Decision Made!? Gun Lake?

[Papa_Ron]

Gun Lake, about mid west-side of Barry County. Ran across it while surfing Mich. Lakes on the net, have never heard of it before. Pretty sure I will be reserving a cabin 'today', at Whispering Pines Resort on Gun Lake, in Wayland, the last week of June. They also have Pontoon rentals, which is one thing that also attracted me. In excess of 2,600 acre lake they say.

My thought is that wife and I take four of our little grandsons (4 yrs., 8 yrs., 9 yrs., & 9 yrs.) there for a bit of a vacation and plenty of fishing. I have looked over a bit of information about the lake, its fish variety, etc.

Do any of you know of this lake, can tell me what you think, any advice as to its reasonable productivity, etc.? Opinions most appreciated!

Ron

[waterfoul]

Gun Lake can get VERY busy on a warm sunny weekend. Be careful... fish early and late. Also, do yourself a favor and get a map of the lake (local tackle shops may have them, the Gander Mountains in West Michigan will have them). Gun Lake is a prop repair shop's dream come true. Lots of sand bars to run aground on so be careful. But these same hazards to navigation also provide natural cover for fish. I have not fished Gun Lake in many, many years so I guess I can't give any advice on where to fish for what... but I'm sure others here can help you with that.


Mike

[Sixshooter]

Gun Lake, about mid west-side of Barry County. Ran across it while surfing Mich. Lakes on the net, have never heard of it before. Pretty sure I will be reserving a cabin 'today', at Whispering Pines Resort on Gun Lake, in Wayland, the last week of June. They also have Pontoon rentals, which is one thing that also attracted me. In excess of 2,600 acre lake they say.

My thought is that wife and I take four of our little grandsons (4 yrs., 8 yrs., 9 yrs., & 9 yrs.) there for a bit of a vacation and plenty of fishing. I have looked over a bit of information about the lake, its fish variety, etc.

Do any of you know of this lake, can tell me what you think, any advice as to its reasonable productivity, etc.? Opinions most appreciated!

Ron

Ron,

Although I'm not an expert on Gun Lake by a LONG shot. I have some things to offer you.

There are a lot of bluegills in Gun Lake. There are also supposed to be good populations of Smallmount, Largemouth, Pike and Walleye in the lake.

I however, have not spent enough time on the lake to substantiate the claims. I have caught some small mouth and pike but that is about it in my limited fishing adventures.

if it states that Gun is 2600 acres you really have about 1000 acres of usable lake. I would say over half of Gun Lake is less than 5 feet deep. There are some deeper spots on the south east end of the lake around the islands and such.

There are also some crappie/specs whatever you want to call them. Pleasure boat traffic can become cumbersome but if you get bye that you can have a good time.

Bring some worms and some sun screen and have a blast.

I hear tell that the blue gills are starting to bed up this way and I've seen some bass already pairing up. This warm weather this week should be a good time to be out fishing.

-Jim

[waterfoul]

Click on this link and you can see a map of Gun Lake. Use the magnifying glass at the top to zoom in.


http://www.dnr.state.mi.us/SPATIALDATALIBRARY/PDF_MAPS/INLAND_LAKE_MAPS/BARRY/GUN_LAKE.PDF

[shametamer]

virtually all of the eastern basin is fishable water, the western basin also holds fish, albeit, most quite shallow.....largemouths can be found throughout the lake, a few remnant musky still roam,pike, walleye, smallies, crappie, gills rockies all grow to fair size. the resort you have chosen puts you right at the best fishing a little south, a little north and around the islands. There should be plenty of panfish and sub legal largemouth and hammer handles to keep the kids happy. the weekend crowds get big, mostly they hangout at the islands and have their parties or jobbienooner type thing. there are enough islands,shallows and out of the way spots, you shouldn't be pestered too badly. if u get out late eve or night..look for eyes near the points, any sloping area adjacent to deep water draws them as the water settles and calms at dark.There are ice cream stands and concession type stands you can more or less access from the water, and most folks seem to enjoy the place....

[Papa_Ron]

Wow...tremendous response. Thank you all so much! And to those that private messaged me as well. I will certainly be printing off the entire thread and taking it with me. I did in fact make the reservation at Whispering Pines, and I also rented for a full week, as opposed to the 2 or 3 days I had originally intended. I also reserved a Pontoon for the entire week as well. Even my aprents will be joining us. I know the little guys will sure be thrilled!

Again...thank you all so much for your kind attention!

Ron

[ArrowFlinger]

My Brother-in-law used to rent a couple of week on Gun until he bought a place on Pine Lake. He said he would catch a bunch of good sized Crappie.

Post a report when you are done.

Welcome to the site.

[Big Al]

I live 5 minutes from Gun Lake but I don't fish it very often because of the boat traffic. Like pretty much everybody has said, early morning and late evening is your best bet for having undisturbed fishing. Give the weedbeds in the bay to the north of Turtle Rock a try for gills, crappies, and bass we also get the occasional nice perch, pike, or walleye from around there. If you sit on top of the weeds the panfish should keep your grandkids very busy. Troll shallow diver shad raps at dark and you'll catch pretty much anything. For daytime fishing we usually go to Pickeral cove and float minnows along the weed edge by the channel for pike and bass, again the weeds hold enough panfish to keep the kids jumping. The boat traffic usually isn't too bad in that area most of the boats are coming in and out of the channel and are going at a no wake speed. Robbins bay can be very good for just about everything but it is pretty much unfishable during the day due to the boats. The cabins at Whispering Pines aren't anything exceptional but from what I can tell they look comfortable and fairly well kept up.