Grand River Tournament

[chewy]

Hey guys I need some help. My club is fishing our Classic out of Grand Haven Municipal on the 25th. I have only been on the Grand River once about 3 years ago. I have never fished or been in Spring Lake. I was wondering if anyone had ideas on where the fish may be. I read some posts where the Grand has really stunk this year. I was thinking I may fish the peirs for the big lake smallies but that will be about when the salmon should run so it may be full of trollers and pier fisherman. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I may only be able to prefish the day before the tournamanet. Thanks for any help.

[FLIPPINFILKINS]

If I were you I would look for the huge schools of smallmouth that evade the numbers of salmon coming into the river. you can usually find these schools suspended in the middle of lake michigan somewhere in the 350 feet of water range!

[FLIPPINFILKINS]

Actually I would look for the big TR-21 with a 250 HP Verado motor and follow that boat!

[chewy]

TR-21??....Verado?.....I didn't know you owned a boat Steve?.....I thought you were a bank fisherman? ;D

[djkimmel]

As soon as the water starts cooling and what few weeds there are die even more, I like to fish the docks and water pumps in Spring and Lloyds. Any wood too. It can be really good although sometimes you have to dead stick your lure for a while to get shy fish to bite.

I haven't tried it in a while and I imagine it's a slower bite now, but probably still produces some fish. Stearns is another possibility as the weeds begin to die. Bass will move to the next available cover and any remaining deeper green weeds.

Senkos and ring worms could be good along with light jig-and-pigs if the bigger bass are showing up.

[Andy]

spring lake the bite has been slow if i was you i would stick to Stears. whacy rig a senko and work the weed lines 12 to 14 foot.

[mdehol]

The Grand has indeed been off most of this year. My guess is that the bad flooding this spring and now very low levels have really changed the place. Don't forget to check out the small hole in front of the Stearns Bayou bridge this time of year. Fish can follow bait and stage there pretty good at times. Very shallow/weedy this year but it held a few last month and usually just gets better. The row of 3-4 docks where Stearns channel meets the river can hold a couple good fish. Since it only takes a few minutes to hit them I would strongly recommend it. The channel to Lloyds was real shallow - don't know if you can even get in it so be careful if you try. If you are going up river, don't pass the 'little gravel pit' (above Bruce's & below 118th St ramp) without stopping for a while. It's usually good for a couple fish if it hasn't been hit yet that day. I don't have any info for you on Spring - don't know it very well myself. Good luck and report back.

[chewy]

Wow!..more info than I ever thought I would get. I was hoping for Spring Lake is terrible stay out type of thing. I really appreciate the help. Now I can narrow my prefishing to a few spots instead of trying to hit the whole thing. I got a hot spot map of ther Grand and it is HUGE. This really helps a lot. I will post my results as soon as I can.

[chewy]

Got out today. Did not think it was in the cards but I got about 4 hours in on the river and boyous. Tough fishing. Found some fish but I don't think they will weigh enough to win. Looking forward to Friday when I can get out again and try Spring Lake.

[Andy]

Chewy if you can get 5-14 inch fish you are doing very well. 12lbs will proubly win.Its been a hard year on the river.

[chewy]

Thanks for all the help to everyone! My partner and I finished 3rd with 7.01, five fish. The help I got from everyone was very useful. I was able to cut my prefishing down quite a bit so I could find fish in the spots you suggested. Started off the morning by making the run up river to Crockery Creek. Fished it 3 years ago and caught fish there so we thought we would give it a shot. Caught a 14" large under a tree on a senko and a 14" smallie on a carolina rigged lizard in the channel. The smallie looked sick. He was so skinnny he better eat a lot before winter gets here or he will not make it. Fished laydowns for a while with very little results. Then I decided to go for a swim. I figured te water was 68 degrees so why not. I hooked a boat dock and when I went in to get it I was bending over and the current bumped the boat into something I could not see. Fell in 8' of water. Happeneed so fast all I could think was, holy #^$* I'm in the water. Could not find which was was up so I opend my eyes and swam to the light. My partner dragged me into the boat then the laughter started for the rest of the day. Never lost my hat or my pole! After changing into my rain pants and extra sweatshirt we decided to go to Stearns. The water was clear and the fish were biting. Caught 3 keepers on a crankbait but proably caught 30 to get the 3. I think the clear water was a big help. 12 feet of water on the weedline was the key. The guy who won ran to Muskegon and came back with 10lb and change. Second was from Spring Lake laydowns 2 feet or less. All in all it was a great day. Probably caught 40 fish total. It was cool to fish new water for our club and have the opprotunity to find and catch fish the way you wanted to. Once again thanks to everyone for the help. Partenr and I split $180 and it was the first money we won this year so it was a great day. Except for the swiming part!