The last weekend of May offers some great fishing opportunities. Before heading to your fishing destination, visit www.AAATraffic.com for the latest traffic, construction, weather and road conditions that may affect your route.
Upper Peninsula:
Lake Gogebic near the Bergland area is giving up good numbers of walleye on night crawlers in 4-8 feet of water. Bass are biting great close to shore on the east side with a variety of baits working well.
Little Bay De Noc and Big Bay De Noc near the upper end near Gladstone are producing fair amounts of walleye. Good bass action on a variety of baits for anglers fishing the Ford and Escanaba rivers.
Marquette anglers are doing ok on smaller lakes in the area where the water is a bit warmer and the bit overall is fair. Slow activity for salmon on Lake Superior due to adverse weather and cold water.
Indian Lake in the Manistique area is giving up good action for walleye on minnows this week.
Anglers around Sault Ste. Marie are finding good walleye fishing on Brimley Bay when using minnows. Atlantic salmon are hitting in good numbers around the De Tour passage area.
Overall fishing is good around the Munuscong Bay area. Munuscong Lake is rated fair for walleye action when using crawler Harnesses and jig heads.
Angling action around Drummond Island is ranging from fair to good for pike and walleye on Scott and Maxton Bays. Good bass fishing is available on Whitney Bay. Poor weather has limited fishing opportunities for anglers around the St. Ignace area this week. Brevort Lake is giving up fair amounts of walleye and the bass action is rated fair to good.
Information Providers: Johnson’s Sports-Drummond Island; Bay View Bait & Tackle-Escanaba; Top O’ Lake Sport-Manistique; Gander Mountain-Marquette; Hank’s Sporting-Sault Ste. Marie; ACE Hardware-St. Ignace and Gogebic Grocery-Bergland.
Northwest:
Windy conditions prevail around the Alanson area and fair catches of bass are hitting on sucker minnows on the north arm of Lake Charlevoix.
Boyne City anglers are finding good conditions on Walloon Lake and Lake Charlevoix for bass hitting on leeches. Lake Charlevoix is giving up good walleye numbers when anglers use ¾ ounce jig heads. The smaller rivers and streams are producing nice fair to good catches of Brook and Brown Trout on spinners and leaf worms.
Frankfort area anglers are finding that overall all lakes are producing bass in fair to good numbers with a variety of baits working well. Crystal Lake has good action for perch and whitefish on worms. Off of the piers and out on Lake Michigan spoons and spawn are working on fair amounts of salmon. Brook and Brown Trout are biting in decent quantities on spinners, worms and flies in most of the local rivers and streams.
All lakes in the Kalkaska area are giving up fait to good numbers of bass. Manistee and Guernsey lakes are producing good action for blue gill when worms are used. Elk Rapids Dam is still producing fair catches of steelhead on spinners and spawn.
Good action around Gaylord for bass, walleye and steelhead. Otsego Lake is giving up nice walleye and bass on crank and rubber baits and walleye are preferring minnows. Steelhead activity is good on both the Manistee and Au Sable rivers and anglers are getting results with flies.
Bass season is in full swing in the Cadillac area and hitting in good numbers. Mitchell and Cadillac lakes are producing good amounts of pike, Rock bass and blue gill, with crappie action rated fair.
Information providers: Backcast-Frankfort; Alphorn-Gaylord; Boyne River Bait Shop-Boyne City; Jack’s Sports-Kalkaska; Pilgrim’s Village-Cadillac; Young’s Bait Shop-Alanson and Gander Mountain-Traverse City.
West:
Good to excellent fishing taking place within the Ludington area. Lake Michigan is giving up nice King Salmon on Blue Dolphin Spoons in 100-feet of water and fishing between 50 and 60 feet down. Hamlin Lake has nice bass action going on and a variety of baits are working well. All inland lakes are giving up good amounts of pan fish and crappie on various baits.
Wolf Lake in Baldwin is very good for blue gill and bass on a variety of baits. Big Bass Lake is also producing nice numbers of blue gill and perch on worms and minnows. Trout action is good during the evening hours on Pine River and most small streams with just about any bait working. Overall anglers will find great fishing for bass walleye and pan fish on the majority of inland lakes.
Muskegon Lake has good fishing this week. Salmon action is good in the morning and evening hours in 90 to 140 feet of water and fishing 30 to 60 feet down. Blue gill can be found in three to seven feet of water and pike are hitting on bombers while trolling. Nice numbers of bass are also biting.
Great fishing is taking place on Chippewa Lake for bass, walleye and pan fish. Try using rubber or crank baits, minnows and worms.
Very good bass action available for anglers in Grand Rapids fishing the Grand and Thornapple rivers and Big Pine Island near Belding. The Grand River is also giving up nice numbers of walleye on leeches and minnows. Cranberry Lake is producing good counts of pan fish on wax worms and headed over to Lake Michigan perch activity is good in 60 to 70 feet of water.
