First time in bdn area-help pls?

[lee]

Hi,
My husband and I are planning on taking the kids to bay de noc area this weekend for camping. I was wondering if someone could tell me if big bay or little bay is better for fishing from shore and if you have any ideas for which lures/baits are best for shore fishing there too. I want to make sure this is a memorable trip for them because the last few weekends we've taken them we've only been catching very tiny blue gills in our local lakes =(

[Ashman]

If I could make a suggestion......

Go to Fayette State Park on the Garden Peninsula ( I lived there 23 years) you can camp at their campground, learn some history about the iron smelting town of Fayette, go through the historic townsite, and fish off the docks. My son caught a 16 1/2 inch perch right there in snail shell harbor in1992.

I moved away in 1996, but still get back there several times a year. It is a nice place to spend some time, and you won't forget the townsite.

[lee]

Thats actually where we are planning on camping--we usually like the more rustic campsites but we have to have electricity this weekend.
Any tips on bait?

[Ashman]

We used minnows, but don't know what works this time of year.

There is a bait shop up at Garden Corners, just west of the 183/US2 intersection. Stop in and ask them for advice. Also the bait shop guy (Chris) should be able to answer some questions, I'm sure he'll be along to add input or other places to fish.

Enjoy Fayette!

Also, if you are in the mood for pizza and ice cream, stop in at No-No's right downtown Garden. They have great food there, (the Super Yooper pizza is fantastic) not to mention they are close personal friends of mine.

[Walleyewife]

I knew we should have stopped at No No's. Went down there last weekend visiting some friends and we went over to the port bar. Didn't know about the pizza. Next time we are there we'll go. Thanks for the info!

[The Bait Shop Guy]

If you end up over here on Little Bay, your two best options would be the fishing pier at the mouth of the Gladstone harbor and in the Escanaba harbor. We've been getting some pretty good reports of some big perch being caught at the Gladstone pier, lately. Rockbass, smallmouth, and pike are common catches, too. If there's a south wind blowing into the pier, you have a good shot at catching some walleye, too.

We're catching a lot of pike down in the Escanaba harbor right now. They're mostly smaller fish in the 20 to 26 inch range, but that's still a pretty big fish to most kids. We've mostly been throwing spinnerbaits for them, but a lot of people are fishing with sucker minnows under a bobber and doing quite well. Diane and I have also started fishing for bluegills in the shallows. Just basic "worm under a bobber" fishing. We haven't been catching a ton of them yet, (typically it's better later in the month,) but we have started catching some pretty nice ones, (any 'gill that covers my hand is a nice one in my book.) You can fish from shore just about anywhere down there, and run into some fish. You can fish off of the boat docks, but you have to stay off of the smaller "finger" docks that the boats are tied up to. There's a bunch of rock rip-rap on the north side of the harbor as you head towards the lake, that always holds a lot of panfish. When the water's calm, you can look down and see all the fish. It's like fishing in an aquarium!

Hope this helps a little. Feel free to post again if you have any other questions.