Differences in Location

Kalamazoo County Lakes gives a pretty good list, though not complete, of the lakes within 30 minutes of my house in Portage, MI. Almost all were clear lakes. Austin lake, 10 minutes from the driveway was great, except it was crowded and the pleasure boaters, skiers and jet skiers were really a bother if you wanted to fish. I spent a great deal of time on Hogsett and Gourdneck Lakes. They were hard to get a boat on: County launch had limits on motor size and the DNR area had an unimproved launch accessible by a mile of two-track and a great place to get stuck. They were georgeous lakes.

The Richmond area has the advantage of a much longer fishing season and some great fishing. The disadvantage is that the nearest boat launch is about 30 miles. In Michigan, 30 miles would put me almost on Lake Michigan. The real advantage for Richmond, is that the water doesn't have two feet of ice on it in February.

Kalamazoo is not a world-renown fishing area. But if you want to be on the water chunking lures at fish within 30 minutes of quitting time, it's a little better than Richmond.