Michigan U.P. Smallmouth Bass Fishing Report

Dr. Dave Lamborix from Marshall MI. is an avid bass fisherman and a great guy to share the boat with. He loves coming up to the U.P. which is teeming with undisturbed Bass and sees few (if any) fisherman. Yes…90% of the guys around here fish either Walleye or Trout. We started on Little Bay de Noc, near the Esky River… We figured the fish to be close to, but not yet on their beds. We started casting Senkos and top water finesse lures like the Heddon Torpedo and Zara Puppy. Dave soon had action with the first of many 15-19" Smallies.

Well I simply LOVE to work topwater and switched to a 1/4oz ChugBug…I put it tight to a cattail clump and WOOSH! Another battling Smallie! We worked our way along miles of rock and gravel shoreline, knowing the Bass could be anywhere…Check out how chunky this 17" tank is.

We seemed to have equally good success between top water and plastics…worked slowly. Spinnerbaits and creanks turned up nada…

I flipped a Melon Senko to an old piling and my bright pink florocarbon line showed the tell tale twitch…I snapped against the 6’9" Limit Creek rod and another brown brawler erupted out of the water! These 2.5 to 4 lb Smallies can really scrap!

I had recently acquired a new St. Croix rod specifically design for plastics called the "Tube". It is a 7′ Bass Spin rod with a long MF taper. I teamed it up with a Pfleuger Supreme reel (from Everts Baitshop) and was trying out some Cabelas Hi Vis flourocarbon 6# test line…yes 6# test…I was very skeptical but this stuff was very tough and gave me a great feel with the 6" Senkos. The combination worked very well on this trip and the next day’s outing on some big 20-21" Largemouth.

We proabably put 40 bass in the boat in 5-6 hours…on a nice sunny day fishing at a slow enjoyable pace. Don’t overlook Michigan’s Upper Peninsula for some outstanding Bass fishing… I hope you don’t mind being on the water all by yourself!