In keeping with Savage's post about our favorite inland lakes, how about you tell us about your least favorite lake.? Perhaps those who have done well on them can help us get better.?
My least favorite inland lake has to be Lakeville.? For some reason, I can't even seem to locate fish on that lake.? Anyone ever have better luck there?? How? (if you don't mind revealing your secrets)? ;D
Holloway! AKA the dead sea!
Oakland - seems to me the only way to catch anything there is dock/pontoon fishing - I just hate that style of fishing.
It's not a lake but I hate the Grand River! It doesn't stop me from fishing there, I am determined to figure that sucker out!
Cfruel
I at least tolerate most lakes that are even poor fishing, but Lake Lansing, the Randall Chain and Coldwater Chain always mess me up in tournaments somehow that I stil haven't figured out (all psychological I'm sure) even after I do real well in practice.
That's happened to me several times at Wawasee too, but I expect it more in a state that has 400 lakes and 4 gazillion rabid bass tournament anglers.
Lakeville and Oakland are both good lakes. i fish them with the Wed night CATT league, and in a 4 hour tournament, lake oakland's average win was over 11 lbs last year, and lakeville was over 9 lbs. that isn't a huge sack, but good for a 4 hour weeknight. Oakland's average weight was actually higher than lake orion, which most people agree is a great fishing lake.
to answer the question posted, my least favorite inland lake would be any lake i haven't fished before. new water usually intimidates me a little bit, and i would rather fish a lake i've at least had some success on before rather than trying to figure out spots or patterns on a new lake.
By the way, if anyone is interested in fishing the Wed night CATT on Lake oakland, lakeville, and orion, i am the tournament director for that league this year. we fish each lake 4 times, and they are spread out through the season, so you won't fish the same lake for at least 3 weeks after you just fished it, so the patterns will all change. If interested on more info, send me a email and i will fill you in on more details, thanks, derrek nitroderrek@yahoo.com
I will probably catch some flack for this one, but Lake Ponemah in Fenton is the worst lake in the history of bad lakes. I have fished this lake 5 times, 3 of which were tournaments.
As far as tournaments go, i am one for 3. One keeper in 3 attempts. And pre fishing isnt much different, although i had one good day out there swimming a jig under docks. They were biting that day and i ended up with about 13 lbs for 5 fish. Of course, they werent into it the next day for the tournament.
There are always a couple good sacks brought in by some locals who know the lake, but most of the ABA members dislike that lake and we always have a bunch of requests to take it off the schedule. So far, it doesnt look like it is going anywhere. So i just sleep in come tournament day out there, and wake up a little later and fish kent lake.
PoorBoy himself :-\'
I would have to go with Halloway...not only didn't I catch anything or even have the slightest bite, but it rained and when I went it, while i was getting my truck, the dock scratched my boat up!! Old exposed rusted metal is never a good mix with a boat. >:(
I would have to say my least favorite lake is Wawasee in Indiana. I have only fished it a few times for a tournament several years ago. Went down the weekend before and my partner and another team zeroed in practice, went down a day early and zeroed and zeroed for the tournament. Five days of fishing, I caught 1- 10" bass. On top of that, I screwed up two props on their shallow, pea gravel ramp.
I didn't feel too bad cause it only took 3 fish to win the tournament and about 75% of the teams zeroed also. This was in the old Tri-state so there were a lot of good anglers there that bagelled.
Hey Derrek, can you help those of us who struggle on Oakland and Lakeville? I've fished Oakland several times and never got into a consistent bite there. One tournament we had last year I only ended up with one keeper and the guy who won got most of his fish long casting Senkos and small finesse baits under docks. Has this been a predominate pattern for you as well on Oakland.
How about Lakeville. 3 Keepers is all I've ever gotten on that lake. There is a stumpfield to the left of the ramp. I was a little intimidated about taking the boat in there. Any tips?
fished the wed night NBAA on Pontiac Lake last summer.. never had been on the lake but the dock talk was about 13.5 inch fish.. after 3 hours 2 bags of senkos and wearing the paint off a Pop-R i had to agree with them... caught at least 30 short fish... none even close to keeper size... the bad news is i am sure NBAA will be back there this year... so i will try again..
