Baileys Harbor Report

[evntam]

Just got back last night with two cooler's full from Bailey's Harbor. Fishing was awesome for us. The water was relatively calm for all the time we were there, which helped us fish with all 4 kids in the boat - as they mostly slept in the cabin during the prime fishing time in the AM.

We were a bit more aggressive about when we hit the water and it paid off for us. One night, the full moon came up at 8PM, and there was absolutely no wind at all, so we hit the lake at 9PM and trolled all night with flat calm moonlight - and there were no boats at all out there. Talk about fun when the fish started to hit at about 1AM. The first boats started to come out at a bit before 4AM, and we're trying to count the fish we had in the cooler.

Other mornings, we were on the water with lines down by 3AM. Evening fishing was limited with those timelines. Besides, AM fishing for us was done by around 7AM.

All in all, we had AM trips with 7, 2, 11, 10, and 7, with numerous "shakers" that were released. The time from first light to sun up was just rediculously fun. Fish ranged from 6 to 17 lbs, with just over 10 being the average. We had two times when we had triples on and once we got all 3 in with all of them in the teens - got it on video too.

What worked in the AM?

Glow J-plugs (blue and green) and the spoons listed next off dipseys 90 to 110 back on a #3 setting

Best spoons 35-50 feet down included: NBK, glow white with back dots, glow white with red dots, glow Fishlander watermellon, and glow blue dophin.

Two nice salmon hit a glow jplug behind two colors of lead on a church board.

Only two kings were caught off flies - our worst trip ever for flies. Both came off glow flies - one green glow flasher/fly and one off a glow white dodger/fly.

I could ramble on, but at the moment, I'm too tired - What a great trip.

[OUTDOORNUT]

Nice work! Gota love a peaceful evening on the water like that, along with the thrill of wrestling with some big Kings! I assume you didn't encounter any nets off of Bailey's did you?

[ReelTimes]

Nice report EV. When I took my family, I was pretty lucky if I had my lines in the water about the time you were pulling your rig out. Just can't get everyone going that early. Next trip will be with the guys and will be fishing during more productive times

[Jim Hudson]

EV

Sounded like a great trip.. Glad you guys had fun and had a few tug on the lines... Any really good screamers?

[evntam]

No nets any where! - heard that they were still finding the fish they wanted in the bays - don't know when or if that will change.

Got at least 2 of my 4 kids to sleep in the cabin, which made it easier to transition the rest in there in the AM.

As for screamers, heck yes, lots of them. One hit a dipsey set at 90 feet, and was out to 444 feet before I could hand it off to my wife. Talk about fun. Once they get over 12-13 lbs, you have a good chance to start wearing out the clickers on your reels.

My wife and I know we have an addiction, and we're ok with it...

My Dad is still out there - just got off the phone with him a few minutes ago. They caught 5 this AM before one of his fishing partners got too seasick, and they had to go in - which was too bad because they were still in the early morning "happy hour"

[anordqu42]

Sounds like a great time. We've been tempted to stay out all night and see what happens. I bet it was pretty incredible out there with a big bright moon and flat calm. Plus it doesn't hurt to catch some fish!!

[fishgutz77]

I can't wait until july to get out there again.

[fishgutz77]

Just a report for those of you headed out to Baileys or Gills Rock:

We fished the 10th-13th and at baileys found fish from 50-75 fow and anywhere in the water column. Best lures where #4 trout J-plug and 6" black and chrome gramma lure (body Bait) run 30 down 60-80 back. took 1 bow and 3 kings on thursday during good weather. water temps all over the map ranging 54-62.1

Things slowed down and we decided to go to Gills Rock and get out of the rough water where we found water temps at 67-68 and fish where in 80-110 fow, 50-60 feet down. best lures where the glow #4 J-plug and glow spoon and again the 6" black gramma lure.

3 1/2 days of fishing only netted 10 fish but lost 5 other big fish due to terminal tackle failer and operator error( code for we screwed up a couple of times) so we should have left with 15.

Some boats doing better some worse, and we never got a fish on dippsys or flies combinations like last year. The water needs to settle down after warming up to get a good pattern established.

be ready to try anything and everything when you go out. We did run long lines off planner boards but did not hook up there either. ran a single line of lead core out 5-7 colors and did not produce as well. Here's some pix of the fish we did get.

It's always somthing different out there and we had a great time we all just would have liked the wind to be under 30 mph next time. Many small boats did not fish on saturday due to high winds and 5-7 ft water.

[evntam]

Thanks for the report FGutz!

Over in Bailey's now.

