SUPERTRAMP

I troll 3.5 to 4.5 mph when targeting steelhead, 1 color of lead core and spoons off of a meatrig teaser rig are killer.

Another thing you can do is go to the sponsors link, Great Lakes Tackle Shop, they offer 100, 150,200,250,300,350, 400, and 450 coppers all pre measured. Really inexpensive. I highly recommend that when you have a tackle problem, that u check them and the other commercial sponsors of this site.

Have a big backyard? Just lay it out, measure, and reel it back in.

That has been my method. I have a walk a tape, and I lay out 50, 100, 150 200 and 250. Makes it really simple.

Over 60 years ago my Grandfather used a plastic radiant spoon, same finish that is used on watch numerals to illuminate them and caught big rainbow trout on leadcore trolling. That was on a Washington state lake named Waits Lake, and he used those 1" to 11/2" spoons to match the minnows available in the lake. They worked really well. We did not understand speeds much then but the little 5 horse Martin motor trolled just about perfectly on a flat bottom plywood boat that was heavy and really stable.

I really think that speed will be critical with these large spoons, but are they much lighter than the cheap NorthPort nailers we used to troll>

Frank PM me a phone number so we can talk about this unit. I am really interested and the GPS chart would really be nice to have.

so let me get this straight-a tekota 800 costs $75 ? convectors are half the price ?

A Tekota 800 is $180.00 you can get 2 Okuma Convector CV55 reels for 180.00

Church's Walleye boards will pull 300' of 45# copper very well, but for my 450's I run TX44's.

Berts rodholders for the gunwales, buy a 24" track and add holders as finances allow, that is really the only drawback with Berts, they require the track.

I thought you sold this one Frank or is it a different unit?

I think this is a better Pic. of the 2014 array that really worked for us.

Early spring St Joe is the place to be. As soon as Ice is out, the coho are there. From the river to The Cook plant stay inside of 40 FOW and work in and out. I usually go in tight and run a Brown Trout Pattern on the inside and coho stuff outside. U will usually find the Coho in the off color water, and above 15' in the water column.

The discussion about The highways and maintenance of them in Michigan is kind of a moot point. For too many years Michigan has let the highways deteriorate, kind of like if we don' pay attention maybe it will just not happen. What is needed is not more tax, but use the taxes we pay for roads to do the maintenance. Bridges are dangerous and roads especially the freeways are in terrible shape after years of patching and makeshift repairs. On I94 in Van Buren count they just put in new median barriers, but the money could have been better spent repairing areas of highway that needed attention.

As far as gas prices. After paying nearly $5 a gallon the last few seasons I am looking forward to some $3 gas at the Marina.

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?

I agree with the posts above, fall offshore fishing for steelhead and "2 year old" kings is great if you can get out. Have had success off St. Joe, Holland, and Ludington from late September through Mid November. For me it has generally been a spoon (regular and mag size) and small (#3 & #4) plug bite but in 2012 meat also worked well. Mostly a top 50' fishery.

When I lived in St. Joe my boat was always the last one out of the marina. I really liked heading out for a few hours in the late afternoon/evening and would leave work a couple hours early if the weather was good. My coworkers liked it too because it often resulted in sharing bags of "extra" fresh or smoked salmon.

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.

The FULL MOON actually presents more problems usually. Fish can keep feeding all NIGHT! So, keep on trying, irregardless the port.

This has always been a misconception, that when the moon is full fishing improves, and the truth of it is a full moon kills fishing. As Ed said they feed all night and are indifferent during the morning and daytime hours. This week end, the 13th and 14th should be a lot better than last weekend.

Mike, are you getting out of it or downsizing?

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.