Fishing the Bay ( Saginaw bay, Michigan)

[Mbirdsley]

July the 12 I took the day off and weather depending on weather I want to fish the Saginaw bay for smallies.  On a good day I have no problem being 2-3 miles out in my 14 footer mirror craft (I have handheld radio, flares, life jackets.) 

 

The inner Saginaw bay is fairly shallow in most places minus the shipping channel coming out of the mouth and heading NE to Lake Huron I have been 3-4 miles and struggled to find 9 foot of water for perch.

 

looking at maps and talking to some people I think I will launch on the west side or possibly baycity ( if it is too rough I can fish the Saginaw river)

 

with such an expanse of basically feature less water am I basically looking for the weed lines.  I was thinking a Carolina rig and cranks would be good to start with. Both would be good for covering water. I can make egg sinkers from 1/8 to 3 oz.  I could chamfer the inside dia to get rid of any burrs.  What is a prototypical Carolina sinker? The *** Carolina video the guy was using 20 lbs mono and 20 lbs fluoro leader.  Biggest mono I have is 10 lbs along with 10 lbs fluoro.  I understand that you use heavy sinkers for Carolina but,why such heavy line.

 

also open to any advice about bass fishing “the Bay”

[TnRiver46]

If you fish a heavy sinker with light line it breaks when you set the hook. You can still use your 10 Lb line but I wouldn’t use more than 3/8 oz sinker with 10 Lb line, and even that seems a little generous. THe beauty of a Carolina rig is that it stays glued to the bottom due to the heavy sinker so I would say get some 20 Lb line and pour some 1 oz sinkers. You could go a little lighter than 20 on the leader but I like the main line to be strong enough to plow with 

[Mbirdsley]

I’ll use the smaller sinkers than.  I don’t want rip all my line off to try one technique. Could I just splice some heavier stuff in? I only have two baitcaster one with 10 lbs mono that I use for cranks and spoons and than a heavy jig/t-rig pole with 30lvs power pro. I also have a finesse spinning rod with 8 lbs braid that is it for bass rods.  I’m thinking of selling other rods for more bass stuff. .  

 

Maybe I will not need to use the Carolina rig but, I’m thinking about putting out of Linwood or Au Grey which is 1.5-2 hrs away so I plan on fishing all day.  I just want to be prepaired with Plan A,b,c,and D in case nothing works. 

[TnRiver46]

You could use the Carolina rig with the 30 Lb power pro. Then a heavy sinker, bead, and swivel. The bead will protect your knot from being slammed by the lead. 

[Mbirdsley]

On 7/3/2018 at 7:26 AM, TnRiver46 said:

You could use the Carolina rig with the 30 Lb power pro. Then a heavy sinker, bead, and swivel. The bead will protect your knot from being slammed by the lead. 

Would you use a lightrr wire hook with braid or can I use the heavier hooks like normal? 

[TnRiver46]

Well the leader should absorb the shock so I would say use whichever hook you need to match the soft plastic bait