Information providers: Wolf Lake Resort & ATV Rental-Baldwin; King Sports-Baldwin; East Bay General Store-Chippewa Lake; Shoreline Bait & Tackle-Muskegon and Gander Mountain-Grand Rapids.
Southwest:
Off of the Benton Harbor area Lake Michigan is producing plenty of salmon. Anglers are fishing in waters 110 to 140 feet and finding success in the top 45 feet. Baits working well include Blue Dolphins, dodgers, flies and Spin-N-Glows. And Lake Michigan is producing nice numbers of King and Coho salmon off of the New Buffalo area as well.
Good fishing throughout the Kalamazoo area. Gunn Lake has some very good large mouth bass hitting. Maple Lake is good for walleye on Rapalas, and Long Lake is producing plenty of pike. Sugarloaf Lake and Long Lake are giving up good numbers of pike and the Kalamazoo River is great for catfish on crank bait and suckers. Leeches are working well on good quantities of walleye on Fine Lake and Lake Michigan is producing fair to good numbers of King Salmon in 120 to 160 feet of water. Crappie action is good on Pine Lake using slider grubs and minnows. Try tubes, spinners or minnows for good action on small mouth bass on Gull Lake. Don’t forget to get your fish weighed now through August 31 during the fish contest, call 269-372-2277 for details.
Information providers: D.& R. Sports-Kalamazoo; Tackle Haven-Benton Harbor and Captain Cook’s-New Buffalo.
Northeast:
Alpena anglers are finding good bass fishing on Squaw Bay and Long Lake using a variety of baits. Steelhead action is fair on Thunder Bay River near the Ninth Street Dam with anglers finding results using flies and spawn. Thunder Bay is producing fair catches of walleye with minnows.
Cooke Dam and Foote Dam ponds in Oscoda both have good fishing taking place for bass, pike and perch on a variety of baits. The Au Sable River is rated fair for steelhead on flies, fair for walleye on minnows and the action improves from fair to good for suckers on crawlers.
Good small mouth bass hitting on Lake Margrethe near the Grayling area. Live leeches and tube baits are working well. All inland lakes are doing well in the area for blue gill. Fish are on their beds and worms seem to do the trick. The Manistee, Au Sable and North Branch rivers are fair to good for trout this week thanks to a fly hatch. Spinners with a live worm work well.
Good fishing for anglers on Houghton Lake. Trolling and drifting and using bobbers with leeches are working well on nice numbers of walleye. Crappie activity is good in the canals and the pike are hitting in good numbers with lots of bass everywhere as well.
Good fishing for anglers in the Au Gres area. Out on Saginaw Bay the walleye action is good using minnows. Bass are active in the rivers and shallow waters of the Saginaw Bay. The east branch of the Au Gres River and around the Singing Bridge is terrific for trout fishing. Anglers are getting good results using spinners, small Cleo’s and crawlers.
Information providers: Clem’s-Alpena; Skips-Grayling; Lyman’s-Houghton Lake; Sports Barn-Higgins Lake; Wright’s Sport Shop-Au Gres and The Dam Store-Oscoda.
East:
Again this week, windy conditions prevail in the Standish area creating choppy water. Bass are in the weed beds and near the base of the channels. Saginaw Bay is giving up plenty of walleye in 12 to 16 feet of water on crawler harnesses. The Saginaw River is giving up White Bass and some walleye. Saginaw area anglers are doing well on Sanford Lake and Wixom Lake for crappie. Several different baits are working that overall that include flathead minnows, walleye shiners and wax worms. Windy conditions are also curtailing angling activity around Bay City, but anglers getting out are finding decent walleye action on Saginaw Bay in 12-20 feet of water on worms and night crawlers.
Bay Port anglers are finding killer catches of bass on Saginaw Bay typically obtaining limits in one to two hours. Night crawlers are working very well and the best timeframe is before 8 a.m. or around 5 p.m. Sand Point continues to be the hot spot this week.
Port Sanilac anglers are heading toward the north and fishing in 30 to 60 feet of water for King, Coho and some steelhead. Body baits, spoons and cut bait seem to work well.South of Lexington anglers are reeling in some perch and off of the Port Huron area the fishing seems to have slowed down a bit with some bait fish coming in. The best timeframe is fishing after dark and casting with Twisters, also try glow tails, pearl bodies and chartreuse baits. Silver Bass are just starting to run in the Black River and at the mouth of the river perch are biting and a few pike. Anglers are whipping for walleye more than vertical jigging at this point. After dark seems to be the best time of day and expect to move a lot.
Information providers: 1st & Main-Bay Port; Michigan Sportsman-Bay City; Eagle Bay Marina-Standish and Gander Mountain-Saginaw.
