zgrinder on Fin Warrior

Agree, a gentle bump in the stocking in the southern part of the lake would improve the fall runs. This past Monday I was impressed at the number of fish stacked on the bottom just outside of Saugatuck and not what I have observed in the Holland/Saugy area the prior couple of years.

The information below came through on my feed: [email protected] After decades of fish stocking decreases to balance the alewife and Chinook salmon populations, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources is seeing good indicators that a modest stocking increase may be warranted in Lake Michigan. To discuss this proposal and receive public feedback, the DNR will host a virtual meeting Monday, Sept. 19, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. “We have seen several years of good Chinook salmon growth and have a slight increase in the alewife biomass, or abundance of those fish,” said Jay Wesley, the DNR's Lake Michigan basin coordinator. “Although the alewife biomass is a fraction of what it was historically, we have a good 2021-year class and have seen up to six-year classes of alewives in our fisheries surveys – that means there are up to six different age groups in the current population of alewife." A "year class" refers to all of the fish of any species hatched, either through natural reproduction or through fish-rearing efforts, during that year's spawning period. Wesley said that a recently run predator-prey model also suggests that Lake Michigan has a good ratio of Chinook to alewife biomass, which is one of many indicators used to inform stocking decisions. “The proposed 54% increase from 650,000 to 1 million spring fingerlings is a modest increase compared to the estimated 4.5 million wild Chinook salmon in Lake Michigan,” said Wesley. “It will allow us to increase numbers at sites like Charlevoix that contribute to the entire lake fishery and reinstate stocking sites like Ludington State Park and Fairport.” Meeting details Michigan Sea Grant will assist with the Zoom meeting: Save the date: Monday, Sept. 19, 7 to 8:30 p.m. Passcode: 2022 Or join via telephone: 646-876-9923 or 301-715-8592 Webinar ID: 994 1124 7153 Questions? Contact Jay Wesley LINK BELOW - or Google 'MI DNR proposes to increase salmon stocking' https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/about/newsroom/releases/2022/09/12/dnr-proposes-increase-to-chinook-salmon-stocking-in-lake-michigan

For one, my freezer is full and I am in the giving fish away mode. Second, if it was bigger I would have kept it for the smoker. Third, we now spend 2-3 months in WY skiing at the turn of the year. Its Janet's passion and I am committed to support it. And she let me buy my retirement boat before I retired, so per the Continental (John Wick series), she holds more coins then I do. So there is less time to eat fish out of the stand up freezer. Fourth, I want to catch those fish when they have 10 more pounds on them, are looking for a good fight and break all my gear so I can buy more.

Took some friends out last night leaving the Holland pier heads just before 4:00pm and headed south setting up in 95FOW in front of the Saugatuck harbor entrance. Had a steady drum beat of large hooks sitting off the bottom to about 75' down. First hit was @ 5:48pm, a heavy dipsey tipped with a mag foil watermelon spoon, 70' down in ~100FOW on a south troll. ~5lb king we let go. Next hit came @ 6:22pm on the same rig down 74', and depth but in 88FOW on a NE troll back into shallow water. After a 10min battle, a sheephead over 20lbs was laying on the swim platform. It quickly became gull food. At 6:50pm, the same rig went off again in 83FOW on a SE troll. Another small king that spit the hook at the back of the boat which was fine cause it would have been released anyway. At 7:17pm, one more time for the deep dipsey rod in 79FOW on a south troll. It ran hard for a while but the fish came off before we could get it to the surface - hook got bent open. All the time, as long as we were centered around the harbor entrance latitude, we continued to mark fish and an occasional small bait ball. I did pass by a red planer board in that area but it was too far starboard to get it. Marked the spot and came back for it but another boat was in the area and I assume they picked it up. Hope it gets returned to the owner. Just after 8:00pm and the sun was getting behind the clouds low on the horizon we had our final three hits, all in about 78FOW heading north. The stud deep dipsey got wacked on final time. There was actually a decent battle with line pulling and neutral drops to gain ground before it came unbuttoned. Next up was the blue fly on a 9" blue flasher down in the 70' range on a downrigger. Same action and same result. Did not quite get that gear in the boat when the opposite deep dipsey 63'down tipped with bloody nose got struck. Minor tangle with the flasher but just as we got that undone, the line went slack. We had 3 of the 4 rods up by that time so we called it a night as my guests had a 90min drive home. SWR tipped with white and then dark J-Plugs run right off the bottom to my surprise never got touched all night long. Finished the night 2 for 7 (counting the sheephead). There was a lot of fish sitting on the bottom all night long but not the success I had hoped for getting one of them into the boat. Hope I can find favorable weather this coming week to explore that area again.

Fished north of the pier heads again, this time in just under 100 FOW - absolutely no boat traffic. Two rips on a diver 55' down with a bloody nose spoon in 95FOW on a north troll not long after I set up the 3 lines. Should have landed the first one but I was screwing around with my Drift Camera, resulting in no fish and no video. Long trolling pause with no action, and I tried to get action. Ran across a pod of bait in 83FOW up near PS. Doubled back on that pod late in the evening and of course it moved. Found it in 78FOW further north. Then one by one, each of the three rods I had down fishing solo got bit. The high diver retooled with an alewife spoon down 43' got hammered and boated a 12lb king. The hook was buried and after much work I got that out then the meat rig went off. It was a small fish so I released it. As I am doing that worked out, the hand painted J-Plug is bouncing hard off the downrigger about 65' down. Set the meat rig set-up on the floor, pull the live rod out and I am trying to work the rod without stepping on the other two on the floor, plus the net, plus a spoon and the meat rig set up. Too much too fast, it was crazy. I started to try to move stuff around with one hand, the fish ran towards the boat, I pulled the tip of the rod up quickly but . . . . . dreaded slack. Well at least I didn't step on anything and break good gear. And luckily I noticed the dipsey leader from the first catch broke in the fray, which is lucky cause I would have tossed it over the side thinking it was hooked up and good to go. So there are benefits to loosing a fish. Not the EPIC night from the posts earlier in the week but it finished with a bang.

Sorry, the date should be 8/21 not 8/11

Went 2 for 3 plus a small coho that never tripped the downrigger when final lines were pulled. Pushing off at 4:15am was not in the cards as there was barely a moon out and getting out of the slip and dock area was tough at about half past 5:00am do to the lack of light. Set two dipseys 45-50' down with Moonshine glow Bloody Nose and Green Flounder. The Bloody Nose got hit 6:26am in 103 FOW, 47' down on a SW troll almost straight out of the harbor producing ~ 10lb king. The third rig, SWR with a glow Bloody Nose J-Plug got hit 30min later in 108 FOW, down 71' producing another 10lb king. That one I sent back successfully. I stayed on a north troll between 100-120 FOW through 10:00am swapping out the glow with some high dark spoons and alewife patters and a deep rigger (J Plugs and SD/white flies) but had not further action. I did not run meat with a 11" paddle due to the strong current dragging lines around during the turns. Turned west, headed out to 180FOW in search of SH. Put foil type spoons down on the dipseys as the sun came out and immediately got a rip on a dipsey 50' down but could not keep it on. And then nothing through 12:00 when lines were ripped. Marked zero bait and very few fish. Stayed just north and just south of the Holland harbor mouth hoping to find some staging kings but it was slim pickings. Other than the strong undertow from the blow the previous day, the lake was great and bug free.

Thanks for the report. I have a 450 copper but it stays in the basement for the most part. It is a lot of work