Heading out to the river the first time this year. Talked to a few guys and there is 6" of ice in most areas. But like any ice surface with water flowing under it you need to proceed with caution. I heard they are getting some nice size fish in downtown Saginaw by the K.F.C. and lots of small ones in other areas. But this time of year the males are up the river first before the big females come up to spawn.

went out yesterday and today yesterday was fun but no keepers I caught about 25 eye's the biggest was 14 1/2". Today I went out and the weather did a total flip flop and so did the bite, I caught 8 fish and snagged all but one in the gill or belly. Still no keepers. I had tons of bites and was marking fish on the vexilar but they were biting real light. there was a good 10 inches of ice today and the current wasn't very swift at all. The water looked clear as the Saginaw river gets. It seemed there weren't as many shanty's as yesterday out there today. Could be the cold kept the guys on the sofa, but there seemed like a lot of guys were coming out after noon.

sorry haven't posted on the walleye fishing lately.Been on the river fishing and plowing snow. Things on the river are starting to pick up lots of small fish being caught with the occasional keeper. The bigger fish are starting to show up have seen pics on another web site of a few 4+ pound fish. I personally caught a nice 193/4" 3.08 lb fish. Lots of 15" eaters being caught right now. The guys on the Saginaw Bay have been doing better with the largest fish in our local contest being caught out there. 10.91lb.s. Before the storm they were going out 5-12 miles on the ice now you need to have a snow machine to get out on the ice because of about 5" of sluch under the snow and 2-3' drifts on the ice and 6-7' drifts near shore. The guys using Quads have all but been shut down.

Not looking good for the river fishermen here with the warm weather we had the ice is real shaky and the weather forecast is calling for 9-15" of snow the next few days. The snow will cover the bad areas on the ice making foot travel hazardous. The wind the last couple day has blown shanties all over the place with guys looking for the lost ones on the ice. Saginaw bay gobbled up a few shanties and a large lodge some guys built. the heat from the sun and 50° temps melted the ice under them. The guys were going to take it off the ice today and when they went to get it it was half submerged. They did get it off the ice disassembling it to do so.

when do you guys start getting thick ice in Michigan?

depends on the weather of coarse and how far north ya want ta go. so far this year its been getting cold enough to put skim ice on the shallow ponds but thats been it. last year we were on the ice by christmas.
so far this year it looks like it won't be safe ice until after the 1st of the year. unless we get some really cold tempts.....like say zero or cold fer a few days in a row

They are fishing some of the lakes in Northern Mi right now but in shallow water and there is only about 3-4" of ice.  They are hammering the perch on saginaw bay just off shore at the river mouths. Nice fish too 11-13" but you got to be in the right place at the right time. Guys using perch rigs were just getting dinks the guys I know are using Ice fishing jigs tipped with a minnow. The weather this year is sucking for us ice guys. we are usually on the ice about everywhere by now. We need a real sub-zero cold front to get on the Saginaw river or bay. I was down to the river the other day and there were about 15 trailers at the boat launch. I have my boat winterized but since hunting season is over I am seriously thinking about getting it out.

Oh yeah I live about 2 blocks from the Saginaw river and will post some ice reports here when there is safe ice. The lake I heard they have been fishing on are Houghton, Caddilac, wiggens, and a lot of the smaller lakes North of west branch, Mi.

Oh yeah I live about 2 blocks from the Saginaw river and will post some ice reports here when there is safe ice. The lake I heard they have been fishing on are Houghton, Caddilac, wiggens, and a lot of the smaller lakes North of west branch, Mi.

Well our local shiver on the river walleye tournament started yesterday. If you guys are planing on heading up here to fish bring your boat and forget the shanty. We had a heavy rain storm the other day and with the warm temp.s the ice didn't hold up and the river is opened up. Most of the launches are open in the saginaw area they took backhoe's and push the shore ice out of the launches and put the docks in. The guys that have been out have been doing real well and they are saying the fish are stacked up in the tibbitawasse river. I'm getting my boat out of mothballs tomorrow and hope to be out fishing next week. Have to wait for my fishing partner that has one of those job things that gets in the way of fishing.

Also there have been some guy out on Saginaw Bay but there also have been a bunch of them getting soakers the ice is very unpredictable right now. They were hammering the perch in about 3-4 feet of water but my one friend said he was out there the other day and said the ice is no longer safe. Today we had 30-40 moh winds and it more than likely pushed a lot of the ice out of the bay. The sattelite views of the saginaw bay don't look good. We really need some sub-zero temps.