Houghton Lake Fishing Report-Backus Lake-Fish On-May 2011

It was Friday afternoon and the weather was sunny then overcast then sunny again. I had been out two track riding with my brother, checking on a new fishing spot I had heard of on the Denton Creek Flooding. It didn't pan out but I will have another look. Always looking for another secluded spot to catch a few fish.

I was sitting at home again and trying to decide if the wind was too high to keep a bobber in place long enough to attract some fish. I decided to at least go out so I didn't watch anymore TV. It turned out to be one of my best fishing experiences.

Since the ice-out this spring, I haven't had much luck in any of my favorite fishing holes. The high waterline have kept the fish in the deeper water unreachable from the shore. The DNR put the docks in at the boat launches last weekend, but the high winds prevented most anglers from attempting a day on the lake.

So far I've been on both Backus Lake and the Dead Stream Flooding in my Bass Tracker (no dock required). I didn't even get a bite. It was those times when I would rather have them steal my bait just so I know they are there. The water is receding toward normal and over the past few days the fish have started biting. Finally.

I just returned home from Backus Lake. Of course I didn't bring my camera but my catch was; 1 Northern Pike, 2 Largemouth Bass, 1 Perch, and 9 Bluegill, in about 2 hours of fishing. Thursday I caught 12+ Bluegills in about 1 hour fishing from the shore. All were released. Primarily I used pieces of nightcrawler and a couple were caught on Gulp 3"minnows. I'm still not sold on the Gulp and I only thought to try them when I ran out of crawlers.

I only use a piece of a nightcrawler because I expect to catch Bluegills and they have small mouths and probably won't attempt to swallow a whole crawler. But the two Largemouth Bass (both were legal size) were also caught with a small piece of worm on a 1/16th oz orange/yellow jighead. Again a small hook for Bluegill. And the Northern Pike was on the Gulp minnow on the 1/8th oz black jighead. I switched to the larger hook because of the Bass. Also, I was using an orange, round weighted bobber for extra distance on my cast with the light weight jighead.

All in all a very enjoyable evening of fishing.

Best fishing times are 1/2 hour after sunrise to midmorning and after 6pm in the evening until sundown.

Until next time,

Ken S