With a maximum depth of 34 feet and covering some 660 acres, Pine Lake has no shortage of places for bass to hide. It has defined weedlines in deep water, pad fields, reed flats, bays, coves, points, islands, cabbage beds and docks. All of them are likely locations to find largemouths. Hitting on a pattern is key. Deep water is always a refuge for largemouths in the summer.

"We catch a lot of fish by drop-shotting in the summer in 18 to 20 feet of water," suggested Van Dam. "In general, Pine Lake fishes very well in the summer. There are bays and coves where you can get away from the traffic that always produce fish."

Most bucketmouths on Pine Lake will run 2 to 3 pounds, but trophies pushing 7 pounds are not unheard of.

For information on Pine Lake and other southwestern Michigan bass lakes, contact D&R Sports Center at (269) 372-2277, or online at DandrsSports.com

COLDWATER LAKE
"I would have to rate Coldwater Lake as one of the better largemouth lakes in our unit," stated Jay Wesley, Southern Lake Michigan Management Unit fisheries supervisor. "Coldwater Lake sees a lot of fishing pressure from out-of-state anglers, but it has excellent largemouth habitat and good numbers of bass."

Coldwater Lake, at 1,610 acres, is in Branch County, and is one in a series of lakes that includes Marble, Middle, Bartholomew, Loon and East Long. Coldwater is the biggest lake in the chain. Though managed primarily for walleyes, Coldwater Lake gives up plenty of largemouths up to 6 pounds.

Largemouths can be found throughout Coldwater Lake, but several areas produce consistent action at certain times of the year. An area on the south end known as Shawnee Shoals is a good location to look for spawning bass when the season opens in late May. Post-spawn bass then fan out around some humps found there throughout the summer months. A well-defined weedline in 10 to 20 feet of water off Canada Shores is a prime hangout for summer bass. Drop-shotting along the weed edge is a hot tactic. Chucking a spinnerbait is a good way to entice largemouths from the weedflats and structure found off the southeast corner of Lyopawa Island. A flat called "The Kettles" is a steady producer of bucketmouths for those who like to fish Texas-rigged worms or Carolina-rigged lizards. A hump straight out from the boat launch on the northwest side of the lake is exactly the kind of spot you'll want to target for summer bass.