Grand River fishing in February is known to produce some of the biggest walleye and steelhead of the year. It’s going to be one of the best months to catch a wall monster with the big breeder walleyes coming up from Lake Michigan to spawn. The key on catching these big fish is hole jumping. Not just going in a spot and fishing it all day long. Fish a spot for a half hour or forty five minutes. If you don’t catch any fish go to another spot.
The more water you cover, the better your chances are in hooking that fish of your dreams. Use ¼ ounce buck tail jig to a half ounce. Or a lot of guys love using a three inch White Twister tails, jig and live minnows. Use these baits in the slack water edges and bring them in slow as you can. When you’re reeling in look at your rod tip because they’re not going to hit like a summertime bass would. Your rod tip will just start going down. They are light biters this time of year. So if you think you have a bite set the
hook. If you don’t set the hook you’re not going to catch anything.
Husky Jerks are good go to as well. When you are throwing Husky Jerks on the Grand River, throw them out there and then give it about three jerks as you are reeling down. When you hit the bottom you want to slow up your retrieve as much as you can and then reel in 3 to 4 feet, violently jerk the bait a couple times and then begin your slow retrieve
again. Repeat this action as you reel in. When you are covering water with a jerk bait I like to start out by casting about 6 to 10 feet downstream away from the bank. Walleye are lazy and they’re going to find the slackest water to be in. The more you hug the bank and the slack water edges, the more fish you will catch. The best spot downtown is on the west side of the river walking from Fulton up to the dam.
For the steelhead action on the Grand River concentrate on the deeper holes, light line, jigs, and wax worms. My favorite jig to use this time of year is a small white calf tail
jig with a little flash on it. The east side wall and the post office wall are the top spots this time of year. You don’t even need to put your waders on this time of year. Fulton Street bridge produces a lot of fish this time of year as well. You will find guys running a couple Hot-n-Tots o the bridge and then back bouncing small bags down the river.
Use enough lead just to keep it down and tick the bottom. Ice fishing is in full swing all around Grand Rapids right now. Reeds Lake is producing good numbers of pike, crappie, gills, and perch. If you want to catch pike go on the north side of the sunken island and put some tip ups along the north side of the bank. Use sucker minnows or golden shiners 3 to 4 feet o the bottom. They’re hitting bluegills in 20 to 30 feet of water on white and red spikes and wax worms. Perch are being caught in 30 to 40 feet of water on wigglers and spikes. The crappies have been getting caught in 30 to 50 feet of water suspended about 15 to 20 feet down on minnows and wax worms.
Take a buddy Fishing and stop by the store. We are open seven days a week and get fresh bait five days a week. There is a convenient service bell you can use 24 hours a day right on the inside of the door to get you on the water any time you’re ready.
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