Joseph on Thin Ice

 

 

A friend of mine suggested that people who go ice fishing now, in the last days of February around Lansing, should wear a life preserver.  With that in mind, I will share information about what may have been my last ice fishing trip of the year, at least near DeWitt, which was to Park Lake near Bath.

 

 

 

 

On my previous 2016 trip to Park Lake, I only caught some small blue gills.  In mid-February, I went back to Park Lake and wound up over a number of larger fish.  The fish we were seeing were all at around 8 to 10 feet deep toward the western end of the lake, and they seemed to be very active.  One thing I did notice is that usually crappie suspend over the gills, but this time, the blue gills were suspended over the crappie.  The crappie were more bottom-oriented.  Although the fish appeared active, any time I dropped down a spoon, the fish would scatter, so I downsized my presentation to a small tungsten jig tipped with three red spikes.  Because the fish were so active, I would jig to call them in, and then pull the jig about a foot over them and wait for them to race up and bite. 

 

 

 

Throughout the day, I caught a number hand-sized gills and a nice, 11-inch crappie. 

 

 

 

It's possible there still might be ice fishing locally this winter, but time is starting to run out.  I often do a northern Michigan ice fishing trip in March, but we'll see if it's safe, or if I'd be on thin ice!

 



Joseph on Ice

This weekend was the first weekend I was able to get out on the ice.  In this post, I will talk about fishing in two local lakes here in Clinton County.  Although people may be wondering if the ice is safe, ice thickness at Park Lake and Muskrat Lake is about six inches.

I started off my weekend fishing at Park Lake in Bath.  This was also the first weekend I got to use my Lowrance Elite 4X Chirp ice fishing machine.  We started our day by drilling holes in 8 to 20 feet of water.  The only fish we were marking were in 17 feet of water, so that is where we set up and camped out for most of the day.  On the fish finder, I could see a huge school of fish, but unfortunately, they only turned out to be three-to-five inch perch and blue gills.  My technique for that day was a small tungsten jig tipped with one red spike.  Although the fish were small, they were quite finicky, which I think is due to the colder weather we have had recently.  The first day I got out, I was only able to catch three small fish, but it was worth it to be out on the ice the first time this year and to break in my new fish finder.



 

 On the second day of my weekend, I was able to visit Muskrat Lake with some friends.  Most of the lake is shallow, and it can be described as bath tub-shaped, with very little in the way of drop off points;  for that reason, I set up shallow on a mud flat.  I managed to land several keeper Michigan gills.  One thing I have noticed is that the fish are very picky, and that they want a stationary presentation, or a very slight jigging movement.  Again, I used red spikes that I nipped very slightly on the end.

 

 

 

I'll look forward to seeing everyone out on the ice this winter!

 



 







The Pike Before Christmas

'Twas the night before Christmas,

And all through the Glass, 

Not a creature was stirring,

Not even a bass.

To Bridge Street in DeWitt

I rode with a clatter,

And cast in a line

To see what was the matter.

Then what to my watering eyes

Should appear,

But a nice, hefty pike

Toward my minnow drew near.

He fought hard,

He fought fast,

But I got my wish,

I reeled in my line and landed the fish!

I put him back in the Glass,

And he swam out of site,

Saying "Merry Pikemas to all,

And to all a good bite!"

Pre-ice bass

Despite some difficult weather conditions, I have had some success fishing in the second half of November at the North Lansing Dam along the Grand River in the Old Town area of Lansing.

Although water temps are probably just a little above freezing, I have still managed to catch a few bass.  My rig for this has been a fairly heavy split shot, running down to a size-4 live bait hook.  My best technique has been lip-hooking a gold shiner and letting it drift in the current naturally.  Although the bass I have caught have not been huge, they fight harder than many fish do this time of the year.

 I have also heard reports of pike being caught in Old Town, but have not recently caught one there myself.  Fishing has been a little hit or miss, but with good bait and consistent tactics, you should have some success at the North Lansing Dam!

The Pike of November Remembered

This weekend I went fishing for pike in the Looking Glass, although by this time in the year, my success with esox luscious (northern pike) starts to fade. 

