I went out to Big Portage Lake in Dexter/Pinckney for the first time. What a beautiful lake. Very clear water. We ended up with about a dozen fish, but only four of them were keepers. Biggest bass was a 4lb largemouth. It was nice to catch that one because it makes me confident that there are more quality fish like that in the lake. Caught about 3 smallies, all little guys though. We figured out a pattern pretty quickly. The lake has some very steep ledges that drop from around 5ft to 25ft very quickly. The bass were stacked on the ledges. We just idled up and down the ledges using our electronics to find the areas they were holding. Caught everything on soft plastics, mainly wacky rigs and drop shots. Overall really enjoyed the lake and cant wait to get out there and try it again. Also caught a ton of dang rock bass, those little chunky things loved them some senko.
I envy you... that whole chain is killer. Every lake on it holds pigs and you can fish any way you want to find them. The morning smallie bite on topwater is pretty unbeatable from my personal experience... Happy catching!
The trouble is, that those of us who don't live on the lake can't even launch until 8AM. Which is still morning no doubt, but I've always wanted to know what it would be like around sunrise. Before skiers and other boat traffic.
Yeah totally agree about the launch time. If I had it my way I would be on the water at 6am sharp and off by noon. The boat traffic got really bad around 1 o clock, and pretty much shut the big girls down.
Deep weed mats with current going by really stink for mid day reaction bites on that chain. So does the huge ridge running through Strawberry that is not documented on the topographic maps... it doesn't hold any smallies ;)
With the water levels so low all over the place, I wonder how hard it is to get to Strawberry from Portage?
Good point. That outside bend right before entering Strawberry from Ghallager is always a little sketchy. All this talk about it has me thinking I need to make a trip there before the end of next month...
I'll let you guys know this weekend what the run to strawberry is like. Plan on doing it Sat. Went out with bassasin tonight to Big P, and caught about 20. The lake was on fire. Seemed like all that strong wind really ignited the smallmouth because all the ledges we normally pull largemouths off, we were pulling 3lb smallies. Same patterns that everyone already knows, put some extra weight on our anchor and just sat on the shallOw side of the ledge and brought it up the ledge. Seemed to do the trick. Some ledges would have some sweet spots that you could pull multiple off of about 5 minutes apart. Football jigs, drop shots, and senkos seemed to do the trick.
Can't believe I never took advantage off this lake before. Awesome body of water. And we haven't even left big portage/little P. Hope strawberry can bring the same results!
The water level for that chain is down quite a bit. So much that there isn't really any noticable current except for where you go into strawberry. The bend going into strawberry isn't as bad as in the spring when there is tons of current, but i would be careful for sure cause the water is so low. I put a good nick in my prop last time I went through that bend. It always helps when you have a large person in the front of the boat! :o
You guys must have never been out there on a day when there is no wind or an east wind...........cause that chain gets tough as can be!! haha
Good luck!
haha probably a case of beginners luck. Been out there 4 times, and have done good all except the first day out there. Skunk time is coming soon.
Well the run had to end eventually. Probabaly finished the day with 5 for 8-9 whopping lbs. Had to resort to canal fishing for most of them too. Thought the day might be good when 15 minutes into the day my brother gets nailed on a jig... When the big pike came up that was the start of the bad day. We saw them on our electronics all day jus couldn't get them to bite. Tried jigs, crankbaits, senkos, droP shots, and tubes. Oh well it happens, atleast the day ended well with riverside pizza. I lOve that place.
Didn't end up running to strawberry, saving that for another day. I think we were both just anxious to fish this morning rather than "travel".
St Clair next week, hopefully that redeems this bad day.
Mark
Theres a BBLC tournament out there sat if u guys are interested!
Crap, just saw your post about the tourney. Would have liked to get in on that. O well. Let me know about any open team tourneys you know of or are participating in in the southeast michigan area, my brother and I will definately partake.
will do, i know theres a few on portage and maybe kent in the fall.
Yeah I looked at their website, it looks like they are having an open on Portage on 9/1 and an open on Kent on 10/21. My brother and I will probably fish both of them.