fishing around grand rapids

[GRfisher]

Hi, I am new to this forum so bear with me. I was wondering if anybody could recommend any fishing locations that are within 30 minutes driving of Grand Rapids. I am not looking to steal anybodys secret fishing spot. I am looking to go fishing with a buddy and we are geared for bass/pike. Ideally any ponds/small lakes that we could cast from the bank would be perfect. Also, we do not have a boat but would love to rent one for the day if this can be done cheaply. The quality of the boat does not have to be great we just want to get out on the water and fish. So any ideas about local fishing holes or places that I could go and rent a boat for the day?

Thanks

[milledad]

Hi, I am new to this forum so bear with me. I was wondering if anybody could recommend any fishing locations that are within 30 minutes driving of Grand Rapids. I am not looking to steal anybodys secret fishing spot. I am looking to go fishing with a buddy and we are geared for bass/pike. Ideally any ponds/small lakes that we could cast from the bank would be perfect. Also, we do not have a boat but would love to rent one for the day if this can be done cheaply. The quality of the boat does not have to be great we just want to get out on the water and fish. So any ideas about local fishing holes or places that I could go and rent a boat for the day?

Thanks

There are plenty of fish in the Grand River if you are willing to give that a try. You can catch bass as well as a mixed bag of all kinds of stuff. Riverside park is an easy place to start (once the water comes down). There is about a mile of shoreline that you can cast from. There is also a small pond there, mostly pan fish in there I think but there is always people fishing there.

Reeds Lake in East GR has plenty of bass in it if you can find a spot to cast from. There is a park on the southwest side by the high school.

Most of the smaller lakes north of GR have good fishing but not many opportunities to fish from shore. Try Long Lake which is a little west of Cedar Springs south of M-46 (17mile). Long Lake Dr goes south, Long Lake Park is down the road a little. I think there are some spots there you can cast from shore.

[baber]

I know that a place on Wabasis lake use to rent boats. Pretty cheap. Aces boat rental maybe.


Hi, I am new to this forum so bear with me. I was wondering if anybody could recommend any fishing locations that are within 30 minutes driving of Grand Rapids. I am not looking to steal anybodys secret fishing spot. I am looking to go fishing with a buddy and we are geared for bass/pike. Ideally any ponds/small lakes that we could cast from the bank would be perfect. Also, we do not have a boat but would love to rent one for the day if this can be done cheaply. The quality of the boat does not have to be great we just want to get out on the water and fish. So any ideas about local fishing holes or places that I could go and rent a boat for the day?

Thanks

[bigbow]

I live a little north of gr and am laid off.If you guys want to fish let me know.I have a boat.I live close to Wabasis and Lincon lakes.

[Wanderin'_Angler]

There is a place on Campau Lake that rents boats. Its a little family owned portion of the shore on the.. north side(?) of the lake, Weller or something. The street is Weller lane I believe. Last time I rented a boat/oars/floats it was $5 or $8. The lake gets a LOT of jet ski/speed boat traffic during the summer, but there are some nice nooks and crannies to fish even while those @$$e$ are out and about. Thats the only rental place I've ever really noticed.

G:fish:

[GRfisher]

Thanks for the help. We are going to check out cambell and cambau lake this weekend. I am pretty excited to try new places. I will let you know what we find.

[waterfoul]

You can fish both those lakes at the boat ramps... they both have a "park like" boat ramp.

[GRfisher]

I Fished Cambell lake today. My buddy and I did not have any luck. We rented a row boat from Cushmans and tried all over the lake. We will be trying there again soon. This weekend we were going to try and get to Campau lake. Is there any boat rental options there that anyone knows about? Also, how is the Thornapple river for fishing?

[Wanderin'_Angler]

Ok ok.. did you really just ask how is the Thornapple for fishing?!?!?! Its AWESOME!!! :-D Ok, now that I had my little tantrum.. Thornapple is an excellent river to fish. You can PM me for more details. There aren't really any rental options at campau. You get a decent aluminum row boat, oars and floats. :) Basic, but good.

