A Day on the Water

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...

Easy trip, low expectations because the bass here see a lot of pressure. I fished a point forming a narrows on this upper end of this Huron River impoundment. Weed growth was at the perfect stage to allow casting to shoreline cover. About 100 yards down the point toward a shallow bay got an 11 inch Smallmouth then a 17 incher that was  bleeding badly before I got a hold of her lip.  The barbless hook came out of her gills easily, I never lifted out of the water and let her go without a photo.  Bluegills were on beds and...

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...

I put my kayak in Lake St. Clair, Huron River Cutoff.  The boat launch was closed but I couldn't fish the Boat Launch or Cutoff Bays effectively because a south wind blew a rough chop in from across the whole length of the lake.  I got one of two bass hooked in a shallow weedy back bay protected from the waves.   Plan be was to try Black Creek Bayou.  I got one bass on the sheltered south rip rap shoreline that was dredged deeper.  The wind died and shallow weedy shorelines were HOT!   Bass were in scattered lilly pads and weed beds near the...

The lower Huron River can get spring and fall runs of several species moving upstream out of lake Erie.  Sometimes huge numbers of fish but more frequently just a few fish.  Big numbers of Steelhead and Red Horse Suckers this spring.  In the past I have seen rare rushes of huge numbers of Walleye, Channel Cats, Blue Gills and Eurasian Ruff.  Big runs of 11 to 14 inch shad are common.  Some White Bass show up for a few days.   A few medium to big Smallmouth bass are common along with a rare big Large Mouth Bass, Pike or Musky or Carp. ...