SUPERTRAMP

There seems to be a lot of different opinions on this, I guess what is most important is that we work together to find a solution. Invasive, have been a fact in the great lakes since the St Lawrence SeaWay was opened, first it was Sea Lamprey, then Alewvives, then the Quagga and zebra mussels, then the round gobie, The fact is that Man himself has set it all up. Now we need to address the issue. Next on the agenda is the Asian Carp dilemma. My hope is that we get something in place soon, if we don't our sport fishery will disappear. For those that complain about the Lake Trout, that is the only native salmonid to the great lakes, all the others are imported.

Recently I have seen a lot of chat on the MSSFA site about the decline of Salmon Plants in Lake Michigan. Well guy's its happening to us like it did to the Lake Huron fishery. The good thing is that we still have a huge number of Lake Trout and the Steelhead may keep us from falling off the map. However the Salmon will no longer be a go to fishery. Sad but its gonna happen guys. What are your feelings on establishing Creel limits and closed seasons for Salmon? West coast fisheries are and have been under those regulations for many years trying to bring back their fisheries. They have finally succeeded in restoring the Sockeye fishery to the Yakima river after over 50 years of no runs at all they now have a sustainable Sockeye run and the Yakama Indian nation is now able to fish in their historic dip net manner. We have always had very liberal limits, and no closed season. If we want a King Salmon fishery, I believe we need to limit catches and close the spring season for King salmon,until the middle of May.

Ed said it all. One of the draw backs of the St. Joe fishery is the size and the amount of private land along the shore of the river. The only access points are public access points. A boat gives you the whole river to fish. Don't give up on the shore but move down to the old netting sites and drift the deep run. Its a tough way to hook up and the chances of getting a fish up the bank are slim but it can be done. Otherwise, any small boat with a small outboard and a few rod holders can become a Steelhead catching machine.

The steelhead fishery is solid on the St.Joe, from the dam at Berrien Springs all the way to the lake, the strength of the fishery changes daily with the amount of water coming down the river. When we had the big melt it was on fire. Try the Pipestone Creek hole and the Jasper dairy hole. There are a lot of good runs for drop back spawn fishing, and my personal fav. is to back troll against the current with body baits. Have fun the Steel are there.

Work all of them together, action is fast and furious. yellow birds or other lite weight boards, with body baits, work shallow water. In St. Joe we will start as soon as ice out, and the action will go for weeks. The fish are not large, unless you have a spring like 2014 and then our catch was more Kings than Coho. Top 15 feet , and adjust speed up and down until you start getting bit. I started using the river rockers last spring and they work well, they are a copy of the Heddon Tadpolly. Don't get stuck on just thin fin's jointed rapala's work well for Brown trout in shallow water. You can run the small red dodger with a red fly (I tie my own) off riggers from 5 to 12 down, and any small red spoon will work well also. Coho in the spring are not finicky, and the trick is finding them Usually find the warmest water in the lake and they are there.

Nice job Buster. What was your catch? Lake Trout? Kings? Steelhead or coho?

Mitch is right, its a spoon bite and u fish it like we do in the middle of the spring. 2 to 10 color of leadcore, and spoons. They will hit at any speed but we like to stay right around 2.8 to 3.0 mph. Watch for currents and good luck. The lake can be tricky in late September thru October, but usually worth getting out if you can.

There are always fish off shore in the southern lake, the biggest problem is the limited number of days you can get out there due to weather conditions. I normally leave my boat in the water until October, but last year we were caught with snow early and it never let up. So we are pulling the boat out next week and gonna spend a few days buffing her out and polishing up everything to be ahead of the game for next spring. Where r u fishing? I know in St Joe there are some nice kings and steelhead out in 180 to 240 FOW, and they are usually very cooperative.

I fished on the Pleasure Tyme with my buddy Dave of DR Spoons and had a rough ride. We set lines in 75 FOW, first hit came on rigger 65 down, nice 2 yr old king about 12 lbs, while that fish was on had another fire on the deep rigger down near bottom, Lake Trout about 20#. Trolled out to 110 FOW and turned around to fish into the waves. We ended our day with 4 Lakers and 1 King, 2 of the trout were of the 25" category, and 2 were twins big fat 38 to 39 inchers about 20 lbs. What worked, DR spoons, blue bubble and greasy chicken, all of our fish but the last laker were on riggers, and that last one came on a dipsey back 125. We started south by the Junk cars, and ended up north in the 10's. We never had a hit after 8:30 and pulled lines at noon.

