Stillwater bass and trout! Awoke on a windless morning and made the quick drive to Lake Michigan for some early morning paddling yesterday that would also involve fishing. The water...

fishyaker Loc: NW Michigan (Lower Peninsula)

Awoke on a windless morning and made the quick drive to Lake Michigan for some early morning paddling yesterday that would also involve fishing. The water was so calm I almost scratched my initials into the reflective surface near shore just to see how long they would last before dissolving. Mornings like this were made for kayaking...and fishing!

The plan for fishing was to troll for lake trout and cisco in about 25' of water, but since a variety of species are present one never knows what will turn up on the end of your line. Made the first cast and started to paddle forward to get the line taught and allow the chrome Flicker Shad to reach a target depth of around 10 feet. As soon as I started to watch the rod tip for the right amount of "twiggle", it bent backwards and started to bounce. Yee hah...fish on!

After a few minutes of excitement a beautiful smallmouth bass came to hand for a quick release. The smallies are in pre-spawn mode right now (season is closed), and they are starting to pair off with mates. During my time on the water I had several encounters with numerous small schools of bass that almost had the appearance of "swarms". When you hooked a fish and brought it close to the kayak, the balance of the "team" would follow it up and surround the boat. It was actually kind of intimidating!

The next fish was a perfectly sized lake trout, which struck the same lure that had tempted the bass a few minutes ago. That one slipped onto my stringer for today's lunch on the grill once I returned home!

The water temp at the surface ranged between 47 and 51 degrees, and all the fish seemed to be suspended in the this warmer layer of water above the cooler thermal down below. The bite was fairly light, and each fish I caught today was barely lip hooked...which makes for a very easy release! Had quite a few strikes that only amounted to a few head shakes, and I suspect that they were striking in a lethargic way.

The chrome lure kept the fish interested, and many more bass came to my side but no more lake trout...or any other species for that matter. I stopped trolling to jig now and then, but trolling produced the most fish...which ended up tallying to eight fish. I switched lures a few times to see if it made any difference in the catch rate. Some caught fish and others did not. All crank bait styled lures.

The water stayed flat all morning, and made my time on the water very relaxing. The water was a clear turquoise with some teal mixed in as the sun got higher in the sky. A pair of juvenile bald eagles made several passes overhead. They know that the fish are easy pickings at this time of year because they are close to the surface at times!

Every so often I would come upon small groups of carp at the surface, showing off their goldy brown and bronze scales like the diamond plate patterns on a toolbox lid. Lake trout, cisco, white suckers and bass were also in view nearly all of the time in the clear depths below. What a splendid day to be out and about on the water! Enjoy the coming weekend everybody!

Ready to shove off for a morning troll...

Smallmouth bass ranging between 2 and 4 pounds today.

A 22" lake trout that I invited to join me for lunch later on.

A single hooked Hot-N-Tot provided plenty of positive fish catching action this morning...

Spent four hours in this fabulous calm. Catching fish was a definite bonus, but just gliding around in these placid conditions was absolutely spectacular.

The Outcast Loc: NE Michigan

fishyaker wrote:

Awoke on a windless morning and made the quick drive to Lake Michigan for some early morning paddling yesterday that would also involve fishing. The water was so calm I almost scratched my initials into the reflective surface near shore just to see how long they would last before dissolving. Mornings like this were made for kayaking...and fishing!

The plan for fishing was to troll for lake trout and cisco in about 25' of water, but since a variety of species are present one never knows what will turn up on the end of your line. Made the first cast and started to paddle forward to get the line taught and allow the chrome Flicker Shad to reach a target depth of around 10 feet. As soon as I started to watch the rod tip for the right amount of "twiggle", it bent backwards and started to bounce. Yee hah...fish on!

After a few minutes of excitement a beautiful smallmouth bass came to hand for a quick release. The smallies are in pre-spawn mode right now (season is closed), and they are starting to pair off with mates. During my time on the water I had several encounters with numerous small schools of bass that almost had the appearance of "swarms". When you hooked a fish and brought it close to the kayak, the balance of the "team" would follow it up and surround the boat. It was actually kind of intimidating!

