# Island Lake Huron River



## Echolalia

Has anyone had any luck on the Huron River in or near Island Lake State Park/Kensington area? I've fished it a couple times (although never really at the "Huron River Fishing Site") and I've had mixed results. As I've been using a flyrod all year as well as the fact that I'm a complete beginner in terms of fly-fishing (started back in March/April), all I've managed to catch are a couple panfish here and there. I'm still working on presentation of the fly and figuring out all the basics of flyfishing, so I figure if there are trout or any other exciting fish to catch in there, I won't be finding them anytime soon, so I figured I would come on here and ask more experienced fishers if its even worth fishing.

Thanks for the help guys, and of course, if you have any pointers for a complete beginner with no mentor/tutor, all assistance would be greatly apprecited. If you feel more comfortable pm-ing me, by all means be my guest.


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## Frogfish101

There are smallies there.


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## Silverexpress

If your fishing for Trout, you won't find any in that section. It's too warm to sustain trout. These fish like cold clean water. Anything below 65 deg F is a good bet especially if it is shown as a designated trout stream in the MDNR handout (which you should have gotten with your license or you can look on line at http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10364---,00.html )

(There are trout in the lakes found inside Island Lake. One in particular, Spring Mill Pond, is stocked every year with some real big brutes. "Trout Lake" is stocked with fingerlings - 6". Just an FYI)


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## BIG "D"

Thats about all you will catch, mabe a bass every now and then. It's a good place to pratice getting drifts down.
Come April Stockerfest above Wixom rd is the place and time to fish the upper Huron.


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## mattm

Ive caught most warm water species through there , but noticed the most prevelant to be rock bass, suckers and carp.


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## Echolalia

Thanks a lot for all your help, guys. I really appreciated it. I'm assuming those trout in Spring Mill Pond like to hang out a little too deep for a flyrod.


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## Silverexpress

Don't tell anyone...but you just have to get to them really early in the morning or later in the evening. I forget what time the park opens/closes. It's when their food is most active throughout the water column. Personally, what's happened under that water totally creeps me out.


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## DE82

The trout in spring mill pond are VERY hard to catch...the Huron in that area is mostly bass and panfish. 

I fished the mill pond today with the family and ended up catching a small brown trout(about 8inches) on a size 3 rapala countdown but keep in mind that's not the norm. You normally catch A LOT of gills and bass and not trout in that spot


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## Echolalia

DE82 said:


> The trout in spring mill pond are VERY hard to catch...the Huron in that area is mostly bass and panfish.
> 
> I fished the mill pond today with the family and ended up catching a small brown trout(about 8inches) on a size 3 rapala countdown but keep in mind that's not the norm. You normally catch A LOT of gills and bass and not trout in that spot


Yeah, I've been there a number of times before, and I've never even seen a trout caught. All I ever pull out are panfish with smallmouths here and there, but no bass so far with the fly rod.


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## uofmguy68

Silver Express.... so what happened under the water at spring mill pond that creeps you out...?


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## Shoeman

Echolalia said:


> Has anyone had any luck on the Huron River in or near Island Lake State Park/Kensington area? I've fished it a couple times (although never really at the "Huron River Fishing Site") and I've had mixed results. As I've been using a flyrod all year as well as the fact that I'm a complete beginner in terms of fly-fishing (started back in March/April), all I've managed to catch are a couple panfish here and there. I'm still working on presentation of the fly and figuring out all the basics of flyfishing, so I figure if there are trout or any other exciting fish to catch in there, I won't be finding them anytime soon, so I figured I would come on here and ask more experienced fishers if its even worth fishing.
> 
> Thanks for the help guys, and of course, if you have any pointers for a complete beginner with no mentor/tutor, all assistance would be greatly apprecited. If you feel more comfortable pm-ing me, by all means be my guest.


Take your longrod and head to A2

The water below Barton and around the U of M Hospital is pretty forgiving for a novice. Try anything brown/orange in a bugger.


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## Silverexpress

uofmguy68 said:


> Silver Express.... so what happened under the water at spring mill pond that creeps you out...?


Let me just say, "becareful around the dropoffs".

