Monday in Traverse City

NumenOn the Water

Date:  June 19, 2017

Body of Water:  East Bay, Traverse City

Boat:  Numenon

With:  Alone

Target:  Smallmouth Bass

Time:  6 AM - 2 PM

Conditions:  Cloudy to sunny; winds S to WNW about 10 mph; water temperatures were 57 - 63 and the water was very clear.  Some bass were in spawn mode, but not many.  Quarter moon (waning); still too early for the major spawning wave?

With Monday off from work, I headed north with my new pup tent on Sunday evening.  I set up a quick and easy camp in a State Forest campground just south of Traverse City, maybe 20 minutes or so from the launch.  I intended to get to Traverse Bay early; that would assure some peace and quiet, while giving me a chance to get a full day's fishing effort in; and still be home by dinner time!

I received this Pup Tent for Father's Day, and it served me well as my Fish Camp that night.

I was second to the launch, and was greeted by cooler-than-expected water; 57 degrees.  I immediately headed across the bay to Deepwater Point.  The low light conditions and slight chop from the southerly wind limited visibility into the clear water, but I had no qualms about blind-casting this area with a jerk-bait, hoping to entice a bass or two from the rocks.

Having neither encountered no seen any sign of bass here, after a half-hour or so I headed south to what I'll call the "Acme Marina" channel; this is another of my known spawning areas.  Searching the few available dark spots in 6-8 feet of water around here (I hesitate to call these active nests at this point, since I saw no sign of fish), I caught a nice, 16-inch smallie on a PB&J Ned Rig.  It was before 7 AM on a weekday, and I'd already had a good day!

On the board before 7 AM, during a work day!  This was a good start!  Selfie Time!

Another view of No. 1; note the buoy marker in the background.

There seemed to be only limited opportunity for fish here, so I re-located to the very south end of East Bay.  While I've never done much here, I know others have; and it seemed that it offered good potential for successful sight-fishing.  A few other boats thought so, too; this was the only location I had to share all day!  Covering a fair amount of water from 4-7 feet deep, in increasingly good conditions for sight-fishing, I encountered very few active nests down here; and resorted to blind-casting any dark spots (the bigger, the better), as well as taking a few casts into any washout holes at the end of docks.  Fishing was slow, although I occasionally encountered a group of small (less than 14-inch) bass.  Eventually, I caught "keeper" No. 2, a 15-incher, again on Ned.

(I don't know if the nests I saw were done; just started; abandoned during the previous day's cold front; or ravaged by fishermen over the weekend.  Regardless, it didn't seem as productive as I'd hoped.)

These were not the fish I was looking for, the pace was below my expectations, and I was now starting to feel some pressure from the clock. 

I returned to an area where I'd previously caught my largest Traverse Bay smallie; a flat and break near the southwest corner of East Bay.  This area has an added bonus of some fledgling weeds along the flat's edge as it plunges into deeper water.  I searched a number of dark spots on the flats with Ned, to no avail, and then resorted to jerking and cranking the deep edge.  This area proved to be seemingly lifeless.

No. 2 came from a dark spot at the south end of East Bay.  I also caught several undersized bass around here.

I now went back to the Acme Marina channel, with the intent of crawling rattle-baits or cranks through the deeper channel.  While doing so, of course I had a pitch rod (or two) with baits to present to any beds or bass I might see.  Although the first bass I encountered refuse to eat Ned, he eventually fell for a drop-shot Pork Worm; No. 3 was the longest and heaviest bass of the day, so far.

No. 3 fell for an Uncle Josh Pork Worm, presented drop-shot style.  It's my favorite drop-shot bait.

No. 4 represented my Triumph of the Day; this bass, barely noticeable on an incipient  bed, reacted only to baits presented in a specific direction to a specific spot.  I missed it a couple of time on the drop-shot; it would not eat a tube; and mostly just looked at Ned.  However, over the course of time, I could assess the fish's reaction and behavior; when I was quite sure that Ned was in the right position (the fish seemed transfixed as he hovered, nose down, just above the bait), I simply left the bait in place for as long as I could, while pumping the rod grip to maybe make the bait quiver.

Eventually, the fish lowered its head and flared its gills; I'm not sure I felt anything, but I set the hook, and he was on!  

I worked on No. 4 for quite a while; he finally succumbed to a Ned Rig, dead-sticked for an agonizingly long time in a specific location.

After working so hard for the first four, and especially so for the last one, No. 5 was rather anticlimactic.  I quickly noticed a "glowing", large nest, with a dark black bass vigorously patrolling the area.  He intercepted Ned quickly; and at a solid 17-inches, was my biggest bass of the day.  It was also, perhaps, the most beautiful fish of the day.

No. 5 came quick and easy from a glowing nest; he raced out and intercepted Ned on the first cast.  This fish gets my nod for good looks, this day.

Nos. 3, 4 and 5 had all come rather quickly from 6-8 feet of water to the south of the marked channel into the marina; there's a rather large flat here that might offer lots of good sight-fishing in the future.

With perhaps an hour left to fish, I returned to Deepwater Point with the intentions of upgrading my catch.  I threw rattle-baits, jerk-baits and cranks in 8 to 10 feet of water and along the edge, into deeper water.  I encountered nothing, but I think this was my best bet for running into a giant, pre-spawn bass at this time, as both the sun intensity and wind continued to increase.

What do I have to say about this?

I ended with a virtual limit catch of about 12.5 - 13 pounds, and I didn't leave anything on the table in doing so.  While not a giant bag, it's respectable enough; and the fishing was not easy.  That adds up, for me, to a satisfying, quality experience, and to do so in such a beautiful setting on a Monday; Nice!

Looking at my schedule, it will probably be a while before I can return; but I will.  I expect I will be giving my drop-shot techniques a workout when I do.  Of course, there should also be opportunities for top-waters, jerks, cranks and tubes...

Empirically, there were no bass here; but it's so beautiful, that's okay.