Grand River BFL

[rufus]

The Coach and I arrived around 2 pm Tuesday afternoon and decided to fish south of the Grand River and fish some Lake Michigan pier heads to see if some smallies were hanging around. We launched on a small lake in Port Sheldon called Pigeon Lake. It is an interesting lake as it has a power plant on the north side of it. It actually makes the lake pull water in from Lake Michigan instead of going out. This can make this lake very cold. Lake Michigan had some strong winds that had turned the lake over and made it very cold. This made Pigeon Lake's water temp read 56 degrees!!!!! in the middle of summer!!!!!

Well needless to say the bite was off. The Coach boated a 2 pound largemouth and a 3 1/2 pound smallie for the day and I lost one 3 pound smallie. The pier head fishing would be out for the week.

We stayed at my buddy Ryan Said's aunt and uncle's house in Spring Lake which is wonderful as the motels around Grand Haven are not cheap! We were up bright and early Wednesday with a plan to hit White Lake and Muskegon.

Well the bite proved tough enough that we hit White all day trying to figure it out. We did a lot of moving around and checking different depths and figured out 2 feasible options for White. We ended the day with 13 keepers. They were nice fish and we each had 13-14 pounds with the best fish of the day going 4-2. We caught our fish on flick shake worms, senkos, a tube, and flipping a speed craw. The two best areas were in 18 inches and 13 feet deep. The flipping bite was slow, but produced some really nice fish.

The next day was forecasted to be stormy and windy and it lived up to the forecast. I decided (as much as I didn't want to) to spend the day on the river just in case I would have to stay. We began in Spring Lake and once again found the bite to be tough. We caught a few shorts and finally boated a couple keepers on a senko around shallow weeds.

We then moved out to the river where we spent a lot of the day fishing current breaks and rocks. We boated a few short smallies and largies. Near the end of the day I decided to hit a small current break that usually produces and caught two 16 inchers off of it pretty quickly. At least I had a little something to go on.

We spent a few hours hiding under bridges this day to get out of lightning so pre fishing time was really chopped up. We ended the day with 4 keepers total and not planning on staying in the river. Our last day of practice we decided to hit White once again to see if the patterns were holding. Not much had changed, but the bite was still a bit tough.

We did find another area that was holding fish and was a good morning spot as we boated 4 quality fish quickly. We then hit the other 2 areas and caught a couple more and left them alone. Saturday was supposed to be light and variable winds and I had a little bug to go check another lake that I love but is a very long run from the Grand. We arrived at noon to check just a few places that I thought may be holding fish. It didn't take long to figure out that this was the place to be. In only 3 hours and just hitting and running I boated 10 keepers my best 5 going 18 pounds. The only way to make it feasible to get here was if the Lake was perfect.

Tourney day dawned and the river was a touch foggy which gave us a 15 minute fog delay. There was a slight SW breeze. It takes 50 minutes to get out of the river because of all the idle zones so at 8 am we were heading north on Lake Michigan. It was a great run at 60+ mph with just enough chop to keep us from going WOT.

I figured if I was still going over 60 at White I would continue to head north and go for the win. By the time I got to White I had to slow the boat to 30 and it was then I decided I better at least stop into White to see what the weather would do.

At our first stop, as always on this spot, sat a bluegill fisherman anchored right on top of the sweet spot which is a slabwood pile that ends on a sharp break. I fished around him and he informed me that just before we had got there he landed 7 really nice bass, but now he was only catching gills. A few other boats arrived and began to fish around me.

I had a feeling that the bite was going to be tough so I went to my shallow fish quickly. A few minutes on my shallow fish and my first keeper came aboard at 14 1/2 inches. I was sight fishing cruisers and there were not many up yet. I did catch a lot of dinks. I decided to give it some time and went to hit my deeper area.

On my first cast with the flick shake worm I boated a 15 inch smallie. A few casts later I lost a 15 inch largemouth at the net. A few passes without a bite and finally I catch another 15 inch largemouth and I now had 3. I decided to spend some time here and wait them out. Finally 30 minutes later I get another bite and a gorgeous 4 pound smallie goes airborn. A few runs under the boat and she pulls off 3 feet from the net .

We made several more passes through the area without another bite. I decided to once again go check my shallow fish. One pass through the area produced yet another 15 inch largemouth. 30 minutes later I boated a solid 16 inch fish to finish my limit.

My coangler was sweating it out as he desperately needed a keeper to get points for regionals. I was targeting cruising fish as I had mentioned and he simply was not getting an opportunity at many fish. He had been a great guy to fish with and gave me plenty of room. I decided if I saw another pair of cruisers I would give him first opportunity.

It wasn't long after this with about 20 minutes of fishing left I spotted a pair of fish, one 15 incher and one 3 pounder. Now many guys would say those are my fish that I prefished for who cares how the co is doing. This is not the way I fish. Brian, my conangler was a very courteous and respectful guy, he did not complain all day about the tough fishing and worked at it very hard. He was a great net man and kept a positive attitude all day. He deserved a fish. He could not see them so I directed him to cast at a particular dark spot where I knew they were heading.

His first cast and the 3 pounder smashed hit senko and he missed it. His next three casts and the 15 incher bit and he missed it. Finally on his fifth cast the 15 incher came aboard and his points fish was in the boat.  The 3 pounder was now nowhere to be seen.

A few minutes later we decided to head back due to the fact the wind had picked up a bit. It was a good decision as it was honestly one of the worst 20 mile runs I have ever experienced. We left with 2 hours and 15 minutes to go and arrived at weigh in with only 5 minutes remaining!! I found out that several boats had to pull off in Muskegon and one had to be rescued by the coast guard! My 5 little ones weighed in at 9-14 which was just out of the money and good enough for 16th place. I now sit in 4th place in the points with one tourney remaining. God Bless Everyone!!!

[djkimmel]

Always an entertaining read! Thanks rufus!