December 13 Hot Ponds Bass Fishing Pictures

[djkimmel]

1st off I want to say thanks to all the boaters and leaders who made this December bass fishing trip in Michigan possible. I had a great day and everyone else seemed happy and glad they went! Special thanks to YpsiBass and 21XDC for organizing and leading the expedition.

Now for a few pictures. We could have taken more but the other fish were going nuts on minnows so it was very distracting to stop and take time for pictures!

We stopped on the way in to the Hot Pond canal out on the flat and on my 2nd cast into ~50 degree water with a chartreuse Karu Lures blade jig and Angling A.I. minnow trailer I got whacked by this big smallie! A definite bonus fish. I had one more hit out there before we headed in to the Hot Pond.


Just past the bridge in ~60 degree water I got popped by this nice solid largemouth that hit the hot lure dartag was kind enough to loan me - a Sexy Shad Series 5 crankbait!


We were catching a few largemouth bass along the way and a bunch of dinks on crankbaits and jerkbaits when we got distracted. We were distracted by the zillions of big white bass that were crushing minnows mixed in with half a zillion big gar. We would catch a largemouth and then whack a white bass.

Kyle drove up from Southern Indiana with his buddy D'Oge on point to take me out fishing. He's formerly from NJ and goes by 1lowdiesel on BBC. He had never gotten into big White Bass before so we took some time to do some schooling fishing! Here's a BIG white bass Kyle caught. D'Oge helped (all day)!


Here's another real fat white bass Kyle caught on a jerkbait. They were ripping the jerkbait!


I had to heat things up for myself so I busted out the Kustom Kicker Jigs Reaper Rig and started slow rolling it for bass and white bass. I didn't throw it a long time but I busted a few big fat white bass on it and one small largemouth bass before going to a Pop'R (which only attracted Bluegills oddly enough) and a couple crankbaits.


dartag, Jennifer, Scott in boat - another boat in our group as they motored by giving a brief fishing report. Everyone was catching some fish though things were a little slower than expected.


I am into selfies I guess and here's another nice largemouth I popped on that same borrowed Sexy Shad Series 5 crankbait later on the other side of the Hot Pond.


YpsiBass with 21XDC happy carp - we ran into the guys as they were blade baiting out deeper and whacking giant carp! YpsiBass finished with 3 meat-eating carp for 55 pounds!! He was smiling (and complaining about sore arms )! 21XDC also whacked a huge 8 pound walleye on his homemade blade baits. And of course they were getting some sheepshead too.


YpsiBass 21XDC with 20 pound carp - his biggest blade bait carp of the day!


It was a really fun, good day with good running conditions and enough fish biting to keep everyone entertained. I landed maybe a dozen keepers and that many dinks, 3 smallies including 2 keepers with the one toad, a bunch of big white bass. Kyle caught a good number of bass, some big white bass and his first sheepshead ever. He says he's coming back to Michigan next spring after his first Pure Michigan fishing adventure was a success.

There were 5 boats in our group and everyone caught some fish. We finished the day with a nice dinner at a local restaurant near Bolles Harbor telling stories and talking about the next time (my favorite conversation)!

[dartag]

We had an ok day.  Having been there twice during the week where we were the only boat in there you could tell the pressure had affected the fishing.  Also I noticed the water at the entrance was 58 degrees.  It has been 60-62 both times we were there.  There was very little shad activity at the entrance.  Could have been the east wind blowing the colder water in.  The other observation I had was the absence of Bald Eagles.  I did get some photos when we first got in there but I think the boat traffic moved them away.  You could see them on the outer areas of the ponds in the trees.   Got to admit there is a great variety of fish in there.  I caught a 3 pound Walleye and saw Mike had a huge one.  Probably my last trip until spring.  Good news is now you can go in legally in the spring and fish. 

[djkimmel]

Yes. I may have to hook up some of that action in the spring too!

[bob o]

did you guys see the wakeboarder, they only took a couple runs half way from the sand bar to the bridge.

[Manxfishing]

I missed the wakeboarder?
Just the boat or some idiot in the water

[bob o]

I missed the wakeboarder?
Just the boat or some idiot in the water

boarder in the water, they had a inboard wakeboard/ski boat with the big arch jamming the tunes and everything

[Manxfishing]

Wow,
I'm LMAO
You would think in mid Dec that you wouldn't have to worry about Jet ski's or wake boarders.

But it's nice to see that even they are enjoying the warm weather.

[bob o]

Wow,
I'm LMAO
You would think in mid Dec that you wouldn't have to worry about Jet ski's or wake boarders.
they tried to, just two short runs and a walk on the beach

But it's nice to see that even they are enjoying the warm weather.

[dartag]

That boat threw up some huge waves.  Made me feel like I was at home on my lake.  I think he got a nose full of water on his last crash.  They were right in front of us and he came up and said " I'm done" 

Got admit, you never know what you will see in there.

[Manxfishing]

That boat threw up some huge waves.  Made me feel like I was at home on my lake.  I think he got a nose full of water on his last crash.  They were right in front of us and he came up and said " I'm done" 

Got admit, you never know what you will see in there.

The only thing missing in that pic would be Bigfoot BBQ'ing on the sandbar.

[21XDC]

I had a ball and really wish everyone could have made it to dinner. That's where I enjoy the common ground we all share.

Thanks Dan for the pics and post.

[djkimmel]

I'm glad we missed the wakeboard! Can't believe they would be doing that this time of year in there... but I guess I'm not surprised that much. They sound like they were not the worst ones to do that though. Ran into some real winners a couple times this year.

You're welcome on the post and pictures. I had fun bass fishing in December. I'm ready to do again! One of these days. Dinner was nice swapping stories too. Half made it anyway. Maybe more next time.

[dartag]

We had to leave early to get one of our fishermen home.  Planning on heading back early spring in between walleye trips to the Detroit River.

[Firefighter Jeff]

  Really wish I had made the trip.  Couple things concerned me.  One was the amount of boats.  I had no clue how big or little the area there is to fish.  Guess I could have asked. Secondly I was Leary of hauling the boat nearly 3 hours with the threat of some wind on the lake.  Sounds like it wasn't a problem at all.  I did get out locally on Saturday. Me and a partner ended up with a dozen, all on blade baits.  Three of them around 17 inches including a couple smallies, the others, smaller.

[YpsiBass]

  Really wish I had made the trip.  Couple things concerned me.  One was the amount of boats.  I had no clue how big or little the area there is to fish.  Guess I could have asked. Secondly I was Leary of hauling the boat nearly 3 hours with the threat of some wind on the lake.  Sounds like it wasn't a problem at all.  I did get out locally on Saturday. Me and a partner ended up with a dozen, all on blade baits.  Three of them around 17 inches including a couple smallies, the others, smaller.

I counted at least 14 boats out altogether and there was still plenty of room to fish without hitting another boat.  The wind factor is the biggest thing and it's hard to predict.  Three hours is a haul though.  Next time Jeff!

[Firefighter Jeff]

  Yeah Rick  had no clue. Didn't realize it was big enough to fish at least 14 boats. You guys call it a pond for Pete's sake !!!  LOLOLOL  Keep me in mind.

[YpsiBass]

Maybe next year we set a weekday date in November and call it the MadWags Hot Pond Open

[djkimmel]

Yeah. Or December if we have another El Nino~ again!