I recently returned from a Smallmouth Bass fishing trip about 4 hours away from my residence in the beautiful waters of Lake Michigan. The trip was incredible with some awesome scenery and spectacular fishing. I have been spoiled in the past, so I was hoping for a slightly bigger class of fish, but had a great time none the less. This was my first trip to this area and my first time on Smallmouth in the big water.
The spawning fish exit the big water and make their way into these bays and "ponds" to spawn in 1 to 4 FOW. I caught and released several fish from beds and on day 2 found a large school of feeding fish in the big water.
Bed fish on a tube.
Note the bed in the background. Smallmouth are very agressive when on their beds, not as shy or passive as Largemouth.
In order to get on these fish, a great deal of hardwork had to be put in. We were hiking and wading 3-5 miles in to get to these fish, only accessible by foot or boat. After a 5 mile wade, my girlfriends first cast brought her biggest fish of the trip to hand.
This area was on the big water and was on of the most incredible sights I have seen. At this point I had a school of over 100 feeding Smallmouth in front of me and proceeded to catch them 14 casts in a row and over 40 fish without moving 10 feet.
I caught a few fish tagged by the MDNR and have turned in the information, waiting to hear more from them.
This female was my biggest of the trip, just over 4.5 pounds. As I said, I have caught several 5s, 6s, and one Smallmouth a touch over 7 lbs, but every casts leaves me wanting another bite.
This was my girlfriends first double on a crankbait, when I was in that feeding school of fish I was lucky enough to bring a double to hand and another that shook the hook at my hand.
All in all, very fortunate to have made this trip and experience the fun we had!