Fishing Report (November 2007)

11-25-2007: Today was the official last trip for my bass boat before it gets winterized= and put away for a little while. I fished the very cold, low, and sw= ift St. Jo= e River today, starting out at 11:0= 0 am and fishing until 4:00 pm. It was seasonably cold outside, warming up= to about 43 degrees by 1:00 pm. The water temperature was 41 degrees and there was about 2 inches of snow melting into the river.

I started fishing 12 ft holes surrounded by shallow water with a gold blade bait but never found a pile of smallies. I quickly changed my approach and started fishing spots that didn't have much current. It turned out to= be a great decision. I caught back-to-back 3 pound smallies next to dock posts with one of my homemade blades. I fished a ar= ound the same area for the rest of the day and ended up catching 15 smallmouths that were all between 3 and 4 pounds. I lost a hog next to the boat while I was trying to lip it th= at was pry pushing 6 pounds. My best five smallmout= hs weighed 17 pounds and my biggest smallie weighe= d 4 pounds. Enjoy the winter!!!!! :(......

11-18-2007: = ; Paw Paw Lake= was the destination of choice for Ron Nelson and I this chilly afternoon. We had hopes of catching a cou= ple walleye, a few fat Largies, and maybe a couple = smallies. It was bitterly cold outside; in= fact there were a few flurries. The water temperature was 47 degrees and t= here was still a bunch of thick green weeds growing. Most of the baitfish and the bass were still buried in the weeds. I caught t= he first bass of the afternoon on a blade bait that weighed 4 pounds 1 ounce. It hit right at the base of the w= eed edge when the blade was falling. We fished around hitting m= ain lake pionts for the next hour but we were only able to catch a couple more 2 pound largemouths. We weren't even marking and fish on the graph. We decided to switch gears and fish the inside weed edge with traps. I caught a decent sized pike on my first cast a= nd it ended up stealing my trap right by the boat. A few casts later&nbs= p;a fat 3 pounder inhaled my trap and came in easily. I had two other fish swirl at my trap and miss it on the insi= de weed edge.

We knew we weren= 't going to get any walleye fishing the inside weed edge so we started fishing turns with blade baits. Ron talked me into getting my under w= ater camera out to investigate the bottom. I think he just wanted to distr= act me because while I was looking in to the camera he set the hook on a f= at 6 pound walleye. It turned out to be our only walleye of the day but our goal was accomplished.

11-10-2007: = ; Ron Nelson and I fished new smallmouth waters today= for a couple hours. It was foggy, damp, and cold. I don't think it br= oke 40 degrees with the wind chill. The water temperature was 41 degrees = and the fish were not very active. We caught our first two smallies on GOLD blade baits next to wooden poles. The sm= allies would only bite the blade when it was laying still on the ground. We weren't catching many bass so I switched= to a small 1/8 oz craw that was tied on 6 lb Gamma Edge Fluorocarbon.&nbs= p; I caught a 4 pound 2 ounce piggy on my first cast next to some wood.&nbs= p; On my next cast to the same spot I hooked into a 5 pound smallie that pulled so hard that it felt like I snagged a carp. Ron deci= ded to switch to the same bait I was using but his was tied on 10 pound test.&n= bsp; He just wasn't getting any bites because of his line size. Altho= ugh, I ended up catching 8 more fat 4 pound smallmouth bass. Line size made a huge difference today. We ended up with = five bass that weighed 21 pounds.

11-3-2007: = Mike Rappette and I fished the Joe this morning in the how= ling wind and chilly temperatures. The water temperature was still holding= at 50 degrees but the fishing was slower than usual. It seemed like the river was starting to turn over and that was why the fishing wasn't as good. I think it was starting to turn over because of the scum line t= hat was on my boat when we were done fishing. During turn over the water quality is very poor and the fish have to seek out places in the river, or = all the way back in the lake, where the water quality meets their needs.&n= bsp;

What ever the re= ason the fishing stunk! We only caught 5 keeper bass all morning long.&nbs= p; our biggest smallie weighe= d 3.5 pounds and our best 5 bass weighed 13 pounds. There were also more bo= ats than I've ever noticed before fishing around and I don't believe they were = from the area. We saw one boat try to motor across the sandbar by Babe's a= nd get beached. The guy's wife being rough and tough jumped into the freezing cold water and tried to push and pull the boat free. Now that's a woman!!! After she tried to g= et the boat free for at least 20 Minutes I believe their friends went over and pulled them out. It was pretty funny but honestly the river is pretty= low so be careful.

