Lake Macatawa (Ottawa Co.)

[Rockman72]

I was thinking of going fishing for Salmon Thursday evening (20th), but it was pretty windy inland...so we decided to go for some Freshwater Drum. (as it turns out, it wasn't windy by Lake Michigan and we could have gone salmon fishing...O well)

I went out with my two normal fishing buddies and we had a great time. We ended up with 4 sheephead over 21". I just love the way they fight. We caught them on crawlers, Hot-N-Tots, and jigging spoons. Hardware was the best for us.
Our most productive spot was just on the East side of the narrows (peninsula has a big sign saying "NO Wake" (which almost everyone ignored) We could see fish actively feeding by the rocks. We were throwing the spoons off of the rocks. The 26"er came in about 1.5-2.0 fow. He just took off. What a fight!!

We also got 1 large mouth bass (first one I've ever seen come out of Lake Mac, and a couple other fish (I don't know what species they were))

I hear that Lake Mac is supposed to have some walleye in it, but we didn't get any. (I may have to try and target them some night)

We had a fun time catching some fish that FIGHT!!

Rock

[klewisd]

I live in Holland, and Lake Mac is home waters to me. This is one of the best walleye fisheries in the state (IMHO). It is a little early right now, usually the week after the fourth is when it starts heating up. Sounds like you're using the right lures, if you're catching sheephead, the walleys are close by.

[Rockman72]

I don't know much about walleye fishing, so hopefully I can pick up some tactics for Lake Mac.
I was thinking of drifting crawlers during the day (shinny blades)or trying throwing some cranks in the channel at night. Does that seem good?

I talked to a guy at the launch and he said they have walleye tournaments at Lake Mac, so there should be lots of walleye in there. Now If I can just figure out how to fish the lake. : )

Rock

[todumbeagles]

The walleye tournament on Lk. Macatawa was this weekend. Saw the results at www.americantackle.com. Sounds like fishing was pretty slow, but always gets better as it gets hotter out.