ReddHead
03-01-2005, 10:20 AM
Higgins Lake, MI—It’s amazing what we fishermen do to catch fish. We spend countless dollars to buy the newest equipment then drive hundreds of miles to fish a lake we have never even seen before because there are reports that the fish are biting. Then when we get there the fishing has been horrible and the “should have been here yesterday” disclaimer is given.
Well that’s the same scenario that my brother-in-law, Andrew, and I go through nearly every time we make a fishing excursion. Earlier this year during the first ice around Christmas we had fished hard for four days with no success before finally fishing a small lake in the Irish Hills area that produced limit catches of pan fish for the both of us.
Having had the success earlier in the year another trip was about due and so I told Andrew of Higgins Lake and all of the interesting fish that its waters hold. It grabbed his attention immediately since he nor I had ever caught a smelt or a lake trout the opportunity to catch a couple new species interested both of us.
We decided to set up on the north end of the lake. Despite Andrew’s protest I drove my car out on the ice risking a bath over a hike out to Smelt Village. By 6 p.m. Friday night we were on the ice and fishing by 6:30 p.m. in 30 foot of water. As soon as I dropped down a tear-drop with a mousie I had a “hit.” It really wasn’t much of hit as it was only a slight sway in the spring bobber. Andrew had the same thing happen as soon as he dropped it to bottom but was unable to hook up.
Curious to see exactly what was happening I lowered my Aqua View to see the entire area covered in smelt, not active, not moving, just sitting suspended in the water column from the bottom of the lake to just below the ice. The signs looked positive and so we fished harder and with enthusiasm. But it didn’t help. After Andrew lost at least thirty fish and I lost twenty or so I finally landed my first smelt through the ice.
“Little boogers aren’t they,” I said to Andrew, who nodded his head and looked at me as if I were crazy for talking him into fishing for these little baitfish.
The technique was fairly interesting for these fish. In thirty feet of water and fishing off the bottom there was no finesse after hooking a fish. The faster you could bring one to the surface the better your chances of actually landing one. As the night wore on and the hours passed we started to have a few fish for bait in the morning and some to take home for a dinner. We fished for seven hours and landed about 40 smelt between the two of us. It was a good time and a lot of fun to be on the hard water. But the fishing was nothing like the reports on the websites and bait shop where they said 30-50 fish per guy. Of course we had a learning curve but from everyone we spoke with the bite was slow.
The next day’s plan was to meet with a few guys from the Michigan Sportsman website to see if we could catch some lake trout from the depths of Higgins Lake. I had their cell phone numbers and we got a hold of them around 7a.m. Matt, Larry, Pat and the boys were already fishing for some smelt for bait at the west side Smeltville in eighty foot of water with no fish for their effort. Lucky I had kept some of the smelt alive from the night before and after a few introductions we decided to head out to the one-hundred foot mark near the north end of Higgins Lake.
Thankfully Matt and Pat brought their quads and Larry brought his big ice shanty and the entire troup was off to the belly of the lake. When we made it to our destination holes were cut through the 18” of ice using Matt’s power auger and Andrew used the Fishing Buddy to check the depth and mark fish. “There’s fish here, in one-hundred and six feet of water,” Andrew yelled over the noise of the power auger. And so it went nearly every time he checked a hole there was a fish in the area hugging bottom and everyone’s heart was racing.
Andrew and I rigged our Spider Wire lines and 6lb Flouro Carbon leader with a red head ¼ ounce white bucktail jig and tipped it with the tail end of a smelt. One-hundred and six feet of water doesn’t sound like much but when deep dropping on little rigs it takes a while to touch the bottom. Andrew was the first to hook up with a lake trout and he had quite a few guys cheering him on as he cranked the beast from it watery lair. As it neared the surface everyone was anxious to see the fish and as it was flipped on the ice everyone was asking the size limit. Some said ten-inches, others twelve and still others said fifteen inches. We went with and the later and so the fourteen inch fish was returned to grow to legal size which we discovered was fifteen inches.
Having caught a fish, everyone was pumped up and ready to catch their own lake trout. But it wasn’t to be. Matt saw a school of fish come through at fifty feet of water on his Vexlar and brought his jig up from the bottom only to catch a tasty whitefish. Andrew and I fished until 12:30 when we decided to call it a day. We told our women that we would be back at a respectable time and having had the opportunity to get away and enjoying the privilege we decided not to temp the women folk and so with the help of Matt and Pat and their quads we were wisked off the ice and to the warmth of the car.
Thanks to everyone that made the trip to Higgins Lake an enjoyable experience. I look forward to fishing with you all again. Pat, I will take you up on the fishing in Tawas. Larry, I’ll be more than happy to help you land some salmon on the big lake. Matt, the Detroit River is calling our names. Casey, we’ll have to try the Rogue or the dam later this spring for some steel. See you all at the next outing.
