Sunday, May 18, 2014

Spring Fishing and Urban Bass

Lately, I have been doing a lot of fishing in the Looking Glass in Clinton County.  Although water levels have been high, I have had several good battles with my old friends, the pike!  On one occasion, while throwing a banjo minnow, I caught a 27-inch pike fishing around the Bridge Street bridge in DeWitt.



Although pike fishing has been pretty successful, I wonder how it will be this summer with all the brush.  After the ice storm and the severe winter, there is a lot of debris in the water, which is making fishing complicated.  For example, on an expedition to the Looking Glass in early May, my Dad and I saw a 30-inch pike swimming near a brush pile.  I could have easily cast to the fish, but I would have had a hard time landing it without hurting the fish or getting snagged.

I have, however, had good success in one of my other favorite fishing spots, the Grand River in downtown Lansing.

On a recent trip to the Grand River, I caught a 14-inch bass and an 11-inch bass, plus a nice rock bass.  To catch these fish, I used a jigging approach from the dock in Adado Park.





 What I found interesting is that none of the small mouth bass were caught more than five feet from the dock.  I purchased the gold shiners I used as bait at Grand River Bait and Tackle.

Spring fishing has been complicated, but fun.  I hope that the weeks to come will be filled with many pike and bass!