HitMan

You have to draw that "invisible" line across the box that would go through "May 1-Sept. 30 (splake open all year)" and separate MM 5 from MM 6-8 using that invisible line and the color codes.

I haven't seen the new 2009 Fishing Guide, but if it is the same as least year, you are misinterpreting the map and description. At least last year, MM 5 (Leland, Frankfort, Platte Bay) had the rule of 20 inches minimum and maximum of 23 inches EXCEPT one could be over 34 inches. Otherwise, MM 6-8 (Arcadia to New Buffalo) is a 20 inch minimum with no other slot limit laws in effect, other than 3 fish per person. Again, I haven't seen the 2009 Fishing Guide yet, but since they changed the Lake Trout laws a few years ago, it has been the same each year since then. Hopefully, this isn't the case, but there are a lot of Lake Trout in this region now that are 20-23 inches so they may have a new slot limit in effect for this region too.

I would stay in the 20-50 foot of water area, more so wherever the muddy water is at. The muddy water in Grand Haven will be warmer than the stated 38-40 degrees. This is where the bait fish will be, along with the big kings. The biggest kings of the year are usually caught out of Grand Haven the last week of April and the first few weeks of May. For fishing the top 20 feet of water this time of year, I would be using 6 lead core or surface lines. For example, 2 surface planer boards, a 2 color lead core, 3 color lead core, 4 color lead core, and a 5 color lead core. If I didn't have those rods set up, I would use 2 downriggers, 2 divers, and 2 lead cores (3 color and a 5 color). Fishing this time of year is almost entirely locational based. If you are not where the fish are, you aren't going to get them. But, if you find them and stay on them, you are going to have a fun April day! This is probably the only time of the year where the fish are really really schooled up and are all together in a certain area or place.

Big 11 inch Pro-Troll HotChips when the water warms and for down deep and also in the fall in front of the piers in the mud. Some days 5 rods in the water, with 5 11 inch HotChips in the water and many people won't use them there. Otherwise, 8 inchers do the job most of the year.

By this time the King run should have already begun and if not, it should at anytime. Depending on the King run, the Kings should be in harbors and harbor mouths and if not, they will be in the 40-70 foot areas near bottom, if the water is extremely warm. As soon as the water cools, the Kings will be in the harbors immediately. If the King run is over, then the normal offshore fishing occurs in September with Steelhead, Lake Trout, and smaller Kings making up the catch, depending on the water temperatures, which are usually extremely warm so the best fishing is usually 100-175 feet down while offshore.

I have always used a SPRO Heavy Swivel in the 150 pound test. They are just over $1 a piece and two are required per Copper set-up. One to connect your backing to your copper and one to connect your copper to your leader. It is also nice to have some 1/16" shrink tubing to melt over the swivel and knot. The other copper knots have never held for me and I will always use the swivel set-up.

#18 is one of the best spoons ever made!!!

I would be fishing in the Muskegon Basin and/or Channel. The water should be rolled over and the surface temperatures should be in the 40s. The warmest water will be in the Basin, where the bait and Chinooks will gather, due to the 40 degree temperatures in the lake. Both species will relocate to the warmest water possible. I also would venture out to the 40 foot depths, or wherever the murky water is at in the Big Lake, but I would never be out of any murky water. I would be using 1-3 color lead cores, divers back 20-35 feet, and downriggers 10-25 ft down. I would be running an 11 inch Pro-Troll HotChip in the White/Double Pearl Fishscale with an Oceana Rapture Fly or Frosted Fern Rapture Fly. I would be running up to 6 Pearl/Black Dot Tomic Plugs in numerous sizes, Silver Horde Ace High Double Glow plugs, along with Green Glow Size 3 J-Plugs. No spoons would be in the water. If there are no fish in there, I would run out straight west until the surface temperatures started reaching the mid 50s.

Our most consistent rigs were lead core and copper (we run 1 side of copper and 1 side of lead core), then wire divers, and then downriggers.

My vote would have to be the Stinger Stingray "Blue Cory's Bait"

Copper plated spoons are almost entirely used as Walleye Spoons on Lake Erie. We used lots of Hammered Copper Stinger Spoons the last few years, but have slowly gotten away from them. We still do use them when in the "muddy water" in Grand Haven, due to the murky water color and conditions. Otherwise, the lake is becoming so clear, copper spoons are becoming a thing of the past in the open blue water.

