Heading North to Houghton Area!

[Mhofferman]

Going up next Thursday thru Sunday and renting a place close to Korbinski’s. Looking for panfish and crappie to get some fish in the freezer. Planning on Houghton Thurs and Fri and then someplace else close by on Saturday. Am I mainly looking for weed beds in the East Bay to find fish or are they trolling thru the flats? Crappie preferring minnows this late in the season? Maiden voyage up this way, always appreciate any tips! Feel free to DM. Thanks and tight lines to y’all! 

[Foxinfish]

Houghton is a real tough lake to fish It’s huge with little structure, I’ve never had any success there fishing for panfish. I know of guys that do well on the middle grounds but you have to have a machine to get out there. About anywhere you go in the lake there’s small pike. Which it’s fun to put a spread of tipups out for, but I’ve never got on panfish out there.

[RobertFitz]

I fished Houghton the morning for a few hours on the 9th, nothing but small perch but then again I didnt move around to much. When I was in that area I went over to lake st. Helen since it was about 30 minutes away from the hotel I was in and caught a few pike and some keeper pan fish. Again, lots of small ones but we were in a shanty that we had to collapse. It's a 6 person eskimo so a pain in the butt to move. Budd lake had solid ice out there too and is pretty deep without having to walk to far but not sure of the conditions since it's been a week. Caught lots of dink gills but every hole i dropped down had some weeds on the bottom and fished stacked above them. Hope you get on a mess while your there on that safe ice!

[steak91]

You really need a machine to fish Houghton.  If you are on foot you are better off fishing some of the smaller lakes nearby. 

My advice on Houghton is to find green weeds and you will find fish.  You need to punch lots of holes and move around.  Not a lake that you can sit in one spot and have all day luck in my opinion.

[Mhofferman]

We have a sled for the weekend that we rented. Very happy we were able to rent one!

[pondbear52]

I'm headed up there tonight for my first go as well. I'll let you know how it goes