Thread: The Inland Advantage

This was a story that was actually written for Woods N Water magazine. Unfortunately, I beleive they waited too late in the year to print this story so it would not have been worth including in their September issue.

Anyway, I don't want to waste the writing so I will post it below for your reading enjoyment. If you notice, some of this article is similar to one I wrote about trolling for Black Crappies.

“You wanna go fishing”? As a child growing up in Northern Michigan this was like music to my ears. Back then, you never asked “what are we going fishing for”? All you knew was that you were going fishing. After all, it didn’t really matter what you caught! In today’s modern world of high speed electronics, mapping software, phone apps, and internet forums that tell you where the fish are biting, it has become easier than ever to successfully target one specific species of fish. While popularity of Great Lakes walleye and salmon fishing has soared, local inland lake boat launches once filled to capacity are now left mostly empty. Although not good for the local mom and pop bait shops, this is good news for the fisherman that loves to get away from the crowds, run their own program, and catch tons of different species of fish.

Yesteryear
Up until the early 2000’s, a large majority of our fishing time was spent on local lakes. Sure, people made the occasional trip salmon fishing, but most of our fishing time was spent on home waters. When word spread about the quantity and quality of fish being caught, people flocked to these bodies of water. As popularity of an area soared, the overall size and number of fish being caught quickly plummeted. The biggest savor for many inland lakes however might just be the overwhelming boom of salmon and walleye fishing that started taking a foothold in the early 2000’s. As sizes and overall numbers skyrocketed, fisherman started to forego their weekly trips to local lakes hoping to catch a walleye or two and instead made plans to travel to Lake Erie or Huron to put limit catches of the tasty table fare in their boats. As they gained experience they began to see a big disadvantage to fishing local waters. Why go and catch one or two fish in a weekend when you can go and catch 10 or 20 in an afternoon? Local lakes were mostly left alone. As a result, many of these lakes have rebounded and are now teaming with large amounts of walleye, pike, perch, bass, and bluegills!

Inland lake advantage
Probably the single biggest advantage to fishing inland lakes is the accessibility. Unlike the Great Lakes which is very weather dependent, I’ve found that I can fish almost every inland lake regardless of the weather. In other words, I no longer resort to working on the “honey do” list when the winds pick up and I cannot get to my favorite walleye fishing grounds on Lake Erie or Lake Huron. Here in Michigan we are blessed with more than 11,000 lakes greater than five acres in size. Many of these lakes and impoundments are often overlooked and mostly left alone. Find the right body of water and you might just have a paradise all to yourself!

Find the Weeds
During May and June, many of the weeds in Michigan waters are starting to grow and have yet to reach their peak. This type of structure tends to hold volumes of walleye, crappie, pike, and perch during the middle of the day where they stop to rest and avoid the mid-day sun. If you can put a plan together to actively target weed flats, you are going to put fish in the boat.


Scouting
Utilize your electronics to map out weed beds. Find the edges that are located closer to deep water and lay a trail right over the top of that outside edge. Make sure to mark the starting point and ending point of the weeds. Go directly over top of the weeds and take note of how far they are below the surface of the water. Taking the time to map out these weeds can help eliminate issues when it comes to choosing the right bait and setting up your boat for a trolling pass.


The Lures
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to have your bait ripping through the weeds to catch fish. Fishing the sides and directly over top of large weed beds can reap huge rewards. Just because these fish are using this type of structure to hide doesn’t mean they are not hungry and willing to strike at anything that goes by. They are often just inside the weed edges. Whether they are laying just inside the horizontal edge or the vertical edge, putting baits next to or over top of these fish can result in quick, fast, action. Select baits that match the fry or bait size that resides in this body of water. Select baits with shallow dive cures. The object is to get your baits to dive slightly above the tops of the weeds. Choosing baits with erratic action and noise inducing rattles helps create vibration and sound. The fish lying in wait might not be able to see the bait as it approaches so this noise and vibration helps alert them that something is coming. For me, I prefer the Berkley Flicker Shad series in either size 4 or 5. They come in a variety of colors, produce plenty of noise and vibration, match the smaller bait sizes that are in most inland bodies of water, and are edible by a multitude of fish species.

The Setup
Just like with big lake trolling, wind speed, wind direction, and boat speed can play big on how you troll different sections of water. I always like to start out trolling with the wind and adjust my boat speed to produce optimum action for the lure I am using. I like to setup about 50 feet from the edge of the weeds and use planer boards to take my offerings away from the boat and over to the strike zone. For me, I like to utilize the Off Shore Tackle OR12 planer board equipped with tattle flags and the OR38 Awesome Crappie Mine Board. Both of these setups will take my offerings away from the boat and get them working on the outside edge or directly over top of the weeds. Light tattle flag tension settings on my OR12 planner boards ensure that I can see the lightest of bites while the OR38 will fall out of line when a fish hits the bait. Make sure that your baits are working next to and over top of the weeds. Shallow diving micro baits allow me to use large setback changes which helps to avoid tangles while minimizing the amount of depth the lure will dive. Do not overlook the deeper side of the boat opposite the weeds. Depending on the location of these weeds, that deeper edge side can house lots of fish holding close to the bottom while waiting for food to come within reach. When you get a strike, oftentimes fish such as crappies, blue gills, and bass will come ripping to the surface before you even know they are hooked.

Something for the Family
Mixed bag trolling is something that is fun for the whole family. Although a vast majority of us like to fish bigger bodies of water, the weather isn’t always conducive to allowing us to get out. With those areas, we are often left with picking and choosing the days that we fish. There are many people (kids included) that simply cannot handle big water. With inland lakes, you can usually fish them regardless of the winds. You can include swimming, picnics, and other activities with your fishing adventure. Next time you’re itching to go fishing, might I suggest that you look no further than you’re closest inland body of water. You can still use the same big water equipment, techniques, and tactics to put many species of fish in your live well. You get the opportunity to watch that tattle flag dance while you ponder what might be on the other end of the line. You might just be surprised at what you catch!

Enjoyed immensely!