Does anyone know any smallie hotspots from Lexington/Port Sanilac up through Forrester area??
I've never had the opprortunity to check that area out thouroughly, due to rough weather. If you get a good calm day in the spring you should be able to find some heavy concentrations of fish, but it will take some time to find them. There are some good largemouths in the marinas up there.
-Matt
I'd have to agree with Matt. Anywhere during the spawn, middle may-early june you should be able to find fish if you look around. Check out the harbors definitely. Most harbors around this time frame will have bass. If you get a nice calm day I'd snoop around the shorelines checking those 6-12 foot breaks for rocks and structure. It could be a crap shoot as eluded to because of the sheer amount of water to cover, but once you get on em' there should be a lot.
I haven't really had chance to get that far down that side of huron, but the entire shorline of the thumb from the inner bay around caseville, port austin and down to the waters you have mentioned all have very good opportunities from harbors, rivers, protected bays, and rocky shorelines. probably wont learn it all in my lifetime. And from my experience any lake huron/saginaw bay area can produce some really nice fish. Its an untapped bass fishery IMO!! The few that pursue these fish instead of walleye, salmon, perch, etc... will have an incredible time with very large fish.
Bulletproof,
What kind of boat of boat are you running? I fish from Bayport to Harbor Beach all season long, I'm in a white Triton. All these years I can't recall ever seeing anyone else fishing for bass, it's great.
-Matt
Matt-
The better question is- what kind of boat was I running. I was also in a Triton. :D A white and green 19footer with a 175 merc efi. She was sweet. had to sell because i'm back in school. If i cant find a cheapy this summer to get me through its gonna be tough. If the bay and huron wasnt so rough i'd be out there everyday.
Just thinking about the endless opportunites out there gets me pumped. Yeah i'm surprized we never bumped boats. We killed em' last year in a ton of different places. i had a zillion waypoints marked from last years endeavors that surely would of put me in the money this year in the top bass. i got screwed last year in the top bass. spent way too much time in the kawkawlin for what amounted to only like 12 pounds of largies which we both know isnt going to be a good bag in that tourney. managed on getting in the saginaw late and lost a couple monsters, such is life. the year before my buddie creamed em in there(kawkawlin) with like 17 pounds. think i missed the big spawn in there by about a week. i'm slowly learning that for the most part that smallies will win that one. gonna have to make a run to the charities. although i know of many other places now that i could probably have a dandy bag of brownies. namely in the areas we've already talked about. we'll have to compare notes and get out there this summer for a late season summer doldrum. If its calm i could go out there at sunrise and not come back in until sunset, quite the utopia.
In top bass last year I finished 1 spot out of the money (9th) by less than a 10th of a pound. I'm not letting that happen again. I'm gonna spend a lot of time out there preseason, if you want to get out let me know. You have to go for the smallies out there.
-Matt
Bulletproof and Matt,
Thanks for the info. This will be my first full year in MI. Fished St. Clair River and St. Clair late in season. Did OK. Look forward to learning Saginaw this year. How early in the season do you start? I have a maroon Stratos 282DC.
I would say the latter part of april/early may fish should start showing up in their usual haunts. It really depends on the weather. If we get a good warm spell in april and it holds and bumps the water temp up enough you should be able to get on fish. On the other hand, if we get a really late winter and ice holds and it is cold throughout april, things may not heat up till close to the traditional opener. The bay like other big bodies of water is usually behind a tad bit compared to inland lakes, IMO. Check out any tributaries/cuts as well. These will have fish in them way before action picks up on the main lake.
April/May is about right, it changes every year depending on the weather. Be careful early in the year, and don't venture too far in open water, it can turn quick and that water is cold.
-Matt
Quote from: dcain on February 28, 2006, 07:47:17 PM
Does anyone know any smallie hotspots from Lexington/Port Sanilac up through Forrester area??
? Hi, I hear the Big Charity is a good spot for Small mouths in May, I'm new to Bass fishing on the Bay, I used to fish the heck out of the Wallies, Sold my boat and sorry I did. Gonna get another one this spring, a little smaller, 17 ft. Mon-ark, 90 hp with a 15 hp kicker. Looking foward to this year.
Jerry
Be careful at charity, within a mile of shore is fair game to rip your lower unit off. It will be legal this year to catch and relesase bass fish at charity this may. It can get rough that time of year, I'm always prepared to stay the night, it's just easier sometimes. Just a bit of a warining on the bay, If you find them stacked up in the summer don't let the perch boats see you. They move in with their minnows and keep what they catch. The bay is awesome fishing but is a bit more fragile than most bodies of water. Some of these spots can take years to recover.
-Matt