Date: 6-28-15
Body of Water: East Traverse Bay
Boat: Numenon
With: Alone
Target: SMB
Time: 7:30 AM to 1:30 PM
Conditions: Nice! Clear, bright and calm, with water temperatures from 65 To 67 F. Bass were everywhere with respect to the spawn.
A friend of mine sent some pictures of some fine smallies he'd caught earlier in the week. With his intel, a bit of encouragement through facebook advertising, and having done my homework on Lake Leelanau earlier in the month, I finally did it. That is to say, I launched the boat on Michigan's Traverse Bay in pursuit of smallmouth bass.
While the fishing wasn't quite as good as I'd experienced on Lake St. Clair or Lake Leelanau earlier in the season, it was still a very nice experience. Once again I can only shake my head that it has taken me this long to finally tackle some of these fisheries.
The specific information I had indicated sight fishing for spawners; and I even had a pretty precise starting point. This panned out okay for me, but the fishing just got better as I explored to the north. This is big water, and I expect if one isn't happy with the current situation here one can move and find bass in a condition more to one's liking. I got more precise with my presentations and more confident as the day progressed; and the bass seemed to be getting bigger.
And I should note, that while most fish succumbed to an Uncle Josh Pork Worm presented drop-shot style, I caught the biggest bass on a smokey 3" Power Grub. This produced big bass either slowly retrieved on blind casts through likely areas, or dropped directly into beds and "left dead" for a while, until the resident bass picked it up. My bass fell from areas between 3 and 10 feet deep, although the bigger ones were definitely on the deeper side, and I bet even bigger bass were spawning deeper. The clear waters of the bay would certainly support this.
A friend of mine sent some pictures of some fine smallies he'd caught earlier in the week. With his intel, a bit of encouragement through facebook advertising, and having done my homework on Lake Leelanau earlier in the month, I finally did it. That is to say, I launched the boat on Michigan's Traverse Bay in pursuit of smallmouth bass.
While the fishing wasn't quite as good as I'd experienced on Lake St. Clair or Lake Leelanau earlier in the season, it was still a very nice experience. Once again I can only shake my head that it has taken me this long to finally tackle some of these fisheries.
 |
| Upon arrival at the ramp, I was greeted with this very good sign! I follow this guide on facebook, and he fishes a variety of waters in Northern Michigan in search of the best bite. He could have been many other places this day, but he was here! |
 |
| Numenon finally sits in the beautiful waters of Traverse Bay. This is the ramp on Old Mission Peninsula on the west side of East Bay. The best water for this day was directly across the bay. |
The specific information I had indicated sight fishing for spawners; and I even had a pretty precise starting point. This panned out okay for me, but the fishing just got better as I explored to the north. This is big water, and I expect if one isn't happy with the current situation here one can move and find bass in a condition more to one's liking. I got more precise with my presentations and more confident as the day progressed; and the bass seemed to be getting bigger.
And I should note, that while most fish succumbed to an Uncle Josh Pork Worm presented drop-shot style, I caught the biggest bass on a smokey 3" Power Grub. This produced big bass either slowly retrieved on blind casts through likely areas, or dropped directly into beds and "left dead" for a while, until the resident bass picked it up. My bass fell from areas between 3 and 10 feet deep, although the bigger ones were definitely on the deeper side, and I bet even bigger bass were spawning deeper. The clear waters of the bay would certainly support this.
 |
| Miles and miles of such water; I caught most of my bass sight-fishing in the clear, green shallows, but I found a pile of bass along this break into the deep blue water. |
 |
 |
| Each of these is a different fish, I promise! No giants were encountered, but these are all respectable fish; and there were many other smaller, un-photographed fish, too. |
What do I have to say about this?
It was a long day trip, but what a day! It provided a nice contrast of new and old; I'm learning sight fishing and the use of drop shot techniques, and I'd never used Uncle Josh's Pork Worms before. But the good old Power Grub on a light jig head (variations of which I've been fishing with for 40 years or more) produced the biggest and finickiest fish.
This is clearly a beautiful setting; much more so than Lake St. Clair. It's a scooch closer to home, too, so I'll have to spend more time here in the future.
Admittedly, I've got lots to learn. Being able to see the bass certainly boosts one confidence, and now that I know some good spawning areas, I'll have a lot of confidence visiting these areas in the colder, pre-spawn conditions of earlier spring. I'm intimidated by the deeper water, but I bet I can call some up with top waters and/or jerk baits; and I can only get better and more confident with drop-shotting and Carolina rigging.
It was a long day trip, but what a day! It provided a nice contrast of new and old; I'm learning sight fishing and the use of drop shot techniques, and I'd never used Uncle Josh's Pork Worms before. But the good old Power Grub on a light jig head (variations of which I've been fishing with for 40 years or more) produced the biggest and finickiest fish.
This is clearly a beautiful setting; much more so than Lake St. Clair. It's a scooch closer to home, too, so I'll have to spend more time here in the future.
Admittedly, I've got lots to learn. Being able to see the bass certainly boosts one confidence, and now that I know some good spawning areas, I'll have a lot of confidence visiting these areas in the colder, pre-spawn conditions of earlier spring. I'm intimidated by the deeper water, but I bet I can call some up with top waters and/or jerk baits; and I can only get better and more confident with drop-shotting and Carolina rigging.
No comments:
Post a Comment