Reply With Quotenice mess a fish there
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Crappie.com Legend
Testing a new lake
It has been quiet on the MICDC lately!
I headed over on Friday to test out a new lake (well, a chain of lakes). Bruin lake has been discussed on this forum before but not alot of people seem to have fished it.
There are actually 7 different lakes (all connected by channels) that make up this chain. Bruin Lake has a State Park with a asphalt launch and a campground. It has depth to 45ft. We did not fish it as it is a very busy location for boaters on the weekend.
You go through a canal into Watson lake. There are giant drop offs throughout the lake (to 25ft). If you travel one way it will take you to Halfmoon Lake, and Blind lake. I didn't venture that way so I couldn't tell you the make up.
From Watson, you go through a canal into a no named lake, through another canal (with a tunnel under a road) that goes into Patterson lake. I didn't explore Patterson due to pleasure boaters but this lake too had a steep drop off. I went through the last Canal to Woodburn lake. It is supposed to be a no wake lake however, I did see a few people that cannot read well!
Again, this lake has steep drop offs. There are two creeks that feed this lake. I found a lilly pad edge on the west end. The lilly's sit in 8 feet of water then it drops off to 15ft. I pushed jigs with minnows in 13ft of water while casting 1/16thoz jigs tipped with 2 inch Big Bite shad into the pads. The fish were very hungry on Friday with the last 1/2 hour of daylight being the most productive. We went again on Saturday and we had a ton of bites however they were just not as aggressive. We did manage a Pike, a bullhead, and a nice bass to go along with our Crappies on Saturday.
This might be a great location to host a spring/early summer event.
Abby finally decided that it was Ok to hold a fish by it's mouth. Uncle Brian had to help with the Bass
I have OCD "Obsessive Crappie Disorder"
Crappie Wall Hanger II
nice mess a fish there
Crappie.com 3K Star General - MI Moderator
Great report Rich! Sure do love to see Abby with those big smiles and big fish.
Life has many choices, eternity has two...choose wisely.
Unapplied biblical truth is like unapplied paint...how many gallons do you have sittin' around? U.D.
Crappie.com Legend
This chain was a lot of fun. Comming in and out of the cannals, it was amazing to see how quickly it dropped of. Not gradual at all. Almost like a cliff in some spots. It would go from 1.5 ft down to 25 feet in a matter of traveling a few feet over ground. I marked tons of fish on these dropp-offs and huge bait balls.
We fished Watson Lake on Friday around a small island. The fish were there, we were just too early. I have no doubt we could have caught them there the last 1/2 hour of daylight. I might head back next weekend (if the perch are not in at Grand Haven) and explore over at halfmoon lake.
Bruin is very close to a small town called Unidilla which has a party store. Traveling back towards Gregory, you have a very small mom and pop bait shop (Corser's Farms) which has minnows. I stop by and see Ernie and his wife at least once a week if I can. I believe it would be a great spring location based on the layout. I can see those canals being full of spawning crappies. Deep lakes don't warm up near as fast either.
I have OCD "Obsessive Crappie Disorder"
Slabmaster
That's only a half hour from my house. I have fished a few of the lakes around there but not those I might have to try them
Three quarters of the Earth's surface is water, and one quarter is land. It is quite clear that the Lord intended us to spend three times the amount of time fishing as taking care of the lawn
