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Date: May 19, 2018 Body of Water: East Arm of Grand Traverse Bay Boat: Numenon With: BL Target: Smallmouth Bass Time: 9:30 AM - 4:30 PM Conditions: Rain; Fog; mild Northerly wind; water was super clear and 42-46 degrees F; air temps 45 - 55 degrees F. A cold front was slipping through and air temperatures were 25 degrees cooler than most of the previous week. Conditions were wet, but the lack of wind made everything manageable. We were greeted at the launch by the presence of a local Hot Stick (a good sign; he'd chosen the same water, if only to scout!) and a cold couple coming off the water (not such a good sign this early in the morning), giving up with the cold water temps. I knew we had a lot stacked against our chances for success:
![]() But, I knew several spawning areas and rock reefs. With the clear water conditions and power techniques, I figured it wouldn't take too long for each area to reveal the presence of any active fish. We knocked off several possible locations without any success; The "blue-walled marina" channel and flats, a dark-bottomed area just to the north, and the main rocky, deep-water point point all failed to reveal any fish. For the most part, I relied on cranks and jerks, while BL scratched bottom with tubes, grubs and Ned. The conditions at the bottom of the bay were perhaps more favorable, with the water just off Mitchell Creek registering 48 degrees. At this point, the bay simply seemed devoid of bass; and I wasn't too surprised, given how cold the water still was. Fortunately, as we had been traveling from spot to spot, I had noticed an isolated rock formation between two of my areas. Spanning from about 3 to 7 feet of water and featuring the rocks to differentiate itself from the rest of the surrounding area, it certainly warranted a try. After letting it rest for an hour or so, we returned and approached slowly. An initial cast to the visible, deeper edge of the "reef" with a silver and black, orange-bellied Rapala Deep Shadow Rap got bit on the initial, pro-longed pause! I played the fish so carefully that I managed to lose her; she seemed to be too cold to fight and appeared to be a solid, 2.5-pounder. It hurt to lose her, but contacting her represented a bit of a triumph! I was pretty hot for the next 45 minutes or so! I got 8 more bites on this presentation as worked over the rock pile on a few successive drifts. I had the location and presentation (lengthy casts and long pauses were key) temporarily figured out. I farmed-out another nice fish, but landed three chunky, short 13-inchers, and legal smallmouths measuring 15-, 16-, 16- and 18-inches. Meanwhile, BL caught a nice, solid 17-incher to complete our virtual limit! At an average of 16.4 inches and in solid, pre-spawn condition, our "limit" under these tough conditions would have weighed in at about 13 pounds. While we were fishing, we noticed many bass in this area. While we couldn't get sighted fish to bite, they were interesting to watch. Many were steel blue in coloration, laying on the bottom (sometimes between rocks) and apparently comatose. That is, until they became aware of the boat or lure; at which time they would scoot away. I'd never seen such behavior; and I don't know if my bites were from similar fish, or others in a more receptive mood. When our bites ran out, we moved to scout rocky areas to the north. We observed several individual bass, but no groups of fish. We received no bites up here. With time running out, we returned to our hot spot. We didn't get bit, but I did have one very large bass tracking my jerk-bait to the boat. I couldn't trigger her to bite, but she was certainly the fish we'd been searching for all day! With a full day of fishing ahead of us the next day and an hour's drive to our lodging, we called it a day at 4:30 PM. All in all, this was a very satisfying day. And, I should document the the tactics that we tried over the course of the day that didn't work. From 3 to 25 feet of water, this would include:
Date: May 20, 2018 Body of Water: Lake Bellaire Boat: Numenon With: BL Target: Smallmouth Bass Time: 8:30 AM - 1 PM Conditions: Overcast but clearing; 45 - 60 degrees F with mild NW winds. The water was 57 - 59 degrees F and slightly brown-stained. Water visibility was about 4 - 5 feet. Conditions seemed prime, and we hit the water with optimism. We scoured north-shore flats (of which I have day-dreamed extensively since my inaugural visit to this lake), but never found the fish! I saw one bass and caught a single, 24-inch pike on a Berkley War Pig rattle bait. We covered lots of water; we focused on the flats from 3 to 6 feet, and on adjacent edges and scruffy weed lines. We visited all of my confidence areas, and some new water, too. I generally cranked and jerked, while BL grubbed bottom. I also drop-shotted, scouted with a Texas-rigged Senko and threw the War Pig a lot! I knew the bass would be focused on spawning areas, but I never saw any indication of this (even though much of the water we visited looked "prime" to me.) We cut the day a bit short as we both faced a long drive home. I'm not quite sure what to think about the report we received from the crew of a beautiful, large Ranger that came in at the same time. He, too, reported a tough day, having