at Tippy?
Good luck, FF


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## TippyDweller (Feb 26, 2013)

Sparky23 said:


> If nobody realizes that this is A. a baitshop owner trying to bring people up or B. a guy that fishes the PM or Betsie and wants to draw att. away from them, or C. a guide trying to get people to his serices. Thenyour not very smart obviously anyone who (dwells at Tippy) wouldnt want to bring hoards of guys. There is fish in every river in Michigan right now that gets a run, good luck and will some mods shut this guy up, b.s sending people to a spot for personal gain and no other


Nope. I just live here and report what I hear. I don't care if the fishermen come up here to fish and I sure don't own a business here, just a retirement home. This "guy" is a woman and it's hard to "shut me up". Sorry you're so paranoid.


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## fenman 40 (Aug 19, 2011)

i know The guy that owns hank and sons and he is a top notch guy he has fished the area all his life if he says there are some fish there there are some fish but i know how fishing for fall run salmon is it can change from day to day and the kings are just very hard to predict caught lots on skein at times and times they wont touch it .


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## jr28schalm (Mar 16, 2006)

TippyDweller said:


> Nope. I just live here and report what I hear. I don't care if the fishermen come up here to fish and I sure don't own a business here, just a retirement home. This "guy" is a woman and it's hard to "shut me up". Sorry you're so paranoid.


Thnx for the report,


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## Duraflame (May 25, 2011)

I was on Bear Creek today, and it is not loaded. There were a few in some select holes, but very far from loaded. I was also on the manistee just south of the dam, and there were not many kings around. The ones we saw were porposing from deep holes. I didn't see any on the gravel bed holes.


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## Dox811 (Oct 13, 2014)

Sparky23 said:


> If nobody realizes that this is A. a baitshop owner trying to bring people up or B. a guy that fishes the PM or Betsie and wants to draw att. away from them, or C. a guide trying to get people to his serices. Thenyour not very smart obviously anyone who (dwells at Tippy) wouldnt want to bring hoards of guys. There is fish in every river in Michigan right now that gets a run, good luck and will some mods shut this guy up, b.s sending people to a spot for personal gain and no other


Who cares? You act like a random post on a forum will dictate how many people go to a certain river? All the major salmon run rivers are gonna be heavily fished the next month. River salmon brings out all kinds of people(good and bad)Bait shop owners are gonna tell you there are fish in the body of water near them and sell you the bait/tackle to fish that water?? No way, I don't believe it. Relax. Even if they are what you say they are, they have as much right as you or I to post here. Is it an honest post or a sad attempt to reduce pressure/sell their inventory/get some clients for their guide service? I don't know or care tbh. I'm not super fond of dishonest fishermen, they make me madder than that time I was jumping from an overhanging tree to elbow drop my new personal best salmon when a bear ice skated over and snatched my catch.


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## twolaketown (Jun 23, 2015)

The big Manistee and bear Creek are huge systems. A dude walking the banks with polarized glasses couldn't possibly cover all the fishable waters, let alone fish them all. I'm sure fish are there, or at least in the neighborhood.


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## koditten (Sep 3, 2016)

Too, true.

I know ill need 3 lifetimes to fish the whole watershed.


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## Sparky23 (Aug 15, 2007)

ausable_steelhead said:


> This may be true, but why shut the dude up? If someone is enough of a sucker to chase an internet rumor...sorry about your luck.





Dox811 said:


> Who cares? You act like a random post on a forum will dictate how many people go to a certain river? All the major salmon run rivers are gonna be heavily fished the next month. River salmon brings out all kinds of people(good and bad)Bait shop owners are gonna tell you there are fish in the body of water near them and sell you the bait/tackle to fish that water?? No way, I don't believe it. Relax. Even if they are what you say they are, they have as much right as you or I to post here. Is it an honest post or a sad attempt to reduce pressure/sell their inventory/get some clients for their guide service? I don't know or care tbh. I'm not super fond of dishonest fishermen, they make me madder than that time I was jumping from an overhanging tree to elbow drop my new personal best salmon when a bear ice skated over and snatched my catch.


Not chasing it and dont really care personally about that area but I'm sure some do. Au Sable i have personally seen you bitch when someone pimps your spots out so you would care as some do care that enjoy fishing that area. I also put that all fish in the state have decent numbers right now so that was more honest than the post I commented. I stopped there the other day and the amount of fish ehh about avg. very very few guys the ones doing well were actually fishing, a nice change for tippy and crap like this wont help. Dox if you arent fond of dishonest fisherman why would you be happy about a report saying they are killing them in a spot there not lol. I could care less either just wanted people to know that they might chasing a fairy tale


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## wyandot (Dec 5, 2013)

Don't take it so personal Sparky, it's just a fishing report.


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## thegospelisgood (Dec 30, 2012)

Fish were being caught on single spawn last night. The fish that moved in Thursday are same bait and line shy buggers that were there today. My bail broke. That means maybe next time.


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## koditten (Sep 3, 2016)

Great topic. All responses are welcome.

