The Ugly Frog (tm)

The Ugly Frog - Kayaking Time!

9 May 2024. On the evening of the 8th, I had intended on adventuring to Metamora-Hadley Rec Area as that has a nice lake to kayak fish on. However, when I arrived there, after having a delightful mushroom swiss burger and fries at Greg's Restaurant in Metamora, Michigan and doing a quick change from shirt and tie to kayak fishing attire much to the amazement of the fun waitress, the gate was closed due to Construction. So I had to divert my itinerary to somewhere close. I had been to Ortonville Rec Area before and did not have much luck there; however, as it was already getting late, I didn't really have time to find somewhere else to go and just went there as it is only about 15 minutes from Metamora - Hadley Rec Area (if even that). When I got there, the parking lot by the boat launch was pretty much empty. I think it had 2 truck / trailers and that was it. When I got out on to the lake, it appeared they were for one bass boat and a pair of jet skis. That is a drawback of this lake for kayak fishing. It is basically an all purpose lake so there are boats that will go zipping back and forth (although that is supposed to stop at 7 pm or so according to the sign by the launch) and obviously there are jet skis on the lake as well. Surrounding the lake are also houses where the land is not State Rec Land and that covers probably 70% of the edge of the lake I would guess (i.e., houses). So, unlike the lake at Metamora-Hadley Rec Area (where power boats are allowed as well so there are real bass boats there; but I have not seen Jet Ski's there). . . it is a smaller lake. There is a beach at Metamora's lake, but not at Big Fish Lake which is the lake at Ortonville Rec Area. I never caught a big fish there btw. I will have to look through my journals to see what I did catch there last.

As to fishing the lake, the lake is oblong North to South. The south-western corner is where the rec area boat launch is. It is a concrete launch with a dock for bass boats and such; but it is easy to launch a kayak from the edge without the concrete. There is also a vault toilet near the launch which is nice. That end of the lake is rec area land and it appears to be a descent spot to fish: lilly pads, marshy edge area, etc. Similarly, the Northeast corner of the lake is even better regarding that type of habitat. In fact, when I fished there on the 8th, there was a bass boat tooling around in there with his electric motor bass fishing. I didn't see him catch anything though. I didn't catch anything there either.

The wind was blowing to the South and it was strong at times. So after fishing the NE corner of the lake in the lillypad marsh area; I paddled more toward the center of the lake and let the wind carry me back south to the dock. About 1/4 of the way back is when I landed three bluegill (small). Two were caught on my trustie blue/silver paddlebill crankbait and the third was caught on a longer crank bait with a longer bill (yellow and green). I threw a lot of lures at the fish over the course of the 2 hours (6-8pm) and 1.5 miles (That gives you an idea that the paddle from the launch up to the marsh area in the NE corner of the lake is approximately .75 miles. It is not a big lake. I also threw: the classic jitterbug, a mepps3 inline spinner, a couple other style crankbaits and a buzz bait (which had a hit). The others did nothing. The hit on the buzz bait was likely just another bluegill. All were released back as I always do.

Despite not catching any LMB or Pike, it was still an enjoyable couple hours out on the water. I do wish that Metamora-Hadley Rec Area was open; as I do prefer that lake.

A view of Big Fish Lake at Ortonville Recreation Area

One of Three Bluegills Caught and Released 8 May 2024

A view of the marshy / lilypad area in the northeast corner of the lake. Approx a .75 (or less) mile paddle from the launch

4 May 2024. Greetings Froggies! The 2024 Kayak Fishing Season is well underway after the first adventure on Outback Lake in March which was the earliest I have been kayak fishing yet in the season. Since that time I have been out five times and have caught 3 fish so far. The first fish you can read about at the bottom of the right column and see it a 14" LMB. The first four times for convenience sake were upon Outback Lake for about a couple of hours each time which yielded the above as well as a 12" LMB.

Kayak Fishing Ascend D10T

For the 5th Adventure I went upon The Black River out of North River Road Park's kayak launch (although I do not use the kayak launch with The Ugly Frog kayak but rather put in on the bank near it. It was a late in the day adventure during the week starting at roughly 7pm and going until 8:30pm. I paddled downriver from the launch to the M-25 Bridge which goes over the canal which connects to Lake Huron. I drifted past it to the boat club and then paddled back up to the bridge and fished on both sides of it. There I landed a 20" Freshwater Drum and lost what I believe to have been a small mouth bass about 14" or so, and had one other hit. Not bad for a quick adventure. Also got some nice sunset photos along the way.

Bridge Graffiti

On the return paddle I tried out a new Plankton collecting net for my science endeavor (a separate project). I have yet to look into the collection bottle to see what sort of tiny things I have gathered.

Kayaking Sunset

The lures so far that worked were: whopper plopper (natural color), a jig with a little white twizzlertail grub, and one of my all time productive blue/silver crankbait with a paddle bill and rattler in it. That last one is always a go to and has caught so many different fish!

Kayak Fishing

So as it stands at the point of updating this I am 3 fish toward my goal of 100 catch and releases for the year on the Kayak. Last year I was just short by about 3-4 fish. I am planning on spending some time on the kayak this weekend (at the time of this update) so I am hoping that the stats will change.

Have a Great Weekend Froggies!

Twenty Inch Freshwater Drum or Sheepshead

Twenty Inch Freshwater Drum or Sheepshead

Tiny Bass Haiku

tiny, little bass
with big personality
be bold and swim on!

Watch video recap from CS Mott Lake, 4 May 2024 Adventure:

I Catch and Release All Fish I Catch On the Kayak!

