zgrinder on Fin Warrior

Hey Buddy, no need to apologize. We are all happy you posted a report. Catch them all next time out!

Went out tonight with Brian and Sue from Sweet Caroline just across from our slip. We dropped lines about 6:00pm north of Saugatuck in 133 FOW and trolled south. Set up with 4 downriggers; two with SD/fly & two with mag spoons, two mono dipseys with mag spoons, 10 color LC (mag spoon then J Plug) and 300’ weighted steel with meat on Offshore mag boards. After nearly two hours of trolling, we hit a big laker in 129FOW on SWR tipped with a silver/blue holographic mag spoon down 76’@ball. It was sent back to bite hooks another day. After an hour went by, we hooked our biggest king of the night at 14 lbs. The bite came on a north troll in 135 FOW, DR down 65’@ball on a blue-clear-silver UV fly (forget the brand). After another half-hour, we hit another 10lb king in 138 FOW, north troll but on a dipsey down 50’ with a charged magnum bloody nose. The last two hits were just after sundown. 10-Color LC finally got bit with silver-blue J-Plug on the business end producing a modest SH. While fighting that fish, we got our double with a small size king hitting the same SD fly combo on the port downrigger. No other hits for the night. For the evening, marked few fish and no baitfish – where have they gone??? Had a good night with just a few biting flies. # Time Fish Weight FOW Latitude Troll Wind Dir. Speed @ Ball Rod Bait Depth Bait Temp Bait 1 7:50pm Laker 16 129 42o 40.650 NW NW 2.2 SWR 76'@ball 52 Blue/Silver Mag Spoon 2 8:50pm King 14 135 N NW 2.2 DR 20# 67'@ball Hypnotist Fly on a SD 3 9:20pm King 10 138 N NW 2.2 Dipsey - Mono 50 49 Mag Bloody Nose charged 4 9:39pm Steelhead 6 133 NE NW 2.2 Lead 10 Color 49 Silver Blue 3" J Plug 5 9:46pm King 7 132 NE NW 1.8 DR 20# 65'@ball 49 Hypnotist Fly on a SD

I have fished the night bite for most of my time on the water because while I was working, that was the time available to me. Having a bit of moon light is a plus. Not a big fan of pitch dark. However, baking in the sun mid day is no picnic either. My crew from Waukegan days is not here in Michigan so I don't fish the darkness as much unless it is past sunset float. Then game on.

Nice work in tight to get 5 to start the trip.

Great night of action. Looks like the fish stayed put through the past few days of winds. Thanks for the report.

Great effort to fish mid-day. Done that many of times and thanks for the report. Brad's Cut Plugs are a favorite in my spreads and not surprised you saw action on this presentation. Got my upgrades complete on the Kubota and hope to get out on Finn Warrior some time soon.

What a beautiful Monday night - calm seas, minimal flies and biting fish. Planed straight out to 110 FOW then set up on a NW troll. With warmer water pushed in, ran two deep riggers with a spoon and a fly and 300Cu with a meat rig down the chute. Lines were down about 10 min when the SWR with mag PK Blue Fishnet spoon got bit in 143FOW. Boated a 9lb fish. Struggled to ID it last night and this morning but will peg it as a SH. It has many of the markings of a brown trout and is slimy like a brown but the spots are not continuous. Plus it would be unusual to hook one that deep. It is a plant without the adipose fin. Switched the troll to NE to move back into 145FOW and had a stout hit on the 300Cu meat rig. Fish ran for 8-10 passes but after making a little of the ground back, it came off. To my surprise, I put the teaser set up down without a flasher. Set it back down with a flasher and it didn't get bit the rest of the night. Just got that rig back in the water and the SB downrigger down 72' with a blue SD/blue silver fly took off on the same NE troll. Great fight resulting in a 17lb king. After about 30min of no action, change the troll to SW & SE. Trolling speed bumped up from 2.2/2.4 to 2.7/2.8. I got nothing but a shaker with the faster troll going south and could not dial in a 2.2mph speed with the trolling values. Got back on a northernly troll about 8:30pm and noticed the speed was much higher so the currents must have shifted. Caught and released a small 4lb king that bit a clean blue silver meat head on a SWR down 76' in 149FOW. The blue SD/fly, down 72' in 142FOW got bit a little while later trolling NE at 2.8mph. Kept that one as it was hooked very deep. Did not get any action at dusk again but had a great night overall. # Time Fish Weight FOW Latitude Troll Wind Dir. Speed @ Ball Rod Bait Depth Bait Temp Bait 1 6:03pm Steelhead 9 143 42o 48.100 NW S 2.4 SWR 78 52 Magnum PK Blue Fishnet Foil spoon 2 6:49pm Miss 0 145 42o 49.400 NE S 2.2 Weighted Steel 300 45 Meat Rig - Blue head, blue teaser, 11" silver blue paddle 3 7:02pm King 17 143 42o 50.200 NE S 2.4 DR 20# 72 49 Chrome Blue SD/Blue silver fly 4 7:49pm King Shaker 130 SW S 2.5 DR 20# 72 49 Chrome Blue SD/Blue silver fly 5 8:40pm King 4 149 42o 49.600 NE S 2.7 SWR 76 49 Silver Blue Meat Head - no teaser/paddle 6 8:51pm King 8.5 142 NE S 2.8 DR 20# 72 49 Chrome Blue SD/Blue silver fly My project 13 2024-06-25_09-43-45.mp4 Clip of the Catch (2).mp4

I would be delighted with a cooler like that on a very short float. Nice work. If you have Amazon Prime, you can have our downrigger balls shipped for free - kind of crazy with that amount of weight. The price is reasonable too.

Similarly, my wire divers have 6' of 30lb mono to the penny just short of the business end so I can break them down without getting curlies. I decided to go with mono for the shock absorbing bonus against the wire. Longer amounts of mono will reduce the depth the wire diver can get to - I verified it so keep it short.