KJ pluggin

Good to see ya back on the water Jim! Nice box of fish too!

Nice job Jim!

It seems like the smaller kings are starting to show up a little more over on the WI side now. I think they have been scattered out in deep water and that's why we haven't seen better numbers. Hopefully this means we will have an abundance of big kings next year!

Great shots Ken!

I'm not saying he is to high, I'm just saying he should work more of the water column.

For me your running to much stuff up high. I would spread out your presentation a little more right away in the AM until you start taking hits and then try to squeeze in on that range. Also, I would run the divers on a 3 setting to get them further away from the boat. Like Mike (ThumbsUP) said try and find the bait and look for hooks around it. If your not seeing fish keep looking. How deep of water to set up in depends on temps for me. If I have warm water from top to bottom I'm going to keep heading out until I find cold water.

Welcome Lee!

OK

Just got back from Ludington last night and we did OK. We caught 11 fish and lost 4 or 5 in about 2 1/2 days of fishing. This trip again reinforced that my pre dawn program is in dire need of some help. My Go To train of thought is to find where the thermocline or "49 degree water and below" hits the bottom and set up a little shallower than that. Work that area for a short time and then angle out deeper a bit. I typically run 2 riggers and two divers and maybe start one board off to the side with a 2 color lead looking for really high fish. Once it starts getting light I start moving things deeper and fish closer to the temp break. I can consistently hang with most local guys after the morning flurry but I'll be washing baits for a couple hours while they box a few early fish. Anyone have any insight or see any major flaw in my approach. I'm stumped . . . . .

THX

Eric aka Arbogaster

Can you give us a little more info on what you spread looks like? You mentioned your running riggers divers and a 2 color but info like how far down and back your riggers are, and how far back your divers are, and what lures your running will help us give you some tips. Also what temp range do you like to target with your lures in the morning?

I don't have a favorite this year yet but I will have to give honerable mention to a blue-green ITO fly behind a kevorkian SD and a moonshine liberty spoon.

Nice job Justin, thanks for the report. Those big kings sure can make a mess of things on a hurry. The last big king we boated came in tied to a seven color and a wire diver!

Nice job putting your son on a good king, I'm sure he had a blast with that fish! I can't wait until my son is old enough to take out fishing with me!

I'd rather have 10 fish that are 10 lbs than 5 20's

Champ - I'm not sure I would agree with you on this but then again I'm not a charter Captain with a boat load of clients to keep happy... Nice job putting those hogs in the boat BTW.

I don't think any one presentation has that much of an advantage over the next in putting big fish in the boat, but I do think that how you present your spread and lure location in the spread do make a difference. I think having to many lures in a given area will push the bigger kings away at times. One thing I like to do is pull a clean spoon just outside a FF spread, usually just below and behind. Another thing I have noticed is running a little deeper spread in colder water will increase the average size of fish you catch but it will also decrease the amount of fish you catch. IMO

Great fish William, congrats!

There has defiantly been tons of big fish out there this year, during the nine day KD tournament there were 404 kings over 20# brought to the scales. The biggest being 32.41!

I don't run sliders often but when I do I make them about 6' long and then half hitch a rubber band to the main line to keep it where I want it. The nice thing about using rubber bands is you can reel the band onto the spool and reset it right back where it was.

The KD tourney is a 9 day big fish derby with weigh-in locations at Kewaunee, Algoma, Sturgeon Bay, Baileys Harbor, and Washington Island.

We fished the second weekend of the KD tourney and it turned out to be a pretty good weekend. The fishing was pretty tough but if you could find the fish and get them to bite you had a good chance of catching some nice fish. We fished Fri. night and then the next three mornings going 22 for 28. Friday Saturday and Sunday were primarily spoon bites with a few FF bites mixed in and on Monday it was all flies for us. Our best fishing was in 110 to 130 FOW running gear 20 to 70 down. For lures moonshine spoons were the best with Happee Meal, Eliminator, Liberty, and Green Jeans as standouts. Lime bubble and aqua ITO flies and Spin Doctors were our best FF combos. For the trip we had 4 kings over 20#, two on Sunday at 20.3 and 25.96, and two on Monday at 20 and 26. The two we caught on Sunday we weighed for the torney and the 25.96 was good enough for 32 place in the derby and the port prize for Sunday.

Welcome Jon.

Awesome fish Capt, way to go.

Welcome Steve.

Nice work Josh!

I also use Flouro leaders, I like the clarity and stiffness it has over mono.

Thanks for the report Adam, nice job.

Nice load of fish there Michael.