well??!!?!?!?

[thedude]

lets hear it. how was your opener?

A buddy and i hit muskegon lake bright and early. Pleasantly surprised when the fog cleared right when we got to the ramp. We started out trolling the pierheads looking for some steel or browns with no luck - figuring the bass wouldn't be on a hot morning bite. Had one rip but no one home. Headed back into the lake and found some dirty water and all we could find is a giant bait eater that for all intents and purposes must've been 2 tons of curled rebar....

We moved to the south shore into a spot where we did well last year on the opener and it paid off again. On my 3rd cast i nailed a nice 18" smallie on a flat-sided bomber. We continued on that stretch and picked up 6 more keeper LMs on jigs. Also had a break-off and several misses. We moved from there onto a shallow flat and picked up 2 more keeper on jerkbaits and 1 more that came unbuttoned.

finished the day up with a bonus 21" walleye that nailed the same flat-sided bomber.

All in all the fish we found were pretty aggressive. i was pleased with myself since most my fish came on a cranks and jerkbaits which i need to throw a lot more. Plus it was the first smallie from muskegon lake i've gotten. walleye for dinner tomorrow night too

[1javelin]

Well, here's my horror story.  Got up sick, so should've taken the sign.  Drove the 2 hrs. to Hardy Dam, launched with no incident.  Are you supposed to pay the $6 fee, because we didn't?  Worked around in the fog for a good 1 1/2 to 2 hrs, no idea where or what we were doing.  Found a warm cove and partner Tcook got a smallie.  Went up river and found a large group, so started throwing around them.  T gets on a big smallie, I'm trying to get the net out from under his tackle bag, which weighs like 100 lbs. easy, when my finger gets caught in the side and almost rips my nail off.  Know whats it's like to bend your pinky nail back onto the top of your finger?  Well now I do.  By the way, about 5 lbs. was a nice smallie for him while I'm shaking like crazy.  Go back to the stump field, or what we think was a stump field, catch a lot of pike.  Go back to the island he caught the big one at, run out of gas!!!   Are you kidding me??  That means I get about 3 miles per gallon!!  That's bad news.  So the next hour is pent with tmotor on high working back to launch, where T catches another, thoroughly skunking me.  Guess I deserve it after the day.  Maybe better luck next time, maybe I'll just jump over at the beginning of the trip to get the karma off.  Anyone do good at Hardy that had a full tank of gas??

[Skulley]

Got up this morning....Raining catz and dogz.  Decided to go to work for 4 hours and make time and a half.  I like $$$$$.  Got off of work and went to my local boat supply store to purchase a new trailer jack for the boat trailer.  Put that on and decided to tinker around and repair some other minor stuff on the trailer.  It has not had any TLC....so it got a little.  Went to my son's basketball game at 2:30.  Came home and was a little tired so I decided to hug the couch for a while and watch the Wings and Pistons.  Decided to head out to the lake when it started raining again.  Never uncovered the boat today...........but I am ready for tomorrow.  My daughter and I are planning to go to LSC weather permitting otherwise maybe somewhere inland like Kent or Thompson.


BD             

[thedude]

hardy was my 2nd choice today and i about changed my mind about goin to muskegon when i saw the fog warnings last night and the 15* lower temp forecast being on the lakeshore.... glad we went though... sounds like hardy woulda been good too. I usually do well up in the river (the pic in my avatar was taken at an FOM tourney there in 05 .. smallest smallie in that pic was 18" )

[OUTLAW]

I caught 18lbs of largies off beds today! You gotta love being able to get to the fish no one else can get to.

Thanks You Gator Trax!

[nitrobass]

Went out of Elisabeth park rode down to the Banana Dike and caught a couple of dinks  than  I decided to just scout different areas that looked promising.

[Waterfoul]

Fished Hardy from about 7:30 to early afternoon.  We caught a total of 21 pike... all sub-legal.  Had one steel my gold Husky Jerk by banging it's head on the side of my boat and popping open the snap on the leader!  darn fish had it's mouth hooked shut too... so I'm guessing it will soon be dead.  My partner had a big fish bite thru his 30 lb braid and steal his 9$ X-rap though...

We then went to Fremont Lake to try for some eyes... got one nice smallie on a crank (using my new cranking stick) and that was it.

[Cy]

I thought about getting out on Hardy Saturday but Orlando Jon and I went to Croton instead.  I am glad we missed the Pike-fest going on there.  We fished the Little Muskegon and picked a few non-keeper smallies, I think one keeper and I tagged a nice large mouth full of eggs.  We fished from about 2 to 7 PM.  All and all not a bad day.

This morning we fished Brooks Lake for about 2.5 hours and picked up a couple 12" to 14".  Typical for Brooks.

Cy

[fowlmouth]

Went out saturday for a couple hours on Sanford, couldn't find the fish. I have never seen the current that strong in Sanford, went to one of my normal spots and my TM could'nt make way against the current! The water looked like chocolate milk, I feel sorry for all those people in the walleye tourney down stream.

This morning my son and I trailered up river, we checked wixom, smallwood and finally settled on Secord. Surface temp was 62 so we started looking for beds, nothin. Caught a few on spinnerbaits working the banks, ended up finding a creek with a lot of wood. While working the banks of the creek we noticed something busting baitfish on the surface, tied on a Spook and got hit immediatley.

I didn't really expect topwater this early, but just had to get the frogs out. We had a field day! my 7 year old was having trouble getting hooked up but did all right. We ended up with 8 fish over 2lbs and several dinks, nice to be back out on the water.

[1javelin]

Went out on Paw Paw this morning for a few hours, found a couple pike, no bass though, unless the fish the size of the senko it was trying to eat counts.  Guess it's one of those times of year where they are still hard to catch.  Water temp was only in the low 50's to start, mid 50's by late afternoon.  I need a few jerkbaits in a different color that I can throw.  Maybe time to talk ma into letting me shop!!

[rustydog]

Live on Wixom so knew how fast that was so decided to run up to Sugar Springs. I have only been on the water once in my life and that had to be at least 15 years ago. We wound up with 16- 18 largemouth. About 18 or 19 lbs top five. Probably more if my kid wasn't so stuborn and would of put on a jig. General principles is ok until your down 14 to 2. Always has been stubborn.

[thedude]

smallie from sat - just pulled it off my phone.

[Andy]

Nice fish <><

[Genie]

For those of you that went to Hardy or Croton - what was the water temp?

[1javelin]

Started around 52, found some 57, but the fish we caught were still deep and on the drop points.

[Cy]

Croton was averaging 53 - 55 degrees.  The large mouths that were out of the current were stacking up on the banks but they weren't really interested in feeding.

[Genie]

Any smallies cruising around yet?

[Cy]

Genie,

Not that I could tell, but didn't fish the main lake very much.  The river was too muddy to see much.

Cy

[motocross269]

Only got out for about an hour on Lakeville lake in the middle of the day.  Basically just wanted to check my boat out after making some adjustments.
I took my wife and daughter with me and we went into a wind swept cove with some pretty deep water in it.  It looked to me like the baitfish were being blown in there pretty heavy.  They caught about 10 slab crappie and i couldn't keep the hammer handles off of my lures.  We only fished for about an hour and left.  No bass and I didn't really go looking for beds.  Water temperature was in the Mid 50s.  Boat ran great and it was a beutiful day.