We initially headed up to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to hit a few ATV trails. After inspecting the bearings on my trailer I found that it needed new bearings. I prefer to fish the U. P. in June when the water warms up, but the weather looked decent so we loaded up the W’s and left the ATVs at home.
Friday was too windy and cold to head out on the water. Saturday brought the sun and warmer temps and calm winds, a beautiful spring day. We went to a lake close to are camp called Fish lake. I tried deep water for a couple of hours with no luck,water temps in the mid 50′s. I decided to move into a bay where the water temp reached 60.
Finally some action. Small pike were eager to bite on my floating J-11 Rapala near shore and red fish magic spinners out a way from the shoreline. A few tiny smallmouth were waking up along with the pike in the warmer water. Then finally a nicer fish hit my red fish chartreuse colored spinner bait. A huge smallmouth hit the lure hard. I battled it for a while and then he took his path to freedom around a sunken tree. Once again the big one got away!
Jeff, I am going to order some more redfish magic spinner baits. I guess the trip was “big” on scenery and “small” on fish. But as always it was great to get out on the water with the W’s.
It was Jeanne’s first time in the W500 model and she loved it. She was able to lay down comfortably and soak up some sun while I fished. You can’t do that in just any kayak.
Talk to you soon,
John and Jeanne
Beautiful photos, as always. Thanks for this great kayak trip report,
April
John,
Another fine blog,i love the custom paint on your W’s.The pictures are beautiful and looks like you two had a great time.Keep up the great blog work.
Bob
Hey John, Nice looking area. Those boats of yours are super good looking on the water. Great to hear you’ve cracked the secret of Redfish Magics. You can also buy just the tails and then use larger jigs heads for more distance or to move deeper in the water. You might also check out Slayer Lure Company online. They are a Florida firm based in Jacksonville and make a number of variations in blade type and size compared to the Strike King product you are now using. I buy just the blade and harness rigs then use a variety of jigs with them.