Yesterday AM, all lines down by 4AM - 8 fish in by 6AM, 14 in by 10AM. All in all, went 14 for 16 (3 bows and 11 kings), with 5 between 13 and 17.5 lbs - had the two biggest on at the same time - Gee, this fishing is no fun at all (ha!).

Fish hit riggers 25, 35 and 45 down, board lines with 2 and 5 colors. One bow on a #3 setting on a dipsey - 75 out with a silver #4 jplug, and a #4 setting on a slide diver with a spoon. Beside the one on a j-plug, all fish came on spoons -glow til sun up, then a smattering of silver spoons with various colors - three of them off monkey puke 25 down.

Wind warmed up water here about 10 degrees from yesterday, and now watching to see what storms will do before making evening/ morning plans.

Ok, that's my rambeling report - hope it helps.

[NorthMNdrifter]

We got back late Sunday from a couple of days of fishing and, as mentioned, the winds kind of kept us limited to where we fished.. We never got out into the main lake but we were fortunate enough to fish out of Gills Rock and Ellison Bay and the fishing was fine... We ended up with 7 fish averaging around 15 lbs, with the largest just shy of 20... We caught all of ours on spoons ranging in depth from 30 to 70' down over 100 fow... closer in to shore... It was a blast and can't wait to get back...

[anordqu42]

Fished out Baileys a few times this past weekend and had pretty decent luck. 3 AM trips Sat,Sun,Mon produced 9,8,8 fish respectively (Lines down by 4:15am and done by 8/9am). Saturday the Pre-Dawn bite was hot with 4 fish boated before I got the full spread out. Sunday/Monday completely different, as I got all 6 lines down before we even got a hit. Other boats reported similar. Two possible factors...Saturday: Big brite moon and clear skies, cloudy the other two days. Or possibly the down temps. Saturday had 55 degree water at 25ft...Sunday/Monday had it 55-60 feet down. Most fishing was done 75-90 fow all days.

One evening run produced 5 fish in two hours, but unfortunately we needed to head back early (7pm) to put the daughter to bed. And I say unfortunate because 3 of the 6 lines were brought in because they had fish on them!

Hot stuff for me were Luhr Jensen's Diamond King Spoons. The #5 Everglo Green took 5 of 9 fish the first morning 150ft back on a dipsey (3.5). It slowed up other mornings but still managed a couple fish each day. Along with a couple other colors (brown melon and alewife), this spoon took approx 15 of 30 fish. They were mainly ran on dipsies. Second hottest was a #5 green glo black ladderback J-Plug on a fullcore of lead. This rig took some of the biggest fish, including a few kings in the upper teens, one pushing 20lbs, and a 30" steelhead. A couple of the crew actually refused to reel in the fullcore when it had a big fish...especially after a couple fish screamed out past 700ft! Third was a SWR ran with a green/glow needle nose spoon near bottom...this was effective the second two mornings when the bite was a bite later (6am-ish).

The steelhead the wife reeled in...

Father-in-law with a nice king...

Overall, good trip with quite a few nice fish, a bunch of decent eaters and only a couple shakers. Some boats had similar luck, others not so much. Talked to one boat that couldn't keep the shakers off...12-15 in a few trips. Chatter in the harbor was the fishing was off, but a lot of these boats were fishing around each other. I was south a bit and only saw a handful of boats near me all weekend...

ALSO: We lost a few large fish due to line or tackle failure. Twice I had my PowerPro snap, but the baffling one was on a brute that hit a J-Plug on the full core. After a short battle (mostly one-sided, fish winning) the eyelet on the bead chain pulled out. Anyone have that happen before?? I've always wondered how strong they are.

[fishgutz77]

We were out of Baileys a couple of weeks ago and had 2 big fish destroy #4 J-plugs one we got in and the other just said good bye and left the coast lock swivel opened up and the harness gone. best colors were trout and glow plugs

[Borch]

We fished the Washington Island area with a very slow bite July 25-28. Ended up with 14 for 2 boats over 4 days. Biggest King was 19 lbs 10 oz with most being in the low to mid teens. The bite seemed to be picking up a bit on the last day we fished.

Hot lure, (Hot being a relative term) was glo green, pearl or Kevorcian spoons of various manufacturers. The wind really mixed up the water in the areas we were able to get to with temps being at times warmer 60 ft down than on the surface.

[Stumpf Lake]

We just returned from Baileys Harbor and the fishing was terrible for everyone across the board. Charters had trouble scratching out a half dozen fish.

It sounds like the fishing was poor last week all the way up and down the Door. Hopefully the fishing will improve through the rest of the month; we'll be back in a few weeks.

[anordqu42]

Any current reports from the peninsula? I'm head back again, fishing 8/22-24 and then again 8/29-9/2. Just wondering if its picked up at all? Thanks!