One More Try For Northern Michigan Fall Smallmouth

[Eric]

The first two ventures didn't go all that well, so we're gonna give it one more try.  Next Friday we're going to Lake Leelenau.  From what I have read, the north lake is full of featureless dropoffs, and the south lake is a riverine flat.  I have never been there, so which one should I try for numbers or size of fish?  Anyone willing to share some general locations and tactics?  I do accept PMs if you prefer.  I read that one ramp has good facilities, but I didn't catch which one it was.  Can anyone help with that.  How about decent places to stay in the area?  I have to get revenge on the northern michigan smallies that have so far eluded me.  Thanks for your help.

[TheFishinPollock]

Unfourtinatly the weekend your commin up here there is a regonal finally for a national club on lake Leelanau.  Going out of leelanau RV park. That is if your commin up on the 6th and 7th of October.   This weekend the lake will be full of Bass , Flw and everstart pros for the Lifeline charity weekend.  The north lake isn't totaly featurless. There are junk piles and weedlines  on leeward sides of the lake. IE West and north shoerlines. The numbers will not be many , but the size more than makes up for them .  Spinnerbaits, deep cranks , drop shots , jigs, and Crigs will probable be your bestbets up there.   The south lake  has many weedbeds and all ya need to do is drift over them chucking spinnerbaits, jerkbaits<hard and soft>, and lipless cranks.  Some drop shotting is done out there also on south lake.  The ramp at the narrows between the lakes is a great launch with ample parking. The Leelanau Rv park is fantasticccccccccccc. That is where the tourny I fish goes out of. Tim and his wife are great hosts. They have full service sites  . Some with concrete slabs and all have 2 110 outlets and 220 outlets, water, and cable hookups for TV's or internet . If your so inclined.  There is a standard hotel just south of Suttons Bay .   There is also plenty of hotels in Traverse City which is only a short 20 minute drive to the lake.  Hope this helps a out. If ya need anything else just ask. I'm always willing to help peolple comming up to my neck of the woods to enjoy it.

matt

[Eric]

Thanks for the info. 

I am a little confused about the events, though.  Is the regional event and FLW & BASS guys the same event, or different.  And are/were they this weekend or the 6th & 7th?  It sounds like the RV park is the place to go, and I take it that is where most of the tournaments go out of.

It sounds like there are bigger fish in the north lake, but more fish in the south lake then.  Cool, when we get tired of catching them, we will go looking for big ones.

Thanks, you're a great help.  We're looking forward to coming up.

[skeeterman190]

 the tournament is this weekend and the fish with the pros was last weekend. was a pretty cool deal got to talk to a few on the water at leelaneu (art furgeson,chip harrison hes in the tourney though and koby kreiger) word is kvd was out there last week i didnt see him i was there since wednesday. fishing up there is fantastic right now with numerous 5lbers i still cant get that 6 though. heard from 1javelin that ike caught a 6.5 on charlevoix? umm as far as where to fish im kinda lock jawed on that right now i will say that both lakes are awesome. im sure your gonna have a lot of bass boats out there this weekend with most culling 3lbers alllllllllllll day. i was up there with 1javelin and tcook and they caught them good too,on both lakes so have fun fishing and always be safe.skeeterman

[TheFishinPollock]

Unfourtinatly the weather has really become unstable up here. Rain all week this week with Wednesday being the only sunny day.  The baramoter is bounching back and forth too. The rain will drop lake temps from mid 60's to high 60's to low 60's to high 50's.  I have takin a break from the fishing to whop a few ducks and hopefully that massive 6 pointer that beats up the apple piles out back of the house. I will be out practicing for a hawg hunt on Duck and Green lakes on the 14th .   If the weather stables out a bit . I'm gonna hit area lakes including leelanau. Just be careful in the south end of south lake due to the duck hunters.  We will be out that weekend in that area I'm sure. pellets falling on your head always suck.     Good luck to ya and don't forget a post of the results and the lake temps. Over on my lake ,Birch lake in Elk Rapids. The fishing is still pretty good .

Skeet. Yea Ike got a 6.5 on Charlovoix. A friend's pop let Ike use his boat up there. I guess KVD was there, but didn't fish. Don't blame him after the gruling eilite series.   

Matt

[Eric]

Wow, what a beautiful weekend. Mid 80s every day.