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Fishing Report (October 2007)

10-28-07: Ron Nelson and I= took a break from the Joe and decided to fish a different s= mallmouth infested venue. We launched Ron's boat at sun-up and fished until 3:00 pm. It was a beautiful day with brilliant sunshine and mild temperature. The wind was 15-30 mph out of the southwest and the water temperature was 50 degrees. These were the perfect conditions for catching a bunch of big bronzebacks.<= /o:p>

The morning star= ted when Ron decided to cast into the middle of the river where it dropped off. It surprised him when a smallie ate = his bait so he had to fight the bass backwards with his rod over= the top of his head. I made a cast with one of my home made blade baits r= ight where Ron caught his smallie. My bla= de didn't even make it to the ground before it was eaten. We caught 15 bass in 30 minutes from the school Ron found in the middle of the river. They were all pristine 3-4 pound sma= llmouth bass that didn't have any hook marks or sores on their bodies.

As morning = moved onward and slowly became afternoon the temperature began to rise and bigger bass started biting. We targeted poles that were clos= e to the main river channel with tubes. We would hook into a quality fish every 10-15 casts. We caught our biggest bass of the day fishing poles and it weighed 4 pounds 9 ounces. We also caught smallies off poles that weighed 4 pounds 7 ounces, 4 = pounds 4 ounces, 4 pounds 2 ounces, and 4 pounds even. We ended the day catching about four limits that had the combined weight of 72 pounds. Our best five smallies weighed 21 pounds 6 ounces. What a great fall day in Michigan!!!!

10-23-07: = What an afternoo= n on the Benton Harbor stretch of the Joe!!! = A cold front pushed through the area last night and caused the big smallies to migrate back into the river. The smallies were inhaling my small craw. I was hea= ding out to pick up Ron Nelson off of the pier heads but I decided to make a cou= ple casts in the river on my way. I made a cast in 13 ft of wat= er by a log and set the hook on a 4 pound 8 ounce smallie. On my second cast I hooked a chunky 3 pounder. The spot was loaded with bass but I had to get Ron a fish the lake for monster smallies.

I picked up Ron = and we motored out into 3 ft waves with occasional 5-6 ft swells. = We were drifting tubes around a rock pile without much success. We only managed one bite while we were on the lake but it was a 4 pound 12 ounce fi= sh.

We decided to go= back into the river where we caught a bunch of 2 1/2 pound smallies and one more pretty close to 4 pounds.&= nbsp; We caught them along the sea wall coming in from the lake with tube jigs.&n= bsp; I decided to drop Ron off so he could walk back to his truck before we= got to far away from the pier. He wanted to walk the pier and try to catc= h a couple there.

After I dropped Ron off I motored to a spot that can light up if the conditions are right. I had a pretty good hunch because there was= a school of big smallies feeding up. I inst= antly had on and lost a giant 5 + half way to the boat. My next c= ast produced a tiger striped 4 pound 2 ounce toad. A few minutes later I caught another giant that weighed 4 pounds 4 ounces. I caught th= ree big smallies and lost a toad in 20 minutes. After it got dark outside the bass stopped biting and I head= ed home. My best five bass weighed 21 pounds 8 ounces on my X-Tool = that usually weighs 8 ounces light. Not a bad way to spend 2 1/2 hours aft= er school.

