Baw Beese Report

I still don't have my boat back from the shop yet but fellow club member Mike Maske graciously loaned me his and I was able to get a little practice in on Baw Beese. I hit the water at probably 8:30 am and fished until 12:30. Here is what I observed.

The water temps were 57 degrees first thing in the morning and the skies were sunny and the water was flat calm. Air temps were about 45 but not too bad but with the sun and calm water the fish could see me a mile away. But I could see them as well. I started on the outside edge of a big flat and immediately saw fish cruising up and down the break. As I approached they would lazily swim away, ignoring any lure presentation. I tried to make extremely long casts and tried several different lures and except for a few short fish on a suspending jerkbait I didn't have much success.

I jumped around to a few other good breaks I know of and encountered the same thing, lots of spooky fish but no biters. I decided to move up onto the sun drenched flats a little and as I progressed shallower I encountered fewer fish. Searching a few docks for beds was fruitless as well and moved back out to the breaks to look for more cruisers.

I have fished this lake about 10 times but never this early in the season so I'm not quite sure where the bass bed but I have an idea. I headed for these suspected spawning grounds next and actually did observe a few traces of beds beginning to form but saw nothing locked onto them and only saw small male fish. I suspect these small males are beginning to fan out nests but are just starting and it will be a little bit before any females move up. I did see one big fish cruising a protected bedding area but was not locked on to anything.

I spent the remainder of the day just "looking" and even went into a few man made channels to look for beds but saw nothing but 10 and 12 inch fish on small beds. I did most of my pre-fishing on the main lake but ventured into third and I believe fourth lake which is under the bridge and saw nothing to get excited about. I ended up catching only about 3 or 4 fish but threw everything from plastics to crankbaits and jerbaits and even busted out a spinnerbait for a while. I think with the weather continuing to warm and the wind picking up as is the forecast for the weekend then the fishing should improve. The water temps were 60 when I left.

Summary: The fish still seemed to be in a pre-spawn mode but with warm weather that could change any day. I pretty much ruled out the sight fishing angle but wouldn't be suprised if a few beds popped up by Sunday. The spooky cruising fish out on the breaks could very well start moving up and biting with the warm windy weather especially later in the day and a small shower could enhance the bite as well. I would not be suprised to see water temps in the low 60's for Sunday and hope to be able to just run and gun the flats with lipless cranks and spinnerbaits but maybe that's just wishful thinking. I will be prepared for a finesse approach as well if thats what it comes down to. I still think 9 or 10 pounds will win this event with only a couple limits coming to the scales and most anglers catching 3-5 pounds. Hopefully I'm wrong and the bite really gets going but for now that is my prediction.

If a few big females move up then a good kicker fish will go a long way but I'm not seeing that yet. I will hopefully get back out on Friday and do a little more looking and will report back any relevant info. The forecast calls for warm air temps into the 70's this weekend with a chance of rain and a good chance on Sunday. The wind will probably be the biggest issue with 20 mph winds and gusts up to 40mph possible. These will most likely be out of the SW so keep that in mind when practicing. More reports to follow.

Poll question

Just something I thought I'd try that's new this year is a poll question before each tournament. I'm not sure how many hits I even get on this site let alone the participation we'll have for the poll but I think it will be interesting to try it out. Make sure you vote by Saturday.

Weekend Reports

Well the catch and release season is officially open and I did manage a little time on the water but not exactly what I had hoped for. Saturday I went to Portage and had the whole day to myself and could not wait to unleash the new tackle. But to make a long story short, my trolling motor took a dump and by 10:00 my fishing day was over. I put the boat on the trailer and drove directly to D and R sports in Kazoo and dropped it off at the service department. One week before the season opener and I'm not taking any chances of not having a boat.

But I did manage to do a little damage to the fish in the two hours I was on the lake. I saw lots of fish cruising inside weedlines and some big largemouth as well. I had water temps in the high 50's and actually found a few largemouth on beds. I caught three on beds and two of them were over three pounds apiece and were caught on tubes. I expected to find smallmouth bedding and never realized these fish were green until I hooked them. I never did find any smallies but like I said I had limited time on the water.

Sunday morning I got out on Columbia with a couple of fellow club members but in slightly different conditions. Cold air temps and rain do not mix well with spring bass fishing but we stuck it out and actually caught quite a few fish although not many keepers. Water temps were around 55 degrees which was probably a slight decrease from last week and I never saw a single bed although it was quite windy and visibility was tough. Most fish came on jerkbaits and a few on shallow crankbaits and grubs as well. It got pretty miserable towards the end but Sunday is my fishing day and I was not going to quit early.

