Fishers Of Men Recon
Saginaw: Offshore Smallies Or Inshore Largemouths?

Photo: FLW Outdoors/Jennifer Simmons FLW Tour pro Kevin Vida says largemouths are a viable option at Saginaw Bay this time of year, but be prepared to cover a lot of water.

But the bay is also known for its abundant largemouth fishing, which can sometimes overshadow the smallmouths. Anglers plying the tules and weedbeds in shallow water can come across large concentrations of prespawn largemouths and load the boat quickly with tournament-winning fish.

Also, like many lakes across the nation, abundant snow and rain over the winter has raised the water level a foot this spring. That may not seem like much, but considering the sheer size of the bay, one vertical foot adds an enormous amount of fishable water.

In order to get an idea of what anglers can expect this Saturday at the Fishers of Men tournament, BassFan contacted Berkley pro-staff member, FLW Tour angler and Michgan resident Kevin Vida for his take on Saginaw Bay.

Here are his thoughts.

Two Opportunities

“This time of year there are two deals that happen,” Vida said. “For one, the smallmouths are looking to spawn and the largemouths are in the shallows.

“The smallies are the main key,” he said. “There are two possibilities this time of year – if the water is warm enough, they’ll be up looking to spawn, or they’ll be off the breaks that lead to the shallow rocky areas.

“With the largemouths, they’re going to be shallow in the tule-lined shores or in the grass beds,” he said. “In fact, if the water is too cold, this is the pattern I’d try. The reason is if you find one largemouth in an area, there can be hundreds, and they’ll be good fish.

“The problem with this pattern, though, is the grass beds are sparse and you have to cover a lot of water in order to find the fish.”

Smallies = Tubes and Jerkbaits

“If the smallies are spawning, you can find them on any rock,” Vida said. “My favorite technique for this is simple – a 4-inch Mizmo tube rigged on a Fenwick Techna AV spinning rod with 10-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon line. I use a 3/16- or 1/4-ounce Bite Me jig-head and cover as much water as I can looking for bedded fish.

“For prespawn fish, I go with a jerkbait,” he said. “I target the breaks in 7 to 8 feet of water outside the spawning areas. This can be a fun way to fish because if the fish are staging in these areas, you can load the boat quickly.”

Here again he uses a Techna AV spinning rod with 10-pound Trilene 100% fluorocarbon line. His bait preference is a Rapala Husky Jerk or a Lucky Craft Pointer.

“Most of the smallmouths will be in the Charity Islands and Tawas areas of the bay,” he noted. “The water temp out there will be in the low 50s."

Flipping Largemouths

“Again, the largemouths will be in the shallow grass and the best method to get to them is flipping,” Vida said. “For this I like to use a 7-inch Berkley Power Worm (junebug) or a 4-inch Berkley Chigger Craw (green-pumpkin) rigged with a 1/4- to 3/8-ounce worm weight.

“My rod is a 7-foot medium-heavy Techna AV casting rod with 17-pound 100% fluorocarbon line.”

Because there’s so much water to cover between grass beds, he uses a search technique to do it at a faster pace.

“I like to throw a white homemade buzzbait while looking for active fish this time of year,” he said.

“Anglers can find the largemouths from the Winwood area to Augers,” he added.

The River Option

“I’ve heard the fish in the river are doing well right now,” Vida said. “But the river doesn’t have the quality of fish that the bay has. In the lake, an 18- to 19-pound limit of fish is common, where the river will produce limits in the 12- to 14-pound class.

“Also, the river is more stained than the bay and is conducive to flipping a jig or running a shallow crankbait. But if the wind is blowing this could be the only option.”

Notable

> “I hope the wind doesn’t blow for these guys,” Vida said. “The bay is huge and if you’re in the middle fishing the islands, you can’t see the mainland. It’s a monster when it blows.”

> “If the guys get on a largemouth bite, they can have a hundred-fish day no problem.”

> He feels it will take at least 17 pounds to win the tournament and if the smallmouths are on the spawn, it’ll take over 20 pounds.