Up North Smallmouth

[Eric]

Are the smallies moving shallow yet.  I plan to go up north the first weekend in Oct and hope they will be shallow by then.  Anyone live up there or been up there that can advise?  I am thinking Traverse area, Leelanau, Burt/Mullett, Charlevoix, etc.

[1javelin]

In case you didn't know Eric, the BAU championship is on Leelanau again this year, and it's the 11th of October.  I do believe we will be targeting mostly smallmouth, not docks and boathouses for largeheads!!

1Jav

[Dan]

Just fished the $5,000 Tear Drop Tournament Trail Classic up in Interlochen. We fished Long Lake Saturday and Duck Lake Sunday. 38+ lbs won it. 5-8 both days was big fish. The fish were not up shallow yet in numbers. We did catch big bass  Saturday in two feet of water. It was the only fish we found shallow on Saturday. I will be doing an article on the Classic on my teardropbass.com website in the next couple of days.

[Eric]

Hey, are you picking on the fact that the only fish I could find stupid enough to eat my bait was a largemouth?   At least it was a big one.  I sure hope to be able to catch a few smallies this fall.  I believe I am going to fish Burt the 3rd-5th of Oct.

[Dan]

I forgot to add that the water temp at both Long Lake and Duck was 65 degrees. Warmer than I thought with these cooler nights.

[Eric]

Thanks Dan.

Does anyone have any suggestions for places for 2 guys to stay around Burt?

[blakstr1]

http://www.thelandingsonindianriver.com/

check these cabins out right on the indian river, they are closer to Mullet though, but accessible to both.  Good prices for decent cabins too.

[ub2m4]

what were the techniques used on those lakes that produced fish?

[Eric]

If you are talking about Burt/Mullett, I am not going until Friday.  I will certainly post when I get back.  If you are talkng baout the other lakes, I can't help you.

[brg_bassmaster]

you guys should try wixom lake in the fall we did awesome at the end of october fishing right up against seawalls using white spinnerbaits all day. it seems noone knows how good a lake for smallies that is. but i am stationed here in new mexico so i cant fish there much anymore. but we did catch some shallow smallies whne i was home in september i have a report in the inland lakes and river part.

[motocross269]

What Branch of Service....

[Eric]

Does anyone know what the water temps are like on Burt/Mullett?

[skeeterman190]

 Hey havent chimed in on this post.. i was curious what the water temps were up that way im sure theyve dropped  a ton! smalllie heaven should be waiting for me when i get there on thursday! (the 9th) Hey Eric dont let them pick on the buckethead.; choose your words wisely boys i got a cat in the sack in my head.. I WILL have a mixed bag to win that boat @ Leelanau unless the other 49 stiks have something to say about it! HAHA ill keep ya thinkin! if i can get a toad on what i think??? with what i know on the smallies wow its gonna take some weight to win this year~!!!!!!!!!!! more than 20~! (ill get like 12) but im pumped up and riding a hot streak so i gotta be confident!-skeeterman-

[djkimmel]

Sounds like FBMBF syndrome (fall BIG Michigan bass fever) is setting in here ?!? If I can escape from work, I'll be at least throwing some baits at the water next weekend up there on my usual favorite fall lake! At this point, just throwing some baits and smelling the air will be enough for me!

[Langer]

Eric,

How'd you do up there? Heading up this weekend and wondering how the fishing was.
Thanks!

[Eric]

It was way tougher than I expected.  Water temp were still very near 60.  I got up to Burt Friday morning and fished til about 4.  It was very cold, very windy, and rained off and on.  Caught 4 bass, one perch, one pike and one trout.  Saturday we launched on Mullett.   I stayed there, becuase I sure didn;t find anything on Burt.  I had 5 keeper bites, but broke one off at the boat.  My 4 I weiged in were just shy of 13, which lead by over 6 pounds after day 1.  My 4.79 or so was big fish for the day also.  Sunday we launched on Burt and I stayed there, because I had nothing going on mullett either.  I had 6 keeper bites, but lost 2 of those for no reason.  My 4 Sunday weighed 10 something.  Sunday there was a 16 and 15 pound bag weighed in on Burt.  One over 6.5 and 2 others over 5.5.  Thank god for 6 pound leads.  I won with 22 something.  I expected that a day, not for a weekend.  All of my fish on both lakes came on spinnerbaits in about 5 FOW over rocks.  There were tons of fish there on Burt, they just wouldn't bite.  I could see them everywhere.  All of the big fish on Burt came on wacky senkos.

[Ryan]

Thanks for the report, Eric.  I am heading up to Burt and Mullett tomorrow so your information was really helpful.  There is so much water up there that doesn't hold fish, so this will atleast give me some place to start.

Thanks again.

-Ryan

[djkimmel]

Ryan, I'll be on Mullett maybe late tomorrow afternoon and hopefully the following 3 days (if nothing else happens )

[Ryan]

Dan, we are staying at Aloha State Park so if you see a silver chevy pulling a silver and white Nitro, stop and say hi. Or I could just come say hi to you because your boat tends to stand out for some reason.

[djkimmel]

Dan, we are staying at Aloha State Park so if you see a silver chevy pulling a silver and white Nitro, stop and say hi. Or I could just come say hi to you because your boat tends to stand out for some reason.

I recently spray painted it all white... or was it all black... or green? I don't remember now?? I think I'll paint it bright chartreuse. That should make me easy ot find.

I'm not staying at Aloha this time due to the shortness of the trip. Not sure if I'll launch there or not yet.