a little late, but if you havent winterized your boat yet...

[32eml24]

I dont report as often as I should. For anyone who hasnt winterized their boat yet in west michigan, its still worth it to fish stearns bayou off the grand river.  They have been biting great in there all fall season.  My best day was two weeks ago saturday with the best five at seventeen pounds.  Today I fished in a little bit of snow and some pretty good wind with a water temp of 39 but the fish are still biting.  Not as aggressively as two weeks ago but from 7 til noon landed 15 or so with ten of them being keepers and the biggest was 4.2. All fish came on strike king jerkbaits.  The bulk of the fish I marked were wintering and not very catchable but there were still enough relating to the outside weed edge to make for a fun day of fishing. If you have the opportunity to get out yet this fall and want some largemouth action go to stearns bayou and throw a jerkbait with long pauses and I dont think youll be disappointed.

[mikesmiph]

Thanks for the report. It's good to know I'm not the only one who hasn't put their boat up yet.

[32eml24]

Heck no! If guys can sit still in the woods in these temps or ice fish theres no reason we cant be out there tossin jerkbaits yet.  I think ill fish til the water freezes or the roads are too sketchy to tow the lil skeeter:)

[LAPORTE]

Im gassed up ready to go...

[mikesmiph]

Don, we're doing Bolles on Friday. Come with us.

[LAPORTE]

With the old boat sure but with the new one Ill have to check the water depth

[Mike S.]

Mine is still ready to go. I hooked the biggest bass of my life at Stearns. Lost it right at the boat while my dad tried to net it. They are biting on Muskegon Lake too. All smallies!!!  They haven't salted the roads yet. Only put down sand, so I'm still good to tow the boat.

[32eml24]

That is awesome. Im still hoping for a nice day or two this year. Id like to go saturday and sunday but im worried about the ramp being icy. That ramp at stearns would be tough to climb with snow or ice!!!

[Mike S.]

Yes, it probably would be a bear. I'm hoping to hit Muskegon Friday for a while. Smallies are on the brain .

[djkimmel]

I've used that long pause (not easy for me) jerkbait method on some of the backwaters off the Grand River here in Lansing real late in the year too. The bass are there for the winter. You just have to make them take a shot at what appears to be a real easy meal. There are a few little key areas I've learned that are so consistent even I can cast to the same place over and over until one finally bites it. It helps to KNOW they are there.

Don't forget blade baits too. Sometimes that's even better. I've used them on the Grand, Lake Lansing, even Lake Ovid.

Don't slip and fall on snow in the boat either. And sliding down icy boat ramps is not much fun. But I've done it.

I have a hole in the pocket of one of my insulated jeans from a tournament down south years ago where we had to slide down a steep metal dock each morning to get to our boats. When else can you combine the childhood fun of a slide with bass fishing?!?

[djkimmel]

That was the tournament I tried to turn my pickup camper into a houseboat a couple mornings in a row!!

[32eml24]

I had a similar experience this past Saturday.  There was quite a bit of snow on the ramp at Stearns when I got there.  I could obviously see with the length and incline of the ramp that it would be stupid to try launching there.

I could also see that there was a thin layer of ice on the edges of the canal leading back to Stearns, but the middle was clear.  Well, I drove from Stearns over US 31 Bridge and around some slower speed limit roads through a little bit of snow to get to the launch at Indian Channel.  I had never used this launch before.

We got out (I was with a buddy as well) and checked out the ramp.  The incline was not as much and the length of that ramp was much shorter.  There was light snow and also ice on the middle section of the "left" side of the ramp.. The dock had been pulled and it was in the middle of the ramp.

I thought it would be easy to pull back out since the edge of the side I was using had completely dry pavement and if I put it in 4 Low it shouldn't be a problem if I could get traction with two tires.

I backed down, trying to line up with the dry patches on the passenger side of my truck.  I cut it too close and one of the tires on my trailer went off the side of the ramp.  The shackle of my trailer was resting on the edge of the ramp underwater.  Luckily I was able to start the boat and back it off.  Pulled it up on shore and pulled the truck right up the ramp.  Not a big deal.  Some sun was in the forecast and given the orientation of the ramp I thought it would melt some of the snow and ice, but I already had it in the back of my head that next time I went on an excursion like this I was going to bring some salt and an ice scraper.

After raising my blood pressure at the boat ramp, we were off to Stearns.  We entered into the canal and used the narrow passageway with ice on both sides.  The further we got, the thicker the ice was getting.  Lots of current coming from there too.

Leading up to this trip I was only concerned about safely getting the boat in and out and finding a good ramp.  If anyone ever needs a good ramp, the westernmost ramp in Bruces is pretty much sand and has a lot of exposure from the sun riding low in the south.  We will get to how I found that out.

