# Salmon season a bust on the grand...?!



## thousandcasts (Jan 22, 2002)

tgafish said:


> Personally I'm happy they're being cautious and I think the fishery is still pretty good. But after sharing this site with you for the better part of seven years there is one thing I'm sure of. You're opinions are hard to change and I won't try :lol:


Well, it's not that I'm really complaining per se'. I have no problems admitting that I'm a "numbers" guy and the more I hook in a day, the happier I am. That doesn't mean I'm a "meat" guy though--I don't keep very many fish at all. I'm more into the hooking part of it. 

THis year was very good to me and I did have a lot of numbers days, but those were on rivers that see a great deal of natural reproduction. The whole cut in plants really hasn't affected me at all, but I hate seeing the local rivers (Grand, etc) barren because of the cuts, ya know? I just don't see where a five fish limit was needed since the planting cuts did the desired effect...which was lower the salmon numbers. 

When you start seeing guys posting three day big lake reports where they boxed up 45 kings, it's like, "yeah...you really need that many fish, dontcha?"


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## JasonSlayer (Aug 4, 2009)

Trout King said:


> Rad Fish is correct too. Go look at the mouth and near the harbor. There are numbers there...but they aren't coming any further.


 Yeah sure, becuase i'm sure your down there fishing for them and giving the reports. Do us all a favor and give a report and when you ACTUALLY fish somewhere, for the rest of the time just shut your mouth. And yes i'm talking about the 6th street dame thread you posted about 3 weeks ago not very good reading material. Just get out and fish and give a report. Don't stir s*** up.


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## ausable_steelhead (Sep 30, 2002)

> Today the only fish I seen caught was from a snagger who looked at me and said "_wow, I can't believe he hit on a bare hook_!" Yeah right, dumbass


:lol:, awesome.....


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## Ifish (Aug 4, 2009)

lol


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## Trout King (May 1, 2002)

> Yeah sure, becuase i'm sure your down there fishing for them and giving the reports. Do us all a favor and give a report and when you ACTUALLY fish somewhere, for the rest of the time just shut your mouth. And yes i'm talking about the 6th street dame thread you posted about 3 weeks ago not very good reading material. Just get out and fish and give a report. Don't stir s*** up.


Hmmm....maybe I have been fishing down there. And I do fish more than most(at least 3-5 times a week). I don't need to give my locations and success away. I'm beyond that point. I do my legwork and earn my fish away from the crowds and think I'm fairly successful. Logic, if fish aren't here they are somewhere else. Go find them! Take your own advice and go find your own fish...give a report if you like...I'm just smart enough to fish unpressured areas and have biting fish. Sorry if I offended you because you are a Clyde at 6th St. I have much more productive water to fish than 6th St. or the Grand River in general as far as salmon. Here is your 6th St. Report....fished the other day...no fish, a few nasty fish around, nobody catching anything. If I was to fish the Grand anytime soon I would go to Grand Haven because that is where the fish are in the system...I might know this because I saw it with my own eyes. Try getting out yourself and not just sitting on here waiting for handouts by others reports. I'll be out this afternoon and pretty sure I find find fish, maybe because I don't sit on the internet all day and hoping for someone to point out where they are.


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## grand isle-usion (May 5, 2009)

I have to agree with TK. The salmon run has been pretty hit or miss where I fish. I have been hitting the Grand pretty hard all week long and only have 1 steelie to show for it. The fish were in the system a couple of weeks ago, and a few last week, but this week seems to be pretty slow. The conditions have been ideal although we could use a bit more rain. I too, tend to stay away from all the crowds (avoid 6th st. completely) and usually do well. this year reminds me of last year patterns of hooking fish. I am grateful for all of your reports from Grand Haven to 6th st. dam and even further upstream. I live on the Grand and even I have not seen any "V" 's of fish migrating up this year. However, this will not keep me from enjoying the outdoors, heck the catfish and pike that bite are fun too.


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## Trout King (May 1, 2002)

giu- there are some fish upstream. they have been there like you said, for a few weeks. I think their main focus is just spawning now. I was fishing upstream the past couple weeks a few times, and they were moving a bit, but nothing that I would call a run. The steelies are slowly trickling throughout the system and I have been doing pretty well on them. I have not focused on them in the Grand per-say, but locations where the density is a bit better due to water conditions. The steelhead have made one or two good pushes through 6th st. Time to start focusing on creek mouths and maybe even get into a bonus coho or two. I know the coho made a bit of a late run last year as I was catching them in January fishing for chrome.


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## no lead (Jul 28, 2005)

definitely been an odd year. i have seen a ton of nice fish come from 6th st, but spotty most of the time. no real "run" but several pushes of fish. 

the future aint lookin so hot. i was there tonight and saw very few fish landed. i saw a lot of fish activity, but few biters.

so much negativity here i rarely post what is really happening downtown. all good thing must come to an end. i feel we have reached it.


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## Fishbone (Oct 10, 2008)




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## bassbuster5675 (Nov 21, 2007)

*was at 6th street last friday and saw lots of fish landed. landed 3 myself 1 male two females both tight with skein. so there might be sometime left but not much it is looking like.*


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## thousandcasts (Jan 22, 2002)

They only harvested 2800 or so fish at the Little M wier this fall--which would be the lowest on record. Down from 13,000 or so harvested just three or four years ago. Sooooo, maybe if they raised the big lake limit to seven, then that should make sure that none of those pesky salmon make it to the river! 

