best bass lakes near Muskegon

[justinhahn88]

Hello,

I am one of the noobs here. I was curious what lakes near Muskegon are viewed as the best. I was doing quite well on Muskegon lake early this season. But have struggled on both Muskegon and White as of recently.  It seems as other Fisherman I have talk to have also had a hard time finding bass.   Has it been a tough season on these lakes or do I just suck? Any advice would be greatly appreciated seen as I have my first 4 day weekend and plan on doing a whole bunch of fishing.


Thanks in advance.

[Cy]

How close to Muskegon are you talking about?

[justinhahn88]

How close to Muskegon are you talking about?

I live in Muskegon, I was was thinking somewhere within a half hour or so for my weekday after work fishing then within a few hours or so for the weekend days.

[Manxfishing]

In the Southern part of the state
Were just getting over the Post spawn hump

And i'd guess that's why the fishing is tough for you at this time
Give it a week or 2 and it will be back to normal

[fiker]

I fished a lake in northern Muskegon county this past weekend.  It was east of White Lake.  Water temp was high 70's.  Water was very clear.
I used jerkbaits to locate fish, but only caught one on it on the very last hook.  I did catch one on a topwater, but most fish just slapped at the popper.  The rest of my fish were caught on wacky rigged worms.  I had to drown the worms to get them to bite.  I figured it was a post spawn situation there as well. 

[djkimmel]

Transition times can be tougher for some anglers. You just have to keep trying to adjust with the fish too. I'm no different than anyone else in that I  struggle sometimes but I try to tell myself if what I'm doing isn't working I just have to try something else.

There's ALWAYS something else to try! From my days of fishing lots of bass tournaments I know someone ALWAYS got them. So SOMETHING was working. I just didn't figure it out on that day.

I used to really like Mona Lake. Good mix of bass. Interesting lake to fish with lots of different opportunities. I wasn't quite as fond of the giant pike that used to be in the lake!! Though I admit some days I got distracted and off my bass patterns for a while if the big pike bite was on. Don't tell anyone... (PS: I found some GIANT pike up the Muskegon River a ways too!)

I haven't had the chance to fish hardly any of the smaller lakes arounds the Muskegon area. I fished Pigeon Lake a few times. It wasn't as good as I had heard it was though I caught a few nice bass of both types, some more pike - not as big in general, and a few moderate-sized dogfish (they follow me around).

I definitely want to fish Fremont Lake! I've seen way too many big fish pictures of different species from there with some big tournament bags during the summer! Very impressive for a moderate-sized inland lake! There are some fishing reports on here on a few of the smaller lakes in the area. Another big lake that I enjoyed fishing some time ago was Hamlin Lake.

I've actually enjoyed fishing the Grand River too. I like fishing rivers, particularly during the summer. I've been way up the Grand a few times past Eastmanville though I wouldn't run up there now - much shallower with bars, logs and even some bigger rocks. If I had time, I'd fish my way up there though for something different to do. It wasn't as good up there the last time I tried it but that was awhile ago now.

There are definitely some helpful fishing reports on here under the fishing reports boards and other posts if you do some searching. Wolf Lake is an example.

[tim4081]

You might try Spring Lake also.  I've got bass up to six pounds from some of the bayous off the main lake.  There's a public launch at Petty's bayou .  There is alot of recreational boaters to deal with but most of the canals and arms of the main lake are no wake zones. 

The Grand river is a great fishery with plenty of launches.  There are tons of good spots on the main river, side channels and various bayous connected to the river.

[djkimmel]

I like the Grand. I like Pettys too. They can be good, and they can be frustrating. I guess lots of waters are like that.

[Mike S.]

There are tons of lakes here in the Muskegon area to fish. Fremont has some pigs in it. I just saw one out of there that was 8.75#.  Crockery, Duck, Mona.  Endless waters here. If you're willing to drive a couple of hours on the weekends, your possibilities are endless. I live at the notheast end of Muskegon, not on the lake, but close. St. Clair is about 2.5 hours, maybe 3. Traverse City area is about 2 hours away. Not a bad drive. Beautiful lakes there too.

No shortage of water to play on. Good luck.

[justinhahn88]

I actually fish pettys and other areas on spring lake quite a bit. I have done well there in regard to numbers but haven't caught anything larger than 3 pounds. I hit up Freemont yesterday. Caught a few decent ones but it was a pretty slow day.

[Waterfoul]

I'm starting to like Spring Lake more every year.  Weighed in 14.54 pounds out of Spring this past Sunday (good for 3rd place in the Al and Bob's series).  Our biggest went 4.2.  Also had a 3.7.  All our others were 2.2 or better.  We caught at least 20 keepers thru the day, probably 50+ short fish, and some big sheepies!  Shakeyhead worms, texas rigged beavers and worms, and a C-Flash 44 Magnum caught most of our fish.

I have a weeknight tourney there tomorrow night... looking forward to it!

[djkimmel]

There are tons of lakes here in the Muskegon area to fish. Fremont has some pigs in it. I just saw one out of there that was 8.75#.  Crockery, Duck, Mona.  Endless waters here. If you're willing to drive a couple of hours on the weekends, your possibilities are endless. I live at the notheast end of Muskegon, not on the lake, but close. St. Clair is about 2.5 hours, maybe 3. Traverse City area is about 2 hours away. Not a bad drive. Beautiful lakes there too.

No shortage of water to play on. Good luck.

Anyone have any good pictures of that big bass?!?

[Waterfoul]

14.9 lbs topped with a 4.8 lb kicker last night on Spring Lake.  There's good fish in that lake if you spend the time to look for them.

[Mike S.]

Dan, I shared it on Facebook because I can't put pics on here from my phone anymore. I will post it to your Fb page, assuming I still have the pic on my phone.

[justinhahn88]

14.9 lbs topped with a 4.8 lb kicker last night on Spring Lake.  There's good fish in that lake if you spend the time to look for them.

Wow thats awesome! I was out there Wednesday and there was a tournament going on. Someone said 13 pounds took first place. Do you have better luck on the main lake or in the bayous branching off? What kind of depth are you having success in?

[Waterfoul]

We catch them mostly on the lake... but all over the lake.  Any deep dock or deep seawall.

[justinhahn88]

Sounds good. Thanks to everyone for the great feedback!!

[djkimmel]

Dan, I shared it on Facebook because I can't put pics on here from my phone anymore. I will post it to your Fb page, assuming I still have the pic on my phone.

You can figure it out. It's not that hard. If your pictures are too big because your default picture settings on your phone are set to the biggest size, you can set that lower. You should also be able to resize the pictures on your phone. You can load bigger pictures to your personal forum image gallery or one of the existing galleries though some phone defaults are even bigger than the generous settings I allow there.

If you add a picture to the forum image gallery you can just copy the code created for you automatically in the picture's "BB Medium Image Code" box and paste that into any of your posts. I know you can do it! I think you did it before.

Thanks for showing me the picture on Facebook. That's a true monster, monster bass.