Nobananas

Thank you I will try this out !

At a glance it appears the lead broke but I will not know for sure until i count the colors, it was a 7 color . I assumed the lead broke further up because when I tied the leadcore sleeve to the mono I used a double uni knot and to do that I pull about 7 inches of lead out when I check the core after the snap the leadcore was even with the sleeve but it is entirely possible it snapped right at the leader . I can only assume it was a beauty of a fish it was ripping drag and stayed down the entire fight near the end I was so eager to see it I tighten the drag and got too aggressive with it .. lesson learned

A Lawrence elite 7

2.8 sog early on with riggers set deep 2.3 sog after 10:30am 130-160 fow NNE or SSE TROLL was best for me green mag spoons glow in low light, high shine green spoons once the sun was up also fireball on 7 color went twice one landed one broke off Riggers were set 90-105 down flasher fly didn’t seem to produce for me but I can only assume it’s because I didn’t have them in the right location low diver was out 250 high was out 280 I moved them all over the place I belive fish were very deep (hugging the bottom?) wasn’t marking much . Curious how you guys present flasher flys on dipseys when they are deep , do you just keep sending them back further if you are not getting bit ? Or keep them higher in the column anyway . Set lines around 6:30 am in 88 fow looking back I wish I would have hung out in this depth a while but I went on a NNW troll didn’t catch a fish until 120 fow 90 down green glow magnum spoons caught 1 steelhead proceeded to lose 3 fish in a row in 120-130 two on a rigger set at 90 and one on a ten color then fishing shut off just as I was about to head back to port at 10:30 am with one fish , a king decided to whack the rigger set at 100 with a mag green frog spoon in 158fow then a while later green jeans got hit down 90 . Lost giant something On a 7 color after a good long fight the lead core broke still kicking myself for that one I tried to rush the fish in never got to see it though. It’s a real bummer when you have the fish almost to the net and it comes off ! Either way , it ended up being a great trip and I was able to take my neighbor out who hadn’t caught a mature fish until today ! Now he gets why I want to go out all the time .

We set lines at about 6:30am then it shut off for me around 8 am not sure of but maybe i had such a short catching window due to bait selection i put a lot of high shine stuff out expecting the sun to come out and it did not . It’s possible that the fish just went deeper than I thought they were. I’m interested to see if any other reports come out to grand Haven how people did today.

Best fishing for me was 120 fow to 150 fow we set the gear deep on a straight west or east troll averaged 2.8-3 sog One rigger set at 75 down the other at 90 down 1st landed fish was down rigger 90 down green glow with ladder back 114 fow 2nd landed fish was same down 90 same green glow ladder back 134 fow 3rd landed fish was violet plug On a 10 color 150 fow the other fish I missed on a diver white flip fin with blue glow fly I made . Lost that due to a poor knot job on the hook . Very frustrating but also my fault . Then missed a second fish on the same paddle with a green glow fly I made , that one just came off I don’t know why quite frustrating I seem to lose a lot of fish in my divers not sure if my drag is too loose I don’t pump the handle I try to keep constant pressure , new hooks also . The reel itself is very sticky drag and old so I’m trying to phase it out . I also lost a very large king off the downrigger at the back of the boat maybe 15 feet away . Also had one come off the opposite downrigger just after . Happy for the success but frustrated losing so many hoping to replacing a few of my reels as they are old cheaper reels .

For sure ! I thought I was doomed when my wife hauled out bananas and granola bars for a snack

Quick rundown without a story 113 fow rigger 80 down2.7-3.0 sog south troll / east troll kinda don’t really know I was a little busy . green and white glow mag spoon with black and white ladder back caught a 13-14 lb king landed that also same water but lost the fish was rigger down 40 with standard size MS green jeans with tape . Weeds at the ramp are very thick. Now with the story Friday night when I was leaving with a couple friends to go out on the lake my son was begging to come I told him the next trip I go out I promise you can come ( not an easy task as my wife does not like being on the big lake with our kids 7,5,3 they get squirmy) . While sitting at work I pulled up the bouy cam it was so calm I though for giggles I’d shoot my wife a text “let’s take the kids salmon fishing tonight the lake is flat”. She said yes sounds fun so at about 6 we headed for the launch my kids wanted to swim more than they wanted to fish so we swam until about 7:30 then we hit the big water as I was setting my lines I had my wife and oldest drive , if you were out in that 110 ish fow I sincerely apologize if we were to close or accidentally cut you off ( bit off more than I could chew trying to set lines and teach them how to keep a straight heading ) I set one rigger at 80 and one at 40 then set out a low diver with a white paddle out 150 and a spiny with a green fly I took over the steering and started to head south to try and get away from people to give my son another shot at driving but my youngest was pretty bored and the whining was less than ideal so at that point I decided to pack up after only having lines out for about 20 minutes . I pulled the high diver got that in and then the rigger at 80 down went I handed the pole over to my wife and oldest then the other rigger went as I was starting to reel that fish in the fish they were fighting got wrapped up in my low diver so my attention shifted to landing the larger fish and somehow got it out of the low diver . So at about 8:45 we landed that fish and decided it was a great time to head in . My oldest sons first salmon was a good one ! My wife had a blast too fun night As you can tell from the graph photo direction was a challenge

Great trip ! I got hooked on salmon fishing around that age I’m sure these trips will be core memories for him !