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4 pound 10 ounce= Lake Smallie=

4 pound 8 ounce = toad and a 4 pound 4 ounce smallie

10-21-07: &= nbsp;Windy, Hot, unbelievable weather for this time of year. Mike Rappette fished with me today on the Joe starting at 7:30 am, until 11:30 am. We started under one of the bridges and instantly started catchin= g smallies. Mike caught the first 3 pound bass wi= th a tube jig to start our day. He made another cast and set the hook on a= 4 + that he fought all the way to the boat but came off as he went to lip it.&n= bsp; I was tired of seeing him catch smallies so I m= ade a cast right where he caught the last two. I had a giant eat my darter. I set the hook and it jumped out of the water and threw = the hook. We ended up catching 5 bass off the bridge that weighed around = 15 pounds. We caught a bunch of 2 pound keepers the rest of the morning = but we never had on any more big ones. Pretty fun morning.

10-17-07:= Ron = was nice enough to take me to the spot where he caught his giant 6 pound smallie from a couple of days ago in Lake Michigan. His spot is a small Zebra Muscle bed in 2= 3 ft of water. We pulled up to the spot and started dragging tubes. Ron had a bite on his second cast but it came off. These fish were extremely hard to hook. The bites were so subtle that it felt like your line went limp f= or a second then the fish was gone. About 30 minutes passed when Ron = set his hook hard and his rod loaded. The bass came screaming towards the surface and jumped out of the water. When it landed it sounded like a cannon ball hitting the waters surface. It was a GIANT!!!&n= bsp; Ron fought her for what seemed like an eternity. Once she w= as in the boat I weighed her with my X-Tool and she weighed 6 pounds 5 ounces. (My X-Tool weighs 4-5 ounces light!!!!!) The giant was pushing 7 pounds.

We fished a while longer and missed big fish, after big fish, never landing another one. Together we missed 15 bites that had the potential to be 6 pound plus smallmouth. Once it was to dar= k to see we motored back into the river and fished a couple hot spots. I caught a couple fat 4 pound s= mallmouth and broke off two pigs. We fished until 9:30 pm and finally deci= ded to call it a day.

This pig 6 pound= , 5 ounce smallie makes a two pound smallie look like bait.

10-15-07: <= /span> Ron Nelson call= ed me with a fishing report from Lake Michigan tonight and he was very excited. He was drifting tubes on a small rock flat when he found a school of giants feeding. He told me that he cau= ght 4 fish that were just about 5 pounds and one that was the biggest he's ever= caught. He wasn't sure about the weight so he livewelled it and drove it to Mike Rappette's house to get an official weight. The ginormous smallie ended up tipping the scales at 6 pounds 9 ounces. What a smallmouth!!!!! His = total weight was a little over 25 pounds!!!!!

10-13-07:= Ron Nelso= n and I fished the SMC Classic today from 7:30-3:30. We fished deep, slow, current that had wood creating eddies. We = caught 9 bass right away off a log in 22 ft of water using small crayfish baits.&n= bsp; The fish were being very picky and only biting very precise casts. We= did manage to put 18 pounds in the livewell&nb= sp;by 10:30. It wasn't good enough to win because Gipson Sr. and his partner brought in 19 pounds, 8 ounces. These were a couple great sacks of smallies.

10-11-07:= I fished = the Benton Harbor stretch of the Joe this evening with Ron Nelson form 4:00-7:30. It was windy, Rainy, and cold than heck out there. The = smallies are starting to feed heavily on crayfish though. We caught 20 or so f= at, footballs using small crayfish baits. Our biggest smallie was 4.1 pounds and our best 5 weighed 19 pounds. I didn't take any pictures because of the rain. Sorry :(

10-7-2007: My dad, R= on Nelson, and I spent a few hours enjoying a beautiful day on Lake Michigan while we were perch fishing. I really can't bel= ieve the weather as of late. Almost 90 degree temps!!!! It's flat out crazy. We did pretty well but it was slower than usual. We caug= ht 46 JUMBO 12-14 inch perch in 32 ft of water. We caught most of them on cut bait and minnows. I caught a few perch on a s= mall blade bait. I also hooked a salmon that ended up breaking t= he hooks off of my blade before I could get it to the boat. <= /span>