G :fish:

[Bassman05]

Thanks for the help. I am GRfishers buddy. Where are the good spots that we could fish around the Thornapple river where we can stand on the banks? Also do you know of any good spots around Campau Lake? Campau looks to be much larger then Campbell Lake that we fished earlier today.

[GWTH09]

My little bit of advise would be buy a western michigan hot spots map from gander mountain. I recieved one 5 years ago for a birthday or christmas present and i look at it to this day. My brother and I fished 3 different lakes this past winter due to the book, two of the lakes produced what the book said, and the other was full of fish-all shapes and sizes! The book tells you how to get to the lakes and all the access.

[Bassman05]

Has anyone found any good fishing spots recently in Grand Rapids?

[waterfoul]

Has anyone found any good fishing spots recently in Grand Rapids?

Well, since most of the fish are out of season at the moment... the only real place to fish around GR are the rivers. They all produce.

[ready2fish]

I Fished Cambell lake today. My buddy and I did not have any luck. We rented a row boat from Cushmans and tried all over the lake. We will be trying there again soon. This weekend we were going to try and get to Campau lake. Is there any boat rental options there that anyone knows about? Also, how is the Thornapple river for fishing?

i went there for my 1st time today and didn't catch anything either, also went to Campau lake with the same luck.

Just want to pass along that the boat launch at Cambell lake has a deep hole in front of the launch. I pulled in there and seen a little mud puddle and went over it and my front tire dropped in and i was stuck, good thing for 4x4

[bignuge]

I had pretty good luck last year at this time fishin the thornapple below the dam in ada. I caught several decent smallmouth bass all on swimbaits and jigs/plastics and saw a few guys catch a mess of crappie. U can walk down from the ball fields or at a small parking lot rite across from the dam. Good luck and remember the walleyes are not in season

[mathews_583]

walleyes are not in season

Neither are smallmouth bass.

[bignuge]

good call mathews! not til memorial

[waterfoul]

good call mathews! not til memorial

Um... No. They become o.k. to catch on April 26, the catch and release opener. As well as largemouth and pike.

[MT406]

since I dont live in MI anymore, I'll give away one of my favs, you just have to roam around the area to find the exact spot. No spoon feeding here :corkysm55

There is a chain of gravel pit lakes that have been stocked in Hudsonville. Smallies, largemouth, walleye, crappie and gills can be caught with relative ease compared to some other spots. I taught my then 4 year old how to fly fish here. Great spot and goodtimes. I still crave this place after getting sick of catching trout here in MT, hahaha. Going back in July

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn287/TheRealMT406/102_1562.jpg
http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn287/TheRealMT406/102_1559.jpg
http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn287/TheRealMT406/102_1535.jpg

smallmouth on video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bINknXi-hwU&fmt=18

[waterfoul]

I believe I know where that lake is. If I'm correct... it has many more houses on it now. But what a fishery! Those are great fish. And what a little fly fisher you've got! Awsome!

[sea nympho]

Um... No. They become o.k. to catch on April 26, the catch and release opener. As well as largemouth and pike.

DAMN, I was thinking it was the 3rd sat in april...one more week...argh!

[takemfishing]

That little house to the left of the reel is the house i grew up in.
The sad part is they didn't dig that lake until after I was an adult and moved out. It was just a cow pasture when I was there.

There are a lot more houses there now. We can't crank up the two hundred horse bass boat and tube in a tight circle any more. Man that water can hurt.New houses every time I get back over there. Not very good access any more.

[Bassman05]

I'm thinking about going fishing tommorow, does anyone know how the fishing at Campbell, Campau, and Reeds Lake is? Are there any boat rentals at Reeds lake? Also is anyone catching anything other then suckers in the Thornapple river. The last few times we went to the Cascade Dam all we caught were sucker.

[JimtenHaaaf]

Um... No. They become o.k. to catch on April 26, the catch and release opener. As well as largemouth and pike.

25th actually. Last Sat. in April