NumenOn the Water
Date: 9-14 through 18-16
Date: 9-14 through 18-16
Body of Water: Burt, Douglas, Crooked and Walloon Lakes
Boat: Numenon
With: Generally Alone
Target: Smallmouth and Largemouth Bass
Time: Any time from 7 AM to 7 PM or so
9-14-16: Conditions at the Maple Bay State Forest Boat Ramp and Campground on Burt Lake were clear at 7 AM, but the North wind was already starting to build. Water temperatures were noted to be 68-70 degrees F, and the water was very clear with a mild green stain. I went around the prominent point guarding the north side of the bay, where I noted nice bottom for smallmouth (some gravel and rocks), with a long flat breaking sharply into the main lake basin. I worked a jerk bait quickly and also tried crank baits and the Ned rig. I knew my time on this portion of the lake was limited by the wind, so I covered water quickly. Despite my confidence and the appearance of this area, I found no biting fish in an hour or more of effort.
I moved inside Maple Bay and worked a very sparse weed line (cabbage!) along the bay's northern perimeter. With no fish evident, I moved across the bay to the windswept south side. Weeds were more prominent here, but the skunk was still aboard! I navigated across the lake with no problem at about 10 AM, but it was obvious that I would have little to no boat control out in the open. All other boats were apparently trolling for walleye or anchored in the bay for panfish; I'd seen only a single bass boat all morning.
The day was still young; I though my best chance to make something bassie of it was to re-locate to a smaller, more protected lake. By 11:30 AM or so, I was relaunching Numenon on Douglas Lake just to the north.
Douglas Lake is less known for the size of its bass, but still has a good reputation, while offering the prospect of a quiet outing. The water was noted to be 68-70 degrees F, but with a slight brown stain; and the health, variety and prominence of the weeds was immediately obvious. I briefly tried openings in the weedbed near the launch, but without any bites, I quickly consulted my GPS maps and selected a sharp break that funneled the main lake body into a partially isolated bay near the lake's deep, southeastern corner.
With conditions now super clear and calming, I worked the deep weed edge of this funnel quickly with a Rapala Deep Shadow Rap and soon connected with a 13-inch smallmouth. Finally, a fish, and the targeted species, too! Soon thereafter I jerked the nice largemouth pictured below from this same edge in about 11 feet of water, but the day really got interesting when I started working this same area with a bluegill-colored Berkley War-Pig rattle bait. A particular cast went further into the weeds (cabbage!) than expected, and as a I worked the bait through these weeds, I got a heavy hit and pulled a four-plus-pound smallie out of the salad. It was a beautiful fish (which I dropped overboard in attempting to photograph), but most importantly, it keyed me into the weeds, as supposed to the deep edges. I stayed in the weeds for the duration of the day.
I continued working the same area and caught another nice largemouth on the War-Pig. I continued to "junk fish", however, alternating presentations as conditions presented themselves. I caught several small smallmouths on topwaters, deep cranks and a wacky-rigged Senko, but I'd little interest in these small fish. However, by taking conditions as they came to me instead of staying with a specific pattern, I did observe that the inside edge of the weeds separating the expansive flat from the deepest portion of the bay obviously held some worthwhile bass. I could see them!
I'm not a super-polished sight fisherman, so I couldn't necessarily get the fish I could see to bite. But by backing off and making long casts into these areas, I thought I could perhaps catch a few. I did, too, fairly quickly, with solid 16-inch largemouths on a bluegill-colored swim jig and with a Texas-rigged green pumpkin Senko. These fish were holding in the weeds, but looking onto the flat; in about three feet of water. These fish completed my virtual "limit", which would have weighed 13.5 to 14 pounds or so, anchored by the big War-Pig smallie.
As a bonus to the fun fishing, I think I was the only boat out fishing this lake on what had turned into a beautiful day! I had a strong starting point for the next day; I planned on returning to this beautiful and pleasant lake!
9-15-16: After a series of small misadventures, I arrived at 7:15 AM to a calm, bright Douglas Lake, but one with the unexpected bustle (and associated lack of parking) of a bass tournament. Once I finally got out on the water, I found four boats already in my preferred starting location. I turned out to be the only one working the inside edge, however, and so we all had enough space to fish comfortably; and all but one boat bailed in the first hour or so, anyway.
