A Day on the Water — Kayak Fishing

Water levels in Lake Huron and connected waterways is over a foot lower that last year.  My best shallow Quanicassee River spots, had less weed growth than previous springs and I caught few bass. Down the "South Branch Canal", casting a 2/0 White Dive Banger very close to shore provoked 12 to 18 inch bass to either violently rush or stealthily stalk the popper.  Converting stealthy follows to hits frequently required a cat and mouse game of pauses, light twitches or pulling it under the water was sometimes effective. I got bass near the bend and some times a 2nd...

From mid May to some time mid summer, good sized Largemouth Bass run up a short distance into Saginaw Bay tributaries.  Even the smallest, marginal streams can get good numbers of fish.  There are usually some pike with them that are mostly small to medium sized.  Only occasionally do you find what you would call a big pike.  There are also a few Walleye, Bowfin, Channel Cats, Carp, Sheephead or Gar that show up, sometime in big numbers.  They hit flies like Rabbit Strip Leaches, Poppers or Floating Divers depending on species.  Carp hit oversized Hex Nymphs, and the Gar can...

I used Poppers most of the day, all the hits were on variations of White Bob's Bangers. I got 4 nice fish, 1 Pike, two 18 inch Largemouth, a nice Smallmouth along with a smaller 12 inch Largemouth.  I also had a brief hot spurt on the 3/0 White Marabou Banger when I lost 2 good large mouth and got another 18 incher.  The second cast of the early morning with a 5/0 10 inch Wake Banger got hit on a rapid strip retrieve just under the surface.  The beautifully colored pike took it as crossed over the deep drop off from a shallow weed bed...

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...

Basically zero Salmon in either spot.  Saw one dead King Salmon in PM Lake and foul hooked one salmon at Tippy.  Two Summer Steelhead were on stringers when I arrived, no more were hooked.  I got 2 rainbows, 13 and 8 inches on jigs under a float, #6 White Mopworm and #8 Brown Intruder Jig.  A couple Salmon broke the surface.