Wednesday, January 13, 2010

GRAND RAPIDS REPORT

I recently returned from Grand Rapids after four days of fishing for pannies, mostly targeting giant bluegills. Me and Andy stayed in a really nice clean resort cabin (Wildwood Resort) on Bass lake on thursday and friday ahead of the rest of the crowd...they arrived on saturday morning. We did all of our fishing on Bass lake.

We knew we were in for very cold weather for the first three days with temp highs barely getting above zero. It turned out that the first day we had the best fishing with overcast conditions. I also did really well on day two, but Andy didn't fare as well. Day three high pressure really affected the bite for me (Andy did better than me). And by day four the weather was actually back to respectable limits and found the fish a bit more cooperative.

We caught most of our fish in around 20 FOW. All in all I caught a few big gills close to the ten inch mark. I also registered a tie for my personal best bluegill that measured 10.5" We also found occasional slab crappies roaming the basin. I had the best luck on a Little Atom Atomic Stealth jig tipped with either Gulp! Alive waxies in red or spikes. Andy was hammering fish on a Fiskas jig with hooks coming out of either end and loaded with a couple spikes. Here's a bunch of pictures I took, so enjoy!






Andy nabs a big gill





Mike Thompson with some slabs!





Another beauty for Andy



Good crappie action for Bass lake
Here's my 10.5" bluegill. I wish I had taken more pictures.












Thursday, January 7, 2010

Grand Rapids bound!

I'm leaving this morning for a four day fishing trip to Grand Rapids. Me and Andy are heading up today (It's 4:14am now) with a group of about 12 to meet us up there on saturday morning. I expect less than favorable conditions today and tomorrow with highs expected just above zero with some wind forcast for today. We might try some different lakes besides Bass. I really want to give Little Bowstring a shot. My main focus will be panfish, especially big bluegills, but might try to ice some walleyes too.

Anyway, look for my report and pictures upon my return early next week.

Friday, January 1, 2010

A couple quick reports

I visited the lake from my last report with Andy, hoping to cash in on some nice panfish once again, but this time the fish were very NEGATIVE! Very few fish caught, including the only keeper of the day, a nice bluegill over 8 inches. Beautiful fish.

I had to leave just at prime time, just as the sun was going down, in order to make it to a New Year's party. The panfish in that lake seem to be in that negative winter pattern and don't see myself going back there for quite some time. Amazing how fish patterns can change in a week.

This morning I scouted a local lake I have fished many times before. I caught a few keeper crappies, nothing huge, and lot's of small bluegills and lot's of dink perch. This lake is never the same year after year. Where you catch 'em one year, the next they are not there. And now there are tons of small dink gills and perch in spots where there were decent gills before minus the perch, probably in response to a huge LM bass die-off last winter. I couldn't find a single gill over 8"... I know they're in there though. I found the fish pretty aggressive in broad daylight...usually they are tight lipped during the day. Weird!