Sturgeon Bay next week, Pointe Au Baril

[Jimmyspoons]

heading to an Airbnb next week for five days just off of Sturgeon Bay, putting in at Pointe Au Baril.

Looking for any insight into musky and Pickerel this time of year. Does everyone stay in the bays and inner channels or do you guys make your way out to the outer island and edge of open water? Just the wife and I in a 16.5ft legend, she likes to drag a worm across the bottom for Pickerel with the electric, so I tend to cast a lot of medium sized baits as we slow troll by structure and points with a musky rod ready to throw a few.

I've also heard that larger fish have started to move inland by the end of September and staying in Sturgeon Bay is where we should focus our time.

weather looks great, monday rain and four days of warm, windy weather after that.

[Jimmyspoons]

week is over, awesome time on the water.

weather was great, other then some wind changes, we could go anywhere we wanted. we quickly found the boat traffic around pointe au baril to be heavy, there are only a few main corridors and a lot of construction teams heading out on the water every morning to work on cottages, surprising how many there were.

water temp was 63 -64, heavy stain in land, but became crystal clear as you approached the outer islands and open water. we tried both areas but quickly found better fishing in cleaner water. we worked worm harnesses in structure in the morning, targeting 20 - 30 ft for pickerel, didn't pick one up. moved a little shallower, started catching bass. Big... most were 3 pounds with a few getting into 4 pound range, lots of fun.

as the sun came up, we switched to trolling. worked shallower bays in 12-15ft with a variety of baits and picked up pike everyday. Big, 30 inches on the norm and one absolute trophy pike. we were half mile from open water, crystal clear water. Awesome. Quick pic and I let it go. Biggest pike I have ever seen or caught.

Definitely going back, maybe try when the water temp breaks 60 degrees. Pristine shoreline, beauty cottages showing a lot of pride in ownership and rugged terrain that never fails to impress.

[Cichlid]

Sounds like a great trip. Its been years since I've been there and I want to go back after reading your report.

[jstrooms]

great report. thanks for sharing !!!

[mamona]

Great report
Pointe au baril heavy traffic - I am truly surprised.

[Jimmyspoons]

only in the morning, our cottage was right at the docks in Pointe and we would get out on the water around 6:45ish. about 7:10 or so the boats would start to motor past us. At first I thought they were guides taking people out to fish as every boat had three to six people in it. The second morning we were fishing a bay in font of a new cottage going up and around the corner comes four of these boats bringing the crew in to work on it. probably stuck behind a deadline and bringing in more help to finish. as the days passed, we would see more and more crews working on cottages.
I could be a taxi for the construction guys... drop them off and stop on the way back for a few casts before I get the next load.

[Collingwood Dean]

...Looks like a great time...with some nice fish!
...I have also seen how busy it can be first thing in the morning
...once that dies down , you can find spots where nobody is around...true paradise!

[Icemanburl]

Awesome trip and great fish, congrats man

[plott hound]

what a great idea doing an AIRBNB.looks like you had a blast.cheers man.

[Northshore]

Great report thnx for sharing. Recently moved just a bit north of where you fished and I have mostly fished Manitoulin Island since moving up here will have to give Byng Inlet and Key River a try to see if it follows the pattern you describe, I am thinking it will as it is only about 25 to 40km north

[karas]

THANK YOU FOR YOUR REPORT