So we are on our way down the channel into Stearns and take the bend to the right with the sun right in our eyes.  Starting to break ice now... a new experience for me.  It's getting thick to where I am concerned about it slicing into my boat a bit.

I'm determined to fish, and my boat likes it rough, but I can't believe what I'm seeing.  Stearns was completely frozen!!!  I could tell from the way birds were walking around etc. that it was thicker ice than what I was willing to try breaking.

Dumbfounded but determined to wet a line, I turned back around and went back to the boat launch.  Now here's the lesson...  I pulled up on shore.  Had Nate direct me down the ramp and got lined up where I wanted to be.  I drove the boat on perfectly in a lot of current.  Things are going well so far!  Now I just have to pull the boat out.

I had Nate get in the bed of my truck and sit down over the rear axle just for added traction.  I had dry pavement on both back wheels, but only for about four feet.  The rest of the way up I only had dry pavement on my passenger side in about a foot wide strip.  I tried the first time and got my front wheels over the crest of the top of the ramp but slid back down.

I realized this could turn out really bad when I began to slide down until I got back to the small amount of pavement that WAS DRY when I tried getting up the ramp.  The water dripping from my boat trailer had frozen instantly and I knew I was polishing the surface beneath my tires and creating instant ice with the dripping from the boat.

Already long story made a little shorter I was able to re-align my truck and pull the boat up the slope without Nate in the back on my third try by getting my passenger side wheels on the dirt on the side of the ramp and really romping the throttle.  I barely made it up and my heart was racing.  I could have walked to the closest house and asked from a scraper, etc.  But the lesson is that you are icing up the ramp when you pull your boat out, so if it's sketchy at all when you get there, consider that as the best that it's going to get.  If you don't think you can pull your boat up the ramp given the way it looks first thing in the morning, don't try it.  So we were bound to find somewhere to fish.

I thought Bruces might be open, wishful thinking.  That launch would have been perfect but the ice was thick enough that Nate walked about six feet out onto it.  Checked Lloyds, frozen as well.  Spring Lake was open as we rounded the curve by the country club.  Got to Petty's and it was frozen as well.

Ended up launching at Harbor Island and idling into Spring.  The water was still greenish as it gets when it turns over every year.  We caught one perch and one gizzard shad and only had two hours to fish as we spend the rest of our morning doing everything I just described.

Not a great final outing but an important lesson that I learned and one that should be shared with anyone else questioning how good a ramp has to be in order to fish.  Spent my day today looking back at pictures from the year and trying to get my brain ready to strategize on where those better fish will be on the 25th of May!  Hope everybody had a happy Thanksgiving and let's hope the winter feels quick, think pre spawn!
Ethan

[Team houston]

Enjoyed the read. Have reaffirmed my opinion that yes some of you guys are CRAZY. Go South young man go South.

[detroit1]

I appreciate your will to fish, but that sounds scary. Glad you made it .

[djkimmel]

In the real cold weather tournaments with no snow/ice already on the ground you want to be the first one who launches in the morning. In true American fashion, you worry about getting back on the trailer and up the ramp after you're done fishing!

Up here in the North country, you're going to ice up your own ramp as you found out. Real cold water, current and steep, slippery boat ramps are either: good video, or risking your life.

We probably all need to rethink things a few extra times a little more often!?! We would lose some good stories though...  tough call...

[djkimmel]

I've told the story about a late trip years back to Lake Ovid where I decided to break the not too thick shore ice to get out to 'open water' only to find out the 'open water' was rippled ice. Thicker, rippled ice! No open water but a group of hunters on shore standing in a row with their mouths open thinking something like, "dude, you're freakin' nuts or something" something like anyway.

I backed up through my broke ice trail to the ramp acting the whole time like I meant to do everything I did for a reason (known only to me).

My poor Ranger...

[32eml24]

Lol! But if you could get out there itd allll be worth it for that one bite! Cant wait for spring already. I swear each fishing season starts going faster!! Whered it go???

[djkimmel]

Take my word for it - it doesn't change for the better so enjoy it when you can. But think about safety once in awhile. I've also hoped I've gotten a little smarter (not just chicken) by not having near as many 'what was I thinking' moments now as I used to!

I laugh to myself all the time now when I think of the look on those hunters' faces! I just wish I had caught something!

For me, rather than wait for spring, I am going to do a little ice fishing again. I forgot how much fun it can be. And it is fishing! (www.greatlakesicefishing.com) I also hope to try to catch a few trout in Lake Ultimate at one or two shows. And maybe the bass trough will be back at least one show. If yes, then I might come out of retirement for a seminar or two just to have a few bass on the line a few times. File under: Catch it when you can.