The next fish was a perfectly sized lake trout, which struck the same lure that had tempted the bass a few minutes ago. That one slipped onto my stringer for today's lunch on the grill once I returned home!

The water temp at the surface ranged between 47 and 51 degrees, and all the fish seemed to be suspended in the this warmer layer of water above the cooler thermal down below. The bite was fairly light, and each fish I caught today was barely lip hooked...which makes for a very easy release! Had quite a few strikes that only amounted to a few head shakes, and I suspect that they were striking in a lethargic way.

The chrome lure kept the fish interested, and many more bass came to my side but no more lake trout...or any other species for that matter. I stopped trolling to jig now and then, but trolling produced the most fish...which ended up tallying to eight fish. I switched lures a few times to see if it made any difference in the catch rate. Some caught fish and others did not. All crank bait styled lures.

The water stayed flat all morning, and made my time on the water very relaxing. The water was a clear turquoise with some teal mixed in as the sun got higher in the sky. A pair of juvenile bald eagles made several passes overhead. They know that the fish are easy pickings at this time of year because they are close to the surface at times!

Every so often I would come upon small groups of carp at the surface, showing off their goldy brown and bronze scales like the diamond plate patterns on a toolbox lid. Lake trout, cisco, white suckers and bass were also in view nearly all of the time in the clear depths below. What a splendid day to be out and about on the water! Enjoy the coming weekend everybody!

Awoke on a windless morning and made the quick dri... (show quote)

Wonderful story yaker, and pics to boot… days like you had are rare gems indeed…makes a fisherman dream of the next time on the water…

fishyaker Loc: NW Michigan (Lower Peninsula)

The Outcast wrote:

Wonderful story yaker, and pics to boot… days like you had are rare gems indeed…makes a fisherman dream of the next time on the water…

Thank you Outcast! We have another calm day on tap over here so I am leaving in a few minutes to spend the morning on the water again. This time I plan to run dodger-flasher/flies and more dedicated lake trout tackle in a different area!

bknecht Loc: Northeast pa

fishyaker wrote:

Awoke on a windless morning and made the quick drive to Lake Michigan for some early morning paddling yesterday that would also involve fishing. The water was so calm I almost scratched my initials into the reflective surface near shore just to see how long they would last before dissolving. Mornings like this were made for kayaking...and fishing!

The plan for fishing was to troll for lake trout and cisco in about 25' of water, but since a variety of species are present one never knows what will turn up on the end of your line. Made the first cast and started to paddle forward to get the line taught and allow the chrome Flicker Shad to reach a target depth of around 10 feet. As soon as I started to watch the rod tip for the right amount of "twiggle", it bent backwards and started to bounce. Yee hah...fish on!

After a few minutes of excitement a beautiful smallmouth bass came to hand for a quick release. The smallies are in pre-spawn mode right now (season is closed), and they are starting to pair off with mates. During my time on the water I had several encounters with numerous small schools of bass that almost had the appearance of "swarms". When you hooked a fish and brought it close to the kayak, the balance of the "team" would follow it up and surround the boat. It was actually kind of intimidating!

The next fish was a perfectly sized lake trout, which struck the same lure that had tempted the bass a few minutes ago. That one slipped onto my stringer for today's lunch on the grill once I returned home!

The water temp at the surface ranged between 47 and 51 degrees, and all the fish seemed to be suspended in the this warmer layer of water above the cooler thermal down below. The bite was fairly light, and each fish I caught today was barely lip hooked...which makes for a very easy release! Had quite a few strikes that only amounted to a few head shakes, and I suspect that they were striking in a lethargic way.

The chrome lure kept the fish interested, and many more bass came to my side but no more lake trout...or any other species for that matter. I stopped trolling to jig now and then, but trolling produced the most fish...which ended up tallying to eight fish. I switched lures a few times to see if it made any difference in the catch rate. Some caught fish and others did not. All crank bait styled lures.

The water stayed flat all morning, and made my time on the water very relaxing. The water was a clear turquoise with some teal mixed in as the sun got higher in the sky. A pair of juvenile bald eagles made several passes overhead. They know that the fish are easy pickings at this time of year because they are close to the surface at times!

