long lake?

[korean_bassmaster]

Hey guys,  my buddy and I are looking to fish a lake called long lake, its up by alpena.  I was just wondering if anyone has any info on this lake?  We have heard that there is a great small mouth bite up there, just wondering if its tru!  Any info would b helpful. Thanks

[Frank-o]

OMG, it is true !! true true true.
At least it was in June when i was there for 3 days. i was up at the Alpena training base for a few days and didn't even know the lake existed until  my buddy and i asked around for better lakes than Fletchers Pond. EVERYONE said Long Lake. Like i said, i never knew it existed and i don't know anything about it except for what learned in those 3 days.
There is a public ramp on the west side of the lake. Take US 23 north out of Alpena. When you get to W. Long Lake Rd, go left. I think there is a big church on the corner of 23 & W. Long Lake Rd.
Go about 7 miles, i believe and you will see a brown public boat launch sign on the right side of the road. I belive the name of the road you turn onto for the ramp is Mar-Ral road.
We caught smallies in most every spot we fished. And 1 real nice pike that launched himself out of the water completely when he hit my zara spook. That being said, my spook was my #1 early morning bait for smallies in the coves. In June, they were stacked up heavy in all the coves probably hunting crawdads in the rocks, we didn't do so well in open water areas of the lake. I threw a spook in the morning & my buddy threw a popper. In the late morning we would switch up, i started throwing crankbaits and my buddy threw 5 inch swim senko's. It didn't seem to matter, we were both pulling them in left & right. But like i said, in June they were in the coves all over the lake, mostly we stuck to the west side of the lake, though. I cant speak for the east side. We found them between 1 and 7 FOW. Any deeper and they weren't there consistently. And the lake is predominantly rocky bottom, though there are occasional grassy/weedy areas, which didn't produce, so we stuck to rocky bottom. Most of the lake is gin clear, so move slow & quiet, you will be able to sight fish.
We never caught any giants, though. Our biggest in the boat was almost 4 lbs if i remember right, but my buddy lost one that looked to be over 5. he dwarfed the 4 we had caught just a couple hours earlier. Mostly 2-3 lbers in this lake, or at least that we found. 
We have already planned a week vacation just to go back & fish this lake next year. Right next to the ramp are cottages for rent with small docks right at the cottage. I'll be in heaven 
Good luck and let us know how you did.
Oh, my best crank was a 1.5 Green Sunfish colored crank that runs 3-5 ft deep. My buddy used a green pumpkin 5" swim senko on a weighted swimbait hook...1/8th ounce i believe. He didn't swim it, he works it like a jig with small stop n go retrieves.

GOOD LUCK !

Frank-o

[LennyB]

Long and Grand both have good Smallmouth populations (alot of 2 pounders). When running around, be careful. There are a lot of boulders and high spots (rock) that will destroy a boat. Last fall I went up there with the Downriver Bass Club, who had never been there before, and found the high winds had muddied Grand, but Long was still fishable. That week if you caught 20 fish a day you were a hero. A buddy of mine that lives in Alpena, and is a hard core basser, said the bite was great a week before our weekender last fall, but shut down with the front that came in. Nothing over 4 was caught, mostly 2 to 2 1/2 pounders. If you are heading up in September, there are a couple tournaments scheduled on Long then so plan on having company.

[djkimmel]

June, they're in the coves spawning. In the fall, some go into the coves but I did better on the points just outside of the bigger coves and some of the rocks bars that stick out a ways into the main lake. I have no recent personal info but the few times I've been to Long it had large numbers of keepers. From the tournament weights you hear about, sounds like it still has lots of keepers.

I had the same luck on Grand with the high winds and muddy water the one time I made it over there. Only caught a few decent smallies and small largemouth bass in a hard day of fishing. Haven't made it back yet to Grand.

[korean_bassmaster]

Ok thanks guys for the info!