Inland Lake Bass

Southeast Michigan's Oakland County has more inland lakes than only one other county in the country, which happens to be located in Minnesota. I grew up in Oakland County, and cut my teeth fishing inland lakes out of a nine foot car top boat, and later an aluminum boat with a 40 hoarse which I guided from in high school. The neat thing about our lakes are their diversity. We have deep, clear, rocky lakes, shallow weedy lakes, and even a couple reservoirs. Our inland lakes offer both excellent smallmouth and largemouth bass fishing.

A catch and release season applies to Cass Lake, Kensington and Pontiac Lakes in Oakland County. This means that you can bone up on your bass fishing skills a month ahead of the crowd who wait for the season opener on the Saturday before Memorial Day. There is some excellent smallmouth sight fishing at this time of year, as well as very good fishing for big largemouth.

Our inland lakes offer a great alternative should the wind blow gale force on the big ponds, for underutilized largemouth fishing or for an exciting alternative to a Great Lakes adventure. What follows is a quick detail of some of my favorite inland lakes.

Cass Lake:

Cass Lake is known for its abundant smallmouth population. Covering close to 1200 acres, the average Cass Lake bass is smaller than their Great Lakes cousins, but the action is often fast. Cass has cleaned up due to zebra mussels, and is very clear in the main lake offering awesome sight fishing opportunity. I have personally guided people to many smallies between 3 and 4 ½ pounds on Cass. Jerk baits and small plastics are main stays on the main body of Cass, while at times topwaters and spinnerbaits are hard to beat.

In the fall, the back bays of Cass Lake offer excellent fishing for largemouth bass. These fish relate to weed lines and wood cover in a more stained water environment. I look forward to fishing crankbaits and jigs here each fall for some nice largemouth on a handful of trips.

Union Lake:

Union Lake is very similar to the main basin of Cass Lake. The biggest difference is that the average fish is a bit bigger here. Union has a great late fall jigging spoon bite that I really enjoy. I fish Union as a great alternative to Lake Erie in late fall should "The winds of November come early".

Kensington Lake:

Kensington Lake is actually a small reservoir, measuring around 1200 acres. Al Lindner has said that some of his best fishing for largemouth ever has been on small reservoirs, and after fishing Kensington, you might understand why. Kent is a shallow, stained body of water offering good smallmouth and largemouth fishing. The smallmouth fishing has the feel of a Southern reservoir, with fish coming off stumps, lay downs and main lake islands as opposed to open water rocky shoals.

Kensington Lake has the best big largemouth bass population of any lake in Oakland County. These fish live in shallow water, and if fishing slop, pads and flipping is your thing, you will love this place.

A 10 mile an hour speed limit is the rule, which means no water skiers or jet skis, making it a peaceful setting compared to most small lakes in this area. My favorite times to fish Kensington are May and in the fall. The lake gets pretty weed choked in the summer due to its shallow depth.

Lake Orion:

Lake Orion was my favorite largemouth lake in the state until the lake got hit with the LBV (largemouth bass virus) in 2003. The lake still offers good fishing, but unfortunately the bigger fish are the ones that are gone. In the recent past, 18 to 24 pound sacks for five fish were not uncommon.

Lake Orion is cool, because you can actually get lost on it your first time out. There are a lot of main lake basins, connected by bridges, as well as many back bays with both shallow and deep water. There is a great dock fishing pattern on the lake, as well as a good weed line and some lay downs that hold fish year round.

I will never forget watching my childhood fishing buddy Kyle Green catch 4 ½ , 5, and 6 ½ pound largemouths on three consecutive casts to an inside turn in the weeds. It will be a while until the fishing is that good again, but I am anxious for it to return!