Every so often I would come upon small groups of carp at the surface, showing off their goldy brown and bronze scales like the diamond plate patterns on a toolbox lid. Lake trout, cisco, white suckers and bass were also in view nearly all of the time in the clear depths below. What a splendid day to be out and about on the water! Enjoy the coming weekend everybody!

Awoke on a windless morning and made the quick dri... (show quote)

Oh my FY, what a gorgeous day indeed. Captivating narrative and absolutely stunning pics!

Flytier Loc: Wilmington Delaware

Nice report and the pics were excellent..

DVTracker Loc: Harrisburg, PA.

fishyaker wrote:

Awoke on a windless morning and made the quick drive to Lake Michigan for some early morning paddling yesterday that would also involve fishing. The water was so calm I almost scratched my initials into the reflective surface near shore just to see how long they would last before dissolving. Mornings like this were made for kayaking...and fishing!

The plan for fishing was to troll for lake trout and cisco in about 25' of water, but since a variety of species are present one never knows what will turn up on the end of your line. Made the first cast and started to paddle forward to get the line taught and allow the chrome Flicker Shad to reach a target depth of around 10 feet. As soon as I started to watch the rod tip for the right amount of "twiggle", it bent backwards and started to bounce. Yee hah...fish on!

After a few minutes of excitement a beautiful smallmouth bass came to hand for a quick release. The smallies are in pre-spawn mode right now (season is closed), and they are starting to pair off with mates. During my time on the water I had several encounters with numerous small schools of bass that almost had the appearance of "swarms". When you hooked a fish and brought it close to the kayak, the balance of the "team" would follow it up and surround the boat. It was actually kind of intimidating!

The next fish was a perfectly sized lake trout, which struck the same lure that had tempted the bass a few minutes ago. That one slipped onto my stringer for today's lunch on the grill once I returned home!

The water temp at the surface ranged between 47 and 51 degrees, and all the fish seemed to be suspended in the this warmer layer of water above the cooler thermal down below. The bite was fairly light, and each fish I caught today was barely lip hooked...which makes for a very easy release! Had quite a few strikes that only amounted to a few head shakes, and I suspect that they were striking in a lethargic way.

The chrome lure kept the fish interested, and many more bass came to my side but no more lake trout...or any other species for that matter. I stopped trolling to jig now and then, but trolling produced the most fish...which ended up tallying to eight fish. I switched lures a few times to see if it made any difference in the catch rate. Some caught fish and others did not. All crank bait styled lures.

The water stayed flat all morning, and made my time on the water very relaxing. The water was a clear turquoise with some teal mixed in as the sun got higher in the sky. A pair of juvenile bald eagles made several passes overhead. They know that the fish are easy pickings at this time of year because they are close to the surface at times!

Every so often I would come upon small groups of carp at the surface, showing off their goldy brown and bronze scales like the diamond plate patterns on a toolbox lid. Lake trout, cisco, white suckers and bass were also in view nearly all of the time in the clear depths below. What a splendid day to be out and about on the water! Enjoy the coming weekend everybody!

Awoke on a windless morning and made the quick dri... (show quote)

Outstanding pics, descriptions of events, info and fish caught! You definitely had a great day and that is a nice yak. Thank you for sharing.

plumbob Loc: New Windsor Maryland

fishyaker wrote:

Awoke on a windless morning and made the quick drive to Lake Michigan for some early morning paddling yesterday that would also involve fishing. The water was so calm I almost scratched my initials into the reflective surface near shore just to see how long they would last before dissolving. Mornings like this were made for kayaking...and fishing!

The plan for fishing was to troll for lake trout and cisco in about 25' of water, but since a variety of species are present one never knows what will turn up on the end of your line. Made the first cast and started to paddle forward to get the line taught and allow the chrome Flicker Shad to reach a target depth of around 10 feet. As soon as I started to watch the rod tip for the right amount of "twiggle", it bent backwards and started to bounce. Yee hah...fish on!

