Fishing on the Saginaw River near Bay City has slowed down a little bit, as the majority of fish that moved into the river the last couple of weeks have moved upstream into Saginaw and the Tittabawassee River or have dropped back into Saginaw Bay. There is a very large school of fish outside the mouth of the Saginaw River, the fish are in 12 to 17 feet of water between Linwood and the river mouth. These fish are being caught pretty consistently using deep diving stickbaits. One of the best baits has been a Smithwick Deep Diving Rogue. When this school of fish makes it way into the river the fishing should be tremendous in the lower river around Bay City, and then last all fall and into winter as these fish make their way upstream.
Currently the river fishing around Bay City is a little slower than it has been, spending most of the day on the river in Bay City on Sunday produced 7 fish over 15 inches including a nice 23 incher in the photo. The river in Bay City also produced lots of undersized fish in the 10-12 inch range. This is great to see! I have been using 1/4 or 3/8 oz jigs to fish in the river. When the wind is light you can use a 1/4 oz jig and maintain a vertical presentation, I prefer the 1/4 oz as it falls a little slower and also is more natural looking with a soft plastic tail. I have been having great success with soft plastics this fall and have not taken minnows along on a trip yet. A variety of soft plastics will work, my favorite is anything in pearl color that looks like a minnow or a shad. I also recommend 3-4 inch soft plastics to immitate the size of the prevalent bait in the river right now. River fishing farther upstream into Saginaw has been a little better as of late as a majority of the fish that moved into the river have swam upstream. The fishing is not fast and furious, but if you concentrate on break lines, structure, and channel edges you should be able to catch fish. The area around Wickes park has been producing fish, but also has had a high concentration of anglers. Try to stay away from the crowds as the fish will get very skittish.
Check out the trophy smallmouths in the photos as well. Often overlooked in the Great Lakes Bay Region is the bass fishing. Right under our noses is a world class smallmouth fishery on Saginaw Bay. The October-November smallmouth fishing is simply awesome with days of catching 50 fish not out of the ordinary, and fish surpassing six pounds fairly common. These fish were taken with a Big Bite Baits, Bio Tube. The key is to find structure.
I added a few photos of our catch from the past weekend. The river fishing should only get better as the fall progresses.
Good Luck & Good Fishing