I started the day fishing all the pools with cover near-by, but did not get so much as a follow, nor did I see any pike. Through the course of the day I did not have any luck, and that lasted until I got to my last spot of the day, under the Bridge Street bridge at DeWitt's Riverside Park.  My spirits were dwindling as I fished this spot for about 20 minutes with nothing happening.  Then, the idea of trying to catch a smallmouth popped into my head.  I tied on a 3 1/2 -inch green pumpkin tube, and started to poke around.  It wasn't long until I had what I first thought was a very nice smallmouth.  After fighting it for about 15 seconds, however, I realized it was my old friend, the northern pike, and a nice, 24-inch specimen at that.

Two things surprised me about this pike:  one was how cold it was when I picked it up, and two, why it had hit a small little tube intended for smallmouth.  It was basically a bonus fish for me, since I thought I wouldn't be catching anything!

Unfortunately, this might have been the last pike I'll catch before hardwater season- and it's time to starting thinking about that!

Snotrockets of October

Snotrockets are not something from your nose, but, actually, the northern pike.  The reason they are called snotrockets is because they are extremely slimy and because they can move as fast as rockets.

This fall, I have been having extremely good luck fishing for northern pike in the Looking Glass, right here in DeWitt.  I am not going to lie- pike fishing here is not like shooting fish in a barrel, but the local fishing has been much better than it has been in recent years.

The trick right now is to move around if you do not see any pike or have any pike hit in the first 30 minutes at a location.  Because water levels are so low, and the water is so clear, I think if you aren't catching pike within the first half hour, then it's time to move on.

Because the river is low this fall, the best fishing spots are places that have access to pools or relatively deep water.  Two of these places are 1) behind the DeWitt Fire and Rescue station at McGuire Park, or 2) in downtown DeWitt at Riverside Park.  Pike numbers are up!  And honestly, the pike seem to be more aggressive, perhaps because of the lower water or mild fall we have been having. 

Bass fishing hasn't been too bad, either, but most of the bass I have been catching are fairly small, and other Looking Glass anglers I chat with say this as well.

My main pike rig this year so far has been very simple- an 8 to 12 inch thin, rubber coated wire leader and a strong wire wide-gapped hook.  I have just been using live suckers this year and liphooking them.  Many of the pike I have caught have been very chunky in the 26" to 30" range, and hopefully, I will be hooking into more before hardwater season starts!

Muskie Charter!

My favorite fish is the northern pike, but this summer, I got to experience one of Michigan's hardest-fighting freshwater fish, the muskie!  We went fishing for muskie on Lake St. Clair with Lakeside Charters out of St. Clair Shores.  Lakeside offers many kinds of charters, but our choice was muskie. The day started off pretty fast.  I was fishing with two friends from DeWitt, their dad and my dad, and one of my friends quickly caught a nice pike.  We soon realized that pike would outnumber all our muskie catches for the day.  Our charter was six hours long, mostly in Canadian waters.  Let's face it, it just seems like bigger fish are in Canada!  After my friend caught the pike, I was up, and I started to land a fish.  It felt huge!  I started to pull it in and it was pulling extremely hard.  Then I heard a pop, and it was off, and left me with a shattered smile of despair.  Over the next half hour, I was feeling a little jealous, as both of my friends had by now landed muskie over 40 inches.  Finally, I landed a muskie, but he was on the small side.

After about an hour, I was able to hook into a big fish and land it.  I was a nice muskie, about 40 inches.  The fight lasted several minutes.

The charter captain said it is not unusual to catch a walleye while someone on the boat is catching a muskie, and sure enough, while my friend was catching a muskie, I landed a nice walleye, who measured out at around 27 inches.  As you can see in the picture, clouds were moving in, and shortly after I caught the walleye, we headed for the shore.

Muskie fishing was very fun, yet very different from what I normally do.  Trolling is a very different technique and I can now say I prefer to set the hook myself, rather than having the boat do it for me. I also like to study underwater geography so I can determine on my own the best places to fish, but the captain had us over fish in short order.  It was cool, too, to catch fish this big literally within sight of downtown Detroit!  I am looking forward to the next time I battle muskie!