I'll float (float tube) it now and then. Anyhow, you don't have to look far to find out what might work for the trout or bass.

Just to keep your hopes up. I caught a 19 inch rainbow on a mid August day. It was around noon and sunny with an air temp of about 90 deg F. I was stripping a tiny muddler minnow right above a dropoff. 4 wt setup with a 12 ft leader. I'd cast it out, let it sink, strip it about 2-3 inches, wait 5-10 seconds, strip, wait....etc....

The first step is to forget about the fish, and figure out what the food base is in that pond. Then find a lure that matches it, and learn to fish it like the real thing. For example, I've seen damselflys, caddis's, mosquitos, baitfish, frogs, flying ants, grasshoppers....etc..etc...and something that looked like a stonefly - I'd really like to know what type of insect this was. It would hatch out of the water, and big fish would jump after it. The ones that made it would buzz the air slowly flying higher. I've swatted a couple with my fly rod, but not enough to knock it out of the sky.

On calm days, or in the evenings, the surface becomes almost as still as glass. I found that you really have to approach the water quietly or else you spook the big fish away. The times that I succeeded, I'd witness bass chasing minnows up to shore.

P.S. That's 1 rainbow/20 yrs.


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## BIG "D"

Wife brought this home last night.

Wayne is a excellent speaker.


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## DE82

Silverexpress said:


> I've fished that pond for nearly 20 yrs. 3 times I've witnessed drownings. People tend to under estimate how deep that pond is, and many more drownings have occurred. Takes them a few days to recover the bodies especially when it's windy out (churns up the muck down below).
> 
> I'll float (float tube) it now and then. Anyhow, you don't have to look far to find out what might work for the trout or bass!
> 
> Just to keep your hopes up. I caught a 19 inch rainbow on a mid August day. It was around noon and sunny with an air temp of about 90 deg F. I was stripping a tiny muddler minnow right above a dropoff. 4 wt setup with a 12 ft leader. I'd cast it out, let it sink, strip it about 2-3 inches, wait 5-10 seconds, strip, wait....etc....
> 
> The first step is to forget about the fish, and figure out what the food base is in that pond. Then find a lure that matches it, and learn to fish it like the real thing. For example, I've seen damselflys, caddis's, mosquitos, baitfish, frogs, fly ants, grasshoppers....etc..etc...and something that looked like a stonefly - I'd really like to know what type of insect this was. It would hatch out of the water, and big fish would jump after it. The ones that made it would buzz the air slowly flying higher. I've swatted a couple with my fly rod, but not enough to knock it out of the sky.
> 
> Lastly, fishing in a lake/pond is way different than in a stream/river. The fish have more time to look at what your throwing at them. They'll look, and look, and look. If it moves like anything they've seen before...it's a goner, and you got yourself a fish. If not, adios. In addition, they can see you too.
> 
> By the way, the fish tasted......fishy.
> 
> P.S. That's 1 rainbow/20 yrs.


The man speaks the truth! The trout in this pond are pretty damn tough to catch...IMO toughest "trout water" to fish in the state. I have been skunked only ONCE out of over a dozen times on the paint this season(my first season fishing it) I've catch trout on the clinton at all times of the year, I've fished the MO, PM, LM, Manistee ect.. and without a doubt getting trout here is the toughest because of the bass and panfish. They will hit anything a trout will. That being said depth is key, so is time of day. I have caught trout here, not a lot but some. Mostly on countdown rapalas. 

I can personally say I've seen browns and rainbows in that pond OVER 2.5 FEET. Absolutly amazed at the size of the fish.


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## PunyTrout

> I can personally say I've seen browns and rainbows in that pond OVER 2.5 FEET.


Were they slowly growing back the fins they lost from the concrete raceways in the hatchery? ...That brood stock is a mounter!

Sorry, no offence intended, but I am allowed a little sarcasm, right?


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## Echolalia

The old man and myself went out to spring mill pond yesterday from about 5:30 to 9, and absolutely nothing was biting. I was a bit surprised, actually, because it was a cooler evening and it was raining, so I figured fish would be a little more willing to hang out just below the surface. I didn't even see panfish around the shore.
About halfway through the evening my dad ended up pulling in a rainbow from the shoreline. We didn't have a tape measure with us, but it was close to 15 inches. What was interesting to me was that he caught it on a jitterbug, which I would assume to be too bulky for a trout to go after, but I guess I was wrong. Anyway, the entire evening you could see them all jumping, but conveniently enough they were never jumping within a rod's cast of us.


