For several years, people have suggested that I visit the floodings in the Maple River State Game Area to fish for pike, crappie, and maybe even a bowfin. I finally went there this past Saturday, in an area just to the west of U.S. 127 in southern Gratiot County. I did catch some small pike, and I suspect there was a bigger pike right nearby, as something was striking at my bait. I think this fish might have been about 28 inches long. I was using gold shiners as bait.
There were mosquitoes everywhere because this is kind of a swampy place. I scouted this area back in the winter with a friend and we saw a couple of guys spearing bowfin. A huge pile of decaying bowfin is still there, and was causing the place to smell pretty bad. The fresh scent of springtime was not in the air!
The water where I fished seemed pretty stagnant and I didn't see any pan fish, which is a little unusual. I wonder about the extent of the food sources in the floodings as compared to the Maple itself. If you're a bird watcher, I think this would be a good place to visit, but if you're an angler, there might be better choices along the Maple close by, like the dam in Elsie, where I caught a huge number of rock bass during Memorial Day Weekend in 2014.
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