Central UP fishing advice - Camel Riders Resort

[J - Rod]

We are heading up there on Friday - 15 miles south of Munising off H13. Located on a chain o lakes - Corner, Skeels, Straights, Ostrander. Looks like about 5000 other lakes in the area too. Anyone ever fish there or around there? Looking to target pike, walleye, or panfish. Haven't fished inland lakes for awhile, are the pike and walleye going to be deep or buried in weeds this time of year - or starting to come back into the shallows? Am I better off just targeting panfish right now?

I have consolidated my tackle down to my very best 2000 lures and I am ready to go. Haven't fished the UP in so long.

[unclepaully]

I've stayed at camel riders twice in the past 15 years. Nice place. I've fished that immediate area probably 40-50 different times. The fishing is okay on the chain of lakes. The walleye are in corner lake. When we were there we found them in the deeper holes. The best overall fishing was by far in Straights lake. Several nice pike and some nice smallmouth in the channels between the islands. When you go through the channel it will shallow up to about 18-24 inches of water. Straights will be shallow for the first few hundred yards then it drops off. Smallmouth were all caught on live bait. Pike were caught on trolling large cranks and casting spoons on the drops.
I would recommend trying some other lakes in the area. Fish lake is a neat lake. National forest lake with no homes, feels like the middle of nowwhere. The DNR had planted walleye there. Try the east side of the lake after you clear the islands. There is a large dropoff that goes from the shore to 40-50ft deep very quickly. There are also huge crappies if you can find them.
Another lake is McKeever (sp) lake. Really neat lake to fish. Crystal clear water and some pretty good muskie fishing.
All of these lakes are within a 15 minute drive north on forest highway 13. Fish lake will be north on hwy 13, look for a sign that says Widewaters on the left take that and then you should see signs(when you come to the campground go right). Mckeever will be almost the same area, except on the right and you'll see a sign for it.
Another lake to the SE is thunder lake. Has walleye, pike, but go there for the largemouth. 5lb+ fish are in there. My biggest is just under 5. Fish the northeast corner of the lake where the lillys are. Use a plastic weedless rig. The pike bit well in thunder when the wind was blowing. Find the windblown shoreline and cast just about anything and you will catch them.
The last lake I will mention is Lyman lake. Great panfishing. The DNR placed cribs in these lakes. If you can locate them you will catch big bluegill and some nice perch. There are also some nice bass in there. This lake is south of camel riders probably 8 -10 miles. I can't remember the exact roads but get a local map or talk with someone up there. There is a store in the general vicinity of camel riders on Highway 13. They can tell you pretty much anything you need to know location wise or fish info. Also maybe stop at the nearest ranger station(there is one in Manistique and Rapid River) they will have great maps you can buy pretty cheap.
There are so many lakes in that area I could go on forever and you would need an entire summer. I had a local tell me there are over 200 fishable lakes just in that immediate area of the national forest.
Oh one more thing. Try the restaurant they have at camel riders!
Hope this helps. My family has a cabin on a lake called cook lake that is in the general vicinity and I must say the Forest Hwy 13 area is one of my favorite areas of Michigan.
Have fun and good luck.

[jackbob42]

Pete's Lake is right in there too. We've had pretty good luck with the walleye there. We've even caught them off the Handicap pier. McKeever is on the same road , but farther back in. The biggest fish I've ever seen was in that lake. A BIG (guessing about 50") Tiger Musky. I've caught them to 38" in there. Only fished it a couple times while up there bear hunting. Target the drop-offs in front of the little bays. The best is about strait across the lake from the boat launch. It's a pretty big bay , with lots of weeds. If you got somethng weedless , go on in there. They'll be there. If not , work the drop-off just outside. That's where I seen the BIG one. LOL
Grssy Lake is across the road. Heard it's good for big pike , never caught any though.
I'll be up there on the 12th of next month.
Good Luck !
Let us know how you did.

PS-
Forgot to mention , there's a pretty good bait shop on the west side of 13. Around some " Lodge " , can't remember the name. All kinds of bait & tackle and such. They have small maps of the lakes around there , along with DNR fish stocking data , and can give you some pretty good info.

[J - Rod]

Thanks for the detailed replies. That's some great info. I caught my first walleye on Thunder Lake probably about 12 years ago. So many lakes, so little time. I will post a report when I get back.

[J - Rod]

Just got back, only fished about 12 hours total over 4 days. This was a family vacation with a little fishing on the side. Stayed on the chain to maximize time on the water. Fished Deep, Corner, and Skeels. Very slow fishing for us. Best was on Deep Lake - a very nice 23" walleye, 25" pike, 16" smallmouth, 15" largemouth, 13" largemouth. Small gills and 13" largemouth on Skeels, nothing on Corner. Crawlers on bottom did most damage. Pike on deep diving rogue, 1 LMB on panfish jig. lost a nice LMB slip bobbing a leach. Only a few other bass caught by the other people staying at the resort. Beautiful setting, cabins OK, weather very warm. Nice area, too little time. Had a great time fishing the UP with my dad like we used to when I was a kid.