Docks, crappies, and de-skunking.

Made an impromptu decision to go up to the family cottage and put the dock in Wednesday evening. Got a hold of two fishing pals and headed up.
Weighed our options on bringing the boat but erred on the side of caution. No dock means no place to tie the boat up so we decided to do any fishing from canals or in the muskegon.
Saturday, we all got up at 5 and headed out the door at 6 to hit the canals which had reports of fantastic crappie fishing just the week prior.
Spent the morning catching record breaking spottail shiners, but none of the black specks.
Went home for breakfast and decided to try the muskegon in the afternoon. River was high downstream of reedsburg, and low above it because of some repair work. Got two eatwr size crappies and a bass. Let all three go.
A couple guys crossed the bridge despite the caution tape and do not cross signs and proceeded to catch fish after fish. I was envious but didn't cross it. Settled for a nice night of drinks and fried whitefish from this past fall.
It was a wonderful weekend and everyone got fish, even my buddies wife who hadn't caught a single fish since last fall. Quite the dry spell.


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At least you tried. Those canals can be amazing if you hit them right. Always did best on McKinnley Canal but caught more specks in Johnson Canal. Never fished the one by the State Police post.

We tried behind the best choice. The bite was on fire last week. According to the gentleman, five guys filled their quota for the day and had full pails of slabs. He wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't seen it himself.
Third year I've tried to time it right for the crappie, but I'm always off by just a little bit.
Many of the land owners are quite stern when warning about trespassing, to which I understand entirely and adhere to. Still, always worthwhile to respectfully ask if you can fish from their shore. Some people say yes.

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They will be back in the canals. They pushed out mid week because of the rain and the cooling of the water. I believe it dropped quit a bit. It was 34 degree outside temp and 47 water temp at 7:15 am. At 2pm it was still only 51. East bay was slightly warmer.

I wasn't crappie fishing. It seemed that all species were kind of stuck in that 6 to 8 foot mark. 10 and over and you didn't find many active fish.

Glad you got out Rich. Sandy has friends on a canal, we cleaned up on them and the Bluegill one Spring. Never have been able to hit them like that again.

Sure need a run on some warmer weather, so fish can get in mood for biting. been long cold spring so far when do get out it only from shore right now til find another boat. but still if can get them in shallows in a canal sure would be nice, don't think water temp is up there yet here in southwest part of state with all cold evenings and cold rain, it's got to warm up pretty soon.

Headed to Houghton Lake now to drop the camper on our annual site at West campground. It will never move again!

A permanent home for your camper.
This weather needs to warm up soon. I've got plants that need to be put in the ground.
I'll be headed up again in another week or so to try fishing. Hopefully the weather stabilizes for some decent fishing. Otherwise I'll be in my river spot.

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