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John Johnson's Fishing
Journal
October8, 6:00 pm- 7:30 pm ,
Tittabawassee River above Midland
The water temperature was 56oF,
level high, and visibility 2 feet. The weather
report called for rain the and with the level in
the river expected to be high I was looking
forward to catching some large bass. I fished a
#2 chartreuse/grizzly Matuka for an hour through
some very nice log jams and deep water with out a
strike. I was able to fish almost every foot of
the river with the water being at least a foot
deep at the banks. I switched to a #4 chartreuse
Sparkle Grub. At 5:30. I came to a heavily
shaded section of the river a rocky bottom that
had produced several nice fish in the past. This
time near a big overhanging tree a nice bass hit
the sparkle grub. The fish made a hard charge
down stream and then towards the bank were there
was a small log with a lot of water plants on
it. I chucked than chain anchor over but for
some reason it was not holding and we were
drifting into another tree. I untangled the anchor
rope and was able to pull the fish away from the
submerged log. He made two small jumps and I was
able to at last get him in the canoe. It measured
seventeen inches. I fished until 7:30 when it
was quite dark and caught four more bass from
eight to fourteen inches along with a rock bass.
I was very disappointed in not catching a large
fish in the last quarter mile of a deep rocky run
that even with low water had produced bass to
nineteen inches. We came to the takeout and
with some effort were able to pull the canoe up a
very steep muddy t bank. We rode our bike (with
Baxter running along side) in the rain to our
car three miles up stream.
October 7, 4:00 pm- 7:15 pm
, Pine River above Midland
The water temperature was 540F,
level low, and visibility 2.5 feet. I started
fishing with a small #4 olive/grizzly Matuka that
had worked will in the same section of the
pine.earlier in the year I fished for a hour and
did not get a strike. The low levels did not
provide much cover for any size bass. At 4:30 I
switched to a #4 Chartreuse Sparkle Grub and
immediately started catching fish. During the
next hour I came to some deeper water and caught
eight bass between eight and fourteen inches
long. At 6:00 pm I switched to a #2 Olive/White
Clouser Minnow and continued to catch fish. I
caught three medium bass (10 -14 inches) during
the next hour. At 7:00 I came to a series of
riffles and small pools. At the lower end of the
second one I hooked a decent fish. The bass made
a short run across the pool and then two shallow
jumps before I was able to pull it in to the
canoe. It turned out to be a decent fifteen
inches. I continued to fish for about fifteen
minutes in the near dark through some deep pools
that have produced nice fish in the past.
Tonight they did not hit but we made it out
without hitting too many rocks in the big
riffle just above our takeout.
October 5, 6:00 pm- 7:45 pm
, Tittabawassee River above Midland
The water temperature was
56F, level high, and visibility 3 feet. Now
that I was able to use my canoe again after
having if fixed I was anxious to fish the Midland
section of the Tittabawassee river when the water
was high. The last few times I had fished this
section the water was low and I caught only small
bass. It was a beautiful evening with no wind and
sun in spite of the fact that the weather called
for rain. I had observed an eighteen inch bass
spit out a small four inch bass recently and was
ready to try a big Clouser streamer that was
originally designed to look like a small bass. I
fished a big #2 olive Clouser streamer into some
great cover that included big chunks of concrete
,overhanging shade trees, and several small log
jams. I caught eight bass that ranged in size
from fourteen to nine inches. Most of the fish
were caught by casting within a few inches of the
concrete ruble banks. It was about 7:00 and I was
beginning to think I would fish this section one
more time without catching a big bass. On the
next cast that changed. I big fish hit the fly
after a few strips from the bank. Even with the
low 56 degree water temperature this fish put on a
show with three big jumps. After a hard charge
towards the bank it then went deep under the
boat. I at last was able to get the fish in to
the canoe. It measured eighteen inches. The high
water is the key to catching these large bass.
They are coming out of the deep water and looking
for small fish and crayfish near the banks. I
fished for a few more minutes and caught two more
small bass. It was getting dark and at 7:15 I
tied on a new #2 Deer hair frog. This was the
first time I had fished a frog this big. It
worked perfectly producing a very impressive loud
gurgling sound as it was twitched back. After
thirty minutes of no strikes we gave up and
paddled back to the takeout. I unlocked my bike
and rode it back to the car with Baxter happily
running along side.
October 1, 6:00 pm- 8:00 pm
, Pine River above Midland
The water temperature was
56F, level low, and visibility 3 feet. I
decided to fish my favorate wadeable section of
the Pine ( my CRV that transports my canoe is
still being repaired after colliding with a
deer). I tied on a black Lead Eyed Bunny Booger
rabbit fly. I talked with the Wilcox’s at the
national FFF conference this summer and they
convinced me that I should be using more black
flies. I fished the fly through several long
rocky pools and caught a dozen bass and rock bass
all under fourteen inches. At 7:00 I switched to
a #4 cartreuse deer hair frog. I caught another
five fish again none were under fourteen inches.
I carefully fished a deep slot that had produced
a 4.5 pound smallmouth a few years eariler. But
this time the big fish were not there. A closer
inspecition of the side of the river where the
deep water was now only a few feet deep. The
deep channel had been filled in with sand. I
walked back upstream on the north bank and crossed
back over to were I could get out and get back to
the road. I tied on a #4 chartreuse sparkle grub
and caught three more small bass under fourteen
inches. As I was climbing the bank at the access
point I observed a grassy clearing with a pile of
about twelve beer cans, a forked stick and an old
lawn chair. The mystry of the disappearance of
the big bass was solved. There are still bait
fisherman that are killing the big bass inspite of
the warnings about water polution and not eating
the fish.
September 28, 6:00 pm- 8:00
pm , Chippewa Below Mt. Pleasant
The water temperature was 68
F, level normal, and visibility 1.5 feet. With
my car in the garage after hitting a deer I was
forced to again wade .this time with my fishing
partner Baxter (an English Springer) I decided to
fish a section of the Chippewa below Mt Pleasant
that I had never fished before. I started fishing
below the bridge where I parked my car. The
river was very nice with several nice riffles and
small shaded pools. I fished a #4 chartreuse
sparkle grub for about fifteen minutes and caught
nothing. Looking back on it we should have walked
back to the car and headed home. I continued to
fish and we came to deeper slower water that
seemed to be quite muddy with visibility about
1.5 feet. Some of these deeper water had numerous
underwater logs and brush that made wading very
treacherous. There were sections that had big
submerged rocks that with the muddy water were
impossible to see until I was stumbling over them.
I managed to catch one small rock bass and one
small bass. It started to get dark and I decided
to get out on the bank and walk for a while. This
was not a good idea either since the woods was
like a jungle with numerous thorn bushes and vines
that made walking impossible. I got back in the
water and continued to walk in the dark until we
at last came to the bridge where we got out and
started our 1.5 mile walk back to the car. After
considerable thought I reached two conclusions
about this night of fishing. First of all, rivers
like the Chippewa that have great habitat that
should contain many big fish do not when people
regularly kill big fish. This river is so
different from the nearby Pine and Tittabawassee
rivers where the fishing pressure is very low and
none of the big fish are killed. The simple fact
is you will not likely catch a big fish very often
in any river that has normal fishing pressure and
is easy to access. Another problem with this
section of river is the presence of the west
branch of the Chippewa that dumps muddy farm
run-off from above Mt Pleasant and keeps this
section from ever becoming very clear.
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