gun lake channels report

got out Sunday with the wife and our grandson.
nice day so we headed to gun lake , mostly just for a boat ride, but I wanted to check out the channels, I pretty much guessed they would be all slimed up, but had to check!
water was 58 , lots of very small gills in them but never did see a crappie.
was a bit to cold for us to, fish the main lake so we just enjoyed cruising the channels watching all the little fish swim under the boat, and seeing all the baby geese, Landyn enjoyed the day, ......until nature called :) , time to cut the trip short, he had to go..NOW!!
would have liked to long line the weed edges, but maybe next time.

Nice!! I fished Gun Lake last Saturday and didn't have any luck myself as well. Caught a few small perch and gills, no crappie. I live close to Gun, but don't fish it much cause I never have any luck!

I've done good on Gun at times and not good others. We've caught some big gills mid summer in front of the campground in 5-6 feet of water. No concentrations of fish as they seem to be scattered but what we caught were nice. Got a 30" channel cat out there one year on a 7' noodle rod and 6 lb test. Took a while but we got her in the boat, snapped a few pics and let her go to fight another day.

Any of you guys ever fished Fish Lake down the road from Gun? I do well there on crappie, would love to have that success on other lakes just for a change of scenery, but every time I venture off no luck.... I am new to fishing though. That channel cat pry took you for a ride!

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Originally Posted by Chubutta

Any of you guys ever fished Fish Lake down the road from Gun? I do well there on crappie, would love to have that success on other lakes just for a change of scenery, but every time I venture off no luck.... I am new to fishing though. That channel cat pry took you for a ride!

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Welcome to the site.

I think the key is "Comfort". Many of us went through the trials of "trying" to catch a specific species of fish (crappie) with consistency. For me, I got wrapped up in all the different baits and techniques associated with them. Sure, I would catch one here or there but that was it. I started concentrating on one specific lake. When I started catching crappies with consistency, I took what I learned and applied it to other bodies of water. I learned valuable lessons on that lake that I now use in tons of areas.

When you find fish on "Fish Lake" take note of things like water clarity, water temperature, time of day, type of bait, and location (brush, weeds, large flat). Use that information to locate similar areas in other lakes. In Michigan we are very lucky with Crappies. Some years (this one might be different), you can catch spawning crappies in lower Michigan, then move further north and get in to spawning crappies again and again. Sometimes, we end up with a month or two of really good pre and post spawn crappie fishing within our state. Some lakes (Hardy comes to mind) the spawn seems to be totally off with many other areas. This could be a combination of moving water in an impoundment, depth, structure, and so on.

If I had one recommendation for people targeting a specific species of fish it would be: To accurately log your fishing activities in a log book. Time of year, time of day, barometer, moon phase, lake, location on the lake, what you fished... You will use this data over and over again. Pretty soon, you will be on a body of water, it is August, around 2pm, and it is overcast. The water temp is 72 degrees. You scroll back through you book and find a similar timeframe and information and bam, you found what the fish are wanting, were they are located and so on.... I'm sure they make something like that for a smart phone, but the last time I checked, my log book will never crash on me!!!

one of the things I like to do to find crappie on most of our mid mich lakes is long line troll a jig .
I just use the trolling motor around 1 mph + or - a bit along the weed edges, just cruise until I find one then turn around and toss a jig for a bit, they usually school up , so if you get one there are normally more to be had.inside and outside bends in the weeds are the best, and sometimes just a clump of weeds will hold a bunch!!
on gun. because it is fairly clear fishing the 8-12 ft depths usually will get me a few, other lakes as shallow as only 2-4 ft works well
it has some very nice gills , but they can be hard to locate.
there are a couple lakes south of gun that I have fairly good luck on, nothing big , but nice enough for the fryer!!!

Wow, really didn't mean to hijack this thread, but really appreciate the advice from both of you! I also do my best trolling a jig around that speed. I have had some good days in Robins Bay during the summer now that I recall. There are some slab crappies in Gun though. wicklundrh, I did my best in early May last year, surface temp was low to mid 60s. It's weedy on a nice steep point. I would troll that point as tight as I could which could be a hit or miss, but I'm hoping this new trolling motor with ilink helps this year:biggrin. Was I catching these fish pre spawn? Some of them were 13-14 inches with most being 10 11+. Hoping the spot produces this year. I'm going to try it this week I think .

no need to worry about hijacking!!!!, we do not worry about that stuff on this site!
I never seem to get a lot of crappie on gun , but they do usually run good size.
and robbins bay is one of my spots I like to hit, good luck with them!! :fish

Well let's slab up some time!!! Here's a pic from a haul last year.

Like John said, Our threads take some cool twists and turns! Anytime someone wants to pose a question and people will answer. For me, I like trolling 1/16th oz jigs at around .6 to .8. In the summer, I usually use my fish finder, make a few schools and then go back over them. A deadly tactic for me is to run a 1/16thoz long line with a big bite twister tail or a Charlie brewer slider on one side and a 1/16thoz jig and minnow on the other. I troll along weed edges as well but I also will pitch a jig and soft plastic minnow or a bobber and minnow in tight to the weeds. I usually try to work away from the weeds on my troll a little bit. When I find active fish, I will slow way down, sometimes just try to hover. I still run my rods over the side, but just about half way down the water column. I don't pick up as many fish on those rods when they are not moving but the ones I do pick up are usually bigger. Gives them time to look at the bait for awhile and make a decision.

Good report John, now you are qualified for the Slider contest too!