As far as the weather goes it looks like a warm up is coming towards the middle of this week and into the weekend for our first tournament. I hope to get the boat back in a few days and get out on Baw Beese by Wednesday. I'm kind of hoping that there will not be a lot of bed fish available for the tournament because that's tough to do with two in a boat when bed fish are limited. I am not a great bed fisherman anyway and pre-spawn tactics are more my speed. I will post my reports and any other I hear about later in the week.

C & R Opener

The season opens on catch and release bass fishing tomorrow, Saturday April 24th. The water temps are in the mid to high 50's and bedding activity has been reported on certain area lakes. The weather however is not cooperating this weekend as a small front is moving in that contains several days of rain. The fishing should remain good and several folks I've talked to have even mentioned going to Baw Beese this weekend. I will report any info that I hear.

Directions to Baw Beese

-Take U.S. 12 to Jonesville and head south on M 99

-Take M 99 right through Hillsdale and keep on it south of town

-about a mile out of town turn left on Steamburg just past the fairgrounds

-take I believe the second left just before the lake on Lakeview

-take the next right on Water Works rd and this will take you to the park

-the launch is small and on the right hand side, just off the road

-If you keep going past the launch there will be a second launch at the end of the road.

Sunday Fishing

It was looking as if the water temps would be into the 70's by May but as usual, mother nature got things back to normal and a small cold front came in last weekend and cooled things off. I was on the water Thursday and saw several smallmouth beds and had water temps near 60 degrees. I returned to that same lake Sunday morning with fellow club member Scott Hartman and here's what I found:

We launched at 9am and immediately saw about 7 smallmouth beds, more than on Thursday. The water temps had cooled to about 52 but I was amazed at the number of beds that had been made even with a cold front setting in. Most beds held small males which I believe make the beds and the big females come later. I did however find a few big fish and caught one that went 4.2 on the digital scales.

Thinking that most of the bigger females were hanging just outside of these areas, we moved to the first breaks and slightly deeper water and threw suspending jerkbaits but only caught small to barely keeper size fish. I know that's where the big females are at but for some reason can never catch them until they reach the beds. Most of my fish came on a rapala X-rap jerkbait and I believe Scott was throwing that as well. Probably caught about 15 fish and by 1pm the water had warmed up to 54 degrees.

I think with the warmer weather setting in this week that a lot of these lakes that contain smallmouth will have significant bedding activity for the catch and release opener which begins Saturday. I purposely did not name the lake I was fishing because I believe any lake that contains smallies will probably be in the same phase right now and they can be caught in several lakes around town.

I will probably be on Portage this weekend because I know I can catch bedding smallmouth but the lake also has a good population of largemouth as well. I have not fished spawning green fish very often and I think this would be a good place to practice that technique. I feel there may be some bedding largemouth on BawBeese and want to be ready if that is the case. I know several club members may be headed down to Hillsdale this weekend to start practicing and I will post any reports that I get. I will not personally start my practicing until about Tuesday of next week.

I will post directions to the lake in a day or two as soon as I can figure out the road names that I use. I can drive there but can't tell you the names of the roads. I usually take US - 12 to Jonesville and then go south on M - 99. This will go through the town of Hillsdale and spit you out on the south end of town. Keep on this road for about a mile then turn left just after the fairgrounds. The lake is about a 1/2 from there and another left is needed to get into the park. I will post better directions hopefully by Thursday.

Thursday Fishing Report

I was able to get out for a few hours today and enjoy the unseasonably warm spring day. I had a few mechanical issues (flat tire and broken trolling motor) and hopefully will have them taken care of by next weekends catch and release opener. I was suprised to find water temps near 60 degrees and actually found about 15 beds. There were high winds out of the west and I think that pushed most of the bedders off because I only saw a few of the newly formed beds occupied.

I did manage to catch a few fish and the biggest went about 3.5 pounds which was not caught on a bed. I was fishing a big spawning flat with a rapala X-rap jerkbait. I ended up catching about 10 fish in two hours but had a hard time managing the wind with the trolling motor issue. The weather is going to cool down over the weekend but will begin to warm back up next week.

After what I saw today I have a feeling the Baw Beese tournament could easily be a spawning event if the warm weather continues. There will be a full moon three days before the tourney which could send a big wave of fish shallow, more than there already are. I love fishing this time of year and will continue to post reports as I get out. Hopefully I'll go again Sunday weather permitting.