Ice or no ice, Michigan’s Saginaw Bay boasts good winter fishing

I’m not sure if I ever fished open water for walleyes in January. I know I fished in Lake Erie several times in late December. I fished the Saginaw River in December but don’t remember fishing Michigan’s Saginaw Bay in January. There’s a first time for everything, I guess.

Two years ago, we were having another one of our wimpy winters, so I posted on Facebook and asked if anyone was still fishing Saginaw Bay and would be willing to take me fishing. Friend Captain Mark Pieniozek quickly answered and said he had been out recently and would gladly take me.

We launched at the ramp at Linwood Beach Campground, which is right by the rental property Pieniozek has for his Reel Fish’n customers. Fortunately, others had launched before us, broken the skim ice that was forming, and created a path for us to get to Saginaw Bay.

Trolling is a proven method for cold-water walleyes. Elongated stickbaits work well when pulled behind in-line planer boards. The key is to go slow, between 1.0 and 1.5 mph, to induce a slow wobble out of the lures.

Depending on how deep you want them to go, the lures are let out from 25 to 100 feet behind the boards. You can add weight ahead of the lure to get them even deeper.

The Bay only had a slight chop, which was perfect for fishing. Once we got the lines out, we did a zigzag troll in 17 to 18 feet of water. We didn’t get any action for quite a while, but eventually, one of the boards pulled back ever so slightly, and I gingerly reeled in an 18-inch walleye that had latched onto the stickbait.

It was exactly what I wanted. I wanted fish to eat, and the fillets from the walleye would fit perfectly into the frying pan.

With the water temperature just above freezing, the walleyes were sluggish, but another pass through the area produced another ’eye. They weren’t showing any preference regarding color. There are days when walleyes will show a preference for a particular color or action, but this wasn’t one of them.

We picked away at them, and eventually I had my eight-fish Saginaw Bay limit. The biggest might have been 3 pounds. It was just what the doctor ordered!

We started pulling lines, and I announced, “There’s a fish on here!” The next line produced the same results. And the next. And the next. All the remaining lines had walleyes on them.

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Things had sure changed since we left the launch, though. A change in wind direction had pushed sheets of ice back into the boat ramp. Several other anglers who had worked to get their boats out were still waiting at the ramp for us.

Sharp ice can damage boat hulls and transducers and impede getting your boat out. Fortunately, the group worked in unison with boat hooks and feet to push the sheets of ice aside long enough for Pieniozek to get his boat out. The 2022-2023 open water boating season finally came to an end.

If we have a normal winter, the Bay should be frozen by January. Linwood is a great place to start the season. Safe ice usually forms there first because Linwood is sheltered from strong north winds by Nayanquing Point. Prevailing westerly wind allows safe ice to form before many other places on the Bay. You can access the ice at the DNR launch at the end of Linwood Road or Linwood Beach Campground.

You don’t have to get out very far to catch fish on first ice on the Bay. Perch invade the shallows in search of shiner minnows that come in during the fall. You can catch plenty of yellowbellies and occasionally a walleye right in the Linwood Beach Campground Marina.

Any marina where there is slightly deeper water with moored boats is going to attract schools of perch chasing shiners. The marinas near the mouth of the Saginaw River are a good example. Use caution, especially where bubblers are being used.

Once you can get on the Bay, you don’t have to go far to find fish. Perch can be found in as little as 2 or 3 feet of water. The roaming perch schools chase shiners in the shallows for a month or so before moving deeper. You can sit and wait for the schools to come to you or drill lots of holes and try to stay with the schools.

You need to make hay when you find them. A classic, barbless jigging spoon adorned with an artificial egg, or a strip of dental dam may be all you need to pluck as many perch as you can from the school before they disappear.

First ice is usually clear ice.

Try to find a patches of snow to fish on if you can or spread some of the ice from the hole around you. Keep noise to a minimum and keep your shadow off the ice.

Once you can safely get out to 10 to 14 feet of water, you can expect to find plenty of early-ice walleyes. Weeds grow out to about 15 feet of water in the Bay now. Find open pockets in the weeds that have a hard bottom.

Setting a couple of tip-ups to alert you to the location of passing schools of both perch and walleyes while jigging can be a big help.