zgrinder on Fin Warrior

Those are some big grins to go with those fish. Looks like there was some fun to be had when that king was landed and the lake trout as well. And tell her the shoes are the bomb - must wear them on the next float.

I am fairly certain you and I were passing each other late in the evening in that 200+FOW (Fin Warrior has a blue hull) as there was only the two of us out there. Put down 5 dark lures at 8:20pm and raised the baits a bit ready for the dusk bite but no dice. Only boated two lakers but had several rips with one Mustad large treble that got straitened out on a wire diver after the initial strike. I love those hooks for SH and they are also light weight, good for keeping the action on the lure but they will flatten out if a big king only grabs one of the three barbs. Most importantly, a big congrats on landing a stud king solo. I do a lot of the fishing myself so I know the fun and the challenge it brings. Best of luck on your next float.

I mis-identified the fish in the first pic. That is actually a 8# coho per my cutting table examination.

Fished 5:00pm till past dusk starting in 150FOW out to 240FOW. Spent most of the evening between 200-240FOW running 2 wire divers and 4 riggers. Finished 2 for 6. Had a couple of tangles and a lost diver set up with MS Bloody Nose because we were running everything at 70' down and below until dusk. Caught a 8lb or better king on my Waukegan Special (Luhr Jensen blue holographic tin can with a hand tied dark blue crinkle fly) down about 60' on a rigger in 210 FOW just before dusk. Shortly there after the 12lb light line with a holographic green dolphin type spoon down about 75' on a rigger boated about a 5lb king. Both kings were lake bred. The 4 misses were short lived fights and only one hit and ran hard (the donation). Had two of my best friends out from the other side of the lake and was happy the lake was calm and got to boat a fish each. 200FOW was busy last night. One report of a 20# king caught in the depth but not much else. Looking to try again later in the week.

It was really bugging me that I could not vector back to law or regulation so I spoke with the Plainwell DNR office. They forwarded two Fisheries Orders, 218.19 and 248.22. How I would have found these FO's on my own I don't know. FO 248.22 Possession Limits states "It shall be unlawful to snag a fish, attempt to snag a fish, or possess a fish that was snagged." However, in my opinion this would not apply to a foul caught fish because earlier in the Order, snagged is defined as "taking or attempting to take a fish in a manner or methods where the fish does not take, or have a chance to take, the hook voluntarily in its mouth." The key word in this language is 'voluntarily'. To prosecute under this FO, it would have to be successfully argued that a trolling spoon on a line does not present a voluntary opportunity for a fish to take the lure in its mount and/or the trolling spoon is a device that is intended to take a fish involuntarily. FO 218.19 Gear Restrictions contains the language "In all waters of the state, it shall be unlawful to: 1.c retain any fish not hooked in the mouth, or 1.d fail to immediately return to the water any fish not hooked in the mouth." Although preceding provisions 1.a & 1.b address gear restrictions used for snagging and 1.c & 1.d is a continuation of the provision, in my opinion and based on personal experience of law successfully applied beyond its intent when it was written, there is enough bandwidth under 1.c and 1.d to prosecute retention of a foul hooked fished caught while trolling. Attached are both orders. I can now rest that I have solved this. FO_218.19 Gear Restrictions.pdf FO_248.22 Possession limits for fish.pdf

Great cooler full of kings! It was too windy for me to go out and with all the warm water piled up on shore and knew it would have to be deep water. So I did the next best thing and played golf. There might be a break win the winds on Tuesday - hoping . . . .

There is language in the 2022 Michigan Fishing Guide regarding returning a fish to the water if not hooked in the mouth and possession of a snagged fish. However, as I understand it, enforcement provisions defer back to Section 324.48739 Act 451 which states "multipointed hook with weight permanently attached".

Nice big king! There seems to be a larger number of small jacks getting hooked this early in the season. Typically see that in the fall. There is mostly west wind in the forecast for this week which will likely stack up the warm water and push the kings out to deeper water. Bummer.

That King is a beast. Master Angler yes you are !!

Fished the morning putting lines down just outside of 100FOW before 6:00AM north of the channel and away from the boat traffic. The lake was flat, bug free and gorgeous. Glow baits did not deliver early morning which has been the typical out come for me as of late. Switched out the high dipsey to a dark spoon (Evil Alewife) and the SB rigger to a Proctologist fly. I was ready to pull SWR (7:15am) to switch out the glow Wonder Bread J-Plug when it popped and ripped line. After a really good king fight, boated a 13lb king @ 108FOW, 73' at the lure on a NW troll. Set the boat to a North troll, reset SWR and within 15 min the high diver (53' down) with Evil Alewife banged hard twice and exploded. After getting the rod out of the holder, I saw a king leaping out of the water, 2-3 times on a run, not like a Steel Head but on a run, on multiple times, off to the side of the corner of the boat. Once I gained enough line, I knew it was on the business end of the rod I was working. I could not move the fish, line continued to pull out and getting spooled was a possibility. So with neutral drops I pulled the other two lines and continued the neutral drop strategy to gain on the fish. After 40 min of battle with the fish near the transom, I could see it was coming in tail hooked. Netted the fish and got it in the boat and the hook fell out - fish Gods smiled down on me this time. Weighed in at just over 18lbs and provided a good number of steaks for the grill. I kick my self for not putting dark baits up high at the get go. I do that dusk fishing with great success but have been trying to get the glow bait program working in the morning to no avail. The winds picked up from the South after that and I could not get anything to bite for the next 2-3 hours Ended the day 2 for 2. In the end, I got what I came for The 13lb king was a natural, the 18lb king was a plant.

