# tippy dam sunday and monday



## POLARBEAR (May 13, 2002)

took my g/f up north and ended up fishing at tippy sunday afternoon. 2pm to 7pm. i hooked 2 skamania steelhead while fishing off the handicapp deck. first time i ever fished off that deck, kinda nice to stay in the shade durring the heat of the day. we caught several trout 3 over 15" and several carp and suckers. being this was her first time fishing i was happy to see her bring in a 10lb plus carp. one heck of a battle for her. 

monday morning she wanted to go back. when we got to the handicapp deck there was a guy down there fighting a fish. it was a real nice skam. i offered to net the fish for him. he got it to the deck and his line snapped before i had a chance. we saw another guy with 2 on a stringer. not bad for summer fun.


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## GVSUKUSH (Mar 9, 2004)

I've heard of guys getting LARGE Smallmouths there in the summer, did you hook any?


POLARBEAR said:


> took my g/f up north and ended up fishing at tippy sunday afternoon. 2pm to 7pm. i hooked 2 skamania steelhead while fishing off the handicapp deck. first time i ever fished off that deck, kinda nice to stay in the shade durring the heat of the day. we caught several trout 3 over 15" and several carp and suckers. being this was her first time fishing i was happy to see her bring in a 10lb plus carp. one heck of a battle for her.
> 
> monday morning she wanted to go back. when we got to the handicapp deck there was a guy down there fighting a fish. it was a real nice skam. i offered to net the fish for him. he got it to the deck and his line snapped before i had a chance. we saw another guy with 2 on a stringer. not bad for summer fun.


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## esox master (Sep 9, 2003)

Are you sure that they were Skamina and not just spring run Steelhead? I remember early last June a guide telling me that the Steelhead they were taking in early to mid June were just late run Steelhead and that the Skams were not due in till end of June.


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## Fishndude (Feb 22, 2003)

I caught a pretty fresh male Steelie in the Ausable Mem Day weekend and there were quite a few fish still on beds in all the normal spawning areas. I friend of mine caught a Spring fish with tight skein about a week ago at Tippy.


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## thousandcasts (Jan 22, 2002)

There's no time when scams are "due". They'll show up in May if the water conditions and lake winds are to their liking. They migrate upriver starting in May until October. The peak time varies from year to year based solely upon water flow, water temp and offshore winds.

It's fairly easy to tell a scam from a late spring fish once you've fished for both on a regular basis, but Any tight skein/milt fish at this time of the year is most likely a scam since they won't actually spawn until the following late winter/spring.


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## live2fishdjs (Sep 9, 2003)

It's been my experience with skamania this time of year that there eggs are still immature, so if the eggs are mature and still tight I would say it could be a late spring fish. :tdo12: 

What Thousandcasts said is right on about the timing...no set time...that's what half the fun is for me-studying conditions and hitting it at the right time, the legwork and scouting when fish aren't around are the dues paid. Much more satisfying to get on fish after paying dues or by accident than to hear through the hills "the skamania are running the skamania are running"...IMHO.


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## thousandcasts (Jan 22, 2002)

> Much more satisfying to get on fish after paying dues or by accident than to hear through the hills "the skamania are running the skamania are running"


Absolutley! If you base your fishing on a time frame instead of on weather, water conditions, you could miss out on some great fishing--be it scams, steelhead or salmon. I can't recall how many times we've started popping GREAT numbers of scams in May and/or early June simply by monitoring the conditions and weather patterns.


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## GVSUKUSH (Mar 9, 2004)

Skams are as unpredictable as a woman with PMS 



thousandcasts said:


> Absolutley! If you base your fishing on a time frame instead of on weather, water conditions, you could miss out on some great fishing--be it scams, steelhead or salmon. I can't recall how many times we've started popping GREAT numbers of scams in May and/or early June simply by monitoring the conditions and weather patterns.


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## gunrod (Jan 16, 2001)

Yep. The skams have been known to be at the pier heads one day and the dams the next. I've always heard they peak on a river I fish often around the 4th of July but have never found that to hold true.

I would expect to see and hear of more skams earlier this year than prior years. As the lakes warm and the rivers remain colder from the high waters and continued runoff from the swamps/tribs a decent, sustained run should exist. At least let's hope so.


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## thousandcasts (Jan 22, 2002)

> Skams are as unpredictable as a woman with PMS


I wouldn't say they're that BAD! LOL!!!

Yeah, it can be a crap shoot, but once you've seen what type of conditions consistently bring fresh migrations in year after year, then you can greatly increase the odds of hitting more fish, more often.

I'll say this...Gunrod's prediction for this summer could be dead on. They're already there if you know where to look!


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## quest32a (Sep 25, 2001)

thousandcasts said:


> I'll say this...Gunrod's prediction for this summer could be dead on. They're already there if you know where to look!


I may have to go take another peek today.... Ill let you know. This time i am bringing my flyrod though, if the fish aren't there i can always have fun with some carp.

BTW, looks like you had a good time PB. I always enjoy Tippy during the summer, you can catch Rockbass, Steelhead, brown trout, suckers, and smallmouth out of the same strech of water. And no crowds.


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## POLARBEAR (May 13, 2002)

basically we were just fishing for trout. just a piece of worm on a hook. we didnt even have a steelhead rod. just a couple of junk rods. had to buy the hooks as well.
the mighty manistee river has just about every fish you can imagine in it rightnow. we even heard of some rock bass being caught by the coffer. 
i looked in the sea lamprey cage and saw it had a bunch of alwives in it. i have heard that some big browns will follow those alwives up the river when they spawn. 

get on up there and fish. with the cooler weather it sure was nice being up north.


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## gunrod (Jan 16, 2001)

Our best luck for the skams have been on crawlers under corkies. The great thing about skams is their acrobatics. You'd see a fish jumping and realize he had your hook in his mouth. It made for some horrible hook sets but some great fun fishing in nice weather.


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## GVSUKUSH (Mar 9, 2004)

If you're familiar with the Island below the dam at berrien springs, I had a hook up with a skam, had him to the beach, he took off when I went to grab him and beached himself on the island. My mouth is still open from that one. I've had the best luck with burlap and latex wigglers with eyes below a corkie.


gunrod said:


> Our best luck for the skams have been on crawlers under corkies. The great thing about skams is their acrobatics. You'd see a fish jumping and realize he had your hook in his mouth. It made for some horrible hook sets but some great fun fishing in nice weather.


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## stelmon (Sep 21, 2000)

Hmmm...maybe it's time to start planning for a trip somewhere after them...hey quest, you in??


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## Fishndude (Feb 22, 2003)

There have been 1751 views of this post (mine makes 1752). I am sticking to my assertion that these were late Winter fish, and hoping no one else refutes it. 
" Go Fishing, it is a great place to be."


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## hypox (Jan 23, 2000)

I don't know about tippy, but, there are a good number of skams in some southern rivers right now. If you plan on fishing for them go south and now! And that's all I'm gonna say about that!


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## stelmon (Sep 21, 2000)

1752 views:yikes: my computer mussed be wacked becaust it only says 444. I think there might be so many views just because polarbear posted it


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## Fishndude (Feb 22, 2003)

Still too many. I have heard very good things from the Southern part of the State as well.


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## quest32a (Sep 25, 2001)

Yeah stelmo, right now i have way to many things on my plate. I will have to make some time... right now my boat is sitting up north and i have no clue when i am going to be able to pick it up. Busy life....


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