We’re slowly winding down out of the dog days of summer and into slightly cooler milder temperatures. After we get over the hump of Labor day fishing usually starts to improve again. But until then focus most of your time fishing in the early morning or later in the evening.
Most of the Bluegills and Sunfish that are being caught are coming out of weed beds from 5-10 feet of water. Fishing part of a crawler or a leach about a foot off the bottom is the best way to get them on your stringer.
Crappie have been hit and miss with the hotter temperatures. They can be found suspended in deeper water from 14-20 foot on the East end of Lake Cadillac. But some days they just don’t want to bite. Still small minnows under a slip bobber has been working best.
They’re still catching Walleyes dragging crawler harness’s on deeper outside weed edges. Either slow trolling or drifting has been working. Also with Crawler harnesses you never know what your going to bring in, they catch everything.
For a change of pace, Salmon are starting to move up the Manistee River. With the rain and cooler temps earlier in the week fish are starting to push up stream. They’re also catching them jigging in Manistee Lake. There hasn’t been much activity yet on the Betsie River up in Benzonia yet but that could change any day now. Right now the best technique has been throwing lures like Thundersticks during the morning and then switching to skein or spawn bags under a bobber later when the sun gets above the trees. If your fishing at the dam, Flies and beads have been the most popular. The salmon fishing should start to get better every day for the next several days. Expect there to be a lot of people out next weekend.
The Pilgrim Village 2020 FREE SUMMER FISHING CONTEST ends right around the corner on September 10. Usually we have some of the biggest fish come in on the last few days so you still have a chance to catch the new winner. The current standings as of 8/30/2020 are:
Largemouth Bass – Taylor Helmboldt 21″, 4.49lb Hewitt Lake
Smallmouth Bass – Shane Carlson 20 3/4″, 4.38lb Lake Michigan
Northern Pike – Joseph Pacella 38 3/8″, 11.08lb Lake Mitchell
Walleye – Laurie Gamblin 24″, 4.93lb Manistee River
Bluegill – Luke Sharp 11 7/8″, 1.54lb Dayhoff Lake
Sunfish – Dave Malone 10 1/8″, 0.79lb Lake Mitchell
Perch – Carl Schmidt 12 3/8″, 0.85lb Portage Lake
Crappie – Andrew McKay 13 7/8″, 1.16lb Hodenpyle Dam Pond
Bullhead – Darrin Halmstead 15 7/8″, 2.05lb Lake Mitchell
Dogfish (Bowfin) – Jim Wright 29 3/4″, 7.62lb Lake Mitchell
