No Ice BUT....

if you get to go the fish are biting. I went out with the brother in law up in Hillman yesterday and I caught a couple crappie one real nice one and a nice size pearch one bass and couple pike. Never got such a variety of fish on one jig before. Fished under a bobber with a wobble eye jighead with a chartruse tube and tip with minnow. We launched at the Hillman park and went upriver and marked lots of fish there. Saw some bank fishermen doing well with some keeper pike. Have not got onto fletchers yet but it is also open but the boat launch was iced in at shore. Good luck guys and have a great holliday and go fish.

yeah,i plan to make it out saturday...it's just too nice not to go here,no ice and in mid 40s all week...

It is pretty easy picking here right now since they have drained the majority of the lake and it is not frozen. There are only a two small areas with water deeper than the main river chanel so the fish are concentrated in those holes. Should be great for the next couple weeks until they get done working on the dam and raise the water level back up to normal. The river is only a couple feet deep in most places so it is not holding any fish right now. The super low water has also given me the perfect opportunity to mark all the structure, drops, points etc. since they are now setting on dry ground. I took lots of pictures and video. I have used range finders to mark specific structure exact distances from reference points on shore so I will always know exactly where they are at. I can not wait until they flood it again and see how well my structure marking strategies have worked.

What lake are you referring to? I would like to give it a try while Im up here. Im at Fletchers at the dam. Is it far from here?

Hey FishCrazy, I am in Beaverton which is a solid 2 - 2 1/2 hours from Hillman. If you ever want to try some of the lakes down this way just send me a private message or give me a call at Jays Sporting Goods in Clare,
989-386-3475, ask for Frank in the gun department. I will be going once a week or so while there is still no ice, and then 4 or 5 times a week beginning the end of April through August. Late spring throug summer brings daily limits of nice specks on any of a half dozen lakes and impoundments within 15 miles of my home. Nothing fancy required either, just a canoe or small boat and the basic crappie gear. Of course a larger boat with all the bells and whistles will also work just fine but is far from necessary.

Did the rain happen to let you get out today? It rained here for part of the day then snowed till dark. Nothing stuck as it has been 40 degrees all day. Hope you made it out.