Fishing Traverse City area this weekend

[Musky]

Heading up to the area with the family and would like to fish the bays if the weather permits.  I am not sure about the water temps, but would assume that the smallies will be shallow feeding up this time of year.  Any one been out lately?  Also, what are some good small lakes in the area for smallies if the wind is blowing too hard for the bays?

Thanks,

Musky

[gr@ssmonkey]

musky, i was on the west arm of the bay just last friday oct 8 and the water temp was still 60 solid,the fish i caught were all in 25-30 feet,saw a couple in shallower on a break about 15-18 feet and they seemed amazing spookish as they cruised off into 30+ feet of water at first glace of me i connected with the fish i caught fishing a vertical drop next to a flat with a baby fluke.......i did not get the impression that the fish were on the flats yet but any day now i'm sure .....trying to get back up there after this weekend for a day or two so let me know how things worked out for u musky

[Musky]

Thanks for the info...I will post when I return.

Musky

[Musky]

Went out for about 1 hour on Friday afternoon with family on West Bay, managed a nice 4 lber on a drop shot at the break.  Did not see any fish cruising shallow, but did see a couple on the first break, about 15 feet or water or so.  We went out for 2 hours on Saturday morning and fished a little of the East Bay, but only managed a couple on the breaks again, biggest was 2-1/2 lbs on drop shot once again.  The water temps were 60 degrees on the bay, but should get a little cooler this week with some colder nights.
We had a great time and was beautiful up there this time of year.
Good luck,

Musky

[Firefighter Jeff]

  You did pretty well considering the amount of time you spent on the water.  Have you fished there before??  Thanks for the report.

[TheFishinPollock]

Water temps are  gonan force me to put the boat up soon 

[Firefighter Jeff]

Water temps are  gonan force me to put the boat up soon 

  How's that???  They dropping fast    Shoot I remember seeing a report from someone on this site last fall from the TC area and they were doing well on smallies in Nov in 44 to 46 degree water.

[Musky]

I have fished the bays once before in the spring time, we just missed the spawn by about a week.  I did not have much time to fish this past weekend, so once I tried some of the shallow areas that I thought would hold fish did not have anything on them, I just trolled out to the next break and was lucky enough to get a couple bites.  I really think that these colder temps at night this week may cool the water down into the 50's and that could really move the smallies up to the shallow rocks and dying weed beds on the shallow flats.  I was just fishing a little stretch of new water and hoping for a couple of bites so my daughter could see some of those nice fish that have up there!!!

Musky

[Firefighter Jeff]

It's great seeing your daughter out with you.  Unfortunately my daughters have "passed" through that phase and no longer are interested in fishing.  They are 15 and 18 now.  Hope I didn't do anything wrong.  I would love for them to fish with me.