I was able to get a great fishing trip in with my mom and dad on their boat in Muskegon Saturday morning. We fished from 120-160 foot of water south of Muskegon just outside the nets. We ended up 19 for around 25 and kept 13 of them. We kept 9 kings, 1 coho, and 3 lake trout. We threw back 6 lake trout that were too small. We never had a spoon bite. All bites were on Pro-Troll flashers and Rapture Trolling Flies, along with a few Tomic Plugs. The best three flies were the Hypnotist LG Rapture Fly, Blue Fern Rapture Fly, and Last Supper Rapture Fly. The best two Pro-Troll flashers were the White/Green/Glow 8 inch ProChip flasher and the Chrome/Blue Hologram 8 inch ProChip. Get out fishing! Fishing is fantastic right now!!!!!! Good Luck!

Congratulations to Team Lake Effect for their outstanding three days of fishing in the Ludington Tournament!!! They won the Ladies Tournament on Friday and led on Saturday and then of course on Sunday! Three great days of fishing and remained in first place after each day! Way to go Brian, Mom, Dad, and fellow crew members!!!!!!!! Also, an excellent performance from Team Stinger and an outstanding second day box and comeback from KC-1 as well! Great Job everyone!!!

Alex, Actually, we have not put one meat rig in the water this year. We used it a lot about 3-4 years ago, but with the VHS issues we have just continued to use it less and less every year. So, no I have not used any this year. The flasher/fly bite has been great, so there hasn't been any need for meat this season. Good luck!

Fishing is extremely good out of Grand Haven right now! Limit catches of King Salmon are occurring with an occasional Steelhead or Lake Trout being taken as well. These catches are the biggest and heaviest we have seen thus far this season out of Grand Haven. The best water has been 130-170 feet of water, with the best action coming around 150-165 feet. Downriggers 85-160 feet down, wire divers back 150-280 feet, braid divers back 250-300 feet, 13-20 colors of lead core, and 300 ft.-450 ft. of copper are producing fish as well. The best lures of choice have been Stinger spoons in the Stingray size and Rapture Trolling Flies with Pro-Troll flashers. The flasher/fly bite has been getting better and better everyday, so we have been using less and less spoons each day. Consistent spoons for a few bites have been the Glo Dolphin Stingray, Wiggle Stingray, Gator Stingray, and Mixed Veggies Stingray. The best fly by far has been the Oceana Rapture Trolling Fly. This has been working every morning behind an 11 inch White/Pearl Fishscale HotChip flasher, 8 inch Blue/Blue Hologram/Crushed Glow ProChip flasher, and an 8 inch White/Double Crushed Glow ProChip flasher. Other hot combinations have been the 8 inch Green/Glow ProChip with a Hypnotist LG Rapture Trolling Fly, 8 inch White/Green Hologram/Crushed Glow ProChip with a Hypnotist LG Rapture Trolling Fly, and the 8 inch Natural Born Killer Stinger ProChip flasher with a Hypnotist LG Rapture Trolling Fly. Other flies that have been working are the Hit Man No-See-Um Rapture Trolling Fly, Last Supper Rapture Trolling Fly, Green No-See-Um Rapture Trolling Fly, and the Frosted Fern Rapture Trolling Fly, with these all being fished behind an 8 inch White/Double Crushed or Double Slick Glow ProChip flasher. Fishing is fantastic right now! Get out and enjoy the limit catches of King Salmon being caught right now! Good luck and good catching to all!

Great Job! That Blue Machine has been pretty darn good!

Around 6:15 this morning.

I fished on my parent's boat out of Muskegon today. The same action occurred today as the last few days out of Grand Haven. We fished from 150-180 feet of water. We only fished 3 downriggers set at 53 feet, 69 feet, and 85 feet and caught our 9 kings in 28 minutes. The lures were the Blue Machine Stingray, Blue Veggies Stingray, and a White/Pearl Fishscale 11 inch Pro-Troll HotChip flasher with a Frosted Fern Rapture Fly. The king fishing is as good as it gets right now! Get out fishing and good luck to all!!!

Fishing continues to be fantasic out of Grand Haven right now. Limit catches of King Salmon are still occurring! This is fantastic June fishing! The best water the last few days has been 85-105 feet of water and also 170-230 feet of water. The nearshore bite is unpredictable due to the large amounts of bait, but the offshore bite has been reliable with great numbers of fish showing for it also. The water has warmed slightly over the last few days. Downriggers 50-85 feet down, wire divers back 120-190 feet, braid divers back 130-180 feet, 5-15 colors of lead core, and 125 ft.-450 ft. of copper are producing fish as well. The best lures of choice have been Stinger spoons in the Stingray size. The last couple days, anything with Blue on it has been key, even though earlier in the weekend it was orange. The best two colors the last couple days have been the Blue Machine and Blue Maui Stingrays! These two spoons have been accounting for over half of our catches. Fishing is fantastic right now! Get out and enjoy the limit catches of King Salmon being caught! Good luck and good catching to all!

