During the last few winters I have had the opportunity to participate in the annual Ice Fishing Vacation/School at Saginaw Bay hosted by walleye pro Mark Martin and his staff of professional anglers. My invitations were sent to me as a member of the press, but I also considered myself to be a “learning student” since my ice fishing experiences was limited. I learned a great deal from these masters of the art and I did not come away disappointed.

My previous ice fishing experiments included the usual forays onto the hard water for crappies, bluegills, and largemouth bass, with a few “saugeyes” thrown in for good measure, and good eatin’ later. And even though I had fished in several states and a couple of Canadian provinces for walleyes and smallies, my first trip to Saginaw Bay was to be my first shot at pulling both species up through the ice.

The school itself began with a seminar conducted by Mark at Linwood Beach Marina on Saginaw Bay, where the visiting anglers were instructed on techniques, tackle, rigging, safety, and all were given a bag of free tackle products from Berkley, Rapala, Northland tackle and other sponsors. Then, with a trip to nearby Frank’s Great Outdoors where one could stock up on needed items, we were well outfitted for the next two days on the ice.

Each morning we departed from the marina on snowmobiles and quads, towing shelters. And then we made a several-mile run to productive spots that the savvy pros had located on previous days. After drilling many holes with StrikeMaster augers and setting up our shanties, we tied on lures such as Northland Buckshot Rattle Spoons, Rapala jigging lures and a variety of lures from TTI Blakemore (the red hooks work great).

Did we catch fish? You’d better believe it.

This ol’ farm boy sat in Mark Martin’s ultra-comfortable Otter Outdoors shelter and jigged up his first of several walleyes through the ice; I couldn’t have been happier. To add “icing” to the cake, I also pulled up my first bronzeback, a respectable 2 1/2-pounder.

On day two, the total number of bites for all angler/students was somewhere around 300. The fish literally came in waves. The scenario went something like this: Catch a fish, unhook it, snap a few photos, pour a cup of coffee and keep your lure in the water, then wait for the next hookup. It was not unusual to look out the opening in a shelter and see several anglers tossing fish out onto the ice. When you saw that you could expect a bite at any moment.

The fishing is very good at Saginaw Bay, but during that particular year’s school the water was exceptionally clear, allowing us to see the fish as they came in to look at the lures. Even so, they still were wary and we often needed to tempt their taste buds by tipping our spoons with Berkley Gulp Fish Heads. One productive technique involved dropping the lure to the bottom, bouncing it, then raising it a few inches and giving it a few twitches. If that did not work, we would drop a minnow-tipped spoon for jigging and in the adjacent hole drop a minnow-tipped spoon, which was deadsticked. The only action imparted to it was an occasional tap on the rod. Often, more strikes came on the “dead” lure than on the jigged rod.

Martin commented that there has been a change in the predator/prey relationship in the bay, and that over the years the alewives—which were a walleye food source and also readily gobbled the walleye fry—have disappeared from the bay. This now allows the walleyes to turn to other food sources, such as gobies and other “nuisance” species and it also enables the walleyes to spawn without so many of their fry being gobbled by alewives. Martin went on to say that he believes Saginaw Bay to be one of the premier sites for catching several species of fish.

My return trips to this fabled body of water have had mixed results. As with any fishing experience, some years were great, some were mediocre, but always there was enough good fish caught to make it fun. Saginaw Bay offers top quality for both the novice and experienced angler. All in all, it was a great experience in Michigan.

For more information … If an ice fishing vacation on the eastern side of Michigan sounds appealing to you, then go online to saginawbay.com, or baycity.com for information on local attractions. Visit markmartins.net for information on the 2015 Ice Fishing/Vacation Schools. Also, for more information, check with Linwood Marina at linwoodbeachmarina.com. Their knowledgeable staff will be glad to offer daily fishing reports.