Got up Friday morning and drove to Traverse City to go fishing.  Went to the Bingham ramp, and started on the point just morth of that ramp on the other side of the lake.  Kelsinke or something like that.  Looked great, sandy flat leading to weedy drop.  No bites.  Went to the big weedy flat down at the south end of the lake.  Started out in about 10 feet of water, and worked all the way to the south shore.  One bite in the reeds, but quickly came off.  Moved over to Birch point and tried the drop all the way up to to the gravelly shore, the sandy point, etc.  No bites.  From there, we went north of the ramp on the same shore.  Found a nice rock pile in about 14 fow and a bunch of weeds, too.  Had one come off, and caught a 10 inch SM.  Tried teh weed flat just south of Gordon point.  No bites.  Now it is later in the day and thought maybe the dark spots on the flats would be on, so back to the south of the first spot.  No luck shallow, so tried deep out to about 30 fow.  Found some nice stuff deep, but no bites.  Back to the south end flat, and lots of perch jerkers there.  Tried perch jerkbait, and it was on.  Walleye first cast, 5 inch LM right after that, and finished off with a 6 inch perch.  On the way back to the ramp, tried the area jst south of the ramp.  Found an area with a ton of wood all over and cabbage outsied of the wood.  Saw 3 fish, but no bites.  That was the end of Friday.  Water temp started out 63.5 and was up to almost 67 by afternon.

Saturday we got up and it was 73 degrees at 5:30. We tried a lot of the same stuff as Friday, and after only having one bite (walleye) by about noon, it was off to the north lake.  No a bite anywhere in the nort lake.  Back to the narrows, and largemouth fishing it is.  Throwing at the reeds, pads, boathoused etc in there.  Caught a 5.09 LM in a boathouse.  Tries more of the same stuf teh rest of the day, but no more bites.  Water temp was 67 all day.

I think even though the weather was beatiful, it really hurt the fishing.  For the trip we totaled 1 short SM, 1 short LM, 1 5 lb LM, 2 short walleye, and 1 short perch.  That's it.  Oh well, better luck next year.

[Dan]

Of all the lakes in that neck of the woods, I have always found Leelanau to be one of the toughest. Spring and Fall (Not this Summer/Fall) can be a a lot of fun, but in between time it's tough. The guys I talked to who fish the BAU event on Leelanau this past weekend found it very tough. Some good limits, but tough. TCook and 1Javelin did real well with over 17 lbs. My other buddy had 8 something on two fish. Go up about the second to third week of June and you won't believe how many fish you see up shallow. Where do they all go? Deep and suspended. If you get a chance go to the Interlochen area. There are a number of very good lakes that you can fish from there. Interlochen State Park is very nice. Try Long Lake down the road to the north just a few miles. Numbers and big smallies, plus some good largies.

[skeeterman190]

  Well as heard the lake was tough tough, I give mad props to my boys TCook and 1Javelin on a nice bag I needed 2 more oh well. Im glad one of us got them. Prefishing was sick....if you would have told me 20 would win, Id laugh in your face..(1jav and tcook know what i mean) Now i see whos laughing should've had a backup dummy. way to go TAD.. always one step ahead. anyways to the fishing. i had an area that i thought was IT. not too big just gps that heck out of it and found the sweet spots. a week before best 5 here were over 25 haha now i get like 12 on 3 come on...gimmie something.. oh well. i had a great time hanging with Tcook and !jav.(hey guys MEG the big booty is waiting hahahahaha.) -skeeterman190-aka philbilly-

[TCook]

We were very pleased with a 3rd place finish against a field of that caliber. Although all I can think about is if we just could have stuck another 5.5 we would have won it. Me and Jav knew that quality was there too but couldnt get that bite. I was shocked that skeeterman didnt bring in a monster bag he was on some toads. We thought coming in we would be in the middle of the pack but the fishing was extreemly tough for everyone. Congrats to Tad Hepler on a great win and skeeterman lets get back up north soon big bootys and pig smallies are waiting.

TCook

[1javelin]

amen to the fishing.  I thought we were going to get beat on bad with 18, and we though we only had 15!!  One more pig and we would've had it.  That's fishing though.  We were beating up water and the winner, Tad, had a good spot he just milked for all it was worth.  Congrats!

1Jav

[thedude]

Hey - phillbilly....
"I'm gonna miisss you"
have a smallmouth bass ale...on me.



Tcook/1Jav - nice work!

