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zgrinder on Fin Warrior

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  1. zgrinder on Fin Warrior
    Update: we finished 4th. Sent from my iPhone using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App
  2. zgrinder on Fin Warrior
  3. zgrinder on Fin Warrior
    Nice cooler of kings. We also saw our best action with wire dispeys in 148FOW; did not get out quite as deep as you did since I marked a lot of fish in 125 the night before. Thanks for sharing that they are feeding well! Glad I have been throwing those smaller guys back to eat up.
  4. zgrinder on Fin Warrior
    Fished the Steelheaders Tuesday night 6:00-10:00pm outing on a dock mate’s boat. Weighed in 5 fish, 5 for 6 for the evening. My data is not as crisp but will summarize the best I can. The first two fish were boated around 7:30pm; 1.5 set mag diver on a wire dipsey down 130’ on the counter tipped with a reg size RV blue flounder pounder in 148 FOW south troll. Netted a 9 lb king, our biggest fish of the night. Put the same rig back down and it got hit again in under 2 minutes netting a 4-5lb king. Changed out the opposite wire diver to something similar found in the wide assortment of spoons (shocking we couldn’t find a second BFP) and put that down at the same depth. That got hit soon thereafter but we lost the fish in the fight. I think we were still heading south, perhaps in 140 FOW when the port corner DR down 100’ (10lb ball?) tipped with mag RV blue jeans got bit netting a small king. Turn around to a NE troll and had two more bites on an orange crush like spoon on 250 Cu in 115-120 FOW. Both small kings for a total of 5 for the night and enough to place 2nd out of I believe 15 boats. Largest king weighed in at 15lbs caught on a dodger/fly; that boat also had 5 fish. Our 9lb was the second largest as fish were still small. What did not get bit: White paddle/green fly or spin-and-glow down low off a DR; blue RV spoons on 450 & 300 Cu SB side; RV wonderbread and standard blue jeans on 450 & 300 Cu Port side. The auto pilot was out and manual steering was at time erratic which may have contributed to better action on the dipseys. Flies were still biting but not quite as bad due to the light chop.
  5. zgrinder on Fin Warrior
    Your 10lb King was worth the trip and your buddy got to enjoy reeling in a 300' long line as well.
  6. zgrinder on Fin Warrior
    Fished solo from 5:15pm to 9:40pm. Finished 1 for 2 boating only a small king which I let go. Spread varied from 10 color lead, 300 WS and 1 downrigger to 3 downriggers by the end of the night. Did not run any dipseys. Only spoons, regular size from greens to blues to whites to orange crush on LC early and 2 glow spoons high and low at dusk. I steadily rotated spoons out during to float. Worked the area north of the harbor staying in 115 to 130 on north and south trolls. Marked a lot of fish for most of the evening. At the start, many big hooks near the bottom. Ran SWR 100' at the ball per Smart Troll (130 to 145 on the line counter depending on the direction) but could not get a bite. The sunset was mired by clouds and gradual - didn't help the transition bite. The flies were awful. Hard to concentrate when they are all over and biting any exposed part of your body. Radio was quite. Note: Water temp at 100' down in ~130 FOW was 47 degrees. Looks like the little warm water we have is pushed up to shore a bit. # Time Fish Weight FOW Latitude Troll Wind Dir. Speed @ Ball Rod Bait Depth Bait Temp Bait 1 7:15pm King 5 118 46.30 NE N 2.5 DR 20# 70 48 Killer Blue (repainted & retaped) 2 8:39pm Miss 5 113 49.68 NW N 2.3 DR 20# 70 49 Killer Blue (repainted & retaped)
  7. zgrinder on Fin Warrior
    Congrats on getting them to bite. Nice catch!
  8. zgrinder on Fin Warrior
    Biggest King that has been posted for some time. Nicely done Ed. Must have been heart pounding on 350 Cu!
  9. zgrinder on Fin Warrior
    Nice cooler of fish and thanks for sharing what worked. Fish still holding in the top part of the water column, primarily a spoon bite on long lines. A high bite in clear water puts riggers and dipseys at a disadvantage if the fish are not uber aggressive. Mature kings appear to be feeding elsewhere.
  10. zgrinder on Fin Warrior
    It was a sloooow night. We finished 4 for 5 but only for an after sundown bite and my guests were able to reel in all the fish. The spread which I will do my best from memory and many of my spoons are no longer off the shelf so I will do my best on the description to match inventory: On the outside with boards - 5-color leadcore with reg double orange crush and 200 weighed steel with reg UV green dolphin (did not get bit); both 2-set divers were rigged with spin doctors spoons, SB mag bloody nose and port mag foil watermelon; out-downs both had spoons, SB mag foil green dolphin and port mag screw ball; the port corner rigger was extended and swung around to center to serve as a chute rigger rigged with SWR and a silver J-plug and later changed to a wonder bread J run deep (neither go bit). The dipseys were 42-48' down and the riggers were about 5-8' below the dipseys. This well planned enticing spread attracted one shaker that failed to trip the rigger which was released to pop a release the right way. At dusk, all baits were raised about 5'; the SB side rigger and dipsey were changed out with a mag glow bloody and green flounder pounder and the port side with mag Kevorkian and mag wicked tuna. The glow versus dark bait strategy was a wash as all four of these set-ups got bit between 9:10 and 9:35 on a NNE troll between 123-109 FOW. 3 of the 4 fish were boated, a king and SH <5lbs and one king ~5lbs. My guests, after a long wait and optimistic for a night flurry were rewarded and it made for an easy clearing of lines at the end of the night. Last - there was a pontoon boat in about 120 FOW and half way between Saugatuck and Holland with fishing poles pointing up on both sides that did not move and did not put its lights on after dusk. We passed it close around 8:00pm and did not see anyone moving around on the deck then lost sight of it in the dark as we proceeded to Holland. It gave me a bad feeling.
  11. zgrinder on Fin Warrior
    Great report and great catch. First report of deeper set lures getting action.
  12. zgrinder on Fin Warrior
    Tried fishing the mid-day bite solo expecting it would be slow. Drop lines about 1:30 and pulled at 4:30pm. Same spread over the entire run, out-down riggers had chrome & UV flashers 2 1/2 and 3 passes back with no bait put down as attracters. Slide divers on each side, 2-set, 55-60' of leader, SB 40-42' down with an orange spoon and Port 46-50' down with UV green dolphin. Leadcore 10-color down the chute with a blue & silver J-plug. Started in 130 FOW north of the harbor and had a couple of marks down about 50'. Ventured out to 185 FOW on a NW troll with not a bump and not a mark after initially setting down. Came back in varying the troll from west to south and still nothing. Pulled lines in 123 FOW and hit a good size lake trout on the green dolphin that did me a favor and shook itself off about 30' in back of the boat and swam away. Two boats came out at 4:00pm and set up around 150 FOW otherwise I was the only one out there burning gas. The barometer will start falling on Saturday and the moon will be full Wednesday morning so I expect the morning & evening fishing might to be better the next couple of days. Planning on a Saturday evening run. Sunday morning looks great too but that would be hard after an evening float.
  13. zgrinder on Fin Warrior
    Thanks for the report. Agree the mid-day bite is not there.
  14. zgrinder on Fin Warrior
    My compliments on fishing in tight as most of the reports have been from beyond 150 FOW. And you found the bait which is meaningful. Good report.
  15. zgrinder on Fin Warrior
    After running in-law errands this afternoon, the lake was still holding flat. I was itching to get out for the first time and Janet my first mate said lets go so who was I to say NOOOOOO. Blessed with the opportunity to get out unexpectedly, I kept the trip short. Headed out of Holland harbor directly SW and setup in 160FOW. Ran two out down riggers, 70-52' on the counter with various mag spoons (and one bloody nose J-plug late in the run), two mono 1-set dipseys up high, 50-33' down per Smart Troll (pickled sunshine flies, one SD white UV and the other green jeans) and two long lines on boards with spoons (5-color LC w/ double orange crush and 200 weighted steel with UV green dolphin). Plan was to draw interest in with the dipsey paddle flies and hope the DRs and long lines would be bit. We had lines down about 6:15pm and began bringing everything up at 8:15pm. Finished 3 for 5. The long lines carried the day. All bites were within the water we covered, 195-150 FOW. 5-color LC got bit 3 times, we boated only one of the 3. 200 weighted steel got bit twice and we boated both, the last hit was a nice 8lb king. One tip up on SWR on the port out down and that was it. The lake was flat, keeping a 2.5mph speed was easy. Fish didn't have a preference in direction and were not concentrated in any one depth. Data below. # Time Fish Weight FOW Latitude Troll Wind Dir. Speed @ Ball Rod Bait Depth Bait Temp Bait 1 7:05pm King 5 185 42.5 SE SE 2.5 Weighted Steel 200 29 Green Dolphin - Reg 2 7:11pm King 5 185 42.5 SE SE 2.5 Lead 5 Color 18 Double Orange Crush - 3.5" 3 7:50pm Miss 158 42.39 E SE 2.5 Lead 5 Color 18 Double Orange Crush - 3.5" 4 8:04pm Miss 157 42.41 N SE 2.5 Lead 5 Color 18 Double Orange Crush - 3.5" 5 8:12pm King 8 156 42.42 N SE 2.5 Weighted Steel 200 29 Green Dolphin - Reg
  16. zgrinder on Fin Warrior
    Great report Ed. Having the DRs active makes fishing solo a bit easier versus long lines and removing boards. Nice work, you almost got your limit!
  17. zgrinder on Fin Warrior
    Thanks for the report. Very helpful.
  18. zgrinder on Fin Warrior
    Finally got Fin Warrior out for a shake down run. Starboard PPS shaft seal was spitting water on a plane but sealed up tight over time. I don't enjoy moving that fitting around while in the water. Everything else checked out fine. Took a bunch of copper, weighted steel and lead core long line depth measurements in the evening rain but didn't do any fishing. Soon as I tied up at the dock, the sun came out. Met up with Darrell from Smart Troll early in the day to discuss a charging problem I had with one of my probes. What a great guy. Got a new charging station and the problem is resolved. Love the equipment for running my dipseys. Hope to add to the fishing reports soon. Seafoam - great boatsmanship working the kicker to get back on the lift. One of your neighbors, Jim and Karen if I remember their names correctly, have the slip next to me this year. They were concerned the low water levels would be a problem getting in & out of their place on Lake Mac.
  19. zgrinder on Fin Warrior
    Hope those boards find their way back to your boat. Great report.
  20. zgrinder on Fin Warrior
    Glad the equipment ran without a hitch Little Boat and Sea Foam. I wet the bottom of Fin Warrior over two weeks ago but have not gotten the shake down cruise in yet due to many things. With luck it can happen near the end of the coming week.
  21. zgrinder on Fin Warrior
    I have had several of those fish straight down at the back of the boat and have not come up with a good solution how to get them up. Speeding up will get them off the back but does not bring them up. In those situations, the fish eventually wins the battle as the hook releases or the dreaded breakoff occurs.
  22. zgrinder on Fin Warrior
    Janet and I made a late push to get out tonight, clearing the pier heads just after 5:00pm. Headed south and set up 4 riggers and 2 high dipseys just north of Saugatuck in 45 FOW with a south troll then moved it to SW. Didn't start marking fish until about 70FOW. Very large hooks at the bottom scattered between 70-80FOW but could not get anything to go. Moved back inside for a skinny water run and did not find any marks. Lines in the skinny water needed constant cleaning as we kept picking up weeds on the lines dipseys, the SDs and the rigger balls. Must have been a lot of floating debris. Moved out to deeper water but by then the sun was setting and we came up empty for the evening. Very nice night to be out.
  23. zgrinder on Fin Warrior
    Many thanks for sharing our set ups. I had something very close to the top spoon in the water today and it didnt get touched but it was likely in water that was too warm. Nice catch!!
  24. zgrinder on Fin Warrior
    I had a lot of current today that moved my balls around going south and crated a huge tangle bringing up a SWR below as SD/fly set up. The tangle on these two port riggers came up way over to the SB side. Yes I agree with your observations. For a very calm day this was unexpected. I ran very short leads after that.
  25. zgrinder on Fin Warrior
    Justin - I believe we saw you out there last night. We planed in just south of your troll around 6:00pm. Glad you got two nice keepers.
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