A-Fishy-Anado

Nice beat down Mark:thumb:

A little late on the report, but been a crazy couple of weeks here for me.

We went straight through 3' - 4' waves:mad: to the area of the big reef that gave up the 41 lb lake trout to us the week prior in the vicinity of 80 fow. We found a good concentration of fish on every hump we crossed so we decided to drop down the lead head jigs and dropped on them and within 3 jigs a piece we were all hooked up. Picked a couple in the low to mid teens jigging and decided to troll on them and see what happened. Within a half hour of trolling a full core and two downriggers parked 5-10' of the bottom a rigger fired pulling a 8" prochip and a bugeye fly and we we hooked to a 24 lber that we got into the net before 9:30 am. These would be the fish we took to the scales for the biggest box on day one. We picked at about 20 more fish, all being smaller and released, until around 2:30 pm to make the 30 mile run to the pier heads by 4:00pm. We weighed a 24, 15 & 13 and would end up 9lbs over second place and 14 lbs over 3rd at the end of day 1.

Day 1 Pics

24 lb Lake trout

Day 1 Box

Second day we went right back, through very calm seas:thumb:, to the same place as day 1 and couldn't believe the sonar screen showed nothing at all on any of the humps we fished. Tried trolling right off the bat because we found ZERO concentration of fish here. Started to pick up a few small fish from 7 -10 lbs and then a rigger fired and we pulled an 18 lber to the net. Still marking nothing, keep in mind superior lake trout fishing is usually an sonar game unlike Salmon, we headed deeper and picked up some more 7-10 lbers and decided to pull lines and run over to some rock piles and set back down this time with wire divers w/clean spoons on each side added to the spread. Within 5 minutes we get a rip on a diver and bring a dandy 27 lber to the boat. At this point we are really feeling our legitimate shot to hold on to our top spot! Picked away at about 15 more with nothing else over the mid teens for the remaining time.

Got to the scales and found out that we increased our lead on 2nd place to 27 lbs and won the $4000.00 guaranteed first place check the Grand Marais Visitors Bureau puts up for the tourney as well as the $360 for the 27 lb big fish of the tourney:thumb: What a ride!!

If any of you consider doing a tournament in the UP seriously consider this one. Great area, as I'm sure nailer will attest to, great campground and a very well run tournament with a rather large purse up for grabs. 2nd place ended up with 2k and 3rd place ended up with 1k. That is a better top 3 purse than some of the TT events. Anyways, great place to bring a family, camp and catch big lake trout. Feeling very fortunate after the last couple of weeks out on the reef with a 41 lber soon to hang on the wall and a big win in the offshore challenge.

Day 2 pics

Lady superior at her finest after the shotgun start

27 lb Lake Trout

Day 2 box

Weighing in

C-man & I collecting the BIG $4000 check:thumb:

Our "Bosses" had fun on shore all weekend as well:grin:

Welcome back Jim....nice work on the fish:thumb:

Yes it is.....biggest trout "on record" since 1998. We were just going to get dimensions and pictures and then try to revive it but it was bleeding to bad from the gills to risk it and thought it better to give this fish, that is probably damn near as old as me, the respect of hanging on the wall. At $15 per inch this one is not going to be easy on the pocketbook....but it sure is going to look good up there:thumb:

Caught this beast on Saturday while doing a little scouting for the upcoming Grand Marais Offshore Challenge next weekend. One week to early, but a memory that will last a lifetime for sure. It was caught off of a boat with a bait on a rod:lol:..... Don't want to give a full report on the catch details yet, but will update after the tournament:grin:. Feeling pretty damn fortunate to catch a fish like this:thumb:

41.3 lbs & 47 3/4"

Nice shakedown Kyle:thumb:

Awesome fish and bent rod:thumb:

Sounded like another banner year as far as superior is concerned for browns in Marquette. Would love to see more in Munising. Thanks for the info Rick:thumb:

Walleye.....it's what's for dinner!!! Nice job Frank:thumb:

Thanks for the report Tim. That sounds like a hell of a nice superior Brown caught:thumb:

Damn nice fish John:thumb:

Nice work Tim....I assume you fished the tournament? What did the leader board look like?

Sounds like there are quite a few from the marquette area fishing it. Quite a few are also fishing the munising tournament, which is this weekend as well, as they finally opened the big reef to fishing. BIG lakers out there.

I will be fishing the munising tourney in the salmon division.

The DNR creel clerk said that Grand Marais has been outproducing munising by a long shot so far this spring. He hadn't seen much in the way of kings but were really catching a lot of coho and steelhead.

Great place to fish this time of year. Thanks for the update Tim:thumb:

Nice bag for superior Tim:thumb: You guys working the mud lines in shallow water?

Long and skinny....the size of the tail didn't fit that fish! Was only around 1" shorter than the one i caught last time, but several pounds lighter. Last fish was loaded with herring and this one had one tiny smelt in it. You guys check the stomachs? Sounded like a nice steel head you guys caught for munising bay anyways.

That really was a nice day on the water. I told my buddy I never see it that flat unless i am on my way to work!! Wish i had gotten out a little sooner, but my head was a little big from the night before:cheers:

Finally got out again and wasn't expecting much due to the worst fishing conditions possible....east wind and a "super moon". Scouted around the bay for a few hours and went 2-3 with nearly the same results as last time with just smaller fish and the fact that i had a net this time:thumb: Water temps have warmed and found 43 degrees 40' down on the probe. 100-120 fow 30-40 feet down is where the hits were taken again. UV modified stinger purple frog again....seems to be the only lure they want this year on my boat as i haven't taken a fish with anything else yet.

Welcome aboard and thanks for the suport. Best of luck Russ!!

Got the chance to splash the boat this past weekend for a little shakedown cruise. Went out by myself as not to disappoint anyone if something was not working. Everything was working except my brain as i realized i forgot the net on my first bite. Ended up losing that one and on to pick up a splake on a stinger craigs x-mas that wasn't much problem getting into the boat. Shortly after that i looked back and a rigger rod was thumping.....then my 3 color down the chute starts screaming. I got my hands full and my auto pilot is not tracking very well because i am direct into the 15-20 mph wind. Finally realized i have the same fish hooked on both rods and thank god i had so many hooks in her because she was acting like a steelhead and without a net i'm sure i would have lost her. Fish came in with all 3 trebles of a stick bait in her gill plate and mouth pinned shut with a stinger purple frog. Just over 30" and scale was not working but guessing over 10 lbs. Water temps were pretty steady around 39-40 degrees all the way down. Best for me was over 90 fow 30' down. Good to be back on the water and not a bad shakedown going 2-3.

Nice work again Terry!!

Nice work Jay:thumb: Beautiful rig as well!!

Welcome to GLF:thumb:

Welcome to Glf Todd!

Welcome aboard Dave:thumb: My days of fishing pretty much got started out of detour and used to fish the river near the power plant in the soo when the kings were heavy in there. Looking forward to any reports you may have and seeing what is swiming around those areas.