caught only 8 bass. He'd had to resort to bed fishing in 3.5 to 5 feet of water/ inside weed edge along the north shore. A couple had reportedly gone over 5 pounds. Ouch! That was my plan. He graciously admitted that the beds were very difficult to see. What do I have to say about this? Our temporary pride from Day 1 was kept in line by the humility of Day 2. That's probably the way it should be, if just to keep things in perspective. Catching vs. Not Catching isn't all that important; and even when I think we are doing well, we are just scratching the surface of understanding the fish and the systems they are part of. BL has it right in truly just appreciating being out there. And what a couple of days to share! East Bay is shockingly beautiful, and especially so on a day with such clear water and lack of competition. Lake Bellaire will keep me coming back, too. While her bass didn't shine this trip, she still affords a quality experience with almost unlimited potential on every trip. Thanks, too, to BL for accompanying me and lodging and feeding me! Once again, this was time well spent in the company of a friend; worthy of notice in itself! Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways
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Date: May 13, 2018 Body of Water: Lake St. Clair (LSC) Boat: Numenon With: A Target: Smallmouth Bass Time: 8:45 AM to 2:30 PM (Fishing time) Conditions: Calmer than expected (!); winds ENE at 5 mph; water was generally stained to muddy, and the best fishing was where water was green with 3+ feet of visibility. Water temps generally 55 - 58 degrees F. Skies were initially cloudy but cleared. Air temperatures were 45 - 60 degrees F. We arrived at our destination off 11 or 12 Mile Road to find conditions very similar to my last outing; so, as planned, we picked up our cranks and started covering water. Pretty quickly, a big drum picked up the tube we were dragging from a rod holder; and soon thereafter, I tagged a nice bass in the 2.5-pound range. We were off to a strong start! A fast and furious bite never developed, but over the next few hours I caught another half dozen bass, a silver bass and a walleye. All were on the same, Sexy Shad KVD crank in about 8.5 feet of water. Most importantly, they were the right bass, including the largest smallie of the season to date, a very fat, 20-plus incher. Meanwhile, A tried a variety of cranks, only to score a couple of white bass. Perhaps technique does matter. We ended our short day with a run north to L'Anse Creuse Bay, where more folks were walleye fishing in the muddy water. We peacefully slow-trolled crawler harnesses and Gulp! worms south to near our bass fishing area. Searching in 8 to 11 feet of water at speeds of about 1.2 mph, we had four solid hits (each of our three presentations was hit, regardless of color, bottom-bouncer weight or suspended with an in-line weight), but we managed to land only a single, sub-legal largemouth bass. This segment of the trip was both pleasant and informative. What do I have to say about this? The cold front over the last couple of days did prevent the bass from progressing with their spawn; and my plans for the day actually worked out nicely. I provided a gentle introduction to LSC for A, I found some crank-bait bass right where I expected them to be, and it was generally a very pleasant outing. Even the "walleye" fishing worked out! Plus, I caught a truly large brown bass; Nice! Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways Date: May 11 , 2018 Body of Water: Lake St. Clair (LSC) Boat: Numenon With: Alone Target: Smallmouth Bass Time: 6:45 AM to 2:30 PM (Fishing time) Conditions: Windier than expected (again); winds were solid 10 - 15 mph and NE, 180 degrees from last trip; water was generally stained to muddy, but the best fishing was where water was green with 2 - 3 feet of visibility. Water temps from consistently 59-60 degrees F. Skies were initially clear but clouds and heavy rain developed. Air temperatures stayed a consistent and surprising 45 degrees F. First to arrive at the Lake St. Clair Metropark launch, I cleared the channel at about 6:30 AM and was set up in about 9 feet of greenish water off 11 or 12 Mile Road by 6:45 AM. The water temperature was about 59 degrees, and with the wind conditions in this exposed location, I knew I wanted a horizontal presentation. I figured I'd alternate between the KVD Sexy Shad crank and a jerk-bait until the fish told me what they wanted. It didn't take long; about five casts in, I swung and connected with a healthy 17-incher. Once again, I thought it might be a great day! Subsequent casts yielded a nice keeper walleye (gyotaku-bound!), a white bass and a feisty rock bass. I also briefly connected with a heavy, unseen fish. All this on my favorite spring crank, while the pink X-Rap (so productive last trip) produced only a single white bass. There was only one other boat around, and there's something about Lake St. Clair that makes one think one can do better, elsewhere. So, I left these fish and headed south, past the Edsel Ford House. I'd hoped to make the run before it got too rough; I did not. Conditions were now solidly gray and raw. With the increased fetch, seas were a solid two feet. This made the water here too muddy and boat control next