Lake Macatawa (drum)

[Rockman72]

I went fishing in Lake Mac on Saturday for freshwater drum. They were absolutely on fire. We were throwing shinny rattling crank baits (the rattle seemed to make a difference). No idea how many fish we caught, but at least 10 were over 20" and we had at least 10 doubles.

We were fishing on the SE side of the lake in 3-12 fow.

Get out there and have some fun. : )

[Jethro]

Rockman,

What do you guys do with em:confused:

We catch a lot of sheephead (Drum) in lake erie while walleye fishing, some as big as a medium pizza plate.

They're much better fighters than any walleye. But I try NOT to hook one.

But they are excellent fertilizer:)

[Rockman72]

We just release them. But I've heard that they taste good.

[Flyfisher]

Have been slaying the drum there as well...even caught a dozen yesterday on my flyrod with a sinking line and a streamer. They are a lot of fun but i have a tournament there this weekend for walleye. Any suggestions on baits (lures, etc) that the 'eyes will hit but the sheepshead don't like? Thanks!

[jacondie]

Fished Lake Mac, actually in the channel at the Lake Mac end, today. Fished from shore for about 2 hours. Caught 6 sheephead and 1 brown trout. The small sheephead were 18-20"; the big one was nearly 24" must have weighed 15+ lbs. It took a while to land it. The brown was 22-24" and put up the best fight. All fish were released. Hopkins spoon was the trick - color, size, style did not seem to matter - experimented with different spoons.

Get out there and fish!!! Walleye should be in the channel soon - alewives are everywhere.

[Rockman72]

Flyfisher, I don't have any tips for Walleye. I'm looking for some myself. I would love to catch some walleye out of Lake Mac (or anywhere else for that matter ;)
Is the tournament you are in put on by American Tackle Outfitters? Let us know how you do.

And Jancondie, jigging with those hopkins is my favorite method of hooking up with drum. The strike is awesome!!
Jig, Jig, Jig, BAMB!!!!

[Flyfisher]

Jacondie, saw a guy get a brown trolling last week in the channel as well. They must be following the bait around.

Rockman, wait until later in the summer and you can get some nice walleyes jigging or trolling there. Last year was my first year fishing the lake and I caught an 11# and quite a few between 6# and 8#. From what I understand, June is always tough there. Very fisckle lake for me though, either you slay them or they are totally shut down. Yes, the tournament is through ATO...generally have a lot of fun and I have met a lot of nice people, looking forward to it!:)

[jacondie]

Gotta love the BAMB!!!

Last summer and fall I caught several walleye hopkins spooning in the channel. I'd think they should be moving in soon considering all the baitfish I kept fowl-hooking.

Tight lines!!!

[Matt3ddsteel]

Me and my dad caught about 75 drum in 3 hours about 3 years ago in June on the Tittabawassee River. They will hit just about anything you throw at them.. plus they put up a really good fight. It would be a good place to take a young kid to have some fun.

[Rockman72]

I was fortunate to have a novice angler fishing with us when we hooked into the drum. He had a blast!!

Jacondie, what color of spoon were you using last year? Just plain silver?

[jacondie]

Last year I was using spoons that had red or green in them for the walleyes. It seemed to help to have a little color. This year, sheephead have been hitting everything.

I personally like the hammered silver and gold spoons, but you have to find something that the fish like. I wish hopkins spoons were priced more like jigheads, I have made too many donations to Lake Mac.

TIP - I always change out the hooks on hopkins spoons - the ones they come with are too small and not sharp enough. I like Owner or Gamakatsu (sp?) trebles; size 2, 4 or 6. I'm even thinking about trying colored hooks.

I'll be hitting the channel again next week (Monday and/or Wednesday). Hopefully we can get a waldo or two, or at least a BAMB!!! Will report back!

Off to Cadillac for now.

[matt73]

How did you guys do int the ATO tournament? I didn't get to attend..

[Flyfisher]

Matt
12 fish for 19 boats...big fish was 2.3# and the winning stringer was 4 fish (about 6.5#). I caught a short fish (could of stepped on it and made it legal) and my wife lost a 16"-17" fish at the boat, which may have gotten us 5th place. As far as I can tell, jigging was the way to go off OBI. Looking forward to July...maybe we can get lucky and have the lake turnover just before the tournament. Hit it just right last year (not during a tournament) and had 3 fish in the boat in about 2 hours, quit fishing because we ran out of cooler room and my buddy wanted to get his fish to a taxidermist. Ended up with 26# of fish (11#, 9#, 6#). The lake is fickle but sure can produce some incredible fish at certain times of the year. Nice thing is because of the water clarity (or lack there of), you can catch walleye in the middle of the day, versus some of the clearer lakes up north.