West side pier info?

[salmonboy86]

Alright I'm going to the northwest side of the state this weekend. I ahve never fished a lake michigan pier. I fish oscoda all the time so I got the gear. just needa know what citys have piers and if anyone been doing anything at all thanks.

[ausable_steelhead]

West-side water temps were very warm, 74+ degrees, but you never know.

[salmonboy86]

what other citys besides manistee have piers?

[dinoday]

Almost every city that has a river flowing to the lake has a peir of som kind.

If you want to stick to the Northwest try Ludington,Manistee or Frankfort.

[DonP]

Salmonboy86...

These are the ports that I know of that have good piers to fish from....

Michigan City - good north pier to fish from... this one is IN Indiana though... you will need an Indiana license.

St. Joe - both north and south piers good to fish from!

South Haven - both north and south piers good to fish from!

Saugatuck - south pier is only pier you can fish from (unless you tie up your boat to north pier and get access that way). It is probably about a mile walk from oval beach to get to the south pier though!!

Holland - you can fish from both piers... but north pier is most popular. It is about 3/4 mile walk to south pier unless you have access codes to some gates. And then parking can be a bit of a hassle if you want to fish south pier.

Note: The further north from here on is starting to get out of my "neck of the woods". So less knowledge about accessibility.

Grand Haven - I do believe both piers are fishable. The south pier is accessed thru the state park there I believe though.

Muskegon - I believe both piers are fishable here too.

Ludington, Manistee, Frankfort - all have fishable piers.

There is ALOT of warm water on the west side of the state right now. If you are thinking about one of the more southerly locations... I would think more the end of August and the beginning to middle of September. This is all weather dependent though.

If you are going to fish a pier right now... I would pick one of the northerly piers... and then plan on doing the "nightshift" with some glow in the dark spoons to better your chances.

Below I have done a little legwork with Google and have added some links to what the piers look like on the west side of the state:

Michigan City Pier (http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=k&om=1&ll=41.72828,-86.912498&spn=0.007687,0.014462)

New Buffalo Piers (http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=k&om=1&ll=41.801263,-86.751137&spn=0.003839,0.007231)

St. Joe/Benton Harbor Piers (http://http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=k&om=1&ll=42.115033,-86.491585&spn=0.00764,0.014462)

South Haven Piers (http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=k&om=1&ll=42.399122,-86.286621&spn=0.030424,0.05785) Zoom-in is limited!

Saugatuck Piers (http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=k&om=1&ll=42.678397,-86.213837&spn=0.030288,0.05785) Zoom-in is limited!

Holland Piers (http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=k&om=1&ll=42.772219,-86.209717&spn=0.030242,0.05785) Zoom-in is limited!

Port Sheldon (http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=k&om=1&ll=42.899107,-86.212463&spn=0.03018,0.05785) Zoom-in is limited!

Grand Haven Piers (http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=k&om=1&ll=43.059858,-86.250916&spn=0.030101,0.05785) Zoom-in is limited!

Muskegon Piers (http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=k&om=1&ll=43.226193,-86.344299&spn=0.01501,0.028925)

White Lake Piers (http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=k&om=1&ll=43.375109,-86.425323&spn=0.029946,0.05785) Zoom-in is limited!

Pentwater Piers (http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=k&om=1&ll=43.78101,-86.443176&spn=0.029745,0.05785) Zoom-in is limited!

Ludington Piers (http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=43.952293,-86.462402&spn=0.02966,0.05785&t=k&om=1) Zoom-in is limited!

Manistee Piers (http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=k&om=1&ll=44.250118,-86.342926&spn=0.029511,0.05785) Zoom-in is limited!

Onekama Piers (http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=k&om=1&ll=44.360188,-86.268768&spn=0.029455,0.05785) Zoom-in is limited!

Frankfort Piers (http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=k&om=1&ll=44.631528,-86.246796&spn=0.029319,0.05785) Zoom-in is limited!

[2manyfish]

That was a very nice reply!!!

[salmonboy86]

You way above and beyond Donp thanks a ton. I planned on the night sinc ei know its still early I was already gonna be in the area so i figured i mgiht as well fish. Thanks again.