So many thanks for the great posts. Impressive king. Bet you had fun landing that big fish solo!!

Nice King. You are having better luck finding them than I am !

Fished the mixed bag of weather mid-day (1:30 to 5:30) on Friday. Light rain, NE wind, sunshine, no wind, over cast, hot and calm. We stuck to the plan of fishing 170-220FOW with a Steel Head set up: 10-color leadcore with mag UV watermelon spoon 300' weighted steel with mag blue dolphin foil spoon Two slide divers with about 70' leads down between 48-60' with standard watermelon and double orange crush spoons White and green spotted spin doctor with a proctologist fly down 60-65' SWR on down rigger @ 77' with a green foil spoon (the deep line) Since we had a lot of long lines out, we stuck with the same lures and adjusted the depths as we moved between 170-220FOW. Smart Troll probes were on the slide divers and SWR. Depth Raider probe on the other rigger. I have really embraced having Smart Troll probes on the diver lines. It makes it easy to adjust the baits to the desired temperature range as changes in speed, troll direction of depth of water changes the position of the bait in the water column. First hit came at 3:15pm in 188FOW on a NE troll. Just as I planned, a laker hit the highest line in the spread, the 10-color leadcore & UV watermelon spoon. Gary had the pleasure of reeling in the long line with the board and he landed the laker then I threw it back. Our second hit came an hour later, at 4:15pm in 190FOW on a S to SW troll. Slide diver rig and standard watermelon spoon that was 57' down at the time of the strike got us a steel head that we kept. No other action for the day. Only marks that registered were generally between 70-80' down and we did not mark any small bait pods. As far as I could see on the horizon, we were the only boat out between Holland and Fort Sheldon. May try south on Sunday if it is not crowded with boats since I have not fished that water but once all year. Special thanks to Adonna for the pics

Great looking fish. It will be great table fare. Will be taking our house guests out this Friday and Sunday. Plan on staying in 160 to 220FOW with a Steel Head program and one line down deep for who knows. Hope to have something to share.

Left early today clearing the harbor mouth at 5:20am knowing the bite was weak. Water was flat and expecting lots of bugs - and they delivered. Fished 135-160FOW from set down to about 7:00am with no takers and no bait to be found so started pushing out and planning on a steelhead only bite. I could only find three other boats out early. Once I got into deeper water, the previously posted UV water melon spoon on my new 300' weighted steel rig got most of the interest. After the first two misses, I switched out the hook to a Mustad 2/0 treble wide gap but that didn't help until the 4th hit on that line and finally landed a steelhead (pic below). Hit #3 on the chart was sweet but I lost it early and all I could do was watch the SH jump out of the water 400' in back of the boat absent of my hook. Hit #4 was a king, based on the head shake and I almost got that fish to the back of the boat but lost it too. For the second time since fishing on the Great Lakes, I had a BAT try to land on the boat in full sun light. Fortunately, because of all the nats, I closed the berth and was successful swinging a towel to ward off the unwanted visitor. Has anyone else encountered this? Very strange. Fish is about to go on the grill for dinner. Better luck next time.

For what it is worth, I always check that split ring before setting the lure out. Last trip out I found one of my to to spoons with the treble hook working its way up the split ring. Missed that on the previous trip pulling lines. Still surprised this happens but it does. Love your pic and thanks for sharing - best of luck next time out.

Took some neighbors/friends out looking for the evening bite. I was too busy managing the gear and entertaining to keep up with the catch log. Set lines half way between Holland and Port Sheldon in 130FOW @ 5:45pm marking small bait pods 30-40' down once again but could not get anything to go. Fearing skunk, pushed out past 200FOW in very flat water. The fish finder was very silent on the way out to deeper water. Three small boats were beyond 200FOW to the North and one to the South. We had 5 baits between 45-65' above the thermocline and on one below at 77'. Our first hit came in 220FOW on the full lead core line. I did not coach up my neighbor on how best to get a board to the boat and we lost it somewhere in the fight. In 224FOW the same rig got bit again and this time we got the board to the boat, off the line and landed a nice Steelhead (pic below). The lure was featured on a previous post but I don't remember who to give the credit too. Reset both dipseys a bit higher with SH favored spoons. Stinger Green Veggie UV, 2-set, 44' down took two hits over the next 30 minutes between 228-224FOW. One shaker we sent back to grow big and the other strike got off. Pulling lines in 188FOW a SH hit the SWR deep line after it was popped from the release however, it got caught up in another line we were bringing in and it came off. Janet said it jumped twice but I never saw it as I was putting gear away. Radio reports were in the small numbers from a couple of other boats out deep. I updated my profile to include our boat name and sit on channel 68 for future contacts. Cheers!