SUPERTRAMP

Nice Job Durty D, how were the spiny sea fleas? I have not been out for several weeks but going to get back at it in the next week or so. I know that the fleas have been bad up north.

Nice job on the fish Kevin, tell your Dad I said hi, that looks a lot like about a 10# Coho not a King. ? BTW Ken Neidlinger passed away this April, just though you would like to know. I see you are using the center pin's he liked so much.

I tie my own Flies, the size of the flasher makes a big difference on the length of the leader. For a standard Spin Doctor I usually like an 18" leader, if running a fly off a trash can shorter is often better, about 2x the length of the dodger. If you are running 11" Paddles or Magnum Spin Docs longer leads work well. Most commercially packaged flies are already the correct length. put on a swivel or a snap and u are ready to fish.

Wow, 6 fish per day, that is really discouraging, as recent as 4 years back we were averaging 12 per trip for the season. I guess success is not measured in totals, but quality is down for this year too.

Big warm water influxes, in particular with the grand I think are helping to congregate bait with the extra cold water this year. We couldn't find water warmer than 53deg last week unless we were in and around the mud in GH it seemed.

The ideal temps for Kings is not 52 to55 degrees, it is 43 to 48 degrees, We have decreased plants, and the returns are reflecting that decrease, wait until 2017, 2018 it is going to get worse not better. St Joe plants down for 250K to 48K fingerlings this year. 1 way to help is to set a minimum size for kings of 18", that will save those 12" fish I see being butchered at the cleaning stations, and that the Charter captain when asked replied well they are paying to catch fish not put them back. Good old school thinking will take away all our fisheries.

Awesome trip, way to get the Kids involved in the sport. Well done Jason

31' Chris Craft Commander, twin 454's usually about 30 gallons for a full day of fishing. In St. Joe we have to run a bit farther than up the lake, usually 5 to 10 miles out of the harbor and troll for 6 to 8 hours. If u have to worry about gas costs, u can't afford it. My rig only burns 93 octane alcohol free Marine gas, 3.89 at the marina. We usually use about 120 to 150 dollars of gas. Everyone pitches in or they don't get asked back.

When the Thermocline develops, the bait hangs just above that level, the Predators will be most active early and late, and during Full moon phase during the late morning, try splitting between the colder deep water, and the warmer water right at or slightly above the Thermocline. Kings like it cold, Coho and Steelhead tolerate warmer water, and when you have the conditions we currently have surface temps below 60 degrees try the top 20 feet with spoons and body baits troll around 3.5 to 4 mph and you can really do with the Steelhead. You will hook a lot and lose at least 30%.

They need to look at what is happening at Hanford Wa. to see how dangerous that would be.

I run a 31' Chris Craft, twin 454 inboards, I run 2 48" bags when trolling on 1 motor, and can get down to .5mph. bigger bags, you can get higher rpms, and control better. If you are running an autopilot, it will make everything more stable. I use the MinnKota sock, be sure to come to a full out of gear stop when deploying, and when retrieving the sock.

looks like a fishlander

I have all 3 the new one has some really good information for more advanced fishermen. Dan also points out the experience is the best teacher, learn your area, fish the active fish. Kings are active early and late in the warmer thermocline, and during other periods at temps from 42 to 48 degrees. The most intriguing information was the link he gave for lake currents.

It is still for sale, it is listed thru POP Yachts.com, at $19500, I will sell it thru this site for $15000 firm includes all tackle slip for the remainder of 2015, the electronics are inclhttp://api.viglink.com/api/click?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_143419727113210&key=e1286eb9814cf594eba20351fe108b50&libId=iauzzh9r01002jq7000DAh2napv9v&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.greatlakesfisherman.com%2Fforums%2Fshowthread.php%3Ft%3D37002&v=1&out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.popyachts.com%2FView%2F63820&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.greatlakesfisherman.com%2Fforums%2Fforumdisplay.php%3Ff%3D65&title=1984%20Chris%20Craft%20316%20Commander%20-%20Great%20Lakes%20Fisherman&txt=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.viglink.com%2Fapi%2Fclick%3Fformat%3Dgo%26amp%3Bjsonp%3Dvglnk_14341972711309%26amp%3Bkey%3De1286eb9814cf594eba20351fe108b50%26amp%3BlibId%3D...

