This Wed/Thurs Sept 22 & 23... worth coming over?

[Waterfoul]

I have to be in Mt. Clemens for a meeting all day Wed. the 22nd and was considering bringing my boat over and fishing on Thursday the 23rd.  Weather man is calling for a cold front and chance of rain both days.  Is it worth dragging my boat from Grand Rapids or am I going to find the conditions really tough (read:  frustrating) for a guy who only gets over there once or twice a season??

[Waterfoul]

Back seat is still open.  Looks like I'll be bringing the boat and taking my chances with the weather.  What the heck... it's only gas... and I'm being paid to drive there and back!  Love expense reports....  :-)

[Revtro]

The best strategy with the weather is to fish the channels.  The weather is much less of a factor and the fish are easier to find.  Trying to fish the main lake this time of year can be very, very tough.  You really have to know how to hunt down these fish and because they are really on the move this time of year, it's pretty hard to do.  Really hard to do.  My advice would be to launch where you can fish the channels and start in the South Channel.  Look for deep seawalls (25' - 30') and you should start seeing bait.  I have a few little honey holes that are loaded with bait right now, but honestly these spots exist all up and down the Channel system.  Even if you go up near the Algonac Ferry, you're gonna find good walls with bait balled up on South corners.  These create perfect ambush points and the Smallies will be there.  There are a few wrecks that seem to hold fish too if you can find them.  I fish a couple.

San Souci hasn't been very productive the last couple of weeks, but don't count it out.  It's really snaggy, but there have been good fish there the past month or so.  But it's hit and miss. 

Fawn is another good possibility especially if you want to fish Canadian water.  But if you need to stay in the US, it's really difficult IMO to do well at Fawn because the island itself is in Canadian water.  And the best spots are the tail of the island and the Northeast edge IMO.  There is also a great stretch North of Fawn that should be holding fair numbers this time of year in US water.  I plan to hit this area on Saturday. 

I kind of suck in the North Channel to be honest, but there are a few good largemouth areas I tend to hit if I can't get much else going.  Docks on all sides of Sassy Marina can be good if you can find weedbeds out in front of them.  Even that canal that leads into the marina can be great.  But that's another real hit and miss spot and I consider it a community hole.  But there are spots all along the North edge from there Westward that are worth looking at. 

There seem to be two constants that have become more apparent the past couple of years, to me at least.  1. Deep seawalls seem to hold bait.  If you can fish below the bait (heavy jig heads) you can pick off these fish.  2. If I can find docks adjacent to deep water, but with shallow weeds in front of the drop, there will be fish deep and shallow on both sides of the weedbeds.  Usually it's a mixture of largemouth and smallmouth.  I finally started to understand these patterns this past season and it's paying off.  And keep in mind that a TON of areas look really "good", but you gotta find pretty specific spots that meet the right criteria to find the bass.  And they're bunched up. 

I used to really struggle to fish the channels, and my friends were no help because they didn't want to divulge their secrets.  So for years I couldn't figure out how to fish the channels and it was so darn frustrating.  I'm no expert, but I am finally developing some confidence up there and starting to unlock some of it's secrets.  And I'm happy to share because I remember how much it totally sucked to be the guy no one would help and who got so frustrated. 

Man, talking about this makes me antsy to get up to Fawn on Saturday!!!  Go get 'em.  I hope you burn 'em up man. 

[Redbone]

Great read Revtro!

[PIGSMALLIE]

Nice response Rev....Thanks for the info.

[Firefighter Jeff]

  Kudos to Rev !!!!   So very helpful and didn't have to give up any spots.  Wish more people were so generous.

[Waterfoul]

Well, I wish I had read this before I went!!  Lots of great information I could have used for sure.  Thanks Rev.

As it was... I managed a decent day yesterday... caught about a half dozen smallies... topped off by a 5 lb 3 oz PIG I got on a beaver on the flat out of the Metro Beach launch.  Absolutely crushed my bait and jumped WAY up in the air a couple of times.  Ton of fun.  I managed to get out to the St. Clair light early in the day before it got bumpy and caught a couple out there.  Then I drifted the 10-11 foot water off the mile roads (probably around 11 or 12 mile or so... out from the blue walls) and got a couple nice largemouth and a couple keeper sized smallies on a senko that we on the West Side call "shaking the baby."  If you want to know about this rig shoot me a PM, I'd post it for all to read but then I'd have to kill all of you!  LOL!!

I thought about running to the channels... but like you Rev, I have always struggled over there, mostly because I've only been there a couple of times and never in my own boat.

On a sour note... some a - hole completely flattened the left side fender of my trailer at the Crocker ramp.  Came back in the afternoon and let me tell you ..... all the people living in the neighborhood knew I was peaved off!!  Took me 30-40 minutes to bend, pry, cuss, swear, and bend some more till I was confident I could get the boat on the trailer and home without wrecking the tire.  Called Triton today... $140 painted to match and shipped to my house.  Doesn't quite hit my deductable.  Thanks who ever you are... you owe me $140, an appology, and a promise to sell your boat and NEVER BOAT AGAIN.

[Revtro]

Something similar happened to me at Pontiac Lake.  What I don't understand is with insurance, there is no good reason for a person to be anything but honest.  If I hit someone's trailer, I'd leave a note and offer to help with their deductible.  It's not like I'm going to go to jail because I hit a trailer.  People like this are nothing but cowards and have no business at boat launches because clearly they can't handle a trailer.  The person who hit my trailer just hit and run.  And the damage wasn't even that bad.  I probably would have accepted a hundred bucks from the guy and let it go.  But the guy just took off and nobody saw anything. People like this really test my patience because they care for nobody but themselves.  Ok Tom, take a deep breath...  sigh.

Anyway, back to the more positive topic.  I'm glad you managed a few out there although that's a pretty slow day.  I'll be out tomorrow morning with the Christian Anglers get-together for a few hours and I'm sure the river is going to be absolutely LOADED with boats.  It should make it tougher for sure to fish where I want.  We'll see what happens.  Next time you're gonna be in the area, gimme a call and we'll get out in the channels and I'll show you around.   

[Waterfoul]

Thanks Tom.  Probably won't be over that way again this year.  But there's always next year!

And yes... yesterday was actually the slowest day I've ever had out there... but the quality per fish was pretty good.

[Firefighter Jeff]

   Nice job on the 5.3 Pig Mike  !!!!!  Ummm I'll have to get with you on the Shakin the baby.  lol 

[bmck25]

I wish I would have read this before I came up also. I was there Wed and Thurs also. We put in at St Jeans and fished the river up to Mile Rds. I covered a ton of water. Started fishing where I thought I could catch some and didn't get any. Then moved to some spots we fished a few weeks ago and got zip. Worked some spots in the river and got nada. Drifted anything from 15ft all the way up to 8ft. First time I have ever been skunked up there. The wind and waves were kind of bad and made running around a pain also.

Thursday we went to Elizabeth park and fished around the river and had a blast. We caught close to 30 fish on tubes and drop shots. I threw some lipless cranks but didn't do too well on those.

Hopefully I can make it back up before it gets too cold. It's only 5hrs away.

[Revtro]

After fishing the channels today (9/24), I'm getting that "time to go to Erie" feeling.  Can't wait.