-justin

[TheFishinPollock]

Sounds like you 2 missed , what I found all year, to be the best bite by 2 weeks .  20 lbs. in the tourny 2 weeks pryor  would have placed, but not very far up the board.   We were gonna come out to the weigh-in sunday, but got caught up with the bite on my lake. 

Matt

[skeeterman190]

 TO THEDUDE HAHA SMALLMOUTH BASS ALE SOUNDS LIKE A PLAN HOPE YOUR SMOKING SOME DUCKS FISHED TODAY AND IT WAS TOUGH....... 2ND ON RANDALL CHAIN W 8LBS COME ON... HOPE TO HANG OUT WITH U AGAIN.-SKEETERMAN-AKA PHILBILLY

[rustydog]

Congrats to T Cook & 1Jav for third place at L.Leelanau. Thats twice that you got us and this time by.03 lbs. Acouple more craws but thats fishing. Try again next year. Just got home from Mullet and the fishing wasn,t much easier there. It.s going to be a long winter.

[Dan]

Hey Matt were you at the Hawg Tourney on Duck and Green this weekend? We were there. Came in 2 hundredths of a pound out of the third place money. Missed $1,700 smackers by 3 tenths of a pound. Oh well....... Got some pics up ont the teardropbass.com blog today.

[TheFishinPollock]

Yea  . We were there Dan.  We were in the older gray ChampioN.   We only did 5.45 so we shot out after the final weighin.   Made a suggestion about next year though.  Said mabye he should do  1/3 cash for green. 1/3 cash for duck and 1/3 overall. That way if you get blanked on the first lake or don't get one that big, You'll still have a chance at some cash.   Cause if ya don't get around 4lbs on the first lake , ya really don't have a ghost of a chance at hitting unless ya bag a 8 pounder on the second lake.   

All in all had a great time.  It did suck butt that we had to toss back a 2.5 pounder on Duck lake cause we had a 3.5 in the box.  That was a first.   
I'd also like to know who the guy was on Green lake that seemed not to listen to the director about a no wake on Green cause of the fog.   As soon as we blasted off  I heard a guy hammer it and go blasting away. Was rather stupid in my opinion. He could have hurt someone rather badly. Rick H and I were talking bout that.  Oh did ya see where Rick H's trailer got hit  when were were loading up on Green?

Figure that is gonna be the last tourny for the year. Might go out a few more times, but for now its duck whoppin time.   If we ever get some flight birds moving down.  Was on Skegamog lake thismornin and saw a few birds , but they are local ones and are so shy they wont even come near a spread of decoys.

[Dan]

I don't know Rich H. Is he the guy that runs the thing? Sorry to hear about his trailer. We were the last to leave Green. We were talking with Tony D. and Ron F. and didn't hear about any trailer getting hit. Can't place the gray champion. Would have like to have met you though. Maybe another time. I'm going to be putting a Hawg article on the teardropbass.com website and put some pictures up today on the blog. Take care.

[TheFishinPollock]

Na Rich Hentchel  didn't run it. Not sure what the guy's name was that did run it . LOL .  I am the guy in the background of your picture from Duck lake in the red flannel jacket.   

What do you think about a hawg hunt with a 1/3rd split per lake and overall and a 1/3rd overall?   I'll probably be joining TC Bass next year cause their tournys are  located  close to me.   Will be fishing other club opens next year. kinda liked that hawg hunt and would be interested in putting one together myself on a different lake. 

[Dan]

Okay, I know who you are. You're the one that said they had moved up from Florida, right? Well one of the allures of the Hawg Hunt has been the winner take all format. Last year that's what it was. Maybe this year they paid places because of the number of boats. I do also like the 1/3 idea, because you're right if you don't do well on the first lake, it's almost like why fish the second. I just like fishing up there in the Fall. What an area! Nothing like Michigan's Great Northwest Corner.

[TheFishinPollock]

Yep that was me. After 10 years in that toilet bowl of a state, my opinion of it,  I had to get back home.  Much happier now even if I don't work for myself full time.   I'm headed out to Bellaire this afternoon  for a little casting. Need to finish filling up the freezer with some smallies for the winter. Then it's back to hunting. Looks like today is gonna be the only nice day of the week. Big storms moving in for the remainder.  Will make the duck hunting better. If any of them flight birds decide its time to  move south. Gettin tired of calling my brains out at the local birds that have been shot to death.