MICDC fall crappie camp results

Well to be honest, after our spring SnowFest in May, I was pretty spooked over the weather forecast. It really looked pretty good with little rain mixed in and temperatures in the low 70's and upper 60's. Best of all the winds were not supposed to be much out of the single digits, and for the northwest coast of Michigan's lower peninsula, that's pretty dumb good. I was keeping my fingers crossed!

Carol and I left a day early on Thursday evening and made it to Lakeview Campsites on upper Hamlin lake in time to set camp before dark. It was good to be in Michigan's great north finally. Our plan was to get in some prefishing on Friday morning before the winds picked up.

Friday morning came and instead of being calm like I thought, it was already a bit windy. We headed out to check the lake condition at Wilson Hill Park boat launch about 10 minutes from camp. Wilson Hill is situated just north of the "narrows" where we planned on targeting the fish. The winds were supposed to change later in the day, and at the time were coming pretty much out of the north, so Hamlin was alread too rough for us. Off to Hackert Lake we went. Hackert is a smaller land locked lake that we fished a month ago. Needless to say, the crappie bite was a bit slow, but Carol kept busy on the gills.

Ready2fish (Jim) and I texted back and forth, and he was heading up later that morning, so we fished for a few hours and then headed back to camp to meet him.

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Jim was anxious to get his camp set and hit the lake but we took some time to catch up with each other. Skillett007 (Kevin), Hermin (Eric), and the Wicklundrh crew were going to be around later that day, so Jimmy hit the water and Carol and I made some preperations for the weekend.

Friday night "Liars Club" had a small turnout as Wicklundrh (Rich) and his family didn't make it up as early as planned. The rest of us dined on some pretty tasty grilled BBQ chicken wings, and chipolte/mango cream cheese dip. MMMhhh good.

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Saturday morning came with virtually no wind and cool temperatures, but as the sun rose higher in the sky, the air temperature climbed into the low to mid 70's. It was almost a picture perfect day to be on the water. The fish seemed to be best in the 8-10 FOW range and were down 5-6 foot along any weed lines. Everyone pretty much ended up around the narrows and caught fish. Ready2fish did the best and got his limit. Wicklundrh, his dad, and a friend also did well. Skillett007 and Hermin, Carol and I did good, but not as good as the others for numbers.

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We all made it back to the weigh in at 4 pm. and there were 6 or so really nice crappie caught that were just under and just over one pound. Hermin and Ready2fish both came in with the top weighing fish at 1.08 lb.


While the fish were being cleaned, Skillett007 and I started the cookers and Carol worked on the hushpuppies. We had some good eats, and even wipped up some "exotic" mustard and hot sauce fried crappie.

All in all, this was one of the better crappie camps that we have enjoyed with the weather cooperating and the fishing being on the better side. A big thanks to all who came out and pitched in to help make it happen.

As a side note, Hamlin is certainly a premier multi species lake to fish. Some of the folks took time out to find some walleye too, and Carol caught her "all time best" gill that put a few of the crappie to shame.

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I love the way Carol is holding that blue Gill! Abby isn't ready to hold them with her bare hands. I keep a glove in the boat for her!

Our trip started like this:

The original plan was for Vette23 (Jeremy) to meet me at the house (he is my neighbor) at 4:30 pm. We would load up my boat on the truck and then Brian, Jeremy, Abby, and I would head to Grandma and Papa's. At noon my phone rings. Jeremy has a meeting scheduled for 5pm. I guess that is what happens when you wear a suit and tie to work. Plan changed, we take Brian's truck (better gas mileage), and nix the boat (we can use my dads).

5pm: Don calls to find out when we are going to make it. I'm stuck in traffic in Grand Rapids but figure we will be there at 6:30pm. "Uncle Brian" and daddy play the alphabet game, the sign game, and any other game we can come up with to keep a 7 year old occupied for what "SHOULD" have been a 3 hour drive.

6:30 PM: State police have 31 north shut down and are diverting you to the Shelby exit. I need to go East and North. They have me going West and back over the freeway. No big deal, I know the area. I'll take some back roads to my parents.

6:45 PM: "Abby, we should keep our eyes out... the deer will be out"....... "hey look there is one in the road........Oh No Brian". Fortunately, I was on the brakes and the deer was moving away from me. She slightly bumped the front bumper and was no worse for the ware when she gained her feet. Of course, I didn't even get out to look at the bumper (ended up with a piece of hair in the front license plate screw). I was feeling much better about the decision to take his truck though!

By the time we got to the house, Liar's club was out of the question.

Saturday morning I woke to cold tempuratures. I think we basically procrastinated as long as we could before hooking up the boat and heading for minnows. My Parents are from the area so we decided to launch at the state park. Knowledge of the lake told me to held for the narrows. You can find depth and shallows water as well as weeds.

I could not get a fish to bit on a jig. I tried for two hours. I changed to a simple gold hook and minnow and was able to pick at them. They seemed to be tight in the weeds.

Good thing Skillet and Hermin had a minnow bucket, otherwise I would have been providing them bait in my "pee jug"!

I did get a chance to find out Jim's (ready2fish) secret "go to" bait.

I also got some shopping done in Kevin's boat! It's only stealing if you don't plan on returning it!

Great addition to the story Rich. I sent the story to Ed and he now has it posted on the main page too.

Thanks for the great and it was nice seeing you all again

Excellent story everyone.

Thanks Slab I wasnt expecting that all but it was a pleasant surprise when I got home from work tonight.