Belleville Practice

With the dog days of summer upon us, fishing can get tough and that is exactly what I encountered yesterday on Belleville Lake. River systems can offer decent fishing even in the middle of summer because of the current generally running through the stystem and that is why the club is visiting Belleville and Wixom in August. But the current was not very noticeable when I was practicing and the fishing was extremely tough.

The water was 75 degrees and current was not very evident. The water is dark, probably only 3 foot visibility at best. There are not a lot of flats which is where I usually like to start my practices so I just put the trolling motor down and covered water. There is a lot of rip rap and most banks drop quickly into deeper water and weeds were definitely at a premium. I decided to throw crankbaits, topwaters and a football jig and cover lots of water, hoping to find a smallmouth pattern. I caught several small brown fish on the crank early but nothing of any size. I shifted gears to largemouth and did not find much of anything worth noting.

All told, I had about a dozen bites and caught 8-10 fish with only two being legal. The bite was very slow and I may need to shift gears again on Sunday. The body of water is very intriguing and it is different than anything we normally fish which is cool, but it will definitely be a challenge. A few pre-fishing reports have trickled to me and a few guys have caught them so I still think limits are a possiblity but it won't be easy.

As far as the launch goes, I exited at Belleville Rd and went south about 1.5 miles and then made a left on Huron River at the police station. The launch is about 1/2 mile from there and it is a pretty good site. Hope to have a good turnout and I'll see everyone there.