SUPERTRAMP

Try a 000 Dodger in red or a 000 Dodger in red, that is standard Coho fare in the spring and it works.

the biggest mistake people make is trying to run heavy 300' copper too far from the boat. I always run my 300 or 450 copper rigs with in 60 to 75 ft from the boat, the lead core full cores outside that and the shorter cores outside that. I use Walleye boards and u have to move the counter wt a little forward to keep the board level. Its a matter of tuning the board.

I would second going to MC instead of St Joe. too early for the Joe. end of the first week of April and will see ya there.

u got it 2 to 2.7 slower for Lakers if u go deep.

Gold red accent and red firetiger are hot u can also try some clean spoons and 000 red dodger with coho candy flies are hot for the ho's early. If u want browns remember stay tight to the beach they hang in the troughs along the beaches. Surfcasters regularly catch them south of the piers where they can get access. I RUN A LOT OF JOINTED GOLD RED RAPALAS IN J11 AND J13 GET MORE BROWNS ON THEM. THERE ARE 2 LAUNCHES 1 ON THE BENTON HARBOR SIDE RIGHT NEXT TO TACKLE HAVEN AND 1 ON MORRISON ISLAND. USUALLY EARLY NO CHARGE IN BENTON HARBOR, BUT WATCH U LEAVE NOTHING OF VALUE IN YOUR VEHICLE. ON THE ISLAND IT IS A DNR LAUNCH. THERE IS ALSO ONE UP RIVER AT THE BRIDGE.

St Joe is the 2nd largest watershed on the Michigan side of the Lake, Fishing is good from ice out for coho and Browns, first of May Lake trout open and are easy to find. If you want a good off shore fisher I suggest go SW fm the pier heads and start in about 100 FOW and keep going until u find the fish they will be there until the first of June then the southern lake dead time hits. July is fantastic and goes until the end of "September. The have a large run of Skamania in June and July and the kings are around too It is an under used fishery. Steelhead in the winter on the river and late Sept and October kings up river at the Jasper Dairy and up to the Dam. The MC2 will be slipped at Brians Marina on Morrison Island this year, give us a shout of PM me here and I will give u a cell#

Mike(Supertramp)Chamberlin

save some money just put a twili tip on a 9 to 10' dipsy rod and u will be all set the roller rods can cause more problems than they solve and are very expensive.

I use free sliders a lot and I never like to have more than 5' of leader makes it easier to net fish. 1 thing u need to do is make sure u have a stop above your bottom bait to keep the snap swivel on the slider fm going down and opening up your bottom swivel I have found that a small bead above the terminal swivel works well. The free slider will settle at the apex of your blow back in your line. It is usually somewhere about 2/3 to 3/4 of the depth your fishing.

U gotta remember the further from the keel the shallower u should run the rigger, a V configuration will keep u fm tangling your riggers. I run 15# wts on my short arm corner riggers, and 12# on my long arm side riggers in a 4 rigger configuration. Most of the time i only run the short arm corner riggers and run my copper, lead core and dipsy presentations to round out the spread. In the early spring I run all 4 riggers with 10# balls due to the shallow bite lets me get more baits in the spread, 4 riggers and 6 planer boards and 2 shallow dipsys.

I use 2 stinger 15# wts, I can troll up to 2.7 mph and the blow back is minimal. They are flat and have an adjustable rear tail that keeps them from tangling on turns or in cross currents. If i go to 4 riggers I use the stingers on the short arm corner riggers and 12# round finned balls on the long arms. The stingers will get u down 150' with a minimum of blowback and the 12# balls are good down to about 80'.

I agree with the other posters I have e-chip and non e-chip flashers I believe that they both work its the color and speed that make the biggest difference. I perfer the pro troll flashers over the other 11" flashers out there, but have been given some of the DW flashers and they have taken fish.

I would have to say my Marine radio for safety sake and after that the GPS. Radio can save your tail. The GPS can get u home in a fog. It can also get u back to the fish u left yesterday.

