Kalamazoo Lake
Published: Updated:
Kalamazoo Lake Fishing Reports
Filter by
Sort by
Reports from all past years within a 60-day time frame
Species
Largemouth Bass
Season
Spring (Spawn)
Technique
Wacky Rigs
Structure
Submerged Vegetation
Species
Largemouth Bass
Season
Spring (Post-Spawn)
Technique
Frogs/Toads
Structure
Submerged Vegetation
Forage
Minnows
Water Temperature
74°
Hit the water around 5:30 and the wind was pretty strong, about 15-20mph. Pretty cloudy/overcast as well and the water visibility was pretty much zero. Most of the crew went up to Silver (which in retrospect looked to be the better idea) but we headed down stream to Kalamazoo and the flats. Our first keeper came on the Yamatanuki. We pulled up and moved to a different side of the lake to try to find some shallows with feeding bass. Eventually spotted a slick of slime/mats in some shallow water (about 1') and filled the bag with Jackall Kaera. In the uploaded video you can see a bass missing the frog and grabbing a wacky worm that I threw right on top of where it missed the frog. We decided to pull out of the spot and head to the other side of the lake to see if the flats on that side produced better. Unfortunately the wind started picking up more and we weren't able to get the frog bite going again. We culled a couple of times on some fish off a rat-l-trap and a popper. Weights- 1st-15.47 2nd-13.33 3rd-12.39 BB- 4.76 Our bag was 10.08lbs In retrospect, given the fish we were catching were mostly in shallow water, we should have headed back up into the marsh or into Silver to see if we could get the frog bite going again.
Species
Largemouth Bass
Season
Spring (Post-Spawn)
Technique
Wacky Rigs
Structure
Submerged Vegetation
Forage
Shad
Water Temperature
72°
Water had cooled down a lot due to weather and was about 72°F when we went out and cooled down to about 68°F by the time we got off the water. Wind was pretty nuts anywhere from 15-20mph for most of the night. I'll be honest, coangler and I really sucked tonight and should have had 5 good keepers but ended up with two. He had a huge smallie slip a ned and I popped two big large mouths off on the wacky rig. I put one 1.5lb in the boat early on a rat-l-trap, and then caught a few small ones on a trap. I had a number of other small ones on the wacky and a big pike on a spinner. Put one more in the boat around 9:00 on a wacky. Overall it seemed the bass were holding to the scum/weed lines and targeting the pockets in the grass was where I got most of the bites. Bits usually came right as I popped the bait out of the grass. To be brutally honest though, we spent most of the night fighting the current and the wind. It was hard to stay on any points and it ended with us spending most of our time fishing the areas out of the wind trying to find a bit of cover.
Kyle Kain
Bronze Ambassador
6/25/23
Species
Largemouth Bass
Season
Spring (Post-Spawn)
Technique
Structure Jigs
Structure
Docks
Water Temperature
75°
2nd place and big bass 4.2 pounds, found most fish under shady docks.
Species
Largemouth Bass
Season
Summer
Technique
Texas Rigs (Pitch/Flip)
Structure
Docks
Few largemouth 3+ lbs
Species
Largemouth Bass
Season
Fall
Technique
Lipless Crankbaits
Structure
Submerged Vegetation
Forage
Shad
Water Temperature
72°
Water temp 72, wind about 10mph constant, 20mph gusts. Slightly cloudy, but pretty warm. The only bait I caught fish on today was the Rat-L-Trap, but I caught 40-50 Bass, and culled 7 times total. I caught a lot of keepers that didn't help with weight as well. The trick seemed to be ripping the trap through the edges of submerged vegetation. Once the trap popped free of the vegetation, wham. I also had some luck ripping the baits along seawalls and laydowns as well. I went up into Silver lake and found a small hump covered with vegetation that the shad were jumping over where it seemed the bass had corralled them. I sat there and ripped my trap through the edges of the hump and culled 5 times. There were also a TON of pike biting. I caught as many pike as I did bass. I also caught a salmon on the rat-l-trap.
Species
Largemouth Bass
Season
Summer
Technique
Topwater Popping
Structure
Submerged Vegetation
Forage
Minnows
Name of the game seemed to be fishing fast over submerged vegetation. Top water was fairly active when evening came around as well. Docks were ok with neds and wacky rigs but didn't product anything of significant size.
Species
Largemouth Bass
Season
Fall
Technique
Lipless Crankbaits
Structure
Pilings
Forage
Shad
Water Temperature
65°
Beautiful fall day to fish. Slightly overcast, with a slight wind out of the south east most of the day. Water clarity was garbage, which is about standard for the Kalamzoo river. Current was going pretty good as well making the slower presentations pretty hard to fish. First things first, all the fish we weighed were caught on a rat-l-trap ripping around the dock pilings and sea walls. Standard approach of cast it past, and rip/let fall, rip/let fall. A lot of hits near the boat as well. Managed to catch one keeper and one other on a Dark Sleeper dragging it down a rocky shore as well, and a couple dinks on a wacky. We managed first place (11.3lbs) and big bass (3.7lbs).
Species
Largemouth Bass
Season
Summer
Technique
Frogs/Toads
Structure
Lily Pads
Forage
Bluegill
Water Temperature
73°
Conditions were super windy and coming out of the North which generally screws up the Kalamazoo River in the area. Water clarity was pretty terrible as well. Most of the big cheese mats had been pushed out of the pads into the southern sections. A few dinks starting the night off and no decent fish until got to the back of Silver. Put two in the boat off the thick grass and pads. Bass were mostly sucking the legs in on the frogs and it was somewhat difficult to get good hookups. Winning bags were 13.10, 12.42, and 12.11 with a 3.76 big bass. Bigger one in the photo was 3.41.