Beginners Luck on Lakeville Lake

I fish a lot of familiar waters. Comfortable lakes where I know the hotspots. I’m confident on every trip because I have the experience that tells me what to do. Which lures to use and when. Where the fish go when the weather changes. It’s fun fishing with confidence. I stay more focused and hook more fish.

New waters are usually a challenge. I lose focus because I’m distracted by all the variables. I contemplate depth, temperature, wind speed, barometric pressure, the amount of sunshine, you know the list. I usually end up over-thinking my way into a less than productive day in the boat.

Lakeville Lake killed that trend. On my first trip to this largemouth sanctuary my friend Branden and I landed close to 20 bass. In about 4 hours. Not bad for two dudes who never fished the lake before. B landed more fish than I did. But I forgot the memory card in my camera so I didn’t get any pics of his epic morning. He was kind enough to snap a few with his phone for this post.

Lakeville Lake is in Addison Township, MI, just east of Oxford and south of Leonard. There is only one public launch at the south end of the lake near the intersection of Lakeville Rd and Rochester Rd. The water is clear and the majority of the lake is shallow weedy flats. Perfect for some summertime bass action.

There were just a few trucks at the launch when we splashed the boat around 7:30 on a Sunday morning. We started off working flukes around submerged brushpiles. The bluegill and perch were everywhere. They lined up to take swipes at that 5″ lure even though most of them weren’t 4″ themselves. B landed the first bass of the day before we moved to a shallow cove behind an island.

Calm Waters. Aggressive Fish. Good Morning.

I slowed down my presentation with a wacky-rigged flick-n-shimmy worm from Bass Pro. A few casts around some docks put this bass in the boat. And that started the onslaught.

My First Bass of the Day

We crept along the shore setting the hook just about every 20 feet. The action stayed steady for over an hour. Most of the fish were holding to the docks or cruising in about 5-10 fow. There are a few deep holes and we tried slow-rolling spinnerbaits and popping some jigs but didn’t get a strike. As soon as we were back in the shallows we tossed out that wacky-worm and bam…fish on.

We had some work to finish up on Branden’s house so we called it quits around 11:30. When we got back to the launch it was crazy busy. A line of trucks waiting to get to the water clogged the street and the dock. It took over 45 minutes to trailer my boat and head out. Honestly it was the only drawback to an otherwise bad-ass morning of fishing.

Maybe it was beginners luck? The only way to find out is to try it again. B, I’m ready when you are. Maybe this time I’ll remember the memory card. Maybe.