Getting Out. My partner in the boat can't afford it any more and it is more than I want to be committed to. Its not a business its a pastime. If u r interested let me know.

Twin V8 Inboards with counter rotating screws. BenMar autopilot, 4 Walker Downriggers, lots of rod holders 2 Great Lakes 3 rod towers, all anchors and equipment including 19 rods 25 reels new spool of ande 20 and blood run 30 lb seaflea. Wire dipsys and power pro dipsy setups, too many spoons and plugs to count, New Humming bird 858, fishawk. All charter approved Life jackets. shore power cord, spare alternator, and much more. $18500 or best offer. I am lowering the price to 16,000 to GLF members only. The boat is slipped at Brians Marina in St Joe. Call Mike 269 9294221. For more information and to arrange a showing check out the link below for more pics. http://www.POPYachts.com/View/63820

Kevin We started in 65 fow. There was too much traffic to mess around the dirty water, a couple of guys went in there and ended up moving out. Water at the river mouth was 71 on the surface and 65 on the bottom.

Mixed bag out of ST JOE, early bite was good until the sun came up. We got a late start, but managed a few fish, 1 King and 2 keeper Lake Trout. A couple of guys in our Marina did catch a few early. We fished 75 to 110, and maked a lot of bait fish on the bottom in that 105 range, North off of Rocky Gap. Really don't know where the Kings went, I don't think they have run yet in the southern lake. We caught a nice 12 lb. King on a 6 color Stinger bloody nose. Lake trout came on UV Spin doc with a blue bubble fly, about 5' off the bottom. Really not much going on but there is cold water 55 down we had 44degrees. at 48 down it was 58 degrees.

Nicer Job Dan old guys rule.

Nice job Jim>

I am amazed, I run 14# balls and have not lost a ball, except when someone brings the ball out of the water in rough conditions, or stops and drops too fast. I run 150# wire, Band buster releases and #33 rubberbands. In rough conditions u need to make sure u stop the ball 3 to 4 feet below the surgace, or you get the yo yo bounce and that will break cables.

Had John Crouse and his brother on board for the day, It was a little lumpy first thing, South rollers and currents were really bad. We set up in 75 FOW, and like my fishing buddies had said, the fish had moved. We found cold water at 65ft, so I set a deep rigger with a paddle green big weenie paddle and home tied UV blue bubble fly, we tried plugs and large spoons, and nothing going for the fires 2 hours 1 hit on a 6 color with a stinger glow Christmas spoon. switched to smaller baits and finally got another hit, 300 copper with Silver Streak UV Panty ho. Nice Steelhead. Next hit was a King on the same set up, other side of the boat. Had 2 releases on riggers, nothing doing. Next hit was dipsy on 2 out 85, took a really nice Skamania that had its tail all chewed up. Trolled for another hour and had an under sized Lake Trout take the flasher and blue bubble down on the bottom, released that fish and the DNR came by and asked for us to flash our licenses, and they were satisfied. Slow out of the Joe. Ended the day 4 for 8, Not as good as last week but we got a couple.

Nice Burbot Frank mmm good eatin. Or is that a Cat?

Good job on finding fish, I think if you check that the mature Kings are mostly 3 year old fish. We have Washington and Oregon strain fish here and they run at 3. 4 year old fish are from Alaska. I have spoken to several fish biologists and they seem to believe we have rare 4 year old Kings and all Coho mature at 3.

Its part of the Rocky Mtn Experience. Up, down, and sore muscles. I Hunt the Rockies every chance I get and we always spend 2 to 3 months getting ready by doing a lot of Back pack and camping along the Manistee above Red bridge. The river trail is good exercise.

When u go up the GOING TO THE SUN ROAD be sure and look down at McDonald Lake. It is so clear u can see the bottom looks like its shallow but don't believe it.