Kevin Van Dam Forums

Hi all, particularly to those who are familiar with southern Michigan waters. I’m located in Metro Detroit and looking for some new bass waters. I’m particularly interested in waters that provide good shallow water structure fishing for largemouths - whether it be shallow timber, pads, or reeds, docks, shorelines and banks, canals, etc…

For the most part i tend to fish smaller waters, but some of the more known waters i fish include Belleville and Ford lakes (along with some waters more north while vacationing - Houghton lake, Fletcher’s pond.)

But i’m looking for some new waters to check out this summer within a fairly reasonable distance of the Metro Detroit area that you would recommend - not named Erie, Detroit River, or St. Clair.

Anywhere in Oakland, Macomb, and Washtenaw counties would be a reasonable drive… And i’d likely be willing to go outside of those areas if the water is highly recommended.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

p.s. I won’t be able to fish these places too often so you don’t have to worry about hiding your favorite spot(s)

I fish those counties alot.  Oakland county try Kent lake great weeds and some shoreline wood, Orchard lake heavy weeds some big largemouths and some smallies,  Maceday/Lotus Maceday is super deep and clear but Lotus is shallow and weedy some huge largemouths lots of docks both lakes is connected by a channel.  Washtenaw county the Portage chain has 7 lakes accessable by the Huron River all bodies are good and so is the river lots of shallow docks and weeds,  Halfmoon chain 5 lakes connected by river but not accessable to the Portage chain, again lots of shallow docks some good weedbeds and big largemouths and big smallies.  Give these a try and let me know how you do,  I have lots more of lakes in those areas try getting the map book at Walmarts it has a blue cover and is seperated out by regions and counties in SE Michigan has lake names location boat ramps and shows lake contours also gives you creel samples for most lakes.  I think it still costs about $20.

quantum-man - 04 March 2008 09:48 PM

I fish those counties alot.  Oakland county try Kent lake great weeds and some shoreline wood, Orchard lake heavy weeds some big largemouths and some smallies,  Maceday/Lotus Maceday is super deep and clear but Lotus is shallow and weedy some huge largemouths lots of docks both lakes is connected by a channel.  Washtenaw county the Portage chain has 7 lakes accessable by the Huron River all bodies are good and so is the river lots of shallow docks and weeds,  Halfmoon chain 5 lakes connected by river but not accessable to the Portage chain, again lots of shallow docks some good weedbeds and big largemouths and big smallies.  Give these a try and let me know how you do,  I have lots more of lakes in those areas try getting the map book at Walmarts it has a blue cover and is seperated out by regions and counties in SE Michigan has lake names location boat ramps and shows lake contours also gives you creel samples for most lakes.  I think it still costs about $20.

Awesome. Thanks a ton.

One more thing though…

I probably will only be able to make a few trips that way this season, so out of all of those places named and in that area, what would be your Top 3 locations - for numbers and quality of largemouth bass, and shallow water structure to fish them in?

Once again, thanks a lot.

1st choice would be Maceday/Lotus huge largemouth and great shallow water on Lotus.
2nd choice Kent lake shollow weeds galore and some big largemouth and smallmouth also some giant pike if like the toothy critters
3rd choice Portage Chain hundreds of docks and big bass.

ok it will be a drive from detroit but try fletcher pond. i have never fished it myself but anyways it has timber all through the lake and the deepest it gets is 8 ft. it has a very good bass population along with pike. its over by Atlanta i think. do a google search for fletcher pond.

profisher - 05 March 2008 02:15 AM

ok it will be a drive from detroit but try fletcher pond. i have never fished it myself but anyways it has timber all through the lake and the deepest it gets is 8 ft. it has a very good bass population along with pike. its over by Atlanta i think. do a google search for fletcher pond.

Yeah, i’ve actually been there a couple of times. It’s really nice and i’d like to fish it more often but it is quite a drive (my family has a place in the Higgins/Houghton lake area so going from there isn’t too bad.) It’s located in Alpena, Michigan. It is a floodwater so the deepest area throughout it is the river that runs through it - it’s not visible by eye but with a simple map and depth finder it’s rather easy to locate. It’s filled with vegetation and wood, but it’s also a surprisingly big body of water (9,000 acres), so by no means is it an actual “pond” like its nickname would refer. So you would want to do a little studying before you make a trip out there, and defently take a map with you. Bass in the 3lb range are abundent there, and although we didn’t hook onto one, all of the locals were saying that 4-6lbers were taken regularly. We also hooked onto a few pike in the 30in range.

My recommendation would be that if you’re going to head out there, take some sort of a mutli-day trip. I think it’s one of the 12 largest inland bodies in Michigan so it can take some time to get comfortable with.

quantum-man - 04 March 2008 11:26 PM

1st choice would be Maceday/Lotus huge largemouth and great shallow water on Lotus.
2nd choice Kent lake shollow weeds galore and some big largemouth and smallmouth also some giant pike if like the toothy critters
3rd choice Portage Chain hundreds of docks and big bass.

Awesome - thanks a ton.

any reccomendations for fletcher pond. lures, presentations, areas, any good advice.

profisher - 05 March 2008 03:56 AM

any reccomendations for fletcher pond. lures, presentations, areas, any good advice.

Only fishing there twice i coudn’t fish the entire lake, but i’d highly recommend staying close to the river that runs through it, which is the deepest area of the entire body of water. The river channel seemed to have an average depth of 6-10 ft whereas everywhere else was probably 5 ft or less. In and around the edges of the river channel there was plenty of prime areas of submerged cabbage. Tossing jigs and/or texas-rigged soft plastics (whichever you are more comfortable with) at these areas would be a good starting point. Finding timber and other cover near the river channel would also be a prime location. Spinnerbaits and topwater baits (buzzbaits, frogs, and other weedless soft plastics), along with the before mentioned jigs and texas-rigged soft plastics would be your best options for these areas.

Contrary to the order in which i posted them, i’d begin the day by targetting active fish in the shallow water cover outside the river channel. I’d always start with a spinnerbait or buzzbait. If you are fishing with somebody else i’d always recommend each of you using opposite lures - one using a horizontal presentation(spinnerbait) and one using a vertical presentation(jig/texas-rig) to try to see what the fish are responding to.

If you are having limited or no luck there then i would move to the river channel, and try to fish the cabbage near the edges of the river.

If still no luck then i’d probably move shallow, and focus on the pads and stumps near some of the shorelines (further away from the river channel.)

As i mentioned in my last post, Fletcher’s also contains pike - a ton of them. So make sure you bring some extra line and more than enough tackle, especially hooks and weights. You usualy won’t have problems with pike if you’re fishing a spinnerbait or buzzbait, but if you hook one while fishing a soft plastic or jig there’s always a solid chance of a bite off. So be prepared.

And also just make sure to bring a map and depth finder - which will make finding the river channel a piece of cake. The river channel is actually not far out from the main boat launch so it wouldn’t be much trouble finding. But a map would make things much easier - especially trying to figure out which way it’s turning.

thanks a ton arthurspooner that should help out alot.