Despite the calm, clear and crisp conditions, I was not seeing fish like I had the previous day, and I got off to a rather slow start. I mixed in a topwater and a shallow crank, but I had the most faith in the Senko. After perhaps a half hour, I felt the anticipated "tick" on my line. I set the hook, and my drag slipped; this looked like a decent fish, but it morphed into a big smallie (well over three pounds) at the boat's side; I misplayed this fish and broke her off. Ouch! But the Texas-rigged Senko put two more keeper-sized bass in the box (one smallie, one largemouth), and I found myself after an hour or so off to a decent start to the day. I ground out another keeper smallmouth (this one close to three pounds), but after that, the fish seemingly shut off.
I consulted my GPS map to find a similar spot, and my first attempt failed; there were no weeds on the selected edge. The second spot I chose because it simply looked interesting on the map; large flat, deep water, a couple of sunken points and crannies. I utilized the bluegill DT10 to search for fish and weeds. I found sparse cabbage first, but soon thereafter I found a nice, keeper largemouth. This was quickly followed by another, very solid largemouth, and soon I settled into a pattern where I hoped to get bitten on the retrieve before I hung the crank in the weeds. This happened frequently enough to allow me to catch a few more keepers, cull my smallest smallmouth, and even lose a couple of fish.
At 12:30 PM, my top five weighed about 11.5 or 12 pounds; and with low juice in the trolling motor batteries and a probable cluster pending at the ramp, I called it an early day, despite having been so beautiful and enjoyable.
By 3 PM or so, I was on Walloon's clear, green, 70-72 F water. Based on the hottest available fishing tip, I initially worked an area in 7 feet of water that offered gravel and scattered rocks and wood with jerk baits, cranks and grubs. With nobody home, I worked various other deep edges in the lake's southern lobe with the Rapala Deep Shadow Rap, but I never moved a fish by the time I left the water at about 6 PM. It was my pleasure to return Numenon to her place on our temporary, private dock instead of the landing; I enjoyed simply walking down to her and going fishing (in lieu of dealing with ramps) for the rest of the weekend!
9-17-16: I fished from about 7 AM to 12:30 PM and again from 3 PM until dark at about 7:30 PM. The day started overcast and gray with sporadic light showers, and I returned to the "hot" spot. Nothing responded here, nor anywhere in my expanded shallow search area. At about 9:30 AM or so, I consulted the GPS mapping and found an area where the shallow southern basin deepened slightly before plunging dramatically into the depths. I quickly found a group of fish here, spread out from about 23 to 40 feet of water. I first tried power fishing this deeper water with a Jigging Rap and then a Ripping Rap (which I could easily control to depths over 40 feet), but had no bites. When I switched to a drop-shot rig with a goby bait I quickly caught a nice, 16.5-inch smallmouth from about 35 feet of water. At this point, I thought I was onto something, but I ended up simply burning up the next few hours searching deep water for more bites, unsuccessfully.
Returning to the water at about 3:30 PM after a necessary Power Nap, I tried a new part of the lake. I found the edge of a large flat dropping dramatically into the West Arm's depths and started working a Deep Shadow Rap jerk bait from the edge out to about 25 feet of water in the bright, windy conditions. In a fairly short period I caught a pair of 17-inch brown bass on this bait and a bonus 16-incher on a Spro deep diving crank bait.
By sunset, I had relocated to a prominent point drop-off, and, after a long period without a strike, in short order caught a short bass and simply farmed out a nicer bass on the drop shot in about 15 feet of water. After a long, but enjoyable day of fishing, I'd caught just four keeper-sized bass weighing in at 9.5 pounds or so.
9-18-16: I fished from about 7 AM to 9:30 AM in gray conditions with a continuing westerly wind. With not much time available, I visited the productive spots from the previous afternoon and evening. A 15-inch smallie smashed my pink X-Rap jerk bait at about 7:15 AM. This fish came from about 13 feet of water, near the end of the prominent point discussed above. But I could raise no other fish; Walloon was back to her generally stubborn disposition.
I moved inside Maple Bay and worked a very sparse weed line (cabbage!) along the bay's northern perimeter. With no fish evident, I moved across the bay to the windswept south side. Weeds were more prominent here, but the skunk was still aboard! I navigated across the lake with no problem at about 10 AM, but it was obvious that I would have little to no boat control out in the open. All other boats were apparently trolling for walleye or anchored in the bay for panfish; I'd seen only a single bass boat all morning.
The day was still young; I though my best chance to make something bassie of it was to re-locate to a smaller, more protected lake. By 11:30 AM or so, I was relaunching Numenon on Douglas Lake just to the north.