to impossible. After just a few casts, I relocated to the productive sea-wall from the last trip. Here the water was just as muddy and conditions were downright dangerous. This was all wasted time. I ran north to L'anse Creuse Bay, hoping to get out of the wind and perhaps find some clearer water. But the water here was hopelessly muddy for bass, so I turned south again. As I headed south, I could see that the submerged point at about 15 Mile Road was perhaps deflecting the muddy outflow of the Clinton River and cut-off out into to the lake; and the protected "eddy" from here to the south was likely the clearest water available to me on this day. (At least in the pre-spawn depth range that I felt most comfortable with for finding bass this day.) Since this area has produced my biggest ever LSC Bass, I set up once again in about 10 feet of water, on the clearer side of a color edge. I continued to cast a variety of cranks while dragging a 3.5-inch tube jig (greenish brown; it matched the water quite well), presented via rod holder. By now, it had been more than a couple of hours since my last fish. I was pleased with this area when the tube produced a couple of small brown bass (14.1 and 14.5 inches) and a fully grown freshwater drum. Again, these weren't the fish I really wanted, so went back to my starting area. I now appreciated the relative clarity of the water here. I also knew there were some bass present, I had lots of history from multiple years here, and I knew they might continue to eat cranks. Plus, one of them could always weigh six or seven pounds; what more motivation could one ask for? After an initial drift, I made a slight change in depth and quickly caught a white bass. Not my target, but life! And, confirmation that my crank (I was back to throwing the KVD Sexy Shad) was visible to the fish! Plus, this fish was at the same depth as my first, early-morning bass. It made me confident to continue to throw this particular crank in this particular area. I was then quickly rewarded with a fat, 3-pound bass. Over the next 90 minutes or so, I enjoyed some really fine fishing. All ate this same crank, and all were from about 8.5 feet of water (+/-). I refined my retrieve and cadence, and my location, too; I was no longer wasting time, I was making the most of what I had left. The bass were all over 17 inches, up to a fat 18.5-incher that I'll claim weighed four pounds. "Culling" three of my initial, smaller bass, my final "limit" (virtual; no fish were kept) was conservatively between 15 and 16 pounds. Not too bad, given these conditions; and possible only because of perseverance. Bonus catches included a nice, 20-inch class walleye, a feist channel cat of about four pounds, and a couple of additional white bass and rock bass. I also missed a couple of fish, but these were unseen and so cannot be identified; but at least one seemed substantial. What do I have to say about this? This cold front will prevent the bass from continuing their spawn; and Sunday looks like a decent weather day. I hope to successfully introduce A to Lake St. Clair. I hope we find some crank-bait bass, but if it's other fish, that's okay, too. In fact, I'm bringing some walleye gear just in case I've lost a clearer-water window as the rains continue; I suspect that slowly trolled cranks or crawler harnesses will generate a few bites. Meanwhile, I'm feeling pretty good about this tough fishing day; I succeeded under pretty tough conditions. I also lost my windsock along a windward, rocky shore and lost steering functionality of my trolling motor steering. Any of these are not good things that might have derailed me to a certain extent in the past. Now, they're just part of the story of the day, nowhere near powerful enough for me to conclude that it was anything but Another Fine Day! Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways Date: May 5 , 2018 Body of Water: Lake St. Clair (LSC) Boat: Numenon With: Alone Target: Smallmouth Bass Time: 7:15 AM to 3:45 PM (Fishing time) Conditions: Windier than expected and a day after a tremendous blow; winds were solid 15 mph and SSW, as opposed to the WSW and < 10 mph predicted; but water was green and chalky clear with visibility of about 4 feet and so very fishable. Water temps from 54 degrees F (AM; Edsel Ford House) to almost 60 degrees F (Mile Roads in later afternoon.) Skies were generally clear with scattered clouds, temps from 55 to 75 degrees F. Third to arrive for the day at the St. Clair Metropark ramp, I cleared the channel just a few minutes after sunrise. It was clearly a bit windier than forecast, and the southern fetch eliminated any thoughts of fishing L'Anse Creuse Bay. Instead, I pointed Numenon toward the 9 Mile Tower and made the 20-minute run to the Edsel Ford House. Here, a dozen or so boats were already working the point to the north. I set up a half mile south and deployed the wind sock in about 6 or 7 feet of water. The water temperature was 54 degrees F, and clarity was favorable. I chose to alternate every few casts through a Berkley Cutter jerk-bait; a Berkley War Pig rattle-bait; and a KVD Sexy Shad mid-depth crank. After about 12 minutes of casting, my crank's cadence was interrupted by a faint tick; I swung and the rod loaded. My first Lake St. Clair fish of the season was a very