After a few minutes of excitement a beautiful smallmouth bass came to hand for a quick release. The smallies are in pre-spawn mode right now (season is closed), and they are starting to pair off with mates. During my time on the water I had several encounters with numerous small schools of bass that almost had the appearance of "swarms". When you hooked a fish and brought it close to the kayak, the balance of the "team" would follow it up and surround the boat. It was actually kind of intimidating!

The next fish was a perfectly sized lake trout, which struck the same lure that had tempted the bass a few minutes ago. That one slipped onto my stringer for today's lunch on the grill once I returned home!

The water temp at the surface ranged between 47 and 51 degrees, and all the fish seemed to be suspended in the this warmer layer of water above the cooler thermal down below. The bite was fairly light, and each fish I caught today was barely lip hooked...which makes for a very easy release! Had quite a few strikes that only amounted to a few head shakes, and I suspect that they were striking in a lethargic way.

The chrome lure kept the fish interested, and many more bass came to my side but no more lake trout...or any other species for that matter. I stopped trolling to jig now and then, but trolling produced the most fish...which ended up tallying to eight fish. I switched lures a few times to see if it made any difference in the catch rate. Some caught fish and others did not. All crank bait styled lures.

The water stayed flat all morning, and made my time on the water very relaxing. The water was a clear turquoise with some teal mixed in as the sun got higher in the sky. A pair of juvenile bald eagles made several passes overhead. They know that the fish are easy pickings at this time of year because they are close to the surface at times!

Every so often I would come upon small groups of carp at the surface, showing off their goldy brown and bronze scales like the diamond plate patterns on a toolbox lid. Lake trout, cisco, white suckers and bass were also in view nearly all of the time in the clear depths below. What a splendid day to be out and about on the water! Enjoy the coming weekend everybody!

Awoke on a windless morning and made the quick dri... (show quote)

My fishyaker you paint a awesome picture with your words and back it up with awesome pics. Nice going just doesn't seem like enough to say for this thread.

However, Nice Going and thanks for sharing this on the stage.

fishyaker Loc: NW Michigan (Lower Peninsula)

bknecht wrote:

Oh my FY, what a gorgeous day indeed. Captivating narrative and absolutely stunning pics!

Thank you BK! Those kind of days make me want to just set the paddle down and bob around all day soaking it all up!

fishyaker Loc: NW Michigan (Lower Peninsula)

Flytier wrote:

Nice report and the pics were excellent..

Thank you Flytier! I appreciate the compliments. I used to bring a dedicated camera out with me but most of the time I am just using my cell phone because it is more compact.

fishyaker Loc: NW Michigan (Lower Peninsula)

DVTracker wrote:

Outstanding pics, descriptions of events, info and fish caught! You definitely had a great day and that is a nice yak. Thank you for sharing.

Thank you DVTracker! It was one of those days that I will reflect back on all Summer long. Lot's of fun.

fishyaker Loc: NW Michigan (Lower Peninsula)

plumbob wrote:

My fishyaker you paint a awesome picture with your words and back it up with awesome pics. Nice going just doesn't seem like enough to say for this thread.

However, Nice Going and thanks for sharing this on the stage.

Thank you Plumb! Glad that you enjoyed the "recap" of my morning excursion. We get so many windy days around here that it's hard to pass one like this up!

fishyaker Loc: NW Michigan (Lower Peninsula)

Just back from another calm morning out, only "zero" action on the lake trout...which is what I was really hoping for today!

So as to avoid the dreaded "skunk", I did find the smallmouth bass to be cooperative once again as they stage up for spawning so I went ahead and made a few casts with a Flicker Shad in chrome and caught a couple to provide me with some entertainment.

The first group I pitched a lure at came scrambling right at me as if to be in "attack" mode, and while 5 bass turned away and took a different course, three of them sped up and made a competion out of being the first one to reach my lure. A plump 2+ pounder struck it about 6 feet from the kayak and almost landed in my lap when I tried to let out some line.

These bass are in "crazy zany" mode right now!

Out again this morning in a different spot. Trolled for lake trout 3 hours without so much as a strike...or even seeing one lurking about! I even ran 2 rods for a while to cover some high and low depths (10' and 18' down).

Had to avoid the skunk, so thankfully a couple of playful smallies came to my rescue! This lean fella might barely tip the scales at a pound but he was full of classic bass spunk!

