Burt/Mullet report.

[Firefighter Jeff]

  It didn't take much prodding to get my brother Larry to go with me on a trip back up to Indian River.  Why is it, that a week or two after having a great, satisfying trip up there with my wife, I can't stop thinking about BIG smallmouth?  Larry had fished the Lakedrive Tourney in October.  Between the two practice days and the two tournament days they really only caught fish the first day of the tournament. As a matter of fact he didn't even boat a bass on one practice day. I think he was wanting to exact some revenge on the bass. 
   
   We headed up Sunday morning (Oct 30th) at 6 am.  The temperature was 27 degrees a couple hours out from Indian River with freezing fog.  It's a good 5 plus hour trip.  After getting a room and running into a few minor mechanical issues we got out that afternoon for about 4 hours or so on Burt lake.  The lake looked great !!


 
   A couple weeks earlier, my wife and I caught some really big fish, so I knew right where to go. Well, ummmmmmm  that didn't work out so well.  The well was dry.  We could only scare up two 3 pound fish.  Water temp was 49 degrees. We saw very few if any fish at the 4 to 5 spots we fished.  We were beginning to wonder if spending all the money on gas and lodging was going to be worth it.  We'll try Mullet tomorrow.  Larry has more waypoints there. 

   We got out on Mullet about 9-9:30  We fished the bay near needle Point.  I picked up a couple fish.  Nothing real big. 2-3 pounders.  One on a Spinnerbait and another on a xr50 rattlebait.  We decided to move out to deeper water.  We ended up fishing water from 8 to 18 feet deep.  To be honest I didn't think the fish would be there.  Seems most of the stuff I have read about fall smallies, are that they tend to be in shallower.  Either sunning themselves or feeding on bait that was looking for warmer water.  Well, I was incorrect. 

     We slowly but surely started catching fish on deep diving crankbaits. It was by no means fast and furious but just enough to keep you at that area.  The fish were just stupid looking.  What I mean, is that they were like me, chubby  !!!!  I thought a couple of them were gonna burst open. They had such fat bellies !!!  The fish ran from 2 to 4 pounds.  I was using a Strike King Series 5xd, custom painted by GLB member Bassfan586 in a pumpkinseed pattern.  Larry was using a DD22 crank.
   
  I caught a bonus fish at this spot. A personal best Northern Pike.  13 pounds 4 ounces.  I'm not a pike fan.... stinky things anyway.  But this one was a blast to catch. 



   The catching slowed up, so we decided to try some other spots.  We headed to the Northeast end of Mullet.  We started fishing around a few weeds and I got a really nice smallie.  It went 5.9 on a White/chartreuse spinnerbait. Hope I made Dan proud  !!  lolololol



   A short time later Larry hooks into a fish that just goes crazy after being hooked.  It takes a minute but we realize he has on a trout.  Or was it a steelhead?  Not sure if both are in these lakes.  It looked a little slim to be a Michigan steelhead I thought, and I doubted they had summer run up there. Either way, he had fun catching it and it was a nice bonus fish. 



  We tried a few spots East of Aloha and don't see or catch any fish.  We decide to spend the last hour or so of light back at the Needle Point area.  We catch a few more fish on cranks.  Here is one of them.  A 5.7 caught close to sunset.



   For the day we ended up with 36 fish.  I think we figured the best 5 went near 24 pounds.  I think Larry had one at 4.15.  Oh and we did get a couple fish on plastics.  Yamamoto, and me on a Extreme Bass Tackle St. Clair Goby NFT 4in tube.

   It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out we went back to the same area on Mullet to fish on Tuesday before we headed home.  Same techniques, but different results.  At least for me anyway.  We ended up catching 26 fish in about 5 hours of fishing.  However, I think Larry caught 18 of them if not more AND he was getting the bigger ones !!!!!  Must have been holding my mouth wrong or something.  He was in the zone. I think I made him mad the day before and he was putting it on me !!    I think our 5 best this day went around 21 pounds.  Here is a 5.6 that Larry caught.



   I think I spent $250 plus on this short trip and it was well worth every penny.  Four years ago was the last time Larry and I had gone on a fishing trip, and I had a such a great time.  Even if we did have to wait a little on the battery charger.     





     

[bigmojet]

Nice report. I bet that trip memory will help when the snow starts flying.

[Firefighter Jeff]

Nice report. I bet that trip memory will help when the snow starts flying.

  I sure hope so !! 

[bassfan586]

I need to get up there next fall.  I have had horrible luck the last 3 years.  Its rained or been extremly windy.  Thats awesome the crankbait bite was decent.  Still jealous.

[1javelin]

One of these days we will get out together and I'll explain the secret to holding your mouth right. I can only do it while fishing though, can't swing it when I'm in the woods I guess.

1jav

[Firefighter Jeff]

One of these days we will get out together and I'll explain the secret to holding your mouth right. I can only do it while fishing though, can't swing it when I'm in the woods I guess.

1jav

   LMAO Herman........ deal  !!!!!!

[Firefighter Jeff]

I need to get up there next fall.  I have had horrible luck the last 3 years.  Its rained or been extremly windy.  Thats awesome the crankbait bite was decent.  Still jealous.

   Thanks Brad.  Yeah, they liked your pumpkinseed.  At least on Monday anyway.  lololol