A Day on the Water — Bass Poppers

I fished a shallow difficult to access Impoundment on the Huron River.  I put my kayak in at a shore fishing spot on a shallow oxbow that connects to the river. There were bass right there in the very shallow weedy water. Down toward the river, there were homes on the firm bank and an expanse of weed choked water back toward the inside of the oxbow bend.  The river fractures into a fan of channels at the upper end of this expansive but shallow impoundment.  Upstream into the first small serpentine channel, the water was deep and colder, and appeared sterile...

This tributary to Saginaw Bay is a medium small stream with a DNR boat launch near the mouth.  In the lower river, swells of rising and falling water in Lake Huron would reverse the small current and send rising water upstream for almost a mile.  Then the water would fall back out to the mouth carrying extra volume + the normal flow.  It would carve out or flush out a wider and deeper channel.  Big Bass, Small to Medium Pike, big walleye, Bowfin, Channel Cats and a rare Sheephead would move in during the spring and early summer.  There was good fishing...

Wyandot is close to my work and I put in there to paddle out to Grassy Island.  I was originally drawn to this spot because I thought this was the Grassy Island that was a famous Musky spot, it is not that Grassy Island but I did find decent fishing for largemouth that are larger than usual in the Detroit-Saint Clair system.  I also ran into some very large and aggressive gar once.   I fished 3/4 of the way around the Island and some of the vast weedy flat on the Michigan side.  Nothing except at the upstream head of...

Prototype Bob's Marabou Banger Popper got hit relentlessly.  Last time, I lost the video I got here of bass busting my Popping Wedge when I soaked my phone on the relaunch for the difficult relaunch on the portage back.  Hence this rematch. Today the bass are not hitting well.  I got one bass trying several colors and styles of poppers.  When the sun got lower and I arrived at the best spawning habitat, I needed to change my fly.  A flashy white marabou version of Bob's Banger caught my eye and it started getting hit regularly.  I got some of the hits...

I portaged to a back pond and began prospecting for bass.  This is a shallow pond with lots of wood cover and many kinds of weed cover.  Two years ago I fished here at this time during a much warmer spring.  Then, the weed growth was more advanced and the water level not so crazy high.  I caught lots of bass on a 2/0 White Popping Wedge, some up to 19 inches.    As I worked around the pond, I found 13 inch bass widely scattered in dead cattail stalks or relating to shoreline wood cover.  After the 2nd bass was...