Hello! I am looking for new places to fish for Smallmouth Bass around my home town of Portage, MI. I would like to try the Kalamazoo River a lot more this spring/summer, but is there any other places with good Smallmouth fishing? I am stuck from shore most of the time, but I have chest-high waders, and I would like to try my dad's inflatable kayak this summer even though it isn't a fishing kayak. Thanks!

I live near Gull road and have not had any luck out of the river near me, most of my luck has been in Allegan county for smallmouth. Doesn’t mean there not here just means I haven’t figured it out yet. I do ok with largemouth around here. I saw a fish yesterday when I was walking under a bridge carrying all of my gear with me. It was close to a rocky bank, didn’t get a good look at it so I don’t know if it was a smallmouth or not. If I figure out a pattern or get on them I will let you know what worked. Good luck, the river can be decent although it is all about location. There is one part of the river in otsego that has caught my eye for a while. It looks perfect for smallies to me although I haven’t quite figured out how to get to it to fish it yet.

I haven't fished in the Kalamazoo area, but I've done some scouting in preparation for trips that I never quite got around to -- doesn't Austin Lake have smallmouth?  I thought it did.

 

I also thought the Kalamazoo River by Otsego looked good; might be the same stretch you're thinking of.

30 minutes ago, MIbassyaker said:

I haven't fished in the Kalamazoo area, but I've done some scouting in preparation for trips that I never quite got around to -- doesn't Austin Lake have smallmouth?  I thought it did.

 

I also thought the Kalamazoo River by Otsego looked good; might be the same stretch you're thinking of.

Yeah it is that stretch of the river that I want to fish more often. And I don't know if Austin Lake has Smallmouth. If it does, I'm stuck at the most pressured point on the lake, which is Lakeview Park.

Large mouth went crazy on the Kalamazoo river today on a weightless California 420 speed worm, lol I had to work harder to catch a smaller one on a weightless senko. Could have been the color though, senko was purple. I like purple the fish today not so much.

4 hours ago, Jmurphy87 said:

Large mouth went crazy on the Kalamazoo river today on a weightless California 420 speed worm, lol I had to work harder to catch a smaller one on a weightless senko. Could have been the color though, senko was purple. I like purple the fish today not so much.

Nice. Which section was this in?

In parchment.