Kent lake

[RB]

We have a small bass club that is supose to fish kent lake july 26 @ 27.The problem we are having is no one can find a close camp ground.All we need is a place close with power hook up and room for 10 boats.Any help will be great thanks in advance?

[motocross269]

7 lakes state campground or Groveland campground around Mt Holley will probably be your best bet..Do a google search and you should be able to get the reservation Info..
Try Camp Dearborn...campdearborn.com

[DDBethke]

You can also camp @ Bishop Lake Campgrounds (10-15 minute drive from Kent Lake) it is between Brighton and Hamburg off of Chilson Rd.

Have Fun...

[Bender]

I would suggest Bishop as well, it is just a stone's throw from where I live and they have cabins too. Within the same Brighton Rec. area there are also the Appleton Lake and Murray Lake campgrounds. If you are not worn out from Kent, Bishop and Appleton Lakes have boat launches and Bishop can be fished from shore pretty well too.
Appleton has been stocked with trout, but I have never caught one.
They are all about 20 minutes away from Kent.
http://www.michigan.org/property/Detail.aspx?p=G4757
http://www.michigandnr.com/parksandtrails/Details.aspx?type=SPRK&id=438

[fiker]

There is also a privately owned campground east of New Hudson off of Grand River. 

It used to be Fletcher and Rickard's gravel pit.  I'm not sure exactly what it's called now, but it is run by the Fletcher family.

New Hudson is real close to Kensington. 

[RB]

Thanks guys i knew i could count on you.I gave all the information to are club pres.Know for the good information hows the fishing been there?

[EKennedy]

Hi RB.  I was just at Kent today...few boats...my three year old ALMOST caught a bass from the shore!!  I have yet to dip the boat into this lake this year.  I'm no expert on Kent but I hear it's a great fishery in the spring and fall...but gets really tough in the summer.  Great afternoon at the water park at Martindale beach though !!

Good Luck

[DDBethke]

FYI,

I fished Kent on the way home from St. Clair today for a half hour...

The water is tanic looking and my fishing partner GLB member (JL) caught a sickly smallmouth in about 10' droppin...

I'm not sure what is going on with the smallies in Kent? There are some real nice brownies in Kent however the last two years around this time we catch quite a few super skinny, Malnourished SM. The Largemouth are always Fat, however...(my experience)

Anyone else notice the sickly smallies?

Duane

[Trux]

I was out on Kent Saturday as well. I caught one smallie, 19 inches and no sign of skinny at all. It was a bruiser.

We caught a number of largemouth, all of them were fat too.

[DDBethke]

I will need your waypoint to verify that 19 Smallie

Good to hear....

Duane

[Trux]

I don't think that spot is anyone's secret, tons of boats fishing that area all morning (flat near the island close to the west launch). We were actually passing through when I caught the smallie, but that was enough incentive to hang around for a while. I have always struggled at Kent, it was easily my best day fishing there.

[DDBethke]

That's cool...

Wednesday Night we had a 10 boat tournament (all good fishermen except for me) and we had a terrible weigh in.

1st - high 6 lbs (3 fish)
2nd - 4 +lbs (3 fish)
3rd - 3.10lbs (2 fish)

This is concerning as it has dwindled over the past few year in my opinion.

for example two years ago one of our boats weighed 4 LM and 1 SM that weighed 22.74lbs
and last year they weighed in 15 lbs
this year (last night) they weighed in one fish

Also compare the Oakland Bassmaster Open results from 2007 to 2008

One main thing was that the lake did look like the recently SHOCKED it with a ton of weed killer, so hopefully that is the main cause.

Oh and we weighed in a 16 1/2" Smallie that was skinny as a rail again...(however, I did lose a chunky smallmouth just before my partner caught that fish).

[McCarter]

It has been like this for the past few years out there during this time of year.  Used to be you could go back to some of the very weedy areas and pitch and flip whatever you wanted into the holes and catch fish all day.  Now, there arent any weeds.

There are some alternatives tho.  Frogs can be extremely effective out there this time of year.  The hotter the weather gets, the better the bite will get.  From Mitten Bay all the way past the Buno Bridge and up into the river system is good frogging waters.  Pay extra attention to the cat tails on the shorelines and obviously any lily pads you encounter.  Also, they dont treat the river so there is always good weeds past the buno bridge.  There are a few holes back there as well that always hold fish.  And there is a good population of smallies up there as well.  They are hard to find and even harder to pattern but i have been up there a few times when they had the feed bags on and crushed them good.  I had planned to really learn that part of the sysyem but my boat crapped out on me and i still havent taken care of the repairs.

Also, since most of the weeds are either dead, dying, or gone on the lake the fish will use any other type of cover and structure they can.  Shoreline rocks will be a good bet for smallmouths, especially on over cast days.  Trees over hanging in the water will be very productive for largemouths.  The whole south shore of the main lake ( the I96 side ) has a ton of over hanging trees.  You can catch them either by paralleling the cover with a spinnerbait or topwater (buzzbaits would be a great choice) or pitching your favorites around the branches.  The trees that actually hang into the water will have floating weeds gathered in the branches.  These trees will often hold more than one fish so if you catch one, give it a couple more minutes.

The river channel itself always has fish somewhere on it.  They seem to move a lot so find a few spots that have bends, humps, or rocks and/or wood and work them for a couple minutes and move to the next.  Remember that with all the dying weeds, the water is dirty so the strike zone is smaller. so make sure you are making contact with the available structure.

If all else fails, shakey head and drop shot and senko.  In our tuesday night tournaments, I have been struggling with getting quality bites.  The deep summer spots arent quite on yet and the other areas i usually fish are completly barren of weeds.  I am stubborn so i keep beating these spots hoping to get the quality bites, but towards the end of the night, i end up switching to one or all of the above mentioned and catching a couple small keepers to weigh in. 

Dont give up out there.  I fished the lake hard for 2 years with very little success and was about to give up on it all together, but i decided to approach it differently.  The biggest thing that helped me out there was a carolina rig.  I was able to find off shore structure that held fish and it opened my eyes to a completly new style of fishing than i was used to. 

McCarter himself