Central:
Mount Pleasant anglers are doing well for carp on Little Field Lake and Lake Isabella with crawlers working well. Coldwater Lake is giving up some bass with leeches.
Fantastic carp fishing is taking place in the Lansing area. Carp are spawning and can be found on the Grand River and Narrow Lake. Fish are ranging 14-28 pounds. All of the local rivers are giving up pan fish and Pumpkinseed fish mostly in the shallow waters on wax or red worms. Blue gill are hitting on spiders. Walleye action is hit-or-miss between the two dams on the Grand River. Lake Odessa anglers are doing well for blue gill on Jordan Lake where fish are on their beds. Surface fishing using small poppers, plastic spiders and live bait is working. Lake Ovid in the Sleepy Hollow State Park near De Witt is giving up plenty of catfish and crappie but anglers will need to work at getting the crappie.
Hot blue gill action on all of the inland lakes surrounding Brooklyn, Grass Lake, Irish Hills and Coldwater. Anglers are getting excellent results using wax worms and jumbo pan fish worms. The walleye, pike and bass fishing is good as well, but just about everyone is fishing for blue gill.
Information providers: Jake’s Outdoors-Mount Pleasant; Knutson’s Live Bait-Brooklyn and Grand River Bait and Tackle-Lansing.
Southeast:
Good fishing for anglers out of Harrison Township and the Metro Beach area. Excellent catches of small mouth bass hitting out in front of the yacht club all the way to Metro Beach in 10 to 12 feet of water. Tubes and crank baits are working very well, but fish seem to be biting on just about anything. Between Metro Beach and the 400 Club walleye activity is good in 12 to 14 feet of water drifting rigs and bottom bouncers.
St. Clair Shores anglers are doing well on the Detroit River getting limits of fish near the Canadian side. Shoreline fishing is good just about everywhere along the Detroit River for Silver Bass on the American side from Joe Lewis to Belle Isle. Anglers fishing the St. Clair River between Marine City and Algonac are finding good walleye action hand lining, drifting and whipping is picking up.
Huge numbers of anglers are fishing near Belanger Park near River Rouge for Silver Bass using mainly minnows with a few trying pearly whites, white Twister Tails and Rooster Tails. Walleye activity is good for hand lining at night with Pencil Plugs during the day anglers are just fighting off the Silver Bass. Small mouth bass activity is minimal with some anglers using tube jigs and spinners.
When the wind dies down and anglers can get out the perch action is decent off of Gibraltar, Grosse Ile and Celeron Island, throughout the canals and near the marinas. Perch can be found in shallow waters, however fish are not found in big numbers but definitely quality fish. Plentiful sun fish can be caught near Banana Island and off the tip of Ford Yacht Club. There is still a lot of walleye in the Detroit River on the lower Trenton channel but anglers will work hard to get past the heavy amount of Silver Bass that seem to be taking over. Walleye activity is starting to pick up in Lake Erie. Pike action is decent around the cross-dyke using six-inch jigs.
The reef in front of the Erie Metro Park in Rock Wood is giving up a few walleye on crank bait and crawler harnesses. The Huron River is producing nice numbers of large mouth and Silver bass in good numbers. Take part in the Carp Shoot on Saturday beginning at 7 a.m., call 734-379-9762 for details.
Straight out from Monroe, fish are starting to move to deeper waters. Walleye activity is good off the south end of Bolles Harbor, in front of the Fermi Plant, in the shipping channels, near the Sputnik and Turn-Around Buoys and off of the Island’s using mostly minnows. Walleye action is spotty near Turtle Island and the Detroit Light. Perch action is good near the E-Buoy, Dumping Grounds, Sputnik Buoy, and the Banana Dyke. Minnows and worms remain popular baits. Walleye are hitting near Holiday Beach and closer to the Canadian side. Popular baits include bottom bouncers, Michigan Stingers, Jet Divers and crawler harnesses. Catfish are abundant in most canals and near bridges.
Blue gill activity is really good on Ford and Belleville lakes as well as many inland lakes surrounding the Belleville area. Wax worms, worms, crawlers and rubber baits are popular. Belleville Lake is producing fair amounts of small mouth bass in the two and a half pound range and 16 to 17 inches. Crappie, blue gill and catfish are abundant on the Huron River around the paper mill and Argo Park. Belleville and Ford lakes are both better than usual for this time of year for bass and walleye on leeches.
Information providers: Gander Mountain-Taylor; Chuck Shivel; Lakeside Fishing Shop-St. Clair Shores; Pro-Fishing & Archery-Harrison Township; South Street Tackle-Belleville; Bottom Line Bait & Tackle-Rock Wood; Erie Party Shop-Monroe and Andy’s Tackle Box-Melvindale.
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