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| Numenon at the Maple Bay State Forest Boat Ramp on Burt Lake |
Douglas Lake is less known for the size of its bass, but still has a good reputation, while offering the prospect of a quiet outing. The water was noted to be 68-70 degrees F, but with a slight brown stain; and the health, variety and prominence of the weeds was immediately obvious. I briefly tried openings in the weedbed near the launch, but without any bites, I quickly consulted my GPS maps and selected a sharp break that funneled the main lake body into a partially isolated bay near the lake's deep, southeastern corner.
With conditions now super clear and calming, I worked the deep weed edge of this funnel quickly with a Rapala Deep Shadow Rap and soon connected with a 13-inch smallmouth. Finally, a fish, and the targeted species, too! Soon thereafter I jerked the nice largemouth pictured below from this same edge in about 11 feet of water, but the day really got interesting when I started working this same area with a bluegill-colored Berkley War-Pig rattle bait. A particular cast went further into the weeds (cabbage!) than expected, and as a I worked the bait through these weeds, I got a heavy hit and pulled a four-plus-pound smallie out of the salad. It was a beautiful fish (which I dropped overboard in attempting to photograph), but most importantly, it keyed me into the weeds, as supposed to the deep edges. I stayed in the weeds for the duration of the day.
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| This nice Douglas Lake largemouth ate a Berkley Cutter jerk bait and was the first good-sized fish of the trip. |
I'm not a super-polished sight fisherman, so I couldn't necessarily get the fish I could see to bite. But by backing off and making long casts into these areas, I thought I could perhaps catch a few. I did, too, fairly quickly, with solid 16-inch largemouths on a bluegill-colored swim jig and with a Texas-rigged green pumpkin Senko. These fish were holding in the weeds, but looking onto the flat; in about three feet of water. These fish completed my virtual "limit", which would have weighed 13.5 to 14 pounds or so, anchored by the big War-Pig smallie.
As a bonus to the fun fishing, I think I was the only boat out fishing this lake on what had turned into a beautiful day! I had a strong starting point for the next day; I planned on returning to this beautiful and pleasant lake!
9-15-16: After a series of small misadventures, I arrived at 7:15 AM to a calm, bright Douglas Lake, but one with the unexpected bustle (and associated lack of parking) of a bass tournament. Once I finally got out on the water, I found four boats already in my preferred starting location. I turned out to be the only one working the inside edge, however, and so we all had enough space to fish comfortably; and all but one boat bailed in the first hour or so, anyway.
Despite the calm, clear and crisp conditions, I was not seeing fish like I had the previous day, and I got off to a rather slow start. I mixed in a topwater and a shallow crank, but I had the most faith in the Senko. After perhaps a half hour, I felt the anticipated "tick" on my line. I set the hook, and my drag slipped; this looked like a decent fish, but it morphed into a big smallie (well over three pounds) at the boat's side; I misplayed this fish and broke her off. Ouch! But the Texas-rigged Senko put two more keeper-sized bass in the box (one smallie, one largemouth), and I found myself after an hour or so off to a decent start to the day. I ground out another keeper smallmouth (this one close to three pounds), but after that, the fish seemingly shut off.
I consulted my GPS map to find a similar spot, and my first attempt failed; there were no weeds on the selected edge. The second spot I chose because it simply looked interesting on the map; large flat, deep water, a couple of sunken points and crannies. I utilized the bluegill DT10 to search for fish and weeds. I found sparse cabbage first, but soon thereafter I found a nice, keeper largemouth. This was quickly followed by another, very solid largemouth, and soon I settled into a pattern where I hoped to get bitten on the retrieve before I hung the crank in the weeds. This happened frequently enough to allow me to catch a few more keepers, cull my smallest smallmouth, and even lose a couple of fish.
At 12:30 PM, my top five weighed about 11.5 or 12 pounds; and with low juice in the trolling motor batteries and a probable cluster pending at the ramp, I called it an early day, despite having been so beautiful and enjoyable.
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Peace and quiet at Douglas Lake; the bass tournament has already blasted off.
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| The productive lures for Day 2 on Douglas Lake were this Texas-rigged green pumpkin Senko and a bluegill Rapala DT10. |
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| Because I was angry at myself for not photographing the previous day's fish properly, I set up the GoPro and got these shots of my Top 5 Keepers; Keeper 1. |
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| Keeper 2 |
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| Keeper 3 |
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| Keeper 4 |
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| Keeper 5, a brown one! |
I spoke with a couple of local gentlemen at the ramp, and they informed me that it might take 20 pounds to win the day's tournament (four pound average for five bass); and one thought it might produce 25 pounds if somebody really got into them. Clearly, the lake produces some big fish! I was only scratching the surface of the lake's potential; but I wasn't doing too badly, either, for having never seen the lake until the day before.
