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Headed to Northern Mi for an extended weekend in a couple weeks, heard the inland waterway has some pretty awesome smallie fishing and a good variety of other species. Anyone been up there?

I love fishing Mullet - only been there a handful of times though. Good Walleye and Smallie fishing for sure.

Smallie can be targetted almost anywhere that looks good for bassing - might be on their beds right now so shallows might be the ticket.

For Walleye I have done best at the North End of the lake - see below. Fishing the ledge 10-25 fow.

Thanks for the Info Dirty. I am thinking they are a week or so behind due to the cold weather up there, still in the 50's mostly highs in the 60's and 30'-40's at night. I heard last year the second week of June was really good for walleye and smallies. Going to take some trolling gear also and give those steelies a go at least one day. Taking my outfitter tent and stove for the cooler weather should be a good fun trip. Fished in the UP a few times but this will be the first stop in this chain. I will take some pics and hopefully figure out how to post them, lol. Will be camping at Aloha State Park.

we have always stayed at aloha as well. There is a little channel there, so you never have to take your boat out of the water - just have to commandeer a spot and "beach it". It backs up to other folks camp sites but its all fair game as that shoreline is not limited to just those campsites on it. The campground itself is pretty blah, but the lake is beautiful.

Also - not sure if you do the kayak thing - we always bring some and do the Indian river from Burt to Mullet is really nice. Lots of smallies in there too.

We will be taking a few Kayaks with us and the oldest Granddaughter is getting a new one for her Birthday that weekend so some kayaking will be done but probably reserve all the fishing for the boat. We have a site on the lake so I may be anchoring on the main lake with the land anchor system I purchased for Houghton Lake last summer. I think it will depend on water temp and if I can make the wade out to safe anchoring depth. Also concerned about charging trolling motor batteries is there a system most use to do that in the water or do we pull the boat to charge at the site?

Heard the new Michigan state record smallie was caught in Indian River last summer

I imagine your best option is to beach and tie your boat and run a long extension cord from the campsite to charge the batteries.

Thanks, that's what we did last year at Houghton and would have worked ok if I hadn't had battery issues. I will give a report when we get back, new waters in Upper Mi always fun exploring.

Got back from the weekend trip to Mullet. Wow, lots of water to explore. Was only able to fish Friday and Saturday due to weather Sunday and Monday. Water temps in the high 60's and very clear. Fished for Steelhead on Friday caught a couple lost a couple nothing fantstic but decent action for first time on the lake. Small spoons seemed to be the ticket. Swithched to walleye for Saturday and caught a few nice keepers with several shorts returned to grow a little more. Was going to fish for smallies on sunday but the 25+mph winds and on and off rain kept us in the tent most of the day, calmed a little over night but having to pack up we opted not to fight the waves and wind. The campground was clean and well kept. We will be going back but might be a while since the campground looks pretty full the next couple months.

Nice job - I sure do like that lake alot.