Mroczka said his favorite technique for fall largemouths on Michigan Center Lake is flippin' with a black jig-and-pig and a Zoom Worm trailer. Mroczka said that largemouths in the 5-pound range are common. During a September tournament on Michigan Center a few years ago Mroczka nailed a largemouth that tipped the scales at 4.98 pounds to win the $2,500 big-fish prize. "Michigan Center Lake has some great fall largemouth fishing," claimed professional bass angler Duane Mroczka. Try the area along "The Narrows" and off the dunes, and also along the southwest shore of the Lower Lake. Both places harbor schools of good bluegills in the fall if you concentrate on the weed edges in 15 feet of water. The Upper Lake is relatively shallow, while the Lower Lake can reach depths in excess of 70 feet. Hamlin Lake, at 5,000 acres, is made up of two basins. Most of the bluegills run right around 8 inches. Suspend a teardrop baited with a wax worm under a bobber 10 feet down and you're in business. The bluegills begin moving in from deep water as the waters cool in September to feed on the aquatic insects living in the vegetation. Areas like this are great places to search for fall bluegills on Hamlin. The area featured a deep weedbed in about 15 feet of water. He had taken limits of 8-inch 'gills from there the last few days. I told him that it was also our favorite duck hunting spot. He told us we were set up in his favorite bluegill spot. He couldn't figure out why the birds didn't move. The boat came closer and closer until the surprised angler was sitting in our decoys. My son Matt and I were duck hunting one fall when a boat from across the lake came zooming in our direction. Another hotspot is the dropoff directly off the public access on the southwest side. Muskies can also be found patrolling the 10- to 15-foot flats on that end. Prime locations on Skegemog then are on the south end where Desmond, Vargason and Baker creeks enter the lake. Rose likes to chuck big in-line spinners, spinnerbaits, jerkbaits and body baits when the muskies are active in the fall. Rose said that Skegemog is not capable of producing 50-pound muskies, but you will find fish in the 30-pound range, and fall is the best time of the year to catch them. In Skegemog, they're eating panfish and other fish, like suckers." "In Torch and Elk, the muskies feed mainly on whitefish and herring. "The muskies in the chain migrate into the shallower lakes, like Skegemog, in the fall to feed," said fishing guide Dave Rose. Skegemog, at 2,561 acres, is the shallowest of the chain, and when the lakes begin to cool in the fall, hungry muskies naturally gravitate to the shallow dinner table. Ovement between lakes by the muskies that reside in them. Realizing his error, the crimson-sided salmon would then erupt into an end-over-end series of cartwheels before bulldogging for bottom or the protection of a logjam, and only after a spirited battle would they grudgingly come to the net. The belligerent cohos would chase the spinners in marauding packs of three or four suitors before one would snatch the prize and shake it like a dog with a new bone. Brilliant red maples, golden aspens, beeches and oaks adding shades of orange, purple vines clinging to the streamside trees all against the soft, contrasting greens of the white pines - the scene was breathtaking.Īnd to top it off, feisty coho salmon were keeping our rods bent with regularity. The hillsides along the river were made up of a diversity of foliage types, and the result was a collage of stunning colors. It was a bright, sunny early October day, and the fall foliage was ablaze with spectacular colors. It was about a month after returning from a weeklong float trip down a river in Alaska when I was guiding some clients for salmon on the Big Manistee River near Wellston.
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