Regardless, I found this tackle box among the rocks, just about 50' upstream from the boat launch. 

I asked around and got nothing but dumb looks. I'm guessing it was there for a while 

If anyone has a clue who owns it, get a hold of me.

Ill post in the lost and found section next.
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## TippyDweller (Feb 26, 2013)

koditten said:


> Great topic. All responses are welcome.
> 
> Regardless, I found this tackle box among the rocks, just about 50' upstream from the boat launch.
> 
> ...


Maybe you could notify the gate? Or not.


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## jrv (Nov 11, 2008)

I found one little guy there this morning. Only had time to fish for about an hour. About 20" is all, but nice fresh fish.
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## nichola8 (Oct 7, 2013)

koditten said:


> Great topic. All responses are welcome.
> 
> Regardless, I found this tackle box among the rocks, just about 50' upstream from the boat launch.
> 
> ...


Super legit tackle right there...I'll take the stringer


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## koditten (Sep 3, 2016)

Well, here we are, just about a week later then when the thread was started.

Anyone have anything else to offer?

shoot, I don't even care if has nothing to do with the original posting. I just want to hear good things. Fishing the river is a bonus.


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## wah (Apr 29, 2016)

I'm headed up in 5 weeks from down state (I'll report back if it's worth it). Too late? Never fished the area. Although I'll probably never _really_ find out until I try it myself.


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## koditten (Sep 3, 2016)

I hope to be back before that. You should get some steelhead bonus action when you make it back.


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## AdamBradley (Mar 13, 2008)

5 weeks from now, I would definitely shift focus from kings to steelhead. There MIGHT be some stragglers around, perhaps some coho, but there should be enough steel around by then to target.


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## rftech (Sep 28, 2009)

koditten said:


> I hope to have some luck on Monday.
> 
> Myself and 2 off my best friend just enjoying the day.
> 
> Ive finally talked them into trying to fly fish. After doing the math, it wasn't hard to convince them to learn. When you can keep a line in the water 30 percent more with a fly rod, it only makes sense that your odds of hooking a salmon will increase as well.


I have been using flies to catch Salmon for 23 years. On a normal salmon run I can expect several biters if I get the right fly out. Each year seems to have a different "Favorite" fly the fish want to take. Green caddis is my go to fly when all else fails. Egg flys work well also. But don't neglect throwing a Black Stone, Wolly Bugger, or egg sucking leach if the other flies fail. If you are not able to sight fish, try throwing into the darker water. I have had great success doing this especially when the sun is out. I use no bigger than 10lb test on my tippet. Make sure you do not have too much weight on the line.


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## koditten (Sep 3, 2016)

Agreed, 10 lbs test or less is the most you will need. I've caught many on 6 lbs. Test. 

Alas, yesterday was not a great day for catching salmon on the BM. Sighted many eagles, hurons and ospreys. The day was fishless, but the weather was perfect. Absolutely no complaints 

If I'm going fishing because I have to catch fish...I'm going fishing for the wrong reason.

In other news, learned something about boat motors...35 hp Johnston motors run much better with 2 spark plugs. 

I let my buddy Mike run the boat when we put in at the Tippy dam. We are motoring down stream and Mike tells me the motor is running really rough. 

We anchor about a mile downstream of the boat launch and fish. Mike gets bored and decided to fiddle with the motor. That s when he asks me where the other spark plug is? 

I honestly can't remember when I took it out, but I know I did. Talk about a dog pile on the boat owner. I'm the one the group that is known for having his gear in top notch condition. I'm still being abused, almost 2 days later. Oops.

Anyways, the boat has no trouble hauling us upstream on one cylinder. Kinda smoky, but no big deal.

At this time, we decide to take a break and run down to Wellston for a bite to eat...and grab a couple of spark plugs.

Once the plugs were installed, the motor was test started in the parking lot of the Wellston Napa parts store. It's pretty easy to tell that things had smoothed out dramatically with 2 'plugs. By the way, the Wellston Napa had some knowledgeable and friendly people. We highly recommend for automotive services.

At this time we opted to spin up to Rainbow Bend to see if any action salmon wise, could be had.

Sorry to say, fishing actin was slow down that way as well. Non of us were complaining, we just wanted to get out on the river. Catching fish is the bonus, but not the requirement. An added bonus, no cell phone service near Potters Landing. Piece and quiet for an hour and change.

Because there were very few other boats on the water, we got to test out the Evenrude completely. 

With 2 plugs, the thing "carries the mail". It got my 16' bottom up on plane with ease. The GPS said we were doing 27 mph with the 3 of us in the boat. I'm pretty happy with that.

Very seldom do I get to "open up" my boat and motor. I spend 90 percent of my time in the BM downstream from the Tippy launch. There is never a reason to get up on plane and I don't want to disturb the shore and wading fishermen.

It was fun ramping up the motor for the fun of it and not worrying about disturbing other fishermen. I don't get to do that often.

If anyone is fishing the Tippy dam area the 1st and 2nd week of October and sees this rig, don't be shy and say hello.
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