Reddhead Pete.
:fish:
Well that’s the same scenario that my brother-in-law, Andrew, and I go through nearly every time we make a fishing excursion. Earlier this year during the first ice around Christmas we had fished hard for four days with no success before finally fishing a small lake in the Irish Hills area that produced limit catches of pan fish for the both of us.
Having had the success earlier in the year another trip was about due and so I told Andrew of Higgins Lake and all of the interesting fish that its waters hold. It grabbed his attention immediately since he nor I had ever caught a smelt or a lake trout the opportunity to catch a couple new species interested both of us.
We decided to set up on the north end of the lake. Despite Andrew’s protest I drove my car out on the ice risking a bath over a hike out to Smelt Village. By 6 p.m. Friday night we were on the ice and fishing by 6:30 p.m. in 30 foot of water. As soon as I dropped down a tear-drop with a mousie I had a “hit.” It really wasn’t much of hit as it was only a slight sway in the spring bobber. Andrew had the same thing happen as soon as he dropped it to bottom but was unable to hook up.
Curious to see exactly what was happening I lowered my Aqua View to see the entire area covered in smelt, not active, not moving, just sitting suspended in the water column from the bottom of the lake to just below the ice. The signs looked positive and so we fished harder and with enthusiasm. But it didn’t help. After Andrew lost at least thirty fish and I lost twenty or so I finally landed my first smelt through the ice.
“Little boogers aren’t they,” I said to Andrew, who nodded his head and looked at me as if I were crazy for talking him into fishing for these little baitfish.
The technique was fairly interesting for these fish. In thirty feet of water and fishing off the bottom there was no finesse after hooking a fish. The faster you could bring one to the surface the better your chances of actually landing one. As the night wore on and the hours passed we started to have a few fish for bait in the morning and some to take home for a dinner. We fished for seven hours and landed about 40 smelt between the two of us. It was a good time and a lot of fun to be on the hard water. But the fishing was nothing like the reports on the websites and bait shop where they said 30-50 fish per guy. Of course we had a learning curve but from everyone we spoke with the bite was slow.
The next day’s plan was to meet with a few guys from the Michigan Sportsman website to see if we could catch some lake trout from the depths of Higgins Lake. I had their cell phone numbers and we got a hold of them around 7a.m. Matt, Larry, Pat and the boys were already fishing for some smelt for bait at the west side Smeltville in eighty foot of water with no fish for their effort. Lucky I had kept some of the smelt alive from the night before and after a few introductions we decided to head out to the one-hundred foot mark near the north end of Higgins Lake.
Thankfully Matt and Pat brought their quads and Larry brought his big ice shanty and the entire troup was off to the belly of the lake. When we made it to our destination holes were cut through the 18” of ice using Matt’s power auger and Andrew used the Fishing Buddy to check the depth and mark fish. “There’s fish here, in one-hundred and six feet of water,” Andrew yelled over the noise of the power auger. And so it went nearly every time he checked a hole there was a fish in the area hugging bottom and everyone’s heart was racing.
Andrew and I rigged our Spider Wire lines and 6lb Flouro Carbon leader with a red head ¼ ounce white bucktail jig and tipped it with the tail end of a smelt. One-hundred and six feet of water doesn’t sound like much but when deep dropping on little rigs it takes a while to touch the bottom. Andrew was the first to hook up with a lake trout and he had quite a few guys cheering him on as he cranked the beast from it watery lair. As it neared the surface everyone was anxious to see the fish and as it was flipped on the ice everyone was asking the size limit. Some said ten-inches, others twelve and still others said fifteen inches. We went with and the later and so the fourteen inch fish was returned to grow to legal size which we discovered was fifteen inches.
Having caught a fish, everyone was pumped up and ready to catch their own lake trout. But it wasn’t to be. Matt saw a school of fish come through at fifty feet of water on his Vexlar and brought his jig up from the bottom only to catch a tasty whitefish. Andrew and I fished until 12:30 when we decided to call it a day. We told our women that we would be back at a respectable time and having had the opportunity to get away and enjoying the privilege we decided not to temp the women folk and so with the help of Matt and Pat and their quads we were wisked off the ice and to the warmth of the car.
Thanks to everyone that made the trip to Higgins Lake an enjoyable experience. I look forward to fishing with you all again. Pat, I will take you up on the fishing in Tawas. Larry, I’ll be more than happy to help you land some salmon on the big lake. Matt, the Detroit River is calling our names. Casey, we’ll have to try the Rogue or the dam later this spring for some steel. See you all at the next outing.
Reddhead Pete.
:fish: