DKuiper

Hi Mike, just sent you a PM and then found the post from you in my message box. Still enjoy the fishing as much, or more, than I did then. Great times have been had with many stories, what fisherman doesn't have a boatload of them? Looking forward to great times this year! Boat is ready to go! Duane

Yeah, we were the only one there. And it was rough ride back to snug harbor even in the 19' boat.

Hi Terry, great day for the conditions! We were out there in that gale. Took two anchors to hold us. Fished the same spot in 60 FOW. 19' Smokercraft was really rocking and rolling. Tough fishing but we hung in there until 3 PM. Two of us ended up with 95 with most in the 9-10" range. Perch flys were again the hot ticket. Sounds like it would have been easier fishing over at the sand docks. Glad to see you got some decent eating anyhow plus the fun of landing two northerns on that light gear. Must have been a blast. If you ever want the GPS coordinates of where we have been fishing, send me a PM. Duane

The guys at the bait shop did not think that the whitefish had started yet, but they weren't sure and had not been over to the piers at night to check.

Went back to the same spot as we fished last week, 60 FOW, SSw of Bear Lake Channel but was by myself today. Three other boats were fishing the same area, hopefully from the info I gave last week. Anchored on my way point from last week and immediatly started catching perch. I was by myself and fished from 10 AM to 2 PM. Sometimes the action was continous, and then a short lull, and then they'd be back. Ended up with my limit of 50. A bit cold on the fingers but worth the minor pain. Great catching. Fish ran from 8" to 11" with most in the 9 to 9 1/2" range. Minnows tipped on a perch pounder fly. Did not have to throw many back. Hoping for a break in the weather so I can get back out there! Great lively minnows from Adams Angler and Archer in Norh Muskegon. Not one dead one floating in the bucket all day.

11/4/2008 SSW of Bear Lake channel. Temp was OK but very breezy. Tough holding anchor. Fished near BL channel in shallow, nothing, moved out to 10' and caught a few. Moved out to hole SSW of Bear Lake Channel in 60 FOW, about half way out to shipping lane. They came slow and kind of in spurts, fished 10 AM to 4 PM. Ended up with 46. Mostly 9"ers and some 10-11"ers, and some a bit under 9". Minnows about 1' to 3' off bottom. They liked it moving. Duane

Saugatuck 8/6 Lines set at 6:15 AM. First fish at 6:16. Set up in 60 FOW and trolled SW. Ended up 4 for 7 or 9. Had three in the box at 8 AM and then went flat for an hour. Got lured out to 100' by all the boats out there. Not a tap for us. Trolled back in and took our last fish in 65 and missed two others there. Lots of bait in there. All Kings, 13#, 12#, 10# and 6# on our digital scale. Ran two dipsys back 145 & 165 on braid 11/2 setting with #3 green ladderback glow Js. Each caught two fish and we missed one other on this set up. Down rigger at 45 d had one rip on a white/gold Fish Catcher with a green squid. Down rigger at 60 d took one hit with a #4 green ladderback glow J plug. Full core with ivory/red spot glow spoon had one rip. Had a couple of dr rod standups with nothing there. Possible hits? Pulled lines at 11:45. Nice day on the lake even though the action was a bit slow for us. Talked to one boat out there also in 65 FOW who had 5 the last I heard and he also did best in 65'. He had two in the box by the time we got out there. Duane

Set lines at 5:30 AM into fair size swells from the SW. Trolled SW for 30 minutes to 76 FOW, turned back NE with waves. Took our first fish at 6:15. Went 5 for 11 before 8 AM when thunderstorm drove us off the lake. Guys pulling lines got a few hefty tingles off the rods before we got everything in. I'd say we waited 15 minutes to long to haul butt. Beat the storm in but got mighty wet loading the boat. Best action was in 75 FOW +/- a few feet. Either direction work about as well. 45 to 65 down seemed best. Dipsy braid on 1 1/2 150 back, #3 J green glow took one king, and one other rip. Dipsy braid on 1 1/2 165 back, Ivory glow spoon with red dots, one king. Full core ProKing mag double orange crush, one king, one laker. DR 45 down, white/gold fish catcher back 40' with one oz lead lost two fish at boat. DR 35 down lost one fish and #4 Pearl/Clown J when overzealous rod man set the hook very hard and snapped the line. DR down 65 green/white spin Doc/green fly, 3 hits, two were on only about 30seconds, lost the other just out on net reach. Waves were probably 3-4s made it tough at the back of the boat fighting fish. Great time even though we got out butts wet. Lots of action packed into a couple of hours.

Went looking for perch today. Scouted and fished quite a few spots from 8i0 FOW into 10 FOW. Three of us fishing and not a single bite. Talked to another guy at the ramp as he was leaving and they had done about the same program. No perch yet! Marked a ton of salmon in 20-30 FOW from deer lick on south. Water was 40 degrees on the surface at 80 with it gradually warming up as we got in shallower. About 46-47 from 30 foot on in. Maybe in the next day or two we'll be giving them a try. Duane __________________ Duane Kuiper

I'll be there with three of my grown sons. 19' Smokercraft, Tiki III. Probably be standing by on 11 most of the time. Won't be able to hit the water until 7:30 or so. Duane

Yeah, we had sliders on all the riggers, and I kind of guess that is what got swatted and missed. Sometimes they get way to much slack before someone gets the rod.

Launched at 5:30 AM Wednesday at Port Sheldon. It was choppy and tough to fish in. Really stayed that way most of the day, altho there was a couple of hours like 10 to noon that it did calm down a bit. Picked up after that. We went 2 for 6, with 3 of the misses just rods straightening out. Coho slapping at the lure, maybe? 1 king at 11# in 82 FOW on carmel dolphin down 55 (she flat destroyed that spoon), one coho off dipsy back 165 on 2 with spinnie/glow squinchee fly. in 105 FOW. Heard several people on 68 with some decent catches, 8 for one boat in 110 FOW, one boat with 4 in 75 FOW. We sure never could really get anything going. Tried full core with no takers, had 2 dipsys out most of the day with one miss and one fish, rest were on riggers which we ran from 45 down to 90 now and then. Used spoons, J-plugs, fish catchers, coyote flashers but nothing really turned them on. Marked most fish between 80 and 110. Wrapped 'em up at 1 PM. Ended up about 3 miles north of stacks. Some one out there had fishhawk or other probe and said the temp break was at 68' in 110 FOW. __________________ Duane Kuiper

Anyone been doing well out of South Haven? Going somewhere Monday AM and it looks like SH or Saugatuck. SH is closer, better ramp, and shorter run to lake, while Saugatuck sure sounds hot! Lousy ramp and parking, long run to the lake in no wake zone is a pain there though. Any info on SH would be appreciated. Thanks. What frequency do most standbye on in Saugatuck? Duane, Tiki III

About ping speed? Can find nothing in either manual for the Garmin or Lowrance for adjusting this function. Would like to try that before buying a dual frequency transducer for one of the units. Not sure which unit I should buy the df transducer for either. The Garmin is the one having the interference problem, so maybe that is the one that needs a different operating mhz transducer? Any thougths on this, anyone? Thanks for any opinions or ideas.

Last house on Prairiewood Drive before you get to the course clubhouse. South of the Mobil station. Ran same program this AM with my grandson and his friend aboard. They did a great job, letting me land one fish off a dipsy, while they caught, netted and reset everything else. 9 for about 13 or 14 again in the same area as yesterday. Fish from 5# to 10# but today 5 of the 9 came off downriggers. Glow spoons in blue, bloodynose did most of the catching with a double orange pro king taking one. One fish off full core and 3 off dipsy/white with green spinny/green glow fly combo. Downriggers were hot the first hour, then a hour of rest and straightening out the gear, then the last three fish came off the dipsys in about a 45 minute span. Back at the ramp at 10 AM, home by 11, fish cleaned with the boys help by 12:30. They really enjoyed the great day of fishing and catching, almost as much as I did watching them operate. __________________ Duane Kuiper

Set lines at 6 AM in 60 FOW. 9 for about 13 or 14 in the next two hours, rarely getting all six lines in. Neverr had to worry about setting any more. All kings between 6# and 10#. 3 came on full core with Pro-King mag double orange crush, 3 came on full core with bloody nose mag glow, 1 came on DW blue whale glow down 55 on rigger, 2 on mag glow spotted something down 45 and all the misses were off the riggers with various spoons. Stayed in 60-70 FOW range. Back at ramp by 8:45. Great day on the lake, conditions were excellent and the fish are there. Taking a grandson and pal along tomorrow. That ought to be interesting! Duane

With all the northerly winds the water temp must be pretty cool in close? We are headed out of St Jo early Monday AM, hopefully we can find the fish and do as well as you did. Sounds like a great day and only having to go out that far is sure a bonus. Way to go! Duane

You might try Merson corners. The bait shop on the East Side of M-40 opens usually at 6 AM and they give you a good honest count + for $1 dozen. The place in Grand Junction has been out of minnows a couple of time that I went by there last week. And they don't open until 7 AM. Let us know how the perching goes. I've had a tough time there the last two times out.

What port were you fishing out of? thanks

I have a LCX15MT with gps mounted for the driver/navigator and a Garmin 250 mounted in the rear for the crew running the lines. With both units on I definitely get interference on the Garmin, but not on the LCX. Lowrance has a help site that indicates because of the overlapping of the cone angles it would cause interference. Sure wanted to use both units but nothing has seemed to cure the problem. I have the transducers mounted 6' apart and the power cables on opposite sides of the boat and still get interference. Also was told that possibly running both power cables from the same battery might cause this. Have not tried bringing another battery on board to try this so I don't know if this would help or not. Good luck, and if you get the problem solved, if you determine you really have one, please post your solution. Thanks.

Captn Westrate, thanks for the report. Real nice of you to give us small boat fisherman some good, usable information. Hope you can keep it coming. I for one, really appreciate it. Thanks again. Duane Boat TIKI III

I talked to you at the Mobil station in Otsego a week or so ago. Did get a card from you. I've been doing well at St Joe and am probably going back there Monday AM. Although I haven't seem any posted reports for any hot action anywhere from Sunday. Boat is Tiki 111 if any one is out. Usually monitor channel 11 or 68 while at St. Joe. Tight Lines!