Center Patterns

The final club tournament of the season is this Sunday at Michigan Center and instead of previewing this body of water which the club has already fished this year, I thought I might detail some of my practice experiences to give a little more insight as to what may transpire this weekend. Most of the club members are very familiar with Center and usually several patterns will catch fish. To me, the four main strategies are targeting the slop, fishing the vast flats and stumpfields, fishing the weededges of the several deeper holes in the lake and finally any of the above patterns on one of the other lakes in the chain. I had three days to practice and fished for a few hours each time, exploring a different option each time out. Here's what I found.

The slop: Two weeks ago this would have been my primary pattern, throwing frogs and toads into the slop and pads but with the recent colder weather and the weeds slowly starting to thin out, I was not able to catch many fish doing this. I will not eliminate this pattern but will check it out later in the day on Sunday.

Stump Fields: Center is basically a huge flat with a few deeper holes and getting out in the middle of the lake and covering water is a pretty good approach, especially in the fall. There are several flats with a lot of wood on them and I like to cover water with spinnerbaits, shallow cranks and then a little slower with senkos. But I think the fish are still between a late summer pattern and an early fall one and this has not worked great for me lately. If we get some good wind tourney day which I think we might then this could be the ticket.

Deep edges: There are several deep sections of Michigan Center, the most popular being the School Section and this is where most of the tournaments are won on Center. This is where I had my best luck during practice and I threw senkos, grubs and a drop-shot rig to get my bites. This pattern works great from about post-spawn on but deteriorates as the water cools. I will probably spend a lot of time on this Sunday and let the fish tell me if I should keep doing it.

Other Lakes: This is a big risk/reward scenario with greener patsures and a little less pressure over in Alcott and Wolf Lakes but there is a time investment involved and going there for just an hour or so is not very efficient. I spent significant time on Wolf Lake this week and though I did see a few decent fish cruising, I was not able to identify a good way to catch them and don't believe I will venture over there. There was a time when good stringers came from Wolf Lake but none in recent memory.

Overview: I think we are just a little early for a good fall bite and the fish are in between phases. I don't think many limits will be weighed in and really don't think it will take much more than 9 or 10 pounds to win. The nights have been cold lately and maybe the fishing will turn on by Sunday but it was not that way earlier this week. We will be launching from the 5th St. launch on Michigan Center and fishing from 7-3 this Sunday. The forecast calls for sunny skies and temps around 72. The water temps should be in the low to mid 70's and 15 mph winds are predicted.