Seeing how this thread still has some life in it lately, I have returned
for an update on the trip. I didn't get to fish near as much as I would
have liked too, but I did get in a few hours on the next to the last day. I
tried Senko's for around an hour or so, and didn't even get as much as a
nibble. I tried 3 different colors, all darker and couldn't entice anything
to bite. I could see smallmouth swimming around at around the 10 to 14 ft
break, but they wouldn't hit. It finely got to me and I went back to my old
fail safe array of baits and started landing. I hit 2 4lb er's, and probably
a half dozen or so in the 2 lb range. Spent about 3 hours in this spot
right by our cabin.

Later in the day, I took the boat out to one of my spots that many know of,
a large part of the marsh near shore broke off years ago (basically tree's,
Tamaracks growing out of a thick thick bed of moss) and floated out into
about 25 ft of water and sunk creating a large flat. I pulled up and there
was another pair of local anglers out there, and I asked if they minded if I
dropped anchor on the other side and fished, they nodded and said no
problem. As I was rigging up, I looked and could see just thousands of YOY
minnows (perch) breaking the surface, obviously being spooked and preyed
upon. It was something like I have never seen before. They were like
domino's falling, one small school would spook and then it would trigger
the adjacent schools to spook until they basically circled the whole flat
area, about 75 yards across the middle. Was just spectacular to see. I
asked the other anglers if they had caught anything, and they said,
surprisingly enough, no, they hadn't. Not much other chit chat.

Anyway, I threw my first cast, WHAM, 4 1/2 lb'r, threw another, WHAM 2
lb'r, and another, WHAM, another 4 1/2 lb'r. Of course I put on a small
show for these guys and then after the 3rd fish, the one guy looks over and
says, "You know, we were here 1st and this flat isn't very big.", and I was
like, this flat is 75 yards across guys, we got the whole thing to
ourselves, what's the big deal. For whatever reason that escapes me, they
all of a sudden weren't happy about me being there. Anyway, I pulled up my
anchor, and buoy and went to the other side, and the next cast, KABOOM!!
landed one of the largest smallmouths I have ever caught, tipping my scale
at 6lb and 9oz. I pulled it up out of the water like I was pulling a big
fish out of my livewell at the Bassmasters Classic weigh in!! Was great!!
Those guys never hit anything while I was there and they pulled up anchor
after that fish and left!!

I'll tell you the messed up part now, as good as the fishing was there for
about 45 minutes, it was just like God said, "You caught enough" and he
flipped a switch and the water became dead calm and I couldn't buy a bite
after that biggest one.

Back on topic:
I did however fish a local lake this last weekend here in Northern Indiana
and gave the Senko's another honest shot, and did fairly well, I'm not sure
how many bass I hit, but it was quite a few, all in about the 1 1/2 lb
range. None were very big at all, but the quantity made it a good day of
just fun fishing.

Also, I highly recommend the "Pictured Rocks" tour and the "Glass Bottom
Boat" tour of shipwrecks in Lake Superior too, pretty cool stuff for anyone
that gets up North. Other sites that are cool were the Oswald's Bear Ranch,
The Valley Camp Ship, and the Soo Locks and just walking up and down the
paths near the Tahquamenon River Mouth. Beautiful place and there were a
couple guys bangin' some fish at the launch too, nothing great, but with
that view, who cares. Lots of smallmouth in that river too a local guy was
telling me, said there's usually a few world class fish that come out of
there each year.

Anyway, that was my trip, and my report on fishing and Senko's.

Thanks again for the advice and input everyone!!

Doug





Pretty excited about seeing the "Soo Locks" too and the "Pictured Rocks"
on Lake Superior amongst other things, but that's another story! The kids
should have a blast!!

If I get some nice one's, I'll be sure to post a few pic's too, and let
you know how we did!

Thanks again everyone!!

Tight lines,

Doug