Michigan’s Grass Lake Largemouth Bass

Ok, below is last years intro to grass lake; but this year was a bit different. First of all, we went earlier this time around the last week of May. Because of this there was a lot less “grass” in grass lake as well as only a scattering of lilly pads. The weather was also different as the whole week was cold and very windy. This being said there was still fish to be caught along the reeds. Check out this 19″ largemouth caught on a “puke” colored tube. Not bad considering we had to wear artic wear. lol

There is a little lake in Michigan called Grass Lake and it is named correctly. Lily pads and tall grass cover the lake of about 900 acres. It’s a great little lake to fish and the chance to catch a pike or two. No fancy ramps or docks just a gravel road to access a dirt ramp.

The first time I fished the lake a friend of mine landed a largemouth on the first cast. He was using a popper in the open areas of the lily pads. This works great if you catch a fish in the open areas, but you cannot reel your line back in without getting snagged on the lily pads. I chose to use a weed less frog; it took me a couple more cast but I landed several bass this way and a 28 inch pike. We had a lot of fun using weed less frogs and plastic worms. but we started trying other tackle; you know if you are carrying a lot of fishing gear you have to see what works in other areas of the lake. Cover is everywhere but you can move around the lake with ease over depths of 4 to 12 feet. And to make it even better, there are plenty of little patches of grass or lily pads in every directions in different depths of water. Staying away from these patches and casting on the edges with tubes; we landed a lot of 12 and 14 inch bass. Then we tried top water with poppers and walk the dog with stick baits. We had luck with both; but testing the different retrieves to improve our catch ratio was the key. With either lure the trick was to move it about 3 feet then let it sit for 15 seconds them move again.

If you have never tried top water give it a try; you will love to see a bass come out of the water striking your lure. One thing to remember when using top water is don’t set the hook until you fill the tug on your line. This is not as easy as it sounds because you will see the strike and want to pull, but wait for that tug or you will miss more than you catch. Have a great time; its only fishing so don’t take it to serious and enjoy the outdoors.