Put several of my "go to" lake trout set ups down this morning to no avail. Clockwise from the top...wonderbread flasher with a fly, ghost dodger with Spin-N-Glow, laker taker spoon and a chrome jointed J-plug. All ignored but they did get a washing!

Fredfish Loc: Prospect CT.

fishyaker wrote:

Awoke on a windless morning and made the quick drive to Lake Michigan for some early morning paddling yesterday that would also involve fishing. The water was so calm I almost scratched my initials into the reflective surface near shore just to see how long they would last before dissolving. Mornings like this were made for kayaking...and fishing!

The plan for fishing was to troll for lake trout and cisco in about 25' of water, but since a variety of species are present one never knows what will turn up on the end of your line. Made the first cast and started to paddle forward to get the line taught and allow the chrome Flicker Shad to reach a target depth of around 10 feet. As soon as I started to watch the rod tip for the right amount of "twiggle", it bent backwards and started to bounce. Yee hah...fish on!

After a few minutes of excitement a beautiful smallmouth bass came to hand for a quick release. The smallies are in pre-spawn mode right now (season is closed), and they are starting to pair off with mates. During my time on the water I had several encounters with numerous small schools of bass that almost had the appearance of "swarms". When you hooked a fish and brought it close to the kayak, the balance of the "team" would follow it up and surround the boat. It was actually kind of intimidating!

The next fish was a perfectly sized lake trout, which struck the same lure that had tempted the bass a few minutes ago. That one slipped onto my stringer for today's lunch on the grill once I returned home!

The water temp at the surface ranged between 47 and 51 degrees, and all the fish seemed to be suspended in the this warmer layer of water above the cooler thermal down below. The bite was fairly light, and each fish I caught today was barely lip hooked...which makes for a very easy release! Had quite a few strikes that only amounted to a few head shakes, and I suspect that they were striking in a lethargic way.

The chrome lure kept the fish interested, and many more bass came to my side but no more lake trout...or any other species for that matter. I stopped trolling to jig now and then, but trolling produced the most fish...which ended up tallying to eight fish. I switched lures a few times to see if it made any difference in the catch rate. Some caught fish and others did not. All crank bait styled lures.

The water stayed flat all morning, and made my time on the water very relaxing. The water was a clear turquoise with some teal mixed in as the sun got higher in the sky. A pair of juvenile bald eagles made several passes overhead. They know that the fish are easy pickings at this time of year because they are close to the surface at times!

Every so often I would come upon small groups of carp at the surface, showing off their goldy brown and bronze scales like the diamond plate patterns on a toolbox lid. Lake trout, cisco, white suckers and bass were also in view nearly all of the time in the clear depths below. What a splendid day to be out and about on the water! Enjoy the coming weekend everybody!

Awoke on a windless morning and made the quick dri... (show quote)

Awesome pictures and story Yaker. I envy your conditions out there, those are the days I dream of. Thanks for sharing your day with us, and best of luck on your next trip.

Ya gotta love the energy of Smallmouth, they will make your day!

fishyaker Loc: NW Michigan (Lower Peninsula)

Fredfish wrote:

Awesome pictures and story Yaker. I envy your conditions out there, those are the days I dream of. Thanks for sharing your day with us, and best of luck on your next trip.

Ya gotta love the energy of Smallmouth, they will make your day!

Thank you Fredfish! Yes, the expended energy of just a single smallie could probably charge a golf cart battery enough to play an 18 hole round of golf!

The local bass fishery is a pretty decent one, but does get a ton of pressure. Yesterday I caught a couple that were actually pushing the 5 pound mark, but they were very worn and tattered big old fish that looked like they had been caught and released many times during their lifetime. They fought very hard, but you could tell this was not their first rodeo! I even had to loosen my reel drag a few more steps during the battles.

One even had an old sea lamprey eel scar mark on it...which is unusual for a bass! It had healed up, but left the telltale sign of having been a host for a while. Both bass were not very photogenic so I just slipped them back into the lake in hopes that they would consider making an address change where nobody can find them for a while!

greenfrog Loc: Central NJ

Great story and pictures. Glad you had a good time out there.