My name is Mike Chamberlin the boat is a 23' 1973 John Allmand citation II. The MC2 named after my self and my partner Mike Corder. We are going to be slipped in slip #113 at Brians Marina in St Joseph this year. Give us a shout any time always glad to share information. I have been fishing the great Lakes and Lake Michigan in particular since 1970, and have fished St Joe extensively in the 80's and 90's also spent a lot of time out of Manistee. Last year we were in South Haven. Moved to St Joe for the fishing and its about $1,000 less for a slip. See you on the lake. We are set up with 4 Walker electrics, 14 rod holders and our electronics include a Garmin GPS, LCX 17 Graph and standard marine radio we keep on channel 68.

Mike

I have the Okuma CV 55 and the Penn 345GT2 and both will pack on 300' of 45# copper with plenty of backing to get the job done. Haven't tried anything longer than 300' but I think the CV55 would handle another 100 to 150 if you went to less backer maybe only 150 yards of 30# Power pro.

Boat comes out of storage on the 31st of March. Spent today re-spooling reels and setting up some more spring program rods. Lite line and Yellow birds in the shallows. Gonna have the MC2 in St Joe this year, hope to be fishing by the 5th of april. Some Brown and Coho action is what I need to get me back into life again. For those that hadn't heard my Wife passed away on Feb 4 and I really need to get back on the lake. Then maybe it won't hurt so much.

looks like a lot of trouble to get the same results. I have tried slide divers and there is always a catch. tubing wears out or line gets pinched and breaks. Think I will stick to the good old Walker divers and keep running my riggers. Copper and lead on inline boards get me out where I need to be. If you are running all of the new gadgets you can, where are u gonna get enough anglers to stay comfortable on the boat and stay legal on the number of rods u run.

Some guy told me to try ice fishing, I asked how fast do u troll?

I have a uv penlite and a camera flash that came fm my old 35mm SLR camera the flash is good for glow plugs and some other stuff but for my moonshine and other glow spoons I use the UV lite its faster and it seems to last longer, the Silver Horde Glow plugs get plenty of glow off the flash as do the Ace Hi and some of my glow flashers.

Wild at heart is right why are u running 32# copper. I do run 45# copper and full cores on the same side of the boat but my coppers are for deeper fish and they do turn differently than lead core. I can run a 300 45# copper and a 10 color and 15 color on the same side of the boat but u gotta spread them out. better to keep the copper full 300 and work up the column with your lead cores.

Pre Dawn I love to run Moonshine Flounder Pounder and SS Carmel dolphin Glow off the riggers, an Ace Hi Glow or Silver Hoarde Glow usually white with Black ladder back off the fullcore, any other glow spoons round out my 10 rod Spread but I always have a Bechold pearl glow 10" flasher with a nasty lookin home made fly that is similar to a Horsefly fireworks fly with a 42" leader of 40# fluoro carbon. That rig is hot all year long on the bottom. Kings and Lakers both love it. My spread is 4 riggers and 6 boards on flat lines in the spring and goes over to lead core and copper after the water gets above 52degrees.

OK you guys are giving me a head ache. But if I had to run just one it would be silver streak blue green dolphin modified glow it took a ton of fish this past summer. Great in low light and during the middle of the day down deep. Especially good on 300' copper. Kings love it.

The lakers are Charter boats money fish! I love salmon snobs, if you have ever had a 20# laker on a wire rig you will be amazed at how hard they fight. I will take every one I can get especially at tournament time. They are the winning fish everytime. Quit being such snobs.

That is my experience too. I have some spare 9'6" rods to put twill tips on so I am not out of service if a guide gets a nick in it. I do inspect my guides after every use no sense in snagging the wire and losing a dipsy set up.

Try substituting 300' of 45# copper for your deep cores it gets down to around 80 to 90' and runs really well off of my Walleye Boards. In the summer they are my hottest presentation outside of the deep divers. Riggers are always in play but I run a 12 rod spread most of the time off an 8' beam. the key is to keep the V presentation going riggers are always the deepest then the Dipseys then the copper and the cores outside. I have 4 riggers on the boat but mostly run 2 with 15# pancake weights. I only run a chute rod in the early spring when we are shallow for Coho and Browns. All flat line and shallow riggers no dipseys on cores at that time.

somebody figure out a way to Ice Troll and I am in