Manistee County panfish-smallmouth

[Beeg]

First of all I am not asking for directions to someone's honey hole. My wife and I go on fly-in trips in Ontario and since our parents are getting older and having some health problems we are looking for someplace to fish closer to home. I have been told that the bluegill and smallmouth fishing is good in the Tippy Dam backwaters. Next summer we plan to explore and fish the area and wonder if anyone has any suggestions on this area or other bodies of water. From what I gather from most of the people that I talk to they mainly target trout and salmon. We like to fish for panfish,smallmouth and walleye. We are 95 % catch and release. Any help is appreciated!!!

[Whit1]

The Tippy Dam backwaters contains smallies, 'eyes, and crappies. I've not heard of any bluegill fishing in the impoundment. Get a map of the backwaters and locate the deep drops especially those that lead up to flats around the islands.

Other lakes that warrent your attention are Manistee Lake for a wide variety of fish, as well as Portage Lake for the same reason.

These lakes both contain walleyes and a fine night fishery has developed. Manistee is noted for its trophy walleyes. They are caught casting slowly sinking plugs up to the shoreline near pilings.

[house]

My dad fishs the backwater and when him and I went out several tears ago we fished the south shore line. We used 1/64th pink leadheads with white twister tails on UL noodle rods.