Blade Fishing Report: Michigan anglers take records

The best angling information from area experts. • Michigan records: The state has seen two records fall in recent months. In late April, Owen Seay of Big Rapids was baitcasting in the Muskegon River in Mecosta County when he landed a quillback carpsucker that weighed nine pounds, 15 ounces and measured 24.75 inches. That eclipsed the previous state record, an 8.52-pound fish taken at Hardy Dam Pond in Newaygo County in 2015. About a month later, Garrett Rice of Athens took a 33-pound bigmouth buffalo that went more than three feet long while bowfishing on Lake Erie in Monroe County. That fish was one pound heavier than the previous record, which came out of the Shiawassee River in Saginaw County last year. • Lake Erie: While the focus of many anglers and charter boat operations this time of the season has been on targeting the deeper, cooler water found east of the islands or north toward the international boundary, captain Mike McCroskey and his clients recently located active fish in about 27 feet of water west of West Sister Island. Big Mike said they worked gold Weapons right along the bottom and this variation of the weight-forward Lake Erie walleye lure brought the group 33 fish on one particular drift. When the outing ended, their 36 keepers weighed in at 83 pounds. McCroskey said he is certain that the lake's large walleye hatch classes from recent years are putting on weight and presenting anglers with an abundance of ideal "keeper" size fish. The lake waters east of Kelleys Island continue to produce good catches of fish for anglers who don't hesitate to take a little longer to reach the prime fishing grounds. Trollers using stickbaits at 70 to 90 feet back and fished at 2.0-2.4 miles per hour have reported taking good numbers of walleye in the 20 to 22 inch class, with a few larger ones in the mix, and some "shorts" to sort through. • Maumee River: The best bite has come in the first few hours after sundown for the catfish anglers who have been working the deeper holes and using worms, cut bait and shrimp fished on the bottom. For fishermen choosing to hit the waterway just as the sun comes up, a variety of fish has been caught just below the dam at Grand Rapids, with live minnows fished under a bobber the best producing combination. Elsewhere on the river, angler Gary Franks caught three decent-sized smallmouth bass and a couple of catfish while fishing a section of the river above Waterville with a chartreuse micro-spinner. • Lake St. Clair: It is no secret the St. Clair muskies like hot weather, and with temperatures regularly in the nineties, the fish have been in a very cooperative mood lately according to muskie pro and Lake St. Clair guide Spencer Berman. The Sylvania native reports the lake's water temperature has moved into the 70- to 77-degree range in the prime muskie fishing areas and the apex predators are feeding heavily as the warming water spikes their metabolic rate. • Irish Hills: While the bluegill fishing has hit the doldrums on most of the lakes in this southeast Michigan region, the anglers targeting northern pike have done well in the hot weather, taking fish consistently while trolling with plugs and stickbaits. A couple of brag-able size fish in the 26- to 30-inch range were part of the most recent catch. • Hatchery kill: A bacterial outbreak of something called Lactococcus garviea has shut down three hatcheries in southern California and killed thousands of rainbow trout. The infection was discovered in late April and the Mojave River hatchery alone lost approximately 50,000 rainbows. The outbreak has forced fisheries biologists to suspend all fish stocking in the southern part of the state. The bacteria is especially troubling since it sometimes leaves some fish completely asymptomatic, while others are lethargic and display bulging eyes, an enlarged abdomen, and erratic movement. ——— ©2020 The Blade (Toledo, Ohio) Visit The Blade (Toledo, Ohio) at www.toledoblade.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.