What is your least favorite inland lake?

[Savage]

Oh, this will be an unpopular choice, but I absolutely DETEST Lake St. Clair!   I can say without doubt that I hate that lake.  I've been there for 4 club events and 2 days of state fish off, and never did any good yet.  I've never seen the main lake calm enough to fish on for more than an hour or two.  The one day I managed to get down on the Belle hump, I was into 'em fairly good, and a lightning storm swept in, mother nature does not want me to do well down there!

Now, for the record, I drive the boat with two throttle speeds: on and off   Having said that, you know full well that I come off the water with a broken ribcage and internal bleeding every time on that darned lake.   One of you guys has to make it your mission this year to show me it's not as bad as I think, because I know I'll eventually HAVE to learn that lake.  It is my nemesis!

Now, in keeping with the rev's request in his original post I will try and give some help to those who hate certain lakes I like:

On Orion, I've had luck with a white crank (deep diving fat free shad) in the morning.  The lake is clear, and in low-light the white shows up.  When the sun hits the water, switch to shad pattern.  Then fish the inside weed edges where you can find them ( a good spot is just north west of the one bridge you can go under)  The fish like to cruise that edge, and will take a jig or small creature bait.

Any of those small clear lakes will have a certain ammount of dock/pontoon fish as well.  A good pattern to look for is a spot that has rocks at the edge of the water, with a gap between the rocks and the grass (weeds)  The fish like to hang out (live) in the weeds, and then move up to the rocks to look for crawdads.  Deep water nearby really up the chance of finding them.  Lots of times you can get a milk run of 5-7 of these spots going and get mopre as they move up.  Try a Nories bug or Case Lil Sweet Pea (beaver) in black/blue or green pumpkin in these areas.  Lots of times these spots are between docks and pontoons, and guys pass them right by without a glance.  My favorite spot on Wixom is one like that, a "nothing" bank with depth, rocks, grass, and BASS.

Happy hunting.

[yukonjack2]

Savage -

thanx for the info on Orion.  I can help on St Clair - first of anything bigger than a 20 ft boat helps immensely - has to do with the physics of the lake depth, and os course the infamous square wave - I too have had days that I felt 2 in shorter after the run back - you know, the mouth of the river to metro beach wide open Sat afternoon - ugh.  Anyhow, for some reason I have found if you run the canadian side of the channel(north or south), the US boat traffic wakes are reduced signifiacantly.  Helps to get to and return from the hump for sure.   If its wind related, sorry buddy - no way around it  other than again use the channel as a blocker.  Like REvtro mentioned, if the wind is bad, run the channels - and fishing is usually just as good or better.

[Skulley]

I hate Ponemah.  I skipped both NBAA Wednesday Night Tournaments out there last year I hate it so much.  I just can't get anything going out there.  I have caught very few out there.  Hate it with a passion.

BD      Ponemah

[DennisB.]

bellville

[h2o]

Hands down, Lake Orion, the traffic there is horrible. Even on a windless day there's white caps. The middle of the lake is always ruff. If I fish it it would be @ night using a buzz-bait.

h2o

[djmaclf]

I would have to say Orchard Lake.  Saw plenty of keeper fish, just could not get them to bite.  Didn't have the TNT in the boat.  Also Ponemah can really get you down.  Last couple of tournaments out there were shortly after spraying.

[fiker]

Lobdell.
I've never done well there.