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## Johnny 2581

Cool sounds like a good night.


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## DE82

drgulian said:


> Were they slowly growing back the fins they lost from the concrete raceways in the hatchery? ...That brood stock is a mounter!
> 
> Sorry, no offence intended, but I am allowed a little sarcasm, right?


You are aware they stock trout of ALL sizes in that pond right?


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## Silverexpress

Echolalia said:


> The old man and myself went out to spring mill pond yesterday from about 5:30 to 9, and absolutely nothing was biting. I was a bit surprised, actually, because it was a cooler evening and it was raining, so I figured fish would be a little more willing to hang out just below the surface. I didn't even see panfish around the shore.
> 
> About halfway through the evening my dad ended up pulling in a rainbow from the shoreline. We didn't have a tape measure with us, but it was close to 15 inches. What was interesting to me was that he caught it on a jitterbug, which I would assume to be too bulky for a trout to go after, but I guess I was wrong. Anyway, the entire evening you could see them all jumping, but conveniently enough they were never jumping within a rod's cast of us.


Were they jumping in front of the beach and closer to the opposite shore? 

Sparking some interest from this thread. I decided to spend an evening at the Pond. I saw just one rainbow jump, but ended up catching a bunch of stunted bluegills, and one nice largemouth that gave my 6wt setup a good workout. The bluegills were attracted to a size 10 wooly bugger, and the large mouth nailed a size 16 parachute adams. Go figure!
I was casting that adams on a 16' leader. Oh what fun in 15 mph winds, but boy did that fly look good -with no flyline in sight. Sitting there looking pretty just beyond the bouys. Waiting. 

It was windy, and I read that rippled water was good for lake run trout since it makes them less wary of shallow water. They fooled me, hahaha.

Oh well, next time I'm gonna chase that one rainbow around the pond, so he'd better watch out. 

(It'd be nice if the park was open earlier - like 6am, and closed a little later - like 11:30 pm - then we'd be getting into some real nice hatches, and bottom drifts this time of the year.)

Anyhow....back to stream fishing I guess (sorry for taking this thread on a tangent, but it was fun). At the dam, if you toss your offering right at the bottom of the falls, and then let it drift down some, you'll hook into some sizeable quarry. Think of the falls as a giant food conveyor. The big strong fish will be at or near the bottom of the falls with their maws open. You just need to figure out of a way to keep your lure from dragging directly across the very bottom - else you'll snag into the pilings, branches, and god only knows what else.


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## Echolalia

The fish I saw jumping were all around the center of the lake, always at least a cast and a half from shore in all their teasing glory. Not really isolated to one side or another. Unfortunately those were the only fish in the lake that were hungry; even the sure-fire spots that usually turn up good bass and gill fishing closer to shore were mostly empty. And I have to agree with you about them changing the hours. Every time I go there I think to myself "If only this place stayed open an hour longer".
In terms of what they're attracted to for eating, I feel like the fish in that pond are all retarded. Bluegills taking on the big stuff while the bass chase down the smaller flies. When we went last week the trout my dad landed was caught on a jitterbug. 
Anyway, don't worry about derailing the thread. I'm mainly just looking for a good place to fly fish close to home. My questions about the Huron in that area are answered, and people (myself included) seem to have a greater interest in Spring Mill.

By the way: that dam has never given me much luck, but I always see people down there fishing it out, so it might just be something I'm doing.


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## Silverexpress

I spoke with Wayne Snyder at Bass Pro Shops in Auburn Hills, and he mentioned a presentation he was giving this Wednesday about the Small Mouth Bass fishing on the Huron. It'll probably be about the sections of river in Ann Arbor and Pickney. 

