Hot weather means better fishing

June 25, 2009 06:45 am

—

Some rivers in Lower Michigan are running high and fast, and catch rates will improve once the waters clear up, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources said Wednesday in its weekly fishing report.

Petoskey: Lake trout have been caught in 80 feet of water. The fish have been suspended and can be found in the lower 20 feet.

Bear River: Dock and shore anglers are catching a variety of fish.

Charlevoix: Lake trout and a few chinook salmon have been caught. Smallmouth bass were on the beds in Little Traverse Bay.

Lake Charlevoix: Perch have been showing up in shallow waters. Walleye anglers did well on cloudy days or at night when trolling minnow baits.

Lake Bellaire: Walleye pressure remains steady with anglers catching fish ranging from 14 to 18 inches. Perch were caught in 4 to 15 feet of water in the northwest arm and near the Intermediate River.

Traverse City: Smallmouth can be found in the shallows in the East Bay and are hitting on plastic baits. The southern portions of the bay have received much angler pressure so the fish are easily spooked. In the West Bay, smallmouth are starting to show up on the beds.

Elk River: Smallmouth bass and freshwater drum are hitting on crawlers or leeches.

Boardman River: Bass fishing is starting to heat up with good action in the morning near the mouth and steady action throughout the day just below the Union Street Dam when using leeches, crawlers or plastic baits.

Lake Leelanau: Bluegills are finally on their beds and bass fishing has picked up. Look for pike along the weed beds in shallow waters.

Leland: Afternoons were slow but the early mornings are producing some good catches of chinook in 90 to 100 feet of water on the north and northwest sides of South Manitou Island. Lake trout seem to be scattered now that the warm weather is finally here.

Glen Arbor: Fishing has picked up with some chinook over 10 pounds caught in the early morning.

Frankfort: Chinook and lake trout were caught 40 to 90 feet down in 100 to 310 feet of water along the Shelf.

Onekama: There are reports of decent catches of chinook caught 35 to 60 feet down in 80 to 180 feet of water up near the Barrel.

Lake Cadillac: Anglers were catching good numbers of crappie and a few pike.