[Speyday]

The winds we all long for are finally turning, it seems. Hopefully we can wave goodbye to 74 degree surface temps as they float out to sea. The colder the water is near shore, the better off you'll be. Don't know if you knew that, but this time of year it doesn't matter how good the pier is if the water temp isn't right.

[ZobZob]

The winds we all long for are finally turning, it seems. Hopefully we can wave goodbye to 74 degree surface temps as they float out to sea. The colder the water is near shore, the better off you'll be. Don't know if you knew that, but this time of year it doesn't matter how good the pier is if the water temp isn't right.

Stay west, stay west!

Zob

[salmonboy86]

Yeah i know where the colder water so r the fish I see the northeast and east winds for the next 2 days. By the way is frankforts pier easy to find and eays access?

[Flyfisher]

Should be a roll by the weekend....http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/res/glcfs/mswt-fcast.java.html

[bobcolenso]

I have the paperback version of this. It's called "Let's Fish Lake Michigan; A Michigan Shore Angler's Guide". This link also has a PDF version that you can download. It lists all the piers along Lake Michigan, it also has information like locations of bathrooms, where to park, things like that.

www.glft.org/angleraccessguide/locations.cfm

Good Luck.

[stelmon]

frankfort had water temps at 77 degreese and betsie bay is 82 the last i saw.

If your fishing for sheephead, there around.

[salmonboy86]

Well i just looked at the water temp predictions and it looks like there gonna fall pretty rapid with this wind. So im a hopin.

[salmonboy86]

Alright leaving tomorrow what would you guys thnik is gonna be better manistee or frankfort?

[MPsteelheader]

frankfort had water temps at 77 degreese and betsie bay is 82 the last i saw.

If your fishing for sheephead, there around.

no no no then why have you been there?

[Zofchak]

From 70+ to 56 degrees in 24hrs at Holland! Time to get out there.:D

http://www.wzzm13.com/weather/wxbeachreport.asp

[Blueump]

Alright leaving tomorrow what would you guys thnik is gonna be better manistee or frankfort?

Well, despite my Dr.'s orders, my 15 year old son and I hit the Frankfort pier last night. We fished with glow spoons at the base of the light house from 10:00 - nearly midnight without a hit. It was a beautiful night, but the water was still too warm yet. The moon was nearly full too, and that may have had an impact, but no fish yet.

Hey Stelmon, My Dr. says I can't lift anything over 10 lbs for 2 more weeks, and nothing over 20 lbs. for a month after that. If I hook into a big one, I may need you to reel it in and net it for me!;)

Hope to catch you out there this year! Can't wait for the first "fish on!" call!

Paul

[stelmon]

Why Mp, in search of king I thought???? Got the info from some charter boats. Thought since I was there, might as well give it a try.

Was out sat night. Water temps started off at 72 around the piers and dipped down to 66 with the east winds. 6:30 in the mournin switched to hard south winds so I called it a day. 12 hours of casting and only 2 kings caught besides mine. A nice 17 lb'er.

[duckman#1]

You should see the Lake Superior temps!!!!! just off from WhiteFish point its 32.6 deg! I find that really hard to believe. It shows 40 - 43 deg by Paradise.
I would guess that lake just turned over? How else could it have 32 deg right now?

[Ralph Smith]

It may be that cold up there, there's some temps off Alpena in high 30's and low 40's. If the info is correct on here:

http://www.coastwatch.msu.edu/huron/h12.html

[MPsteelheader]

Why Mp, in search of king I thought???? Got the info from some charter boats. Thought since I was there, might as well give it a try.

Was out sat night. Water temps started off at 72 around the piers and dipped down to 66 with the east winds. 6:30 in the mournin switched to hard south winds so I called it a day. 12 hours of casting and only 2 kings caught besides mine. A nice 17 lb'er.

thank you for being honest

[Buttonfly]

when Coastwatch shows temps in the 30s and 40s this time of year, it's usually because the weather is cloudy and the satellite is measuring the temps on the tops of the clouds, not the lake surface temp.