fat, 18-inch, near-4-pound smallie from 8 or 9 feet of water; this was a great start! I continued casting the crank (while mixing in the jerk and the Pig to keep things honest) while expanding my search radius both shallower and to the north. I also placed a rod with a tube in a holder to scout the bottom; this revealed lots of rocks, especially in about 6 feet of water. By 9 AM, I'd still not had a another bite, and the several dozen boats in my vicinity had apparently only caught a few fish. Others' tactics seemed to be divided between dragging plastics on the bottom and jerking. I've had this location turn on and produce a heavy limit in very short time; I gave it another half hour before I pulled stakes and relocated to the heavily developed shoreline to the north of the 9 Mile tower. I'd never fished this area, but it was calm and peaceful. It reminded me, too, of Muskegon Lake, and so I decided to fish it like Muskegon Lake. Instead of hanging in 6 - 12 feet of water like the other boats, I tucked in along a stretch of rip-rap. The water's temperature here was 56 degrees F. An initial cast with a pink Rapala X-Rap jerk caught a 14.25-inch largemouth from right along the rocks. Shortly thereafter, I thought I'd perhaps missed a fish; I pitched in a Z-Man Finesse Jig (PB&J), and an identical green bass came aboard. This fish was followed immediately by a nice rock bass. There were definitely fish among these rocks! I crossed a channel and picked up a long stretch of rip-rap that I could drift and cast along, instead of into. The pink jerk seemed a bit too garish for largemouth, so I switched to a green crew-colored Rapala DT4; I cast this to the color line at the edge of the water's visible range, and banged it hard along the rocks. My first cast was greeted by another nice largemouth; and this bait and stretch provided at least three more bass in the next 20 minutes. These included a remarkably fat, 16.5-inch largemouth that weighed in at 3 pounds; and a nice smallie, too, that weighed at least 2.5 pounds. This fish smashed the bait right at my feet for a very pleasant surprise. The day had quickly turned from a bit of a struggle to a satisfying grind; at 10:30 AM, my five best legal bass (two brown, three green) weighed approximately 12.25 pounds. Time to find some more new water! I hit another bay with some prominent rip-rap; it looked promising, but perhaps was too shallow; I had no action in here. I returned to the productive wall at Jefferson Marina and gave it another pass, but caught nothing this time. At Noon, I was heading north toward water familiar to me. Boats were scattered from 5 to 12 feet of water. I stopped in about 6 feet of water, south and upwind from an area loaded with waypoints from a May 2015 trip. I knew bass spawn here, and having secured a legal "virtual limit", I was willing to try to upgrade my weight. I still had plenty of time, and I was hoping to replace any of my fish below 3 pounds with solid smallmouth specimens. Once again, an initial cast was eaten. While the smallmouth bass was sub legal-sized, it devoured the pink X-Rap with abandon. When another cast a few minutes later was eaten in a similar manner by a 14.25-incher, I felt confident in this approach and bait. For the next couple of hours, I control-drifted from 6 to about 8 or 9 feet of water. Ninety percent of my casts were with the pink jerk-bait; occasionally I threw a crank or Pig. I caught at least half a dozen smallmouths to 17 inches. I caught my fish of the day, a 19-inch, near-5-pound smallmouth that T-boned the X-Rap. She really wanted it! She almost made up for the fish I'd lost a few casts earlier; that smallmouth, I believe, was an easy 6-pounder. Darn it! All this action was just to the south of the "Big White Tent" along the shore that provided my visual cue for that 2015 trip. The tent wasn't up yet for this year, but the frame was! At this point, I'd "culled" all the largemouths except the real fatty. I'd achieved all my goals for the day; a 19-incher and a "limit". Moreover, that "limit" totaled about 17 pounds; pretty good for a tough, windy day! I tried to repeat my success here at my 400 Club location; and it worked here too, on several 15-inch class smallmouths. These were fun but didn't help my bottom line; the one fish that might have disengaged from the chase right at boat-side; she looked to be an easy 4-pounder. She appeared right on a waypoint from last year, and specifically from the day last year when I caught a 6-pounder here. There might be something about that spot; I'll have to keep trying to figure that out. At 3:45 PM, I was pounding north; and even though the lake and park were extremely busy, I was able to pull the boat out with no wait or problems at all. What do I have to say about this?This was a Big Day; there was lots of travel, effort and action. It felt good, though, to be back on the water and to see what might happen. And on Lake St. Clair, you never really do know what might happen; so it's probably always worth going! Along the way, too, I caught a white bass. This was the first harvestable fish I've caught this season, and so it became my Gyotaku test subject. More on that later, perhaps. Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways |
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