The Great Lakes State has such great fishing opportunities that some species tend to be ignored. Take largemouth bass, for example.

Michigan's best bass fishing takes place where weedbeds are prolific. Lake Mitchell has an abundance of this prime largemouth habitat, evidenced by a typical bass taken on a topwater stick bait over the weeds by Greg Ellison of Taylor. Photo by Mike Gnatkowski.

Michigan holds some truly outstanding bass-fishing opportunities, but it seems not too many anglers take advantage of them. Michigan anglers, in general, just seem to be trout, salmon and walleye crazy.

So, you won't really get an appreciation for the quantity and quality of largemouth bass fishing in Michigan until you sample it.

HAMLIN LAKE
Mason County's Hamlin Lake is know for its big bluegills and a respectable walleye population. I know, because I lived on the 5,000-acre lake for 20 years. What I didn't realize until recently was what a tremendous largemouth bass population Hamlin Lake holds. To be honest, I never fished for them. What I discovered, however, is there are oodles of largemouths in the lake between 15 and 20 inches, and the chance for landing a trophy bass is good. Bass topping 5 pounds are not uncommon.

Hamlin Lake has great bass habitat. The upper lake tends to be fairly weedy and shallow and is a good bet for largemouths in the spring and early summer. The lower lake has more structure and depth, but there's plenty of great largemouth habitat there, too.

The fishing technique that works so well for many bass anglers (walleye and bluegill fishermen, too) on Hamlin is to simply drift with night crawlers or leeches on two snelled hooks and a sinker on the bottom. It was simple. Oftentimes, the bass were coming two at a time on one rod. We caught plenty of bass right through the summer on these rigs, but serious bass fanatics tell me that white spinnerbaits, crankbaits and jigs tipped with plastics can take bass off those flats and weed edges, too.

Bass anglers access the upper Hamlin Lake at Victory and Wilson parks. The lower lake is reached via North Bayou Resort, at the end of the road at Dune View Street, at South Bayou and at Ludington State Park. For lake maps, live bait and accommodations, contact North Bayou Resort & Marina in Luddington at (231) 845-5820, or online at www.nbayou.com.

ARBUTUS LAKE
"Arbutus Lake has a large population of largemouth bass, and a lot of them are undersized, but there are some big bass in the lake, too," said fisheries biologist Mark Tonello of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Central Lake Michigan Management Unit. "I would have to say that Arbutus Lake is one of the better largemouth bass lakes in the region."

Located in Grand Traverse County, 395-acre Arbutus Lake is actually a chain of five lakes located southwest of Traverse City. The lakes range from 31 to 150 acres in size, and all of them hold excellent largemouth bass habitat. Relatively shallow, the lakes are filled with coves and bays, fingers of land, laydowns, stumps, downed timber and weedlines.