Have you fished for them before with a fly rod? They're a blast. Below is the info from their website.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"July 29, 2009
Fly Fishing the Huron River
Fly Fishing the Huron River

Wednesday July 29th 7-9 PM. The Huron River is located in Southeast Michigan and flows 125 miles from the Huron Swamp northwest of Pontiac to Point Mouilee on Lake Erie. And it&#8217;s teeming with smallmouth bass! This workshop is FREE! No Pre-Registration Required!"


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## Echolalia

I've only fished the ILSP section of the Huron, but I have heard good stuff about the Ann Arbor area. Unfortunately I will be up north when the workshop is occurring


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## ready4pullback

Prime Hex time on the lower Huron.


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## Silver Panner

I talked to a guy who dives in spring mill. He was saying that he's seen some monsters in there. Anytime he's seen them though they are lying right on the bottom. Wonder if bouncing a jig along the bottom would be productive? Anyone here ever tried it?


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## Ifish

Are we talking about the Island lake on Grand River between Whitmore and Pleasant Valley on the South side? I know Spring Mill is over that way but I was under the assumption that Island lake was part of the Huron Watershed but fed by springs. Thanks for any info.


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## Echolalia

Silver Panner said:


> I talked to a guy who dives in spring mill. He was saying that he's seen some monsters in there. Anytime he's seen them though they are lying right on the bottom. Wonder if bouncing a jig along the bottom would be productive? Anyone here ever tried it?


I haven't tried it, although I don't have the resources to. If I recall correctly, the lake is around 40 feet deep, and I don't have access to a paddle boat (unless someone is drowning, then maybe I can take that lifeboat out and drop a line whilst saving someone  )

I am also interested in this, or perhaps waiting until cooler weather to get those monsters closer to the surface would help. Has anyone fished this place in the fall?

Ifish, we're talking Island Lake State Park, which can be found right off of 696 by Kensington Metro Park in Brighton. I believe that it is on Grand River, although I don't know the road name off the top of my head. There are a number of smaller lakes in there, as well as the Huron River which flows through it.


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## Silverexpress

Silver Panner said:


> I talked to a guy who dives in spring mill. He was saying that he's seen some monsters in there. Anytime he's seen them though they are lying right on the bottom. Wonder if bouncing a jig along the bottom would be productive? Anyone here ever tried it?


Did your friend the diver, specify what type of fish? Carp? Bass? Trout? Walleye???


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## Silverexpress

Echolalia said:


> I haven't tried it, although I don't have the resources to. If I recall correctly, the lake is around 40 feet deep, and I don't have access to a paddle boat (unless someone is drowning, then maybe I can take that lifeboat out and drop a line whilst saving someone  )
> 
> I am also interested in this, or perhaps waiting until cooler weather to get those monsters closer to the surface would help. Has anyone fished this place in the fall?
> 
> Ifish, we're talking Island Lake State Park, which can be found right off of 696 by Kensington Metro Park in Brighton. I believe that it is on Grand River, although I don't know the road name off the top of my head. There are a number of smaller lakes in there, as well as the Huron River which flows through it.


Since it is a designated trout pond, the season for fishing this pond ends in September (forgot the actual date - maybe it's the last Saturday). There should be a sign at the entrance to the pond stating this.

From my experience, you either go deep down to where the fish are. They hangout by the cold springs at the bottom, or you go surface with super long leaders (fly fishing) in the evening, or you go with a float and hang your offering at the thermocline (at times 20+ ft below surface).

Man, I wish I had all the time to fish these places! For fishing, Michigan is #1 in my book.


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## Silver Panner

Silverexpress said:


> Did your friend the diver, specify what type of fish? Carp? Bass? Trout? Walleye???


 
I only asked him about the Trout. Telling from the handouts the DNR had at pround lake this spring and from the size I would assume that they were mainly bows. I cant remeber if it said if they put any browns in the lake or not.


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## Echolalia

It would appear there are Browns in there

http://images.google.com/imgres?img...ox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&sa=N&um=1


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## Silverexpress

Echolalia said:


> It would appear there are Browns in there
> 
> http://images.google.com/imgres?img...ox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&sa=N&um=1


Note the trees in the background. These pictures must've been taken early in the year.


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## Echolalia

Silverexpress said:


> Note the trees in the background. These pictures must've been taken early in the year.


Yep, I have a good idea what part of the lake they seem to be attacking too. The page was created back in April 2009, so it may have been from this year.


