Take the kids!

Sometimes, people ask me where they should take their kids to fish. Near Lansing, Sleepy Hollow State Park is good and Park Lake is good. I would like to recommend one place that has good fishing for both kids and adults. The small lake in Meridian Township's Central Park, behind the Meridian Mall, has good sportfishing and enough panfish to keep kids busy.

 

 

Your equipment does not need to be extravagant. A well-made Zebco combo will get you through the panfish and most of the bass, but if you are thinking about going after the carp and northern pike, I would suggest getting an Ugly Stick and a Shimano reel.  For panfish and bass, Eagle Claw swivels, splitshot weights and #4 snelled hooks will get you by.  However, for the northern pike, a must-have is a heavy fluorocarbon or steel leader.  You will need big, strong live bait hooks.  I like Gamakatsu hooks myself.

 

 

For bait, worms will supply all your panfish and smaller bass needs, but if you want to catch monster largemouth or big pike, you will need shiners or suckers.  I got mine for my most recent trip at my old standby, Grand River Bait and Tackle on Grand River in Lansing.  For those people who want to get started fishing or who are beginners, targeting small ponds in the summer can be one the best ways to have a fun first fishing trip.

 

 

Live versus Lure

As the summer has progressed, I have stayed away from using live baits, such as minnows.  Instead, I have used a variety of lures, and two types that stand out are tubes and crank baits.  First, I will talk about the tube jig.  I have caught many fish on this, including all three types of bass in Michigan:  the smallmouth, the largemouth and the rock bass.  I use tube jigs mostly while fishing in rivers by letting it drift down with the current and then hopping it back;  success has been good. 

Next up is the crank bait.  For smallmouth bass, I prefer a crayfish-color crankbait that almost touches or touches the bottom.  For largemouth bass, I prefer a minnow-colored crankbait such as the clack-and-rap.  My advice is to run them one or two feet below the surface.  With these tips for these two lure categories, I can almost guarantee that you will be catching some fish this summer!

A northern Pike

Every year, the first week in July, my family travels to northern Michigan, and I do some fishing.  This year, I caught some perch in the Crooked River in Alanson, but one of my sources told me that summer is not the best time of the year for fishing there, as the fish are not moving between the lakes.  However, I did do well at Spring Lake, along M-119 near Harbor Springs.  I was catching a lot of bluegill, and a dad was pointing out to his little kids how I was catching fish.  Fortunately, they did not see what happened next!  While I was slowly reeling in a small bluegill, a pike came out of nowhere and swallowed it!

 I was very careful bringing the pike in, and when I landed it, I discovered that the tiny hook the bluegill had bitten was lodged in the pike's mouth.  Apparently, this pike has a reputation.  A couple of days later, I was talking to an angler at Spring Lake, and he said the same thing has happened to him, and that this pike likes to hang out near the shore where people like to fish.  Sometimes, the pike gets a free meal out of it!

Also, while I was Up North, I made my regular visit to the Oden State Fish Hatchery.  I love this place!  I heard at Oden that some people have been trying to illegally fish in the trout stream, and that they have had to call in the Conservation Officers.  Other people have complained that they have too many fish in the hatchery!  I can tell the staff at Oden works hard, and they always make my visits there rewarding!



Grand Ledge is Grand Fishing

As I have mentioned, fishing is tough in the Looking Glass this summer.  The water continues to run high even in early July, and debris in the river continues to be a problem.  One place I have had success every time I have been there this summer, however, is the Island Park in the Grand River in Grand Ledge.  This place is great for smallmouth bass!

 

 



At Grand Ledge, there seems to be a high concentration of 11-to-15 inch bass, and there is possibility of catching an even larger fish.  The fish here seem to be very aggressive, and will hit a variety of lures, including tubes, jigs and crankbaits.  As summer progresses, and the level of the river lessens, look for smallmouth to be grouped in slackwater and in deep holes.

Although I have had great success at this location, live bait has not been the best bet for me there.  When choosing a color for a lure, I prefer colors that resemble a crayfish.  Lures that resemble bait fish do not seem to be very effective, either.

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!

Frostbitten February

This February has been my most successful time for ice fishing.  I recently did an ice fishing derby on Park Lake in Bath Twp., Michigan with my friend, Logan.  Together, we caught more than 60 fish!  On Park Lake, if you fish about 75 feet closer to shore from where everyone else is fishing, you seem to have more success.  In my opinion, even though you are closer to shore, you will catch more fish and will still have the same chance as everyone else to catch big crappie, bluegill and perch.

A week after the ice fishing derby, I headed out on a very windy day.  The first set of holes we drilled were in water that was too shallow and that didn't have enough weeds to make me interested.  Our next spot, however, in about 10 feet of water, got me very excited.  As soon as my dad finished drilling the first hole, I dropped in a Northland buckshot rattlespoon and quickly caught a nice bluegill.  That fish was to set the score for the day!  Throughout my time on the lake, we had constant action with some pretty big bluegills. One of the bluegill was pushing eight inches, which is large for Park Lake.  All together, I caught 20 fish during this trip.

Something that I have found this year that has greatly increased my fishing percentages is the use of a spring bobber, that I attach to the end of my pole.  The spring bobber detects the subtlest of all bites from panfish, and shows you exactly when to set the hook.

The ice on Park Lake is 16 inches thick, but I can tell the days are getting longer, and I know it will soon be time to be thinking about the pike in the Looking Glass!

Whopper in the Winter

Usually, around this time of the year, I ask myself where the fish are, because I don't have good luck fishing on ice.  In 2014, I'm not just looking for fish under the hard water, I am catching them, too!

This ice season, we invested in a flip-over ice fishing shanty from Grand River Bait and Tackle in Lansing, my favorite bait shop.  The staff at Grand River Bait and Tackle are always very helpful and give me good information.  I encourage anyone in the Lansing area to give Grand River Bait and Tackle a try.  Our new shanty is a Shapell FX-200 and has a two-person bench and a built-in sled that makes it easy to travel with.

On January 25, we took the shanty on its second ice fishing expedition to Park Lake in Bath, Michigan.  We set up in a lot deeper water than we have in the past.  I picked my location by asking other ice fishermen if they knew of a good spot and if the fish were biting.  We got a lead from an angler who was just leaving, and, in a few minutes, I was catching bluegill.

Also this winter, I have been catching small perch, like the one below, at Park Lake.  I catch perch on a vertical tear drop with a wax worm, while I have been  using a double teardrop rig tipped with wax worms when I fish for bluegill.  I am very excited to have a shanty in my ice fishing arsenal and look forward to going out more this cold winter of 2014.

I sometimes like to share my nature pictures with Whopper in the Water readers.  During winter break, I was fortunate to be given permission to put up my trail camera at Fenner Nature Center in Lansing.  I was expecting to get pictures of deer, but this is what I got instead, a great big red fox!  My picture lead to a very interesting program on foxes put on by Fenner in late January.