lakes you want to fish in 2014

[BIGSHOW]

Who's making fun of Belleville...lol.. I can remember years ago in some magazine reading it was one of the top ten i think in michigan. I wish i knew where i read that. I think they may have meant top 10 in wayne county.

[21XDC]

I remember reading the article and or book it was in... It actually fishes quite well at night. I have earned a few $$$ there. 

[Fishmael]

Being from the west side of the state, this is kinda sad to say, but I want to work on learning Muskegon Lake.  It is way to close to have only fished it once...I also want to spend some time on cadillac/mitchell.

[BIGSHOW]

I planned on fishing Belleville more last year and got out there quite a few times. I only fished the opening day tournament though. I plan on doing that tournament and hopefully more this year. I accually like the lake because it isn't one of them lakes you just learn in one trip. It takes some practice.

[djkimmel]

So many lakes... so little time... Big Tomahawk is fun but not full of big bass anymore (lately anyway) but the trees make it interesting. Watch your step. The trees are EVERYWHERE! There's a path through the trees in one spot that is actually a mean, cruel trick. Someone cut the tops off all of the trees to make it look like a path but the 'path' is loaded with trees just under the surface. Must be a prop graveyard.

[djkimmel]

I like Clam Lake once in awhile. Can be fun in the fall. Big pike. Some big muskie. Both bass. I had some of the most awesome dock fishing ever on that lake for bigger largemouth bass when the lake was thrumming with boat traffic. Not as good when things quiet down. Torch is awesome, beautiful and wild as long as the wind isn't blowing.

Charlevoix calls in the spring though... still more bass on beds than I've ever seen anywhere else at one time! I've had to watch more than fish on those trips. Watching is not as fun as fishing (though still pretty good depending upon whom you're watching).

I'd like to get back to Thunder Bay. Been quite awhile. But it's so far out of the way to get there... Though there's Long and Hubbard nearby. Maybe Grand. I just fished it under bad conditions so Long was more fun the last time.

Still want to fish Fletchers even though I've been warned it is waning. Just sounds like an interesting diversion if you're not in a hurry to get anywhere (and still keep your lower unit).

Lots of smaller inland lakes to fish. Maybe get back to Saginaw Bay. (If you call me this year Dobber I will say yes.)

Maybe go to Templene to catch a ton of little ones with a few nice ones mixed in...? I know where a big ole mean bass is hiding out. If the old guy doesn't catch 'er first (he looks just like santa, honest, in a red aluminum boat no less?!?)...

Maybe Reeds Lake if someone else parks the trailer? Maybe Fremont Lake finally. Maybe a couple secret private lakes... Maybe Macatoilet, I mean... Macatawa. Mutant gobies, big white bass and some other stuff. Been having Mona Lake on my mind for awhile now... have some great club days memories from there!

The almost annual spring walleye smallmouth smackdown on Hardy I imagine.

I might throw in some ponds and small rivers too. Been scoping out a pond in Lansing and seen enough nice bass to make it worth the exercise. Plus the Lansing pond that teased me almost 30 years ago with a giant bass and then became a closed 'superfund' is finally open again after all these years... I wonder if that old bass is still there... a thing of legend... maybe living up to my dream/nightmare of a bass so big it swallows a 14 foot boat like it's a topwater popper..?!?

Going to have a little harder time falling asleep tonight thinking about possibilities... night night GreatLakesBass.com

[TheFishinPollock]

I'm not sure there are any other lakes I want to fish in Michigan. Pretty much hit everyone but one I have wanted to be on. That is Gogebic Lake . Longgg drive to get to that one when it is open and not frozen solid.  I'd fish just about any lake but 1 in the state again.  This year I am gonna get  more "in tune" with the big lakes around and north of me that I have only been on once or twice.

But I do get to drag at least one of you guys around my favorite lake chain this spring and show ya where "some" of my monsters swim.

I'm kinda shocked you don't like clam Dude . I had my best event out there last year pounding smallies on topwater  mid day and evening and that was mid week, high vacationer time of the year with lotsa ski boats everywhere. 

[MSURoss]

Lake Michigan is surely my number one. Like to try some of the Jackson area lakes including border lakes.

[bwebber]

My lake list includes all of the banner lakes of northen michigan, Dan Tomahawk has really gotten poor size wise, 10lbs is a good sack there now I'd avoid it.  Flether's is still good considering the pressure it gets, nearly anyday all summer you'll have 20-25 fish days with oneor two decent fish.  A lake I haven't been on is Houghton and would like to try and get time to figure it out.  With the rest of the great lakes up here it's tough to leave them and go to a lake I haven't been on.  Hopefully you guys remember TCook's smallie smack down on Burt and Mullet, everyone should try to get up here and try to experience what he did.

Webber

[djkimmel]

I go to Tomahawk for the scenery and the fun of fishing standing timber and tons of laydowns, stumps and other woody stuff. It's the only lake I've ever had a bald eagle swipe a fish I just released next to the boat. Eagle, annoying loons that won't leave and osprey are just some of the fun up there.

Sounds like I need to make more of an effort to get to Fletchers.