I fished Pontiac early last year, but overall from what I've heard from a lot of guys is that numbers were steady but the were mostly shorts.. i know that lake used to produce good quality fish, but somethings up...
Pontiac has always been a very cyclic lake and has had at least one winter kill. After the last kill, the lake got HOT for a few years and I remember seeing 25 lbs (10-bass team) stringers being weighed in consistently.
It may just have too many short bass now, or it could also be that the locals keep pulling out stumps illegally too, limiting the available cover.
ive had a few good days out ther. Fished a tournamnet out there in 02 and had about 14lbs. With a 4 lb kicker. got DQd tho. mostly just catch little guys these days, if i even fish it.
PoorBoy himself :-\'
My least favorite Lakes there is three, Gun and Gull and Devils Lake.
Maybe I'm just really spoiled from living up north, but man oh man you could die easilly on any one of these lakes. I have been fishing downstate for 3 years now, I don't think I will ever get used to boat trafic lake that. I know I'm told that the boat trafic bothers me more than the fish, but I skunked on both gun and gull this year and devils lake I haven't fished for a couple years other than gills last spring but lets just say when we fished it last again I was skunked and my husband place with one fish 1.2lbs.
I love fishing lakes up north, there is trafic but nothing like downstate. St Clair just about kills me all that water and all those boats, my hats off to you guys that have figured out how to deal with it. ???
Ponemah has always been tough for me. 3 tournaments and 3 days of pre-fishing produced 4 keepers and only about 10 fish total.Just can't seem to figure it out.
Quote from: spinninbug on January 26, 2006, 12:58:27 PM
? St Clair just about kills me all that water and all those boats,? my hats off to you guys that have figured out how to deal with it. ???
I don't know anyone that has figured out how to properly deal with St. Clair!!!!! When preparing to head back into US waters, I just open the livewell lids and apologize to the fish and then apologize to anyone I am with for the words that will be spewing from my lips from then until I have the boat on the trailer and in a parking spot! ;D ;D ;D
The times that I have been there I have been just amazed it's so hard to believe all the boats, where do they all come from. It wasn't bad where we fishing but man the ride back was killer. I'm just glad I wasn't driving, that would make me really nervous. :o
Like anything, the more you ride on St. Clair, the more you get used to it and figure out ways to deal with the boat traffic.? I just try to avoid the weekends and fish on weekdays when possible.? It's a whole different lake during the week.? If you ever had the day off and can fish it during the week, you'll have a much easier time as long as the wind isn't blowing out of the South.? When I see a wind of 15+mph from the South, I don't even go out.? I'll just hit the river or an inland lake.?
In my dream world, the State would institute a weekend where the cruisers would have to stay at the dock and let the small boats have the run of the lake.? The big cruisers are the biggest problem out there.? They figure they own the lake and everyone will move out of their way.? On many occasions, I've had 30ft+ cruisers go right through my fishing area full throttle and miss me by 20-30 feet.? That's when it gets kind of scary.? But I do not advocate throwing things at them, shooting them with flareguns or any of the other psycho things I've heard anglers trying to do the big cruisers.? Just get out of their way and deal with it.? Realistically that's about all we can really do.?
But don't give up on St. Clair.? It's the most awesome fishery we have. (IMO) I fished the NBAA Tuesday nights out there and boat traffic was never a problem.? It was great!? I highly recommend getting out there during the week.
Oh yeah. BTW - We're talking about inland lakes. Sorry for the side track.
I would have to say Lobdell. I guess I never pick the right times to fish it. Because anytime I do its an absolute boat party. There were times i couldnt even get my boat on plane because of all the boats on the lake. Pretty frustrating. One day I will go there and have it all to myself ;D. My buddy fished I think a Top Bass on it 2 years ago and there was another tournament on the lake the same day. He estimated prolly around 100 bass boats total on the lake that day. Thats not including all the other fisherman and pleasure boats for a summer saturday. you wanna talk madness talk about that day im sure.
It does look like it has a lot of fishy water and I've caught a few greenies. Just too busy and Ive been on busy lakes.
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.
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.
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
bellville >:(
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
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. >:(
Lobdell.
I've never done well there.