Structure abounds in this 554-acre lake. There are pilings, rocks, docks, breakwalls and more. All of them attract bass. Peter Copeyan Park is a good starting point. Use your electronics to locate underwater structure, and your eyes to spot the obvious. Both will hold fish. You can jig, cast, troll, still-fish or anything in between. Hotspots are off the Sand Docks, along the Dow Chemical breakwall, along the slab docks near Father Pere Marquette Memorial Park, along the pilings near the car ferry Badger and in the channel leading to Lake Michigan. Expect plenty of bass in the 2- to 5-pound range, and the chance for a state record is always present.

For maps, lures and fishing reports, contact Captain Chuck's Great Outdoors at (231) 843-4458.

MONA & MACATAWA LAKES
"We really don't have the inland smallmouth lakes like they do in the rest of the state," admitted Southern Lake Michigan Management Unit fisheries supervisor Jay Wesley. "Two of the perennial favorites are always Gun and Gull lakes, but a couple of drowned river-mouth lakes, Mona and Macatawa, have been giving up some huge smallmouths. I wouldn't be surprised if we see a new state record come from one of them."

One of the reasons both Mona and Macatawa lakes are smallmouth hotbeds is that they are infested with gobies, and the bass are feasting on the little critters. That combined with the fact that most people are after panfish on Mona Lake and walleyes on Lake Mac, the smallmouths in both lakes see little fishing pressure.

Mona Lake, at 695 acres, really doesn't see much fishing pressure for any species. Anglers tend to speed right by the lake headed for Muskegon or White lakes. They're missing some great bass fishing if they do. Look for plenty of smallies up to 5 pounds on either side of the Merrill Bailey Bridge, and along the northwest shore where a number of small creeks enter the lake. Right off the boat ramp on the north side is a smallmouth hotspot, too.

Ottawa County's 1,780-acre Lake Macatawa gets a yearly dose of walleye fingerlings or fry, and anglers forget about its great smallmouth fishing. The few that target Lake Mac smallies swear by tube jigs. The docks and structure along the south shore features prime smallmouth habitat. Bass in the 5-pound range will raise few eyebrows.

For information on Mona Lake and Lake Macatawa smallmouths, contact American Tackle Outfitters at (616) 392-6688.

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If you're a Michigan angler who likes fighting smallmouth bass, give these waters a try. You may think you've died and went to heaven.