My son lives near Grand Rapids. Going up there for a few days around thanksgiving. He has been there less than a year, but has caught a few bass here and there. He doesn’t have a boat yet… I’ve never fished in michigan, but want to give it a try , especially for smallmouth. ( I’ve never caught one). Any suggestions would be appreciated!!

I have never fished here later than October! There are a lot of places to catch smallmouth from shore in the rivers in the warmer months. but honestly I have no idea where they are that late in the year. It's pretty cold. We sometimes get our first blizzard around Thanksgiving. The best access to smallmouth in the Grand Rapids area are the Grand, Thornapple, & Flat rivers. But it's going to be Steelhead season, and they may be more plentiful than smallies in many places. There might even be some crowds, especially at 6th st dam. There is good shore access to the Grand around the city (Riverside park, Canal park, Fish ladder park, and Millennium park). You can also go west to Eastmanville bayou 20 min west of town, or east to Chief Hazy Cloud park in Ada. To the SE, the Thornapple can be fished at Reuhs park in Alaska or the 84th st dam. One of my favorite spots for smallies in Spring is the Flat river at Fallasburg Park, a little quiet & pretty place north of Lowell, 30 min east. But no idea whether these are good spots for smallies in November.

Going to Michigan at Thanksgiving

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November 26, 20223 yr

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2 hours ago, N Florida Mike said:

Having some yellow perch for lunch. First time eating them. It has a distinct but very good taste!

Have you eaten walleye?

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November 26, 20223 yr

2 hours ago, N Florida Mike said:

Having some yellow perch for lunch. First time eating them. It has a distinct but very good taste!

Looks tasty! Growing up in Northern (more like northernmost) New York, perch were an occasional winter treat (thanks to ice fishing)...all the rest of the year we ate brown trout (plus an occasional halibut from the store) ?

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November 26, 20223 yr

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1 hour ago, 12poundbass said:

Have you eaten walleye?

No. Heard it’s great .

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November 26, 20223 yr

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3 minutes ago, N Florida Mike said:

No. Heard it’s great .

Get it before you leave Michigan. You won’t regret it!

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November 26, 20223 yr

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We ended up going to Rockford dam , at the advice of a local .

We tried paddletail swimbaits, tubes, spinnerbaits, flukes, crappie jigs, steelhead flies , even worms and didn’t get a bite. We might have done better had we used more of the baits that y’all recommended. My son thought he had some of those but when we were already there we couldn’t find them. Anyway, We fished in the river and below and above the dam. I thought for sure Id catch something in the deep, clear water below the dam, but didn’t. It was a pretty area and I enjoyed the experience anyway.

Maybe I can return when the fishings better…

Thanks for the responses and recommendations…

Back to Florida tomorrow Lord willing…

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