# Walleye fishing Portage/Bear Lake Manistee county



## Lund Explorer (Jan 23, 2011)

RTK said:


> I have also heard people trolling the Channel on portage and banging early in the season.....anyone have any experience with that?


Yeah.... 

Nothing like 5-6 boats trolling out on the right side, back in on the other, and then there's the guy trying to run three birds on each side coming right down the middle. Also not suggested while the big boats are headed out at dawn or the few trying to come back in at dusk.









June - 2014 That fog bank you can see offshore was as thick as pea soup, and hung around til afternoon that day. We stayed really close to shore that morning out of the way of boat traffic.

Just so you know, that channel looks wide until you actually get into it. Worse with two way traffic and knowing its full of shallow sand on the north side of it. Even crazier when there's two footers rolling into the mouth off the big lake. Learn to turn on a dime out there without tangling lines.

Amazingly, you can do just as well running the breaklines off the two deeper holes, and you won't have a single boat trolling anywhere near you.


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## RTK (Mar 25, 2020)

Lund Explorer said:


> Yeah....
> 
> Nothing like 5-6 boats trolling out on the right side, back in on the other, and then there's the guy trying to run three birds on each side coming right down the middle. Also not suggested while the big boats are headed out at dawn or the few trying to come back in at dusk.
> 
> ...


Oh boy sounds like a cluster


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## RTK (Mar 25, 2020)

I


Lund Explorer said:


> Yeah....
> 
> Nothing like 5-6 boats trolling out on the right side, back in on the other, and then there's the guy trying to run three birds on each side coming right down the middle. Also not suggested while the big boats are headed out at dawn or the few trying to come back in at dusk.
> 
> ...


i was just looking at the channel on navionics .....looks quite shallow throughout besides 13 ish right down the cneter


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## Crestliner 16 (Aug 28, 2019)

It's pretty amazing what a good mapping system can do.


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## Lund Explorer (Jan 23, 2011)

RTK said:


> I
> 
> i was just looking at the channel on navionics .....looks quite shallow throughout besides 13 ish right down the cneter


I wouldn't put too much weight on what that Navionics is showing right now that we are at record high lake levels. Its probably a few feet deeper from side to side. What you will find when you get on the water is that there is a lot of sand piled into the channel along north wall. This gets blown in from the neighboring beach/dune. During the low water years when towns were pleading for Corp of Engineers, or state money for private dredging, the water was so shallow that large boats could only pass through the south half of the channel when leaving Portage Lake. 

I have not been able to make it up there for several years, and water levels are extremely high right now, which might mean that the entire width is somewhat fishable. Might even be interesting to troll a couple of floating Rapalas along that north wall well after sunset, when everyone else has gone home.

One thing about trolling on the main part of Portage Lake. You can expect a real mixed bag of fish, from walleyes, to northern pike, and both largemouth and smallmouth bass. You may even tie into a wayward trout as I believe a former state record brown was caught up there long lining stickbaits out of that port. Finally, in the later part of summer, there are a few guys up there that even troll deeper water with tiny harnesses for bluegills.


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## GATORGETTER (Jan 31, 2008)

I will second Manistee Lake, my son and I have spent a lot of time in there. We have caught trophy sized pike and walleye many times. 30” eye Labor Day weekend it was quite a surprise hahaha!


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## Crestliner 16 (Aug 28, 2019)

I like trolling for gills, usually get the big ones that way. I fish a lake with some nice ones.


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## Wiggler (Dec 23, 2000)

RTK said:


> I have also heard people trolling the Channel on portage and banging early in the season.....anyone have any experience with that?


Lots of pier fisherman last spring, and very few walleyes. I was there off the wall about 8 times and caught 2 walleyes.


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