Hopkins Lake

[Durand Dan]

Well after driving by Hopkins Lake for the past 20 years my son and I finally hit it this morning. The lake is located on M-52 just south of Owosso. We launched at 6am and toured the shoreline from south to north. The lake is only about 100 acres or so. As we approached the north end I had a blow up on a buzz bait. Shortly afer my son caught a nice one on a poppar. Later I added a 2lber on the buzz bait. We decided that ther were at least two good sized bass in the lake!

[djkimmel]

That was my 'home' lake during my high school years. Fished it from shore many, many times. Despite my own CRS disease I still have some memories from that lake.

Didn't know they had a boat ramp now. What's the ramp like? I might have to hit it some day for the nostalgia affect.

[Durand Dan]

That was my 'home' lake during my high school years. Fished it from shore many, many times. Despite my own CRS disease I still have some memories from that lake.

Didn't know they had a boat ramp now. What's the ramp like? I might have to hit it some day for the nostalgia affect.

It's a gravel ramp. The water drops off pretty quick so it's easy to launch with two people.

[djkimmel]

I should have asked before - is it in the park on the M-52 side or over in the old drive across the lake on Palmer Street? I'm assuming in that park - Collamer Park... something like that.

There were a few big bass in there when I was a young 'un though I wasn't very good at catching them. Caught a lot of pike and a few nice bass. There were rumors around town that the lake was bottomless. Taught me a lot about the power of old wives tales.

There were several other entertaining rumors but I'll save them for another day. I know the bottom is incredibly mucky (leading to the bottomless legend I assume). They were dredging it one summer and a teenager walked out on the boom only to fall into the lake and get stuck up to his chest. It was big news for a weekend with the rescue taking several hours to get him out of the muck.

[Durand Dan]

The launch is on the east side of the lake. There are two gravel entries. Use the south one it drops off the fastest. Lots of weeds and lilly pads up close. I think the deepest reading I got was around 28'.  It seems to be a tough lake to fish.
I shore fished quite a bit and never caught many bass. A few pike.

[djkimmel]

Oh... so the launch is the old Palmer St fishing area. I spent many, many days fishing off the old dock there and the shallow pockets along that shore.

When I was a youngster, Hopkins Lake taught me that there were tunnels under the thick moss in the lake that bass used to hide and travel in. I used that on Houghton Lake later. I will never forget the day in a rented boat when a giant bass came up through that stuff basically out of nothing to blast my trusty Jitterbug into the air. My first near death topwater heart attack!

There used to be a huge bass that lived in the small pocket next to that fishing area that would smash the tiny speks that also lived in there. It actually drove some right out of the water at my feet one day! Pretty cool. Wish I'd had a video camera that day. Over 30 years ago.

[djkimmel]

DD, we have slightly different needs in a boat 'ramp' it appears after I did a drive by the old neighborhood earlier today. My 21 footer won't be launching into little Hopkins Lake anytime soon unless I get a 4-wheeler with BIG tires... or maybe a large tractor

I drove by the old Dairy Delight I spent 3 years at... it seems much smaller now. So did Hopkins Lake. Guess that is what 30 years will do! Not saying I won't try to sneak into Hopkins through some other means at some point...

I was looking for a boat ramp I swear we launched at when I was a kid at ShiaTown too?? Either my memory is worse than even I thought... or it vanished into thin air?!? Well, it was a nice little trip down memory lane while I ran some errands.

[Durand Dan]

I do have a smaller 18ft aluminum boat, so it is easier to launch on some of the smaller gravel ramps. Shiatowns' another matter. Canoes only! However I do wade and shore fish below the dam. That can be some nonstop smallie action at times!

[djkimmel]

Sometimes I wish I still had my smaller aluminum boat too, but that's a little too much.

I was sure we launched at a real boat ramp on the ShiaTown impoundment once?? We used to shore fish below the dam a lot, but we got a boat and tried out the decent ramp...??

Only problem is... no ramp?? Maybe there was one 30-some years ago?? Or maybe my memory is that bad?? Maybe it was somewhere else? For the life of me I can't figure out where that somewhere else might have been?

There was a little tiny boat trailer at ShiaTown the other day but it looks like they dragged it down that 'little' hill. Wouldn't work for the several thousand pounds Ranger too well... maybe if I had the Vernon and Corunna HS football teams with me...? (Does Vernon have a HS football team?)

[fear no fish]

Vernon is part of Corunna Public Schools and only has an elementary building. While we are going down memory lane, I used to ride my bike near Shiatown to a park called Parmenter's Grove pay a dime to get in (there was an old cigar box by the gate) and then fish the mighty Shiawassee all day long. I still live in the Corunna area and at times still long to wade the river and catch some of those great smallies.
Tom

[djkimmel]

Okay... so the Owosso HS football team (although when I went there we didn't win very many games - they were known to put students cars in strange places a time or two )

I spent a great deal of time wading the Shiawassee River catching many little smallies and the occasional bigger bass or pike (along with a lot of suckers and then carp later). I wonder if there are still huge bass in those tile pits out east of Corunna?? I wonder if the tile pits are even still there?