Point being...if that's all they got in the Little M, which has repro as well as heavy plants, don't expect some phantom late run to show up in the Grand.


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## 1800fish (Apr 20, 2009)

captjimtc said:


> We're probably catching all of them in the lake before they get there..HAHA We've had double digit numbers of steelies every trip for the past two weeks out of Frankfort on the boat.....Tons of them out in the lake right now...


That's what I'm talking about. No offese by this, but why keep that many fish? Been stopping daily by a couple of rivers. No action, none. Maybe NW Michigan isnt as bad as it is down here (SW) yet.


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## no lead (Jul 28, 2005)

i've been to plaster, buck, mill, indian mill, the rogue, and 6th st in the last few days. very little fish activity seen. a few here and there. no run to speak of.

i wonder if there is a golf forum?


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## Oldgrandman (Nov 16, 2004)

thousandcasts said:


> Point being...if that's all they got in the Little M, which has repro as well as heavy plants, don't expect some phantom late run to show up in the Grand.


No I wouldn't think so this season. I know I said it could happen but I won't be placing any bets on it either....it is the 3rd weekend in October and in the best spawning water downtown, there are very few beds around right now. Should be more than you could count! 
This is the poorest salmon run I have ever seen.


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## Vicious Fishous (Sep 12, 2006)

I caught and released a few in Lansing in the last couple days. Some hens were dime bright, and the males in full spawning colors. But spotty at best. I have never seen the trails as beat down as they are this year. Checking the likely spots I didn't see alot of "whole" redds dug either, just a bunch of half ***** gouges in the gravel. I'm sure they were ripped off promply after showing up. I usually get to call the RAP line on a few snaggerbillies, but I must have missed them judging by the general lack of visible fish, #2-4 sz treble pakages and other trash strewn about.
PETE


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## lancenelson (Jun 10, 2009)

That's good to hear you caught a few, vicous! It's also good to know there's other people out there catching and releasing. I hate getting weird looks and having people bitch to me when I catch something and put it back.


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## thousandcasts (Jan 22, 2002)

Actually, I was wrong on that 2800 number at the Little M wier. The 2800 was the Boardman--the Little M is actually around 8000.

Sorry for the confusion.


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## Fishslayer5789 (Mar 1, 2007)

thousandcasts said:


> They only harvested 2800 or so fish at the Little M wier this fall--which would be the lowest on record. Down from 13,000 or so harvested just three or four years ago. Sooooo, maybe if they raised the big lake limit to seven, then that should make sure that none of those pesky salmon make it to the river!
> 
> Point being...if that's all they got in the Little M, which has repro as well as heavy plants, don't expect some phantom late run to show up in the Grand.


Well stated. The Boardman River had very few fish come up this year compared to most years as well. The DNR failed to reach their egg quota there as well which also makes me wonder about whether or not the increase of bag limit in the lake was a bad idea. Everyone I know who fished the lake quite a bit this year was cleaning up almost every trip up my way so it makes me think that there may have been some overharvesting. For example, if 2 guys go out fishing on the lake and bring back 10 fish instead of 6, that could turn into 100 fish instead of 60. That's a huge difference, and yes there were many people I know that brought home double digits on several occasions. That increased bag limit may turn things into a disaster.


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## ausable_steelhead (Sep 30, 2002)

Might be more to come guys. After almost nothing, aside from a few fuzz balls floating around the last 10 days, my area lit up overnight. I'm talking nothing going on yesterday to fish everywhere today, some silver too. 

I got a late call from a buddy a couple hours before work, so I ran out and whacked 4 quick hens on skein and lost 2 others. One fish I got was skeined up still, the other three were loosies(which is what I really want anyways). None of my fish were under 15lbs. I was getting worried about my egg supply for fall runs, but not anymore:


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## thousandcasts (Jan 22, 2002)

Fishslayer5789 said:


> Well stated. The Boardman River had very few fish come up this year compared to most years as well. The DNR failed to reach their egg quota there as well which also makes me wonder about whether or not the increase of bag limit in the lake was a bad idea. Everyone I know who fished the lake quite a bit this year was cleaning up almost every trip up my way so it makes me think that there may have been some overharvesting. For example, if 2 guys go out fishing on the lake and bring back 10 fish instead of 6, that could turn into 100 fish instead of 60. That's a huge difference, and yes there were many people I know that brought home double digits on several occasions. That increased bag limit may turn things into a disaster.


The DNR got their required quota from the Little M, so everything is fine as far as stocking the hatchery is concerned. 

I 100% agree with you on the limit thing. The DNR is kinda of in a damned if they do, damned if they don't position. The biologists that I know and trust are convinced that there's too many salmon out there. They're trying to be proactive and avoid a catestrophic crash like what happened with Lake Huron. I understand all that and I can't fault them for doing what they think is best for the overall health of the fishery at this point.

I've said it many times, I'm a numbers guy that will take the numbers over the size any day of the week, so in my mind there's no such thing as too many salmon. And to me, a five fish limit is over kill for the exact same reasons you mentioned above.


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