[detroit1]

I'm looking forward to Lk. Sherwood the most, (love that lake). I want to fish St. Clair but my 16' tin boat makes me  nervous out there. Any lake sounds good right now...

[Firefighter Jeff]

  I'd like to get some time in on Charlevoix.  Heard some great things early last season.  Not sure if I can fit it in though.  Have lots of trips planned already.  Too many great places to fish and not enough time or money to do it. 

[BIGSHOW]

I have a buddy that invited me to Fletchers this summer for a fishing get together. They have it every year. I've heard there are alot of obstacles. I'd hate to mess up my boat. Anyone have anything more to say about it? Is it somewhat easy to navigate? shallow?

[21XDC]

There used to be a ton of standing timber in the lake. But over the years of rot and ice fisherman cutting it off to burn etc, The lake looks safe to run. Trust me, You have no business running in this lake as most of the wood is just below the surface. I fish fletchers a couple times a year and know it pretty well. There are some old pics of the lake in Jacks Landing restaurant. The lake is not producing the big fish it once used too. It may be coming back a little bit, But they keep messing with the weeds and I feel this is not a good thing.

[MSURoss]

I did a little guided trip on Fletchers about 7 years ago. Caught a 3.5 lb smallie in the weeds 

[djkimmel]

I'm looking forward to Lk. Sherwood the most, (love that lake). I want to fish St. Clair but my 16' tin boat makes me  nervous out there. Any lake sounds good right now...

You have to be very special to get on Lake Sherwood... most people can't pull that off. Talk about it too much and you'll make everyone jealous

As far as Lake St. Clair, I fished it for years from a 14 foot deep V aluminum boat. There are many boat ramps so you can launch near where you want to fish and stay close to the ramp on questionable days.

You can launch in the Lake St. Clair Metropark and fish largemouth bass if it's rough out in the lake. You can launch at 9 Mile Road and fish the Mile Roads nearby. You can launch in Anchor Bay and fish largemouth in the canals or smallmouth out on the flats. You can launch in the various St. Clair River launches later in the year and fish for boat kinds of bass from midsummer through fall. You can do it.

And you always have Lake Sherwood it sounds like, so you are slightly spoiled... Plus, there are plenty of other good lakes in Oakland County too. That's a water rich county.

[djkimmel]

  I'd like to get some time in on Charlevoix.  Heard some great things early last season.  Not sure if I can fit it in though.  Have lots of trips planned already.  Too many great places to fish and not enough time or money to do it. 

Go to Charlevoix in mid-June. You will be glad you went. Trust me. I'll even tell you places to fish if you need it. As long as the lake isn't still real cold (or real windy) you will have found a new favorite lake.

Too many places to fish - a good problem to have; Not enough time or money - we're all pretty much in that club. Luckily, the first 'problem' helps a little with the 2nd problem...

[djkimmel]

I have a buddy that invited me to Fletchers this summer for a fishing get together. They have it every year. I've heard there are alot of obstacles. I'd hate to mess up my boat. Anyone have anything more to say about it? Is it somewhat easy to navigate? shallow?

DON'T RUN FLETCHERS!!! Unless it's real windy I imagine you can take your time to get to places to fish.

I've camped on the lake but only saw it at night and didn't get to fish it. Not sure what trip I was on or where I was headed? A long, long, long time ago.

About 10 years ago the local MDNR fish biologist told me the lake was hot, hot for big largemouth. Sounds like it tapered off but maybe not as bad as some people say (partly, maybe because we're spoiled so much?!? ).

It's a big, shallow lowland reservoir full of stumps and logs. Got some typical lowland reservoir structure too. I like shallow lakes with tons of cover. It's a pretty big lake for Michigan inland so windy days might not be fun and it probably has the 'problem' of everything looking good at first, but I imagine if you remember seasonal patterns and the simple rule of cover on good structure is better it can be figured out.

I would also imagine whatever the present weed situation is at the time anyone visits would affect the fishing too. Hopefully, I'll find out one of these days. It is  a little out of the way but that may keep the 'crowds' away? Maybe?

[djkimmel]

There used to be a ton of standing timber in the lake. But over the years of rot and ice fisherman cutting it off to burn etc, The lake looks safe to run. Trust me, You have no business running in this lake as most of the wood is just below the surface. I fish fletchers a couple times a year and know it pretty well. There are some old pics of the lake in Jacks Landing restaurant. The lake is not producing the big fish it once used too. It may be coming back a little bit, But they keep messing with the weeds and I feel this is not a good thing.

Messing with the weeds is often not a good thing. We talked about the quite a bit at the 2014 Bassmaster Classic Conservation Summit. There needs to be more of a recovery plan in place more often than just thinking "now the 'good' weeds will grow back" or whatever else lake associations and others seem to think, or are told what, will happen.

[djkimmel]

I did a little guided trip on Fletchers about 7 years ago. Caught a 3.5 lb smallie in the weeds 

I've always heard about the largemouth bass, and lots of small pike, over the years, particularly in the 'old' days. But lately, I've been hearing more and more about smallmouth bass too. Wonder if they were always there? Or did someone once again start their own private stocking program?