One of the best places on the pond is the Pine River arm. This is one spot where Tonello has seen anglers hauling in slabs on a fairly consistent basis during the spring.

Anglers can attribute bite-offs to the fairly abundant northern pike.

Tippy Pond is an impoundment on the Manistee River covering 1,540 acres at full pool.

For more information, contact the Lake Michigan Management Unit at (231) 775-9727.

Lake Ovid
“Lake Ovid is one of the good crappie lakes in my area,” fisheries biologist Kregg Smith said.

Surveys taken in the lake have produced plenty of nice-sized crappies in good numbers.

A stumpfield between the west shore and the island will sometimes produce early-season crappies. The southern end of the lake and the bays are where the submerged vegetation is thick, and up along some of these shorelines is where crappies will be found when romance is on their minds.

“Longer rods and weighted bobbers allow you to propel your bait farther out, while shorter rods can be used in tighter quarters, such as bank-fishing or brush fishing,” Harvey said. “I prefer to use Fenwick rods and any number of open- or close-faced Abu Garcia reels spooled with brightly colored line so I can see it when the line hits the water.”

Lake Ovid covers 412 acres in Clinton County. The lake is shallow and is 10 feet at the deepest point.

There is a boat ramp on the west side of the lake.

For more information, contact the Southern Lake Michigan Management Unit in Plainwell at (269) 685-6851.

Sessions Lake
“Most of our waters in this area have crappie growth that is at state average or above and Sessions Lake is one of them,” Kregg said.

Weedy shorelines, manmade structure and woody cover are great places to dunk a simple minnow rig. According to Curt Harvey, anglers will find it hard to beat a gold hook and minnow combination.

“This combination works doubly well in muddy springtime water,” Harvey said. “You can tweak this set-up by using the liveliest minnows you can get hold of. I’ll hook the minnow through the dorsal fin with a fine wire Tru-Turn gold hook. But then again, on some days, I’ll hook them in the tail or in the lips, depending on what the crappies are calling for. I like to have a selection of different-sized minnows, as slabs can be very selective. I love bobbers and floats, but there are times that crappies are so fickle that you can’t use them. You’ll have to go without a float and just dunk the minnow here and there where you think a fish might be waiting.”

Sessions Lake is located in Ionia County east of Saranac. It covers 110 acres with public access on the southwest shore.

Call the Southern Lake Michigan Management Unit for more information at (269) 685-6851.

Caro Lake
“There’s not a lot of crappies in Caro Lake, but if you’re looking for a wallhanger, this is where to look for it,” fisheries biologist Jim Baker said. “There’s a lot of big fish in this lake. We’ve seen some crappies up around 15 inches.”