Indian River

[robhj]

Well, as is often the case, when you plan a trip up north and lock in a date in October well in advance, you have to sometimes deal with Mother Nature. I have friends from out of state coming up tomorrow & we'll be heading to Mullett/Burt to hopefully get in on some smallies. I have locations on both lakes that we've done well at, however, I have never fished the Indian River.  I just want to have another option in case things get too windy on the lake. I've gone a little way up the Cheboygan River from Mullett and caught some. Can anyone give me any advice regarding the Indian River. Is it worth fishing the entire stretch to Burt Lake or is one stretch better than the other? I have also heard that it takes about 45 minutes to get to Burt from Mullett. Thanks for any help you can provide. For those of you going to Madwags, have fun and make sure you pack your Dora the Explorer rain parkas. It looks like things can get interesting. Rain, wind, lightning, sleet, snow. Gotta love fall fishing in Michigan. I'll post a report when I get back.

Thanks,
Ro

[Hollada]

The mullet end of the river widens out to a large marshland.  Fished it a little a the week after Labor Day, but didn't get anything.  Launched every day out of the Indian river marina and motored back to mullet.  About a half hour.  Went to burt one day about 15-20 mins so 45 between the two is about right.  River to burt is mainly a canal.  Didn't see much to fish there other than docks.

[FOB]

If it kicks up, trailer to Crooked and fish there and Pickeral.  Should be really firing up about now.  Blades.

[Cy]

I have caught good fish around the mouth of and in the Cheboygan River near Mullett and the Indian River near Burt and Straits Hwy bridge in Indian River.

Good Luck.

[djkimmel]

It takes longer to get to Burt from Mullett because you're going against the current. It's much faster from Burt to Mullett because you're going with the current. There are some largemouth including a big one or two sometimes in the pond/lake off the Indian River between the two lakes but I usually take FOB's advice and head over to Crooked/Pickerel. Good fishing usually. Pretty easy too.

[Hollada]

So, how did you do?

[robhj]

Weather kicked our butts & made for some tough fishing. Caught a handful of smallies & pike. My friends from St. Louis came up & one got his personal best smallie at 5 pounds on Pere Marquette our way up to Mullett, and my other buddy got a 42" Muskie on Mullett, so the trip was not a complete bust. Water temps on Mullett were 59-60 degrees, & 56 degrees on Crooked. We should have slowed down & fished deeper but was really tough with the wind. At least I got to give my new Minn Kota Fortrex a great weekend of tough conditions & it performed well. I'll try to post some pics:

[djkimmel]

Been a tough stretch of weather lately but catching a few big fish helps I hope. The good news is... the rest of the big fish are still there! Just waiting to be caught the next time!