zgrinder on Fin Warrior

Thanks for sharing. I am on board with PUG's thinking on this.

PUG is the fish whisper, not me. I trust that wet nose will sort out the next salmon bite.

It appears the fish are not interested in biting anything sharp and shinny. I am thinking this will continue with (1) warm water piled up, (2) steady blue skies and (3) strong current from the steady east wind. Looking at the weather forecast for the week, a front is coming in Tue/Wed. This could change the bite around in a positive way if the lake is fishable. I am pulling early this year (Oct 6th) for travel next month so not much time left.

Thanks for bringing this up. Berried in catch reports that I post, I include (N) if the fish has an adipose fin. I might go through my data to proved specific numbers but off the top of my head, 9 of 10 kings I caught this year in the second to last year of life, the bigger ones, were naturals - similar to your data. Perhaps this might be skewed due to the decrease in stocking in Lake Mac but it doesn't explain why the big fish are typically naturals. What does the Fish Whisper PUG have to say about this?

Fished from 5:30 to about 30min post sunset before ripping lines. Went south of the harbor out from the sliders and set up in 130FOW. 2 deep riggers down above and below 80' (big white paddle and fly and a spoon on SWR), 2 side divers spaced between 60-70' (green spinny & fly and a spoon) and 300 weighted steel down the chute with a large paddle and Brads Cut Plug. Lot of current and the chop made for a difficult N/S troll so we stuck to E/SE and W/NW. Due to the current, decided not to push out to 200' and stuck to 170' as the turn around point. Plus I wanted to fish a little shallower at dusk. Through 7:00pm and few lure changes, we marked very few fish and got only one tip on a mag white spoon on SWR down 82'. Changing over for the night bite I ran by Janet my lure change options. She dead panned "it doesn't matter what put down cause we are not marking fish or catching fish". Hard to have hurt feelings when that was the truth. So I made the changes and swung into 130-120 FOW based on the bait I saw last night hoping the fish would move inside. Well, I was right on one of two things. The bait inside was incredible and mostly pinned near the bottom. One bait ball completely filled up my fish finder - never had that happen before. And at least one more came close to that. Unfortunately, nothing bit what we passed through the bait and we finished the evening with an empty box. Reflecting on passing through the bait, pulling the high dipseys cause frankly they were too high to the Good Eats below, and running 4 riggers down below 100' with clean spoons and meat, exactly the opposite of my typical strategy might have been a better program. But that is all hind sight and I never anticipated the bait pinned so low in the water column at dusk. Only two boats that I could see were out post sunset and there was no chatter on 68. Perhaps we will give it a go during the week. A lot of east wind in the forecast might keep things interesting. Best of luck to all on your fall fishing.

Glad you had better luck getting a bite than I did. I hope to get out tonight for an evening run and work closer in where I found bait while pulling lines yesterday.

Did not make it out today. Father-in-law who taught me much about GL fishing back when I ran out of of Waukegan, is now 88 with a hip replacement. It was not that rough out today but bouncy enough that I did not feel he could get up and grab a reel on the back of the boat. Plus he and his lady friend have a narrow window when they can go about their business so timing it right was tough. I have had him on my old boat with a Becks in his hand fishing so it was not a full missed opportunity, just not one we could squeeze in today. So sad to have someone go missing on the water. I think of that all the time when I am out alone . . . what could go wrong that I am in the water unexpectedly. Can't say I have always lived by that rule but this reminds me I need to be safe ALL THE TIME.

I fully expected you would be out tonight and wanted to get out in a bad as well way but in-laws are in town for the week and we had other plans. If flat tomorrow, we might attempt a short mid-day float. Will not have PUG the 'Fish Whisperer' on board so we will take what we can get. Glad you got out and at least bagged a few. The King looks very meaty

Excellent fishing in those rough conditions. Thanks for sharing all the clips.

Great pics!

Congrats on the second Master Angler catch. Nice to see some big fish still around.

Sorry to hear your crew got skunked. Thanks for the pics and good luck when you hit the northern ports.

I love that shot of Big Red with the moon and the bow of the boat. Riding in on a full moon is always nice. SW winds will be stout through most of next week. I am hoping there are some kings still outside channels by the time it lays down again.

Pushed off with Janet about 5:15pm and headed south to fish 60-70FOW near Saugatuck. In search of big kings, we ran 3 riggers with meat (2 with paddles and SWR clean), 2 dipseys with spoons and 300' weighted steel with a Brad's Lucky Charm Cut Plug. The weighted steel line took the first king (10lb, natural) in 75 FOW while making a hard South-to-North turn just south of Saugatuck. The second king (also a 10lb natural that was released) came on a dipsey 1.5 set, 100' out (38' down on Smart Troll) with a standard alewife spoon in 62 FOW right at sun down. Tighter in to the Saugatuck harbor mouth was busy so we stayed a bit out. There were about 10 boats out deeper. Channel 68 was silent. Got a pic from a friend with Best Chance (I, II, Jr?) racking 30 fish from the morning. Nothing of the size 2MD put in the box. Last, passed over 4 bait balls 50' down to the bottom.

Big fish are fun and it sure looks like you had another great outing. Great report.

Great report. Noted your boat on the leader board of the Big Red tournament. Hope the engine issues you mentioned didn't limit your tournament fishing. Happy you are back in the water for the final push!

You flat out killed it this morning. Great call to fish the mud (I love it as well) but that was a big boy call to fish in so tight. Enjoyed the pics and clips. Thanks so much for sharing.

You bring up a great point and I am trying to break myself of that habit. Thanks for the re-enforcement.