The trip

[McCarter]

This years annual fishing trip was pretty uneventful compared to years past.  10 of my friends and I went up to Kalkaska and stayed on Bear Lake, a small, deep, and very clear lake loaded with smallmouth bass, rock bass, and rainbow and brown trout.

3 of my friends made it up early enough on wednesday to get a full day of fishing in.  According to them, the fishing was outstanding.  Everyone of them caught some good keepers and one of my buddies ended up with over 30 fish total with 2 going over 5lbs and several more in the 3 - 4 lb range.  The bait of choice was a sand colored tube and all the fish came from beds.

The rest of us didnt arrive until late thursday night.  And after a long night of horse shoes in the dark and way too many 'pops' there was no way we were getting up early to hit the water.  So we didnt make it out until around 9 am the next morning. 

My first impression of the lake was that it was going to be easy pickens.   The water was clear down to 20 feet and i could see beds everywhere.  I just didnt see any fish on them.  I figured it was only a matter of time until we found the fish still spawning.   Unfortunalty, after a full tour of the lake, i only seen about a dozen fish still on beds and they were all small.  I managed to catch a few, the biggest being about 2 lbs.

The next step was to establish another pattern.  We were seeing a bunch of cruising fish on the flats but werent having any luck dragging tubes.  I switched to a Zoom Fluke and started catching small cheetam sized bass.  It was fun for 5 minutes but i quickly grew bored with the smaller bite and wanted to get into some bigger fish.  So i switched again, this time opting to throw a topwater.  I dug threw my box and found my favorite 'smallies on top' bait, a Spook jr.  I threw the spook with some success but again, only small fish.

My friends were throwing everything from Rogues to berkley blade dancers.  No one was catching solid keepers.  My friend Garry had a huge rainbow follow his white jig and chunk up from the depths.  We estimated the fish to be nearly 10 lbs.  So after about 10 hours on the water, i had about 30 fish with only 3 being for sure keepers and the rest being 8"-13".  The rest of the gang had similar results.

Day 2 began much the same way as day 1.  After another night of heavy horse shoe playing mixed with typical up north male behavior such as drinking, spitting, and cursing women, we didnt make it out until around 10 am.  I decided  to start with the fluke again as it had been the most productive of all the baits so far.  It proved to be the bait of choice once again for the small fish.  I did have 2 bigger fish fighting over it for a minute but neither one were fully commited to eating it.  Again, i was tired of catching smaller fish so i switched up again, this time to a drop shot.

I found a nice deep flat in 15 feet of water and tossed the rig out.  I was using a fluke jr with a small Gamakatsu circle hook.  It didnt take long to get my first hit and land my first 10" smallie.  And the action continued the same for the remainder of the day.  Small fish after small fish.  I swore this lake off for the rest of the trip.

We ended up getting off Bear Lake at 3 pm and trailer the boats about 10 miles to Margarethe lake.  A local infromed us that this was the lake to fish.  On the way to Mragarethe we got lost and ended up way down some back roads smack dab in Middleofnowheresville, population 6.  I stopped a family in a mini van to ask for directions but as it turned out, they were lost too.  Then a guy in a pick up stopped and asked if we were ok.  I told him we were looking for the ramp for Margarethe Lake and he told me how to get there.  i thought the guy looked a little familiar.  We kinda got to talking and he asked where i was from.  i told him and he asked if i knew Gerry Gostenik.  I said of course i know Gerry. The man then introduced himself as Eric Sharp of the Detroit Free Press.  I shook his hand with excitement and complimented his work and told him i was a big fan of his column.  He thanked me and gave us some hot tips for our day on the new lake.

We finally made it to Margarethe just in time for a nasty thunderstorm.  It blew hot and heavy for about 10 minutes then broke up and blew over.  This lake looked a little more promising.  There were way more weeds, a bunch of rocks, some main lake points and endless flats.  We didnt have a ton of time so we got to work trying out a little bit of everything.  One boat got into the rock bass really good and even caught a rainbow trout on a leech.  Our other freinds caught 2 walleye, some rockbass, a pike, and 2 small bass.  We caught 2 big smallies, 2 pike, and about 25 rock bass.  I wish we had fished this lake the whole weekend.  I liked the layout more and had a ton more confidence in catching fish out there.  Unfortunaly, we found it too late and had to call it a day after only 2 hours out there.

On the way back to the cottage, Garry talked me into dropping the boat into Cub Lake.  Cub lake was more of a pond but it was a stone throw from the cottage so i agreed.  We both started off with tubes and both caught fish like crazy out there.  In an hour and a half, we both managed about 20 bass.  The only keeper however came on a bear hair crawler jig in 16 feet of water.  The smallmouth weighed about 2.25lb and ended up being my big fish for the whole trip.

It was nice to see that everyone was catching fish througout the weekend.  I know we all had fun.  to most of my friends, it isnt about catching big ones.  Alot of these guys are married with children now and work long hours week after week.  For them, its just about relaxing and spending some time with the gang again.  These trips always put things in perspective for me.  The die hards and tournament anglers are always after the big bite, constanly trying to unlock patterns, and continuously looking to upgrade on our catch.  I envy my friends who find relaxation in fishing and wish i could do the same.  But i wouldnt trade places with any of them.  I am an angler and proud of it.  I love the hunt and i will never be satisfied with the smaller bite.

PoorBoy himself