Thank you for the report I am always impressed ! I lost 4 fish on The same night 2 on divers and 2 on the riggers does anyone have any good tips or insight on what I could do different ? I alway stress with everyone who is fighting the fish on my boat to keep the line tight no slack etc. from what I was seeing no one was giving any slack or pumping etc. it’s hard for me to tell without having the rod in my hands . I did end up having a bent hook on a fly what size/brand hooks do you prefer for flys standard spoons and mag spoons ?

Went 7/8 Set lines a 7:30 pm in 67 fow sse troll ms green jeans standard size uv tape I belive? got hit while I was holding the rod in my hand setting the rigger down 37 feet down 30out no other lines in the water yet, very exciting ! I set the other downrigger down 45 out 30 added a new release so when that one fired right away I thought I needed to tighten the clasp , Nope ! Another nice medium sized king ! On MS dancing anchovies After we land those two fish I reset down riggers let out a 10 color half bloody nose mag ,plane that to the side then set dipseys large white paddle out 125 on mag diver usually a setup that produces for me , not lastnight . Other side I had a yeck mag spoon blue and white from 8 pm to 9:45 pm nothing went out to 90fow headed back in (beside a shaker on the 10 color lord knows how long we weee dragging ) once the sun set we hit that 67 fow area graph lit up and it started popping Off 4 more solid kings down riggers lost one on a dipsey I pulled up dancing anchovies for a green white glow mag set it down that got two more fish and the green jeans produced the next two then headed in at 10:30 pm SE troll 2.7-3.1 sog was good and East troll 67fow-58 fow is where we caught all of them down riggers set 40 down and 45-55 depending on marks . green spoons with glow standard and mag seemed to work best for us downriggers were on fire all great fighting fish they did not want to get in the boat , several strong runs ! It was an excellent night

Thank you all!

Caught fish in 130-145 fow rigger was down 80 Mrchrome Hailstorm spoon caught two and DW soda SS caught a small one that was on a slider on a rigger down 80 . Lost one on a half bloody nose DW 7 color with a 5oz snap weight . Lost another on a low diver with a green glow spoon with black ladder back . (Lost them while we were doubled up ) exciting morning ! I seem to only catch coho. the only kings I caught this year were during the run, close to the plume and the fish were starting to get some brown color . Any insight possibly on why I’m usually only getting coho could it be Speed ? Maybe depth ? I don’t have a temp or speed probe I usually try to stay around 3 mph sog and watch my diver rod bend . I believe the fish in the pictures are coho . Black gums white mouth , scales falling off .

Set lines at 6:30 pm in 125 ish fow marked plenty of fish all over from 35-the bottom ended up getting one nice coho in 111 fow on a large pearl glow DW paddle with a pickled sunshine fly 135 out on setting two DW deeper diver pulled lines at 8pm

Short version : 4/5 fished 89 fow - 150 fow 2.5 average sog hard to tell with the waves. fish seemed to like the 137-142 range we had riggers down 60 wonderbread glow spoon 1 fish . spoon green glow spoon with white and black ladder 1 caught 1 lost . dipsey diver out 185 of setting 3 large white glow paddle with pickled sunshine fly caught 1 DW deeper diver out 190 chrome / green spotted flasher blue fly setting 3 caught 1 south east troll going with the waves was best(for us mainly because it was so wavy maybe a north south troll would work better ) . No luck with a chrome j plug . Long : Great morning fishing ! 4/5 Arrived at the launch around 5:20 am to a mostly empty lot . The lake was rough. Started setting lines around 6am 6:20 am in 89 fow north west troll ( into the waves as we set lines) green glow white and black strip down the center ( don’t know the name) spoon went on a rigger down 60 speed was 2.5ish sog next fish was in 97 fow same speed and direction down 60 on a wonderbread glow spoon . Shortly after we lost a fish on the green glow spoon . Then things slowed down for about an hour we kept the samE northwest troll so we ended up in 150 fow most markings where in about 142-137 fow so we turned around headind south east with the waves and in about 139 fow large DW double pearl glow paddle with a pickled sunshine fly went landed I believe a nice coho . Later we landed another on a diver chrome flasher with blue fly coho or steelhead not sure , I’m not good at fish ID had a great time beautiful weather !

Do you keep the catfish to eat ? I assume they are very clean coming from the lake . Very cool I didn’t know they were out there biting spoons