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uded. Humminbird 858.cdi, 4 walker downriggers Fishawk X4, , Toughbook with GPS chartplotter. 20 rods 24 reels, all baits. 4 TX44 planers and 10 walleye boards and more.

Martin, try the St Joe city launch, you will never have water over the docks and they have a great cleaning station. $5 parking fee, but well worth it. On a different note, my friend Doug Wiggins (Sports Widow Charters) called me @ 2 pm Thursday, he had just finished his morning trip, ended up with 27 for 30, 20 of which were coho, the balance were Lakers and Steelhead. 200 FOW on a temp break in the top 60 Feet. Blue bubble fly behind a blue and white spin doc. The rest were on small spoons. He said all of the fish were full of Alewives, and that the alewives were of all sizes from fingerlings to full size.

Sounds like a fun day. Nice job as always Frank.

You will never regret having autopilot. Absolutely one of the most important tools I have. Allows me to fish alone, or help run the back of the boat when I have inexperienced fishermen on board.

Struggled to get 2 fish today, 12# King on Walker deeper diver set on 1 out 150, with a stinger modified coyote spoon, and a 5# Steelhead on a 10 color with the same spoon, we started south of the Junk Cars in 80 and trolled north northwest to 130, Had a huge rip in a 3 color with a stinger orange killer that went down, and caught the 6 color and 10 color that were on that side of the boat. Kind of a big mess but we had the skunk off the boat. Waves were 1 to 2 when we left the pier and 2 to 4 coming in . Water is still 44 degrees at 55' down. We really struggled with the cottonwood seed today, hope that is done soon. Our speed varied with the waves but 2.5 at the ball seemed the best.

+Nice job.

I just ordered all 3 as my copy of Keating on Kings disappeared.

When the cotton wood is flying, the fishin is dyin.

I've released about 20 shaker kings this year and they've been about a 50/50 mix of clipped and natural fish. These are the fish that were planted or smolted last spring.

Usually we don't see them until June on the tail end of the spring kings. I've caught more shakers this spring than I do most seasons in totality.

I'm with you Kevin. Lots of juvenile fish if we let em grow up.

let the cannon balls down until you gets slack cable then retrieve it till its tight and lives in about a foot I'll get you right where you want to be

guys quit thinking that you are living in days of old we only had 48000 young fish this year to plant in St Joe we used to have a hundred fifty thousand let the things grow up if you're so darn hungry for fish go catch catfish

Now if we could convince the guys that are killing 10" to 12" kings to just let them go. You are killing your fish for 2 years from now. Please DNR put a 15" minimum on Kings and Silvers.

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Well we left the slip @ 6:30, set up just south in 65 FOW, marked a ton of bait and fish in there, started a SW troll, setup included 3 color, 4 color, 5color, 6 color and 2 10 color rigs dipsy on 1 out 80 and 100, riggers at 35 46 and 2 on the bottom with fixed sliders.

First fish was on the 10 color 6#King spoon was a stinger lemonlime. next we got a nice king on rigger down 46 stinger orange killer. Then it went dead. Decided finally at 10:30 to go back to where we were last sunday. Trolled south in 77 to 85 FOW and found some cooperative Kings. First one was on a 10 color with a stinger glow Christmas, then one of the fixed sliders with pink panties spoon went. Both Kings around 15# While landing the 2 fish a third went on 4 color, and we had our first Laker of the day (only one too) on a stinger Orange Killer. Last of the 6 we ended up with was on a 300 copper with a Stingray lemon lime glow. Not bad for a day when the Charter boats were struggling too.

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Mike(Supertramp)Chamberlin

Boat SILVERKING

Port of St Joseph

Fish count 2015

Kings 17

Coho 17

Steelhead 3

Lake Trout 26

Brown Trout

Total 69

Trips 7