9-16-16: I fished Crooked Lake near Petoskey from about 7:15 AM until 10:15 AM. Little Traverse Township offers an excellent ramp right off US-31. The water was about 68-70 F, and not as clear as in the previous lakes. The water was chalky green, and I never really found any good weeds. I hopped from spot to spot and caught a variety of fish, including a smallish walleye (DT10; most fishing pressure on the lake seemed to be oriented towards 'eyes); a very nice perch (wacky Senko); a very small smallmouth bass (wacky Senko); and a handful of very respectably-sized rock bass (wacky Senko and Ned in PB&J.) The bass are here and the fishing was pleasant enough, but time was constrained; we had to re-locate to our rented house on Lake Walloon!
9-16-16: I fished Crooked Lake near Petoskey from about 7:15 AM until 10:15 AM. Little Traverse Township offers an excellent ramp right off US-31. The water was about 68-70 F, and not as clear as in the previous lakes. The water was chalky green, and I never really found any good weeds. I hopped from spot to spot and caught a variety of fish, including a smallish walleye (DT10; most fishing pressure on the lake seemed to be oriented towards 'eyes); a very nice perch (wacky Senko); a very small smallmouth bass (wacky Senko); and a handful of very respectably-sized rock bass (wacky Senko and Ned in PB&J.) The bass are here and the fishing was pleasant enough, but time was constrained; we had to re-locate to our rented house on Lake Walloon!
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| A beautiful morning awakens on Crooked Lake. |
9-17-16: I fished from about 7 AM to 12:30 PM and again from 3 PM until dark at about 7:30 PM. The day started overcast and gray with sporadic light showers, and I returned to the "hot" spot. Nothing responded here, nor anywhere in my expanded shallow search area. At about 9:30 AM or so, I consulted the GPS mapping and found an area where the shallow southern basin deepened slightly before plunging dramatically into the depths. I quickly found a group of fish here, spread out from about 23 to 40 feet of water. I first tried power fishing this deeper water with a Jigging Rap and then a Ripping Rap (which I could easily control to depths over 40 feet), but had no bites. When I switched to a drop-shot rig with a goby bait I quickly caught a nice, 16.5-inch smallmouth from about 35 feet of water. At this point, I thought I was onto something, but I ended up simply burning up the next few hours searching deep water for more bites, unsuccessfully.
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| A glimpse of the full moon as it prepares to set over Walloon Lake. |
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| The first fish from Walloon was a nice 16.5-inch smallie; it ate a drop-shot goby bait in 35 feet of water. |
By sunset, I had relocated to a prominent point drop-off, and, after a long period without a strike, in short order caught a short bass and simply farmed out a nicer bass on the drop shot in about 15 feet of water. After a long, but enjoyable day of fishing, I'd caught just four keeper-sized bass weighing in at 9.5 pounds or so.
9-18-16: I fished from about 7 AM to 9:30 AM in gray conditions with a continuing westerly wind. With not much time available, I visited the productive spots from the previous afternoon and evening. A 15-inch smallie smashed my pink X-Rap jerk bait at about 7:15 AM. This fish came from about 13 feet of water, near the end of the prominent point discussed above. But I could raise no other fish; Walloon was back to her generally stubborn disposition.
What do I have to say about this?
This was a wonderful introduction to some new lakes, and I enjoyed the challenge of new water in generally quiet, beautiful settings. Plus, I was chasing brown bass; and my instincts for the trip were correct in that I discovered during the trip that the new Michigan State Record smallmouth bass had been taken just before my visit from connecting waters; check THIS out! I cannot even imagine connecting with such a fish, but I guess it is at least possible!
There was also the enjoyment of being free of the public school calendar for the first vacation in quite a while. And, I was engaged enough in the fishing to just about totally forget about work; that doesn't happen too often.
I shall return.
This was a wonderful introduction to some new lakes, and I enjoyed the challenge of new water in generally quiet, beautiful settings. Plus, I was chasing brown bass; and my instincts for the trip were correct in that I discovered during the trip that the new Michigan State Record smallmouth bass had been taken just before my visit from connecting waters; check THIS out! I cannot even imagine connecting with such a fish, but I guess it is at least possible!
There was also the enjoyment of being free of the public school calendar for the first vacation in quite a while. And, I was engaged enough in the fishing to just about totally forget about work; that doesn't happen too often.
I shall return.