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## kype138

SMP gets stocked with trout at the same time as the Huron at Proud Lake does - a few days prior to April 1st, every year.
The pond is deep and cold enough to support hold-over fish, and since some of these pigs are former brood stock, they get very large.
Since the beach on the south side of the pond gets a lot of use during the summer, the noise and fishing pressure tends to make them very spooky. We used to hook into the occasional rainbow or brown by drifting across the pond, jigging a small cleo or spinner. The fish were few and far between, but we did get into them, and the few we raised were always large.

There's also a decent number of bass and panfish in there, or at least there used to be.


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## Echolalia

I've never had a problem pulling out a bass or panfish, but other than photos and stories, I have no correlation between trout and SMP.


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## Hullyscott

I mountain bike at Island Lake, then pop into the river after my ride. Yesterday I walked the bike trail that veers left after the back bridge, then blazed a trail for a 1/4 mile along the river. I jumped in after I spotted some nice trees lying in the water (just in shorts since the water is still pretty warm) and fished it upstream back to the bridge. Caught 3 northerns (one was close to legal size) and 3 nice smallies (the biggest was 16")

Hully


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## engineer20

i went yesterday to spring mill pond, whichh was opening day. you coudl see some of the larger trout swimming and jumping up. i didn't catch anything, but I didn't have waxworms, are waxworms a must, as most of the people were using waxworms. they don't run out of trout that quickly and today (1 day after oepning day), there should still be trout left in there, right? The trout were HUGE, much bigger than the trout they stock at fishing derbys, like canton next week and some other ones in the area. Will small earthworms work? What about powerbait? What about fathead minnows? thanks. They were using bobbers and sight fishing and throwing it far. The side opposite of the beech didnt' seem to have as manhy ppl as the side with the beach, but they walked a little beyond the beach, is that were the trout congregate ,or is the other side of the lake also produce fish? Thanks. how quickly do they run out of trout or is it much harder to catch? one day after opening day? a week after opening day? a month after opening day/ Thanks. One guy dindt' have his license and the dnr came and cited him. it's a 5 fish limit with no more than 3 big fish, or over 15 or somethign inches. so 2 small and 3 large, basically, which is generous, as i can't even catch one, but i only caught one large rock bass yesterday.


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## bsfishin

My son and I went in the fished the river down stream from island lake and did great . We caught a few nice northerns large mouths rock bass and a huge small mouth I mean HUGE SMALLEY. We have jackson big rig kayaks and fish the river all year. Last years I got the biggest largemouth ever. Fishing is best about 2 hours before dark but you can catch stuff all day. You never know what your going to catch. You can fish with spinners crankbaits body baits twisters frogs best is something weedless because all the trees down. You need to get out and try it its a blast


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## engineer20

I got a bite this morning! I tried, and I tried with the only crankbait I had with me. I didn't epect anything, but I saw the fish swimming at the surface, and then they bit my crankbait! he put up a fight and then snapped my line, a rapala shadow rap http://www.rapala.com/rapala/lures/shadow-rap-series/shadow-rapandreg/Shadow+Rap.html

I bought it for 5.60 on sale, 40% off, and the normal price is 9.99! he ate my most expensive lure, and then after that, the fish stopped swimming around my area, as it migh thave injured the fish and he warned the other fish and they stopped feeeding. Will the fish die, it was a trout, a nice big trout with a huge thick red stripe, a rainbow? was this accidental, or do rapalas often work on trout? I tried a spoon and spinner later on and those didn't get any hits, as well as a storm (that classic crank), forgot what it's called and no hits, so only rapalas work? do shadow rap typically work on trout? if so, i'm going to buy another and try again tomorrow!


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## Raylaser

Hook will most likely rust over time and break off if he only has one hook embedded and it's not obstructing his mouth from eating.


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## engineer20

but that rapala had 3 sets of treble hook! it might kill the trout, these fish are rainbows? i've seen the silvery light colored rainbows, but these "rainbows" have a deep red stripe to them and their flesh was red, as one ded one washed up on shore and i tore it apart and saw the flesh was red, so it's like supermarket salmon/steelhead


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