k olson Posted April 30, 2017 Report Share Posted April 30, 2017 Just over a year ago I was invited to attend a fund raising event for a local high school that I have no loyalties except the free dinner & open bar that came with the ticket. Truth be told its pretty fancy evening with formal dress and all. As I was enjoying my cocktail and looking at the tremendous amount of gift baskets, auction items to bid on, of course they have one for a one night stay at an upscale bed in breakfast in Door County. My mind went to catching trophy smallmouth when I looked at this place and never dreamed I would win the bid, I mean really not one other person bid on it the rest of the night ?? So $220 later on a Sunday overnight overstay, I need to use this thing before it expires. Looking for contacts or information on where to fish. I have a 16' alumacraft boat I will be bringing with. I really want to stay close to shore, don't care for big water with my boat. I will also throw waders in as well in case of windy condition. Going to go this up coming month for pre-spawn. I know several guys in the club are very familiar with this area. Ed & I talked briefly about some places to fish. Any advice or local guide info I can get would be great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Buric Posted April 30, 2017 Report Share Posted April 30, 2017 Gary Nault is the guide that I have used and would recommend. If you’re leery of big water launch at Potawatomi State Park and fish Sawyer Harbor. Another option would be to launch at the Sunset Bar and Grill and fish both Riley's and Little Sturgeon Bay. Both bays are pretty well protected and really produce good smallies. Any time this coming month good sized smallies will be up shallow and damn near everywhere close to shore in those areas What ever you do avoid the weekend of the Sturgeon Bay Open Tournament, May 19 and 20th Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Briggs Posted April 30, 2017 Report Share Posted April 30, 2017 Kim I will be up there May 6th thru the 8th and May 24th thru the 27th. You could also fish Sister Bay and Egg Harbor. If you put in at the Quarry Latch you can also hit the flats. All offer good fishing fairly close to shore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Briggs Posted April 30, 2017 Report Share Posted April 30, 2017 Quarry Launch! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshw Posted May 2, 2017 Report Share Posted May 2, 2017 Sawyer harbor (Potawatomi state park launch) and little sturgeon (Carmody park boat launch) would offer you two protected areas to launch and fish. BTW, the Sturgeon bay open is not the only event to avoid. I'm up there starting on the 10th and just found out the Friday/Saturday (12th-13th) has a 150 boat field tournament as well ! The Sturgeon Bay Bass Tournament along with the smaller bass "club" tournaments that seem to take place every weeknd through mid -june. The Sturgeon bay open is the following weekend with up to a 200 boat field...lots of pressure, but lots of fish as well. I don't like tournaments and really don't like prespawn/spawn tournaments were fish are being transported. Needless to say i'll be fishing "North" to get away from some of the pressure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k olson Posted May 4, 2017 Author Report Share Posted May 4, 2017 Gary Nault is the guide that I have used and would recommend. If you’re leery of big water launch at Potawatomi State Park and fish Sawyer Harbor. Another option would be to launch at the Sunset Bar and Grill and fish both Riley's and Little Sturgeon Bay. Both bays are pretty well protected and really produce good smallies. Any time this coming month good sized smallies will be up shallow and damn near everywhere close to shore in those areas What ever you do avoid the weekend of the Sturgeon Bay Open Tournament, May 19 and 20th Thanks Ed I no idea about the tourneys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k olson Posted May 4, 2017 Author Report Share Posted May 4, 2017 Thanks guys for the info, especially about all the tourneys that happen in the month of may. I may have a change of heart & work is giving me grief about taking additional time off during our busy month's but I was wondering if these areas can be fished in the fall or do they move to deep water ? I may just go up in the fall, its beautiful up there that time of year anyways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshw Posted May 4, 2017 Report Share Posted May 4, 2017 It's a very large area to fish and bays on both sides of the peninsula hold smallmouths. You can always find some water to fish. In my opinion the better fishing of the year is may- end of June. I like to fish the early prespawn and postspawn patterns as I'm not a big bed fishing fan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe R Posted May 10, 2017 Report Share Posted May 10, 2017 I yak fish both lake and green bay side of the lake. Sturgeon Bay is the only are in door county I don't fish but I'm an odd ball I have to admit. The nice thing about door county is you can play the wind direction game and find relatively more tame lake conditions somewhere in the county. Its harder to find fish on the lake side but my best fishing days have been in lake side bays like moonlight , north bay, rowleys bay, etc. Less consistent and harder to find fish but when I did sometimes it was stacked fish in just some epic 1 hour times... Ive looked at the water on lake side and then drove over to Egg harbor or Ephraim harbor for example and vice versa would leave the green bay harbors alone when wind pounded and may head to Rowleys bay (and Mink river). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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