Well as of any lake "THAT'S FISHING " they don't always bite. But I owned a bait shop in St.Helen for 30 yrs. and can say , on the ice ,or open water, I was never skunked on lake St.Helen. I have fished it for over 60 yrs. So I can attest to the quality of fishing throughout the years. I have retired now, so I have time to fish instead of selling bait. Contact me if you need information on St.Helen, I also did a fishing report for Houghton Lake, Higgins lk.and St.Helen. for many years.

From the St.Helen area and have been trying to fish some of the lakes in the Lupton area,would love to swap information on the many small lakes in your area.

Yes as I said, not worth dying for. Temperatures are supposed to be in the mid to upper 30's all week too. Looking like a Short ice fishing season??

2 to 4 inches of ice on Houghton Lake as I understand, not enough for me yet, NO FISH is worth getting wet to me.

No ice in my ,area, Roscommon none anywhere I know of right now

Thanks everyone for all the responses on fishing a large lake that I had very little information prior to fishing. I did pick up quite a few perch on the East side with crawlers, but they were on the small side, also a couple Goby ,damn things are getting into lakes all over Michigan. Fishing on the N. W. Side later afternoon picked up about a dozen perch big enough to take home, but No Walleye this trip. Will plan on staying later to fish the Walleye next time I get a chance to head that way.

Will probably target Walleye, but Perch are never out of the target either. I have also fished Black lk. Yrs ago , but spend more time exploring the U.P. lakes than under the bridge. I will post a report after my trip tomorrow on Hubbard lk. and hopefully a few photos 🐟

Better yet, the lawn can wait til the next day ,unless I go back out fishing, then guess it will be there when the fish quit biting.

Thanks Fredfish, hit or miss on fishing ,it will beat mowing the lawn Saturday lol

Going to Hubbard lk.in N.E. Michigan this Saturday, any information on this lake,location, baits, depths, etc. would be greatly appreciated. I live about an hr. From there, but have never fished it before. I have a new boat to break in that I just bought, so thought I'd try a new lake also. Just got a Lund 1650 Rebel XL,with a 50hp.Mercury 4 stroke that's all decked out for fishing, can't wait to put that 1st fish in the live well.

OK it's a northern Michigan term that's well known in this part of the state, describing a fair amount of the population living in the lower portions of lower Michigan. A good amount of those that fit that category seems to lose all common sense and consideration for people that live up here and many somehow think they have special privileges to the lakes and land. Not saying that they ALL Do, but enough that by the time the weekends are over, most of us northern residents are very glad to see them leave for home. That constitutes a "Flatlander"

OK it's a northern Michigan term that's well known in this part of the state, describing a fair amount of the population living in the lower portions of lower Michigan. A good amount of those that fit that category seems to lose all common sense and consideration for people that live up here and many somehow think they have special privileges to the lakes and land. Not saying that they ALL Do, but enough that by the time the weekends are over, most of us northern residents are very glad to see them leave for home. That constitutes a "Flatlander"

Lol. Haven't you noticed the thousands of boats. Tearing up the lake?? After Labor day and early morning your fishing will come back, it's called flatlanders syndrome during the summer months on Houghton.

I've owned and still own many Zebco reels some seem to have problems that just don't want to go away, I have 3 of the Z03 models and since they came out ,I have Never had an issue with any of them, my grandson also uses a Z03 and loves the reel and dependable service of this reel. I would recommend trying one, have caught 100's of walleyes and N. Pike here in Michigan and in Canada on them and leaving in 4 days for another Canada trip, that is one reel that is already packed.

Smallmouth are fun to catch and not bad table fare either, I fish as often as possible in our beautiful UP ,just got back from the Curtis area a week ago and even with terrible weather, I managed to catch large and Smallmouth bass along with a good mixed bag of others. What time of yr were those bass caught?