A Day on the Water — Pike Popper

On the long padIe downstream from the launch in Saint Johns Marsh, I tried for largemouth in some new to me shallow weedy bays and some seawall spots, nothing there.  Nearer the mouth of the North Channel, the current flowed briskly over deep, partially weeded flat. Drifting along the 8 foot contour, casting Poppers out across the current toward 12 or 15 ft depths near the edge of the much deeper central channel.  On the first drift the White 3/0 Marabou Banger got hit by a very big, hard fighting smallmouth that shook the hook on the first high jump.  I stopped to set...

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...