Bass Fishing Not Very Popular?

[dragon1]

Bass fishing is alive and well where I am in Michigan. I live just a short drive away from some of the best smallmouth fisheries in the world (Lake St Clair, Detroit River, Lake Erie). I even have an amazing smallie river close by, the Huron River which is very popular among the locals but flies under the radar of visitors. I personally prefer the Huron River as the fish tend to have a lot more fight in them even though they don't get as big as the lake fish. My best from the Huron River was 3lb while 1lb fish are far more common. On the flip side, 3lb fish are super common in St Clair/Det River/Lake Erie, 5lb fish are slightly less common, and 7lb fish grace you with their presence once in awhile. During spring and early summer before the water gets very warm, it's quite common to have 100+ fish days on Lake St Clair. Where I am, bass second only to walleye. Walleye is religion here; when the spring run is in full swing the Detroit River gets a lot of traffic from both boats and pier/shore anglers. The piers get packed shoulder to shoulder and fist fights break out occasionally, you'll never see anything like it. The only combat fishing that rivals it is when king salmon are running the rivers in the northwest side of the lower peninsula. There are people out there right now jigging the river on this balmy 30 degree morning. As long as there is no ice on the water, people are fishing walleye. The white bass run is also similar to the walleye run. Late in the spring when they are spawning, you will catch a lot of fish in short order. The DNR watches the piers like a hawk because guys will catch a limit, run it back to their car, then head back to pier. Rinse and repeat. Our white bass get pretty big too, I've caught many in the 15"+ range. They are very fierce fighters at that. I've never had a smallie straighten a hook on me, but I have had white bass do it with the same lure. The walleye people hate white bass with a passion. They'll be jigging the river and come into a school of white bass and have to move because that is all they are catching. I feel very fortunate to live in a state with such great fisheries. A couple friends of mine moved here exclusively for the fishing. One is from Indiana and the other from Pennsylvania. Those of us that live here never understand how good we have it until we get talking with an out of stater.

Sounds awesome and very tempting...how far away from Detroit and the inner city craziness is your neck of the woods?

[dragon1]

Holy SCHITE homie...good thing for those crashes, otherwise some of us, ahem, would be well into the 20k+ post count...LMAO, were did all my years fly off to?

This. I think I used to have 10k posts.

Hells yeah, fosho...the first two mega crashes ate up years and tens/hundreds of thousands of top member input...so sad.

[tincanary]

Sounds awesome and very tempting...how far away from Detroit and the inner city craziness is your neck of the woods?

I'm in Wyandotte which is just a few miles south of Detroit. The nearest area of Detroit to me is Southwest Detroit which tends to be nicer than say the East side or West side. The East side is a war zone and where most of the crazy stuff happens, but Southwest Detroit is pretty quiet by comparison. The area I live is referred to as Downriver with Wyandotte, Trenton, Lincoln Park, River Rouge, Riverview, Brownstown, Flat Rock, Gibraltar, Taylor, Woodhaven, and Grosse Ile comprising the area. Grosse Ile is the big island near the mouth of the river and the wealthiest community in this immediate area. My wife's grandparents live there on 2 acres right on the Detroit River. They were both high up at Ford for a long time. During the spring walleye run I'll sit out there on the dock and jig up a limit in short order.

[dragon1]

Sounds awesome and very tempting...how far away from Detroit and the inner city craziness is your neck of the woods?

I'm in Wyandotte which is just a few miles south of Detroit. The nearest area of Detroit to me is Southwest Detroit which tends to be nicer than say the East side or West side. The East side is a war zone and where most of the crazy stuff happens, but Southwest Detroit is pretty quiet by comparison. The area I live is referred to as Downriver with Wyandotte, Trenton, Lincoln Park, River Rouge, Riverview, Brownstown, Flat Rock, Gibraltar, Taylor, Woodhaven, and Grosse Ile comprising the area. Grosse Ile is the big island near the mouth of the river and the wealthiest community in this immediate area. My wife's grandparents live there on 2 acres right on the Detroit River. They were both high up at Ford for a long time. During the spring walleye run I'll sit out there on the dock and jig up a limit in short order.

Awesome, thanks for sharing. Sounds like a slice of Heaven just outside the craziness of inhumanity...thank God the outdoors still allows for us to escape da Rat Race.

[John G]

I spend roughly $75 to catch one bass per year on average , this is the total amount I spend on tackle ( rods, reels, lines, lures, hooks) divided on the total number of bass.

I thought this was great about how much you spend to catch one fish. We are in the middle of March and I haven't been fishing yet.
I recently purchased a JDM Smith mountain stream trout rod and two Shimano Bantam 100's. Minus shipping, I have over $400 invested in the one rod and the two reels and I haven't even been fishing yet this year. I bought quite a bit of stuff last year and didn't even go fishing, at least I don't think I went fishing.