Favorite Lakes

With open water upon us I have begun making my fishing plans for the upcoming season. I fish probably 20 different lakes during the course of the season but I have several favorites and times of the year when I like to visit my honey holes. Here's a list of a few:

April

With good weather this can be an awesome month to fish although the bass season does not technically open until the last Saturday of the month. I use small lures and claim to be panfishing but catch lots of bass. Clarks lake is really good early season and with a warm spring I can catch big bedding smallmouth towards the end of the month. This lake has big flats and both largemouth and smallies can be caught throwing a jerkbait up on the structures. I also like Michigan Center in early April because the channels warm up very early and can be 15 degrees warmer than the main lake. And Center is great for crappies in these areas if the bass aren't biting. I also like Lime and Farwell lakes early on because I can catch lots of numbers, my personal best being 75 largemouth on Lime Lake one warm April day a few years back.

May

This is probably the best month to target bass in Michigan and any lake is pretty good if the weather is nice. My personal favorite is Lake St. Clair because you can catch size and numbers. Just drag a tube or throw a rattletrap or jerkbait on the Mile Roads area and 50-100 fish days are possible. Locally I like to fish Portage because of it's mixed bag of largemouth and smallmoth and it isn't too busy yet even though a state park is on the lake. Spinnerbaits and topwaters rule here and both species will be on beds at some point during the month. And don't forget about Hardy Dam during May. Luckily the club will visit Hardy this May and lots of smallies on beds should be present. This is also one of the coolest looking lakes we fish with the high forested banks and lack of houses.

June

Out of towners will love Burt and Mullett early this month because smallmouth are still bedding and they're legal to catch and keep. Most tournaments require at least 20 pound limits to win on these lakes and fish will spawn into the end of the month. I love St. Clair this time of year also but the topwater bite gets going locally usually sometime this month and I like to target Vinyard, Clarks, Center and Wamplers Lake. After June these lakes get pretty beat up so now is the time to hit them. Most will be in a post-spawn mode but I love to throw a popping style bait, especially on Vinyard because it doesn't get fished hard and big smallmouth are present. The senko bite gets going pretty good on Center as well for those that like a more laid back style of fishing.

July

I never do really well here but I have to say that Wixom is a great place to go in July. Most of the local lakes are getting pretty beat up this time of year but you can always catch a good double digit limit on this fishery. Wixom is a river system and current is usually present during the week and fishing can be outright awesome. Unfortunately the dams close most weekends and fishing gets tougher for tournaments, especially on Sundays. But if you have some time off to fish during the week than this should be a consideration. I've heard of legendary catches the week leading up to tournaments and I caught my personal best largemouth limit on Tuesday morning a few years back that went about 18 pounds. Most points and current breaks down by the dam are good places to look and fish slam topwaters and spinnerbaits when the water is flowing.

August

I can't say I like much about fishing this month but when I do, it's usually throwing frogs and Michigan Center has all the ingredients. Lots of pads and tons of vegetation is what Center is known for and you can throw the floating baits for days and never fish the same area. I caught my biggest fish of the year in 2009 one August day throwing a frog here and not a lot of guys like to get into the really thick stuff to do it right. You'll be suprised how bites you can get in the slop when the toad bite gets going here.

September

This is a tough transition period for me, some days can be pretty good but after the first good cold front of the year the bite can get tough. I usually try and stay local this time of year and I like Clark Lake and I can usually still get them to bite topwaters. Towards the end of the month I've heard Hardy Dam gets real good and Burt Lake is awesome if the water gets cold enough. Usually water temps in the high 50's seems to be best but for some reason I've had a tough time fishing in September so I try and conserve gas and fish the local lakes.

October

Lately I've done better in October than September and Columbia is my favorite this time of year. I know it's a private lake but I have a connection and this lake fishes like a reservoir (probably because it is) so the late season crankbait bite is real good. Fish move into the pockets and canals here and big fish follow the bait into these backwater areas. I've also had great success on Lake St. Clair this month if the water is clear but that is usually a problem. The best part of the lake in fall is the south shore but north winds muddy up that section a lot of the time. If you time it up right you can catch fish on spinnerbaits and tubes from the mouth of the Detroit River up to the mile roads but you never know what the water looks like until you get there.

I usually fish into November and Columbia served up crankbait fish until the second week last year but it got tough after Veterans Day. I never got up to LSC due to muddy water but I fished until Nov 11th which was a record for me. But just like every month, it all depends on the weather and hopefully this year will be a little better than last.