Current Stats

First Fish of 2024!

We have had some mild weather for March and one day so far I was able to take advantage of it with a 2 hour (early evening) outing at Outback Lake (private lake). I made three passes across the lake. On the first one I was using the yellow Mepps 3. . . On passes 2 and 3 I started using a whopper plopper. Landed one 14" LMB on the whopper plopper. With the cold water his coloring was really pale and they are certainly slower moving. It was a really gentle hit and tug and not much fight. Fish 1 of goal toward 100 for the year.

Largemouth Bass

I catch and release all the fish I catch after measuring and photo'ing them.

May 5th Update:. Hello Froggies! On Saturday 4 May 2024 after spending some time caffeinating, reading, people watching and of course updating my blog here, I headed out to spend the afternoon to evening on CS Mott Lake in Flint, Michigan. I first had to make a stop at the sporting goods store to pick up a pair of compression pants (TIGHTS!) to go under my kayak shorts to keep warm because although when I left for Flint it was already in the 70s, I anticipated staying until 8pm or 830pm. I have one pair of 2 in 0 shorts that I use for Yoga but also for kayak fishing when it's cooler out. However, they were not washed and ready so I had to make a stop. I tell you this because that is a piece of equipment that you should include in your kayaking materials. They are better than, say, quick dry hiking pants because they fit tight to your legs and therefore are less apt to get caught up on fishing lures or whatnot. Plus, they make your legs look good and looking good is important when Kayak fishing isn't it? . . .

7 Inch Largemouth Bass

Anyway, I arrived and was on the water at 3pm. I put in at the small boat launch off of Stanley Road (Stanley Road Small Boat Launch). THis is where I have routinely put in to fish on this lake. When I was putting in a boater was lamenting that he got skunked (which for him meant no walleye). I have caught Walleye on this lake before; so you know I paddled right to that spot initially. I didn't catch anything. Maybe he was trying that spot too. Then I paddled around and zigzag'd back and forth across, dropping anchors in various spots which looked like they could be promising. There were others on the lake but it is such a large lake that I really had the spots to myself as you can see in the photos. In one of them where there was a nice weedbed rising within inches of the surface I caught a very brave, big personality Largemouth Bass measuring in at a whopping 7". . . it seemed barely longer than the whopper plopper it was trying to convert to dinner. Imagine it's disappointment! That was at about 4pm-4:30pm and was luckily caught on video! I then paddled further in the direction tried more and more spots and even returned to the spot where the whopper was landed, all to no avail.

CS Mott Lake, Flint Michigan

Then I paddled to the other side of the boat launch, towards the Genessee Road Bridge. . . this was about 5:30pm at this point, and despite it saying there was only a 12% chance of rain, it was apparently within the 12% and it started to rain. . . it was an off and on scattered type rain but it was starting to cool off, I was soaking wet (that would be one of the advantages of quick dry hiking pants! so I should add that as a caveat, if you anticipate rain then quick dry hiking pants would be better option! haha). However, at 12% chance, I was certainly not anticipating rain. After the rain started and not catching any fish, I decided after 6pm to call it a day and landed back at the launch at 6:15pm.

Despite the only one little fish and the winding up of the day with a rain, it was still an enjoyable adventure! At least I didn't get skunked! 'Till next time CS Mott Lake!

CS Mott Lake, Flint Michigan

Black River May 18th & 19th

Hello Froggies! This weekend I did back to back adventures on The Black River in Port Huron out of my "easy" "local" "go to" launch site when I am feeling time pinched during the week or feeling not very creative to adventure somewhere else: The North River Road Park. From there it is a short paddle to the bridge over the canal (that leads to Lake Huron)- - - which for mechanical or funding reasons or some reason I believe the dam is closed at the mouth of it. I bet that bums out a lot of kayakers who like to do a loop from somewhere to that canal and around to somewhere else. I don't know. . . not my thing. . . never did it. . . don't know where they go. . . but have seen them. . . so I think they exist. . . you can believe they exist or not; that's your choice! haha. . . anyway, I digress. . . where was I?

On Saturday *18th* I launched and intended to just go fish at the mouth of the oxbow; however, nothing seemed to be happening there so I decided to continue west (upriver) from there, and stopped and fished at various points and then continued on. . . repeating that. . . I ended up traveling over 4 miles up river from the launch. . . when all was said and done the round trip was 8.3 miles (all paddling, very little drifting). . . If you were to do that paddle expect going up 1.5 hours and back 1.5 hours or less. If you use an ordinary river kayak or a touring kayak you could do it faster. I was in the Ascend fishing kayak which is a slow goer for sure. . . I caught just on 8" small mouth bass near the farthest west point that I made it. (i.e., 4 miles or so from the launch)

On Sunday from 6:15 to 8:15pm I put in again at the same launch but this time headed to the bridge by the canal. There were scattered storms / rain and two of them scattered right over me giving me two good sleuces in the first hour. . . the second hour was nice and dry. The first hour also was graced by a few jet ski irritants. . . I fished near the mouth of the canal and then anchored in a spot a little upriver from that spot where people often fish from the shore on the opposite side of the river. I threw a variety of things out there for them; but no one (but for a couple hits) were interested: a large whopper plopper, my go to blue and silver crankbait, a large mepps inline spinner, and a longer bill crank bait. . .nothing was doin'. That's ok. : ) It was still enjoyable and time well spent! Always is!

A Haiku to commemorate the weekend:

paddle, paddle more,
but the big fish will not bite,
just one little fish.

'Till next time. Be well!