Our small club is looking to book our lakes for our two day tournament in mid July. This year we are discussing Bear Lake in Manistee County.
Does anybody have any info on it? Good lake for a tournment? Fish size or population. Good and bad info would be greatly appreciated.
I already pulled the map from the DNR website so I know size and depth.
Thanks in advance!!!
Have you considered Hamlin Lake? I would think that would be a much better two day tournament lake. I'd also look at Manistee and Portage. If you fish Manistee or Portage they have great rates for the motel at the casino. The Little River Casino is only 5 minutes away from Manistee Lake and or Portage. I have fished the Great Northwest Corner for years and really haven't heard about Bear Lake much. If it was a sleeper I'd think I would have heard about it. It does have smallies in it and I have known guys to fish it some, but not very much.
Never fished it but like Dan said... most guys don't speak to highly of it. I've heard it has a lot of small fish.
Hamlin would be a better choice. So would just about any lakeshore lake. Can you say "pig smallies??).... ;D
Actually yes, we fish Hamlin every year for 1 day of the two dayer. Last two years we split it between Hamlin/Portage. We were just looking for a new body of water to split with Hamlin.
Hamlin is one of my favorite lakes but I could take or leave portage.
We also stay at the Alpine Inn every year and get there casino package. So when we started to look at lakes we wanted to find something close to the Inn still and we stumbled acrosss Bear Lake. We also have been talking about Crystal Lake which I believe is in that area.
I work in the town of Bear Lake and even lived on the lake for several years. It can be a tough lake but there are a few big LM and SM taken out of there every year( a gal at work took a picture of a smallmouth through her 2 holes drilled in the ice in her shanty last winter that followed a perch rig up and it had to of gone 5 +).
The lake is more known for walleyes especially in the area of the 2 humps in the center/east of the lake. Lots of pike that seem disfigured(long thin bodies with big heads).
I have had some success on the NE and E side of the lake where the lake drops off. On the western side of the lake which gets overrun with milfoil, if you can fish the edge of the weeds and open water you can do well. A lot of SM will spawn in the 2 bays on the lake but mid july will probably be to late for that.
There are 2 boat launches(DNR on NW side of lake and Marina launch in town) that might hold a total of 15-18 parking spots.
The second weekend of July is usually Bear Lake Days weekend and you don't want to be having a tourny that weekend.
Crystal and Platte lake might be other options if you want to stay north.
Upper Herring lake used to be a phenomenal LM lake until the indians fisheries biologists electric shocked the lake several years ago and wasn't the same after. It probabaly got overfished as well as its not that big of lake. Still not bad with a few SM as well but nothing like it was. Only has about 8 parking spots for trailers and water is low for launching heavier bass boats.
Only lake I've had a 100 fish day(my partner did as well that day and we had to put duct tape over our bass thumbs to keep fishing). Miss those days.
Got my boat stuck on Upper Herring's boat ramp. No fun. No water.
Bear Lake had a reputation as a top, underfished smallmouth lake over 25 years ago. I rarely run into people who fish it frequently. Most say it is tough. One angler I ran into up there likes to fish there often and wanted it to stay unpopular? I guess it is good we have 11,000 lakes to choose from. Something for everyone!
I have fished Bear Lake a couple times. Caught some smallmouth but overall not so good of a fishery. If you do a Two day tournament you want to be on Hamlin Lake. Even though huge sacks haven't been taken the last couple years, there is a potential of 30-40 fish days. Catching them in as many ways as you can fish.
i was up there 3 years ago. we saw a lot of huge smallies but they werent biting. i did catch a 5lb LM though. no others.
Frank
Thanks for all of the great information. I fish in a small semi-competitive club called FinAddicts (about 12-15 boats). We are always looking for new lakes to hit for our tournament trail and this information will help make are decision easier.
We don't shy away from tough lakes by any means but definitely do not want to be on the water during festival or community days (someone mention Bear Lake Days going on about the time we are looking to fish it)
Thanks Again!!!