My Dad and I are having a terrible time finding the fish over the last few weeks. We thought this recent warm up would get them feeding, but fished last night and had no luck. We have been throwing everything at them and trying to work various depths and locations. Any help would be much appreciated.
I would look deeper rather than shallower. From what I have observed the fall feed has not started up shallow yet. This warm weather has everything wacky for a time. Cooler weather is coming and the fish will move up on the flats for a time when it does.
The bass should be moving so concentrate on constrictions. Bridges maybe. The mouths of bayous near the main points. Unless you are seeing a lot of bait way in the back yet? They will be near all that bait. Are you seeing the big schools of bait yet?
Dont feel bad. That river system and lake have been up and down all year. Keep grinding away and look in petty's first. Fish that place first and locate the fish there. Should be throwing a shad color square bill and a wacky worm around. You will find them. 3-4 ft and look for bait breaking surface.
My advice would be to fish somewhere other than Spring Lake!
Hit up Muskegon or White if you want to stay on the lakeshore. Spring Lake has always fished tougher than most.
I have had some amazingly good days on Spring and some really bad. I like fishing there. Been a while lately but it's an interesting lake. It was generally better before they decided green weeds are the enemy. Petty's is a favorite. I made the state team one year out of there fishing the same small spot two days in a row. I even caught some of the same fish in the tournament that I had caught in practice a week earlier (one-eyed 3-pounder on the same lilly pad).
Some spots have come and gone but there are key places that always attract some bass. I like that bayou with the gazebo too. Done good in there in the fall a few times.
Ended up fishing this past Saturday afternoon and spent our time in Petty's and small channel off Petty's. I caught 8 small bass on traditional black/silver rapala. All were small. Can't locate the big ones? Water temp was down to 47 degrees.
At the temp, it's probably time to start fishing off the main lake points and steeper drops then. That's blade bait temperature. You get a real good warm spell though, you still might get some bass moving shallow. I always just tried to find as much bait as possible in the fall over there and then fished everything good nearby or underneath. They should both be balling up tighter into smaller areas now.