6/20/08-Brutal Last Couple of Days

Hey everyone sorry I haven't posted in a while I've been camping the last few days. I was in Jackson Michigan, camping and fishing and boy did I get drilled out there. The two lakes I mainly fished were Wampler's Lake and Round Lake. I litterally threw my entire tackle box at the fish and number one I couldn't find them number two they wouldn't bite. It was mostly heavy cover and shallow water. I started out throwing jigs into the cover and got nothing, I through my Rat-L-Trap...nothing. Even my senko worm was useless. My friend did catch one Bass around 14inches that weighed 1lbs 6ounces. We rented a boat but alas the motor broke and we just ended floating into shallower water. In the actual time we got to fish in the boat we ended up trying to find new water and only fished for maybe 20 casts a piece. I did manage to get a hit from a small smallmouth while trolling.

The week was not a total failure as I made two major break throughs in my fishing life. I finally got a handle on using my bait casting reel. I discovered a couple nuances with casting, which was extremely helpful, because I wasn't fighting backlashes nearly as much as I've been used to in the past. I also discovered a trick to undoing backlashes.

The real major break through I discovered has to do with new areas to fish more effectively. For those of you who don't know I mainly fish a pier off of Lake St. Clair, the pier forms a harbor that is filled with boatwells and weedbeds that contain many bass. However the rules of the park are that fishing on this side is forbidden. I recently discovered a law that allows me to lawfully fish these waters. This is the exact passage I discovered in the Michigan Constitution.

"If public access to navigable water has been established, the public user enjoys the same use rights and privileges of the private littoral owners. Thus, the right to fish a public lake extends to the whole lake. In fact, a lawful user of any lake, be it by public access or permission, has the right to any reasonable use of the lake.

It is the enforcement rule of the DNR, based on many Michigan Supreme Court opinions, that state regulations regarding the taking of fish apply to both navigable (public) and non-navigable (private) waters. People v Collision, 85 Mich. 105; 48 NW 292 (1891).

It is only where a private body of water is entirely unconnected with other bodies of water that the fishing regulations do not apply. People v Conrad, 125 Mich. 1; 83 NW 1012 (1900). The theory behind this rule is that where fish are free to swim from place to place and to and from public waters, publicly stocked waters also, the public through the State has a substantial interest in the fish."-Public Rights on Michigan Waters Law Enforcement Division

Basically what this law constitutes is that if I am in a small craft propelled by oars or motor I can legally fish in any water directly connected to Lake St. Clair. In fact if the park guards try to interfere with my lawful taking of fish, I can file a complaint against the park that results in a misdemeanor offense punishable by jail time. This is great news as it widely expands my fishing areas.

It just so happens that my small oar propelled craft came in the mail yesterday! So I can now fish practically wherever I want whenever I want. Today I took it down the Milk River in Michigan, pretty much as just a scouting trip. I once again was skunked, but that was okay because I was navigating the boat most of the time and finding potential bass holding areas. I started throwing a popper and then switched to a jig followed by a spinnerbait. I got a few hits on the jig that I just wasn't prepared for. My buddy caught a baby Bass on a wacky rigged senko, and caught a nice pumpkin seed on a Beetle Spin. My new raft is a Sevylor Fish Hunter 280 HF Series pictured. It controls very nicely and I liked the way it preformed in its maiden voyage. I still haven't decided on a name yet, but right now its the Nefertiti. I got some catching up to do before Saturday's 12:00AM deadline. I currently am sitting in third for the week and need to make up four ounces.

Thats all I have for now. Thanks for reading, Bass-Sniper