We had the much needed thaw in mid-January to melt some, if not all of the deep snow off the lakes. Many of the bigger lakes like Pentwater, Pere Marquette, and Portage have about 12 inches of ice that did not have a lot of snow on them. This year it was the opposite of most. The smaller lakes had too much snow and are just getting safe to fish and the larger lakes are normally starting to be safe around this time. Perch and pike have been the main focus lately on Portage and Pentwater Lakes. The Pere Marquette Lake is not fishing that great yet but should improve through the month of February as the perch move in from Lake Michigan to spawn in the spring. The best baits for perch have been Slab Grabber Spoons, Hali Jigs and wax- worms and tungsten jigs with plastics. On cloudy days larger minnows like Blues or Small Golden Shiners on Dead Sticks or Tip Downs have been tough to beat. If the sun comes out, standard perch minnows work well for the larger 9.5 to 12.5 inch perch.
Walleye fishing has been decent on Hamlin Lake and the bluegill fishing has slowed down. The best time for both gills and eyes are at first and last light. Setting up in the dark for them has proven productive in the 7 to 12 foot depth areas. February is when the lakes oxygen levels are at the lowest point and bluegills and crappie will suspend over the deepest areas of most of our inland lakes. Fishing with a graph at this time of the year is very essential. Tungsten jigs and spikes or plastics work very well for the suspended fish. If you locate a school of crappie on your graph try not to drop your jig into the pack of fish. It can spook them away. Stop it about a foot above the school and keep jigging it until you find a looker coming up toward your jig. Once the crappie is almost to your jig on your graph pull it up away from the fish an inch or so, then stop and look for the strike on your rod tip. If the fish does not take and is still on the graph, pull it up and away again a few inches and stop. Repeat until it leaves or bites.
See you on the ice.
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