Fishing is extremely good out of Grand Haven right now! Limit catches of King Salmon are ocurring with an occasional Steelhead or Lake Trout. Due to our cold and late spring, June fishing is fantastic right now! This is the May fishing many of us have been waiting for! The best water has been 90-190 feet of water, with the best action coming around 110-140 feet. Downriggers 30-65 feet down, wire divers back 80-180 feet, braid divers back 110-150 feet, 3-15 colors of lead core, and 125 ft.-450 ft. of copper are producing fish as well. The best lures of choice have been Stinger spoons in the Stingray size. The last few days, anything with Orange on it has been key! The better colors have been Double Orange Crush, Chip's Shanster, Red Headed Stepchild, Orange Crack, Hawg Wild, Double Kevorkian, Blue Machine, Carmel Dolphin, and Green Machine. A few larger Kings have been biting flasher/fly combinations on wire divers as well. An 8 inch Pro-troll Chrome/Blue flasher with a Last Supper Rapture Fly or Blue Fern Rapture Fly and an 8 inch Pro-Troll Green/Glow flasher has been working well with the Hypnotist LG Rapture Fly as well. Fishing is fantastic right now! Get out and enjoy the limit catches of King Salmon being caught right now! Good luck and good catching to all!

Be sure to send your thoughts and feelings to the DNR by June 13th regarding the proposal to increase the salmon limits. The link is posted below and you just have to send an email to the address listed on the bottom. http://www.michigan.gov/documents/dnr/SalmonDailyBagLimitFAQ_232622_7.pdf

Fishing continues to be hit or miss in Grand Haven. Fantastic catches were reported a couple days ago with much slower action occurring today. The water is still quite chilly, making the fishing inconsistent and unpredicateble. Better reports of catches are occurring south of Grand Haven near Saugatuck, so the fishing should only continue to improve as the water temperatures continue to rise. The best water has been 160-220 feet of water, with the best action coming around 170-180 feet. Downriggers 65-bottom are producing salmon shallower and lake trout deeper. Wire divers back 150-300 feet, 3-15 colors of lead core, and 125 ft.-450 ft. of copper are producing fish as well. Lake Trout continue to make up the majority of the catch, with kings, cohos, and steelhead mixed in. The best lures of choice have been Stinger spoons in the Stingray size. The better colors have been Blue Dolphin, Double Kevorkian, Blue Cory's Bait, Blue Veggies, Mixed Veggies, and Yellow Machine. A few larger Kings have been biting flasher/fly combinations as well. An 8 inch Pro-troll White/Glow flasher with a Last Supper Rapture Fly and an 8 inch Stinger NBK Pro-Troll flasher has been working well with the Green No-See-Um Rapture Fly as well. As of right now, it looks like a great weekend for the Grand Haven Offshore Challenge fishing tournament! Good luck and good catching to all!!!!

Thanks a lot Satisfaxion Gauranteed!!! You guys got a couple good paychecks with the Big King as well. Our day was just pure luck and two lucky fish paid us pretty well! In the end, the payday was better than a 3rd place finish! We almost missed the call as well and called someone asking why all these boats were calling in at the pierheads. We ran 15 miles in 25 minutes at 4000 RPMs in the Tiara and made it with 15 seconds to go in those 7-10 foot waves! We were up North and never heard a thing.

Usually in the spring we concentrate the use of flashers/flies on the wire dipsys and downriggers. We tend to keep the lead cores and coppers open for more spoon-type fish. But, flashers/flies still work on the deeper cores and coppers this time of year as well. But, I would say overall, most of our success is on the wire divers and downriggers and as the year progresses, more lead core and copper success.

In the spring, a lot more fish are caught on spoons. But, as the other two have stated, larger fish are caught on flashers in the spring. If you want to go out and just fish for numbers, I would use all spoons. But, if you want to have a shot at a larger fish, I would use 1 or 2 flashers, as both have stated already. For fishing in tournaments this time of year, we use a large majority of flashers and flies, trying to catch fewer fish, but larger fish and if numbers are needed at the last minute we will switch over to all spoons. Hope this helps and good luck!!!