zgrinder on Fin Warrior

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!

The blank looks to be a Silver Streak and Northern King however, NK's come with a split ring (which I remove) so I would put my money on a NK. A true Norseman to troll in yesterday's blow and nice job on landing the two kings. Hope you get a call on your lost gear. Plan on getting out mid-day today in calmer seas.

Put lines down about 4:30PM in 130FOW just north of the harbor on a NW troll. Same marks around 120' down on previous trips showed up and we put SW down in that area with Blue Tuxedo but no action to speak of. Trolled a few passes around 140' to 170'FOW but no action and few marks. Made it north to 42o 50' but no action. Went out to 220 FOW but no action. Picked up a few shakers along the way and did our best to let them grow big. Shakers on the downriggers and long lines were a problem. We stopped counting after releasing 9. About 7:45 we took a small king on the UV Green Dolphin stud from previous outings and kept it for a Saturday dinner. Clearing lines, swapping spoons and more shakers. The boat was about latitude wise in front of the harbor as the sun went behind the storm front to the west and we turned east toward the harbor to get ready to pull lines as nothing was happening and the chop was picking up. Both dipseys got hit right after the turn. Unfortunately the rig on myside of the boat took off on a long run whereas Brian my gest got a much less of a hit. Brian got his small king to the back of the boat and released, then netted the king I battled which came in at 17.5lbs. (the increased 7' to 9' leader on my dipseys is clearly a challenge in netting fish). He did a great job netting it but I wish he was on the rod instead of me. We parked those two rods and pulled the remaining 4 and each had a shaker on it - from 30' to 90' down in the water column. It was a battle to catch keeper fish while dragging shakers around all evening. But on the upside - NO FLIES . Data is a bit week below. # Time Fish FOW Latitude Troll Rod Bait Depth Bait 1 7:45 PM King 5lb 174 ? S Downrigger 41 Green Dolphin UV / MI Stinger 2 8:50 PM King 4lb 178 42o 47' 06" W Downrigger 50 Green Dolphin UV / MI Stinger 3 8:50 PM King 17.5lb 178 42o 47' 06" W Downrigger 50 Blue Dolphin / Pro King Foil The big king - great hook set on the high dipsey. Good hunting this weekend!

In the morning, the bite going north from Holland up to Port Sheldon was great but heading back south I found little interest in what I had in the water. Thanks for sharing that Spin Doctors on dipseys were getting some action. Tells me that fish were very aggressive. Lot of boats are fishing 170+ FOW but in my opinion, the better bite is inside of 150 FOW. Thanks for the report.

Nice looking kings. Glad you had a great trip.

Great outing and enjoyed all the details of your report. Must have packed many sandwiches to stay out that long! The spoon on your slider is similar to what has been working for the king bite out of Holland. Will have to wet my RV bloody nose as well and see what happens.

Left the harbor at 5:30AM, fished 6:00 to 11:00AM. Set up on a North troll. Lots of boat traffic as it was a beautiful morning. Had 3 hits releasing 2 small kings before the 15knot gusts from the SE turned the flat lake into 2 foot chop. That was not in the forecast. During the blow, SWR took off on a long slow run. It was rolling on the back of the boat, the downriggers were singing (two parked, SWR and the Depth Raider down), could not gain any ground on the fish. No choice but to holster the rod, rip the two dipseys and proceed with neutral drops to gain ground while keeping out of boat traffic (when fishing alone, this is absolutely exhilarating to land a fish). Finally got the king to the back of the boat and it was not ready to come aboard, meanwhile the rigger lines are singing louder, boat rocking, eerie storm like, all adrenaline to land this fish. Missed it on the first swipe (or two) but got it in the hoop, broke the fitting lifting it over the transom (15.7lb king weighed in the slip). SWR popped twice almost immediately after setting it down again and a shaker hit while tagging the line into the downrigger ball – could not keep the line from being bit during the blow. Once the blow subsided, so did he action. Two hours of next to nothing other than a good boat breakfast I made before casting off. Trolling South I found next to no action until I got out in front of Holland harbor. While pulling lines, a bonus 8lb king hit and 5lb Coho bit SWR. Everything fisherman look for when pulling up for the day. Charts and pics below. # Time Fish FOW Latitude Troll Rod Bait Depth Bait 1 6:20 AM King 5lb 144 42o 48' 0" N Dipsey 1-set 41 Green Dolphin UV / MI Stinger 2 6:40 AM miss 144 42o 48' 72" SE Downrigger 40 Green Dolphin Foil 3 6:55 AM King 3lb 143 42o 48' 09" SE Dipsey 1-set 39 Green Dolphin UV / MI Stinger 4 7:10 AM King 15.7lb 155 42o 48' 20" N SWR 63 Tuxedo Blue / MI Stinger 5 7:45 AM King 3lb 153 42o 48' 80" N Dipsey 1-set 49 Green Dolphin UV / MI Stinger 6 8:05 AM miss 154 42o 49 71" N SWR setting Tuxedo Blue / MI Stinger 7 8:18 AM shaker 157 42o 50' 69" N SWR 63 Tuxedo Blue / MI Stinger 8 8:19 AM King 8.5lb 157 42o 50' 69" N Dipsey 1-set 46 Green Dolphin UV / MI Stinger 9 9:30 AM shaker 159 42o 49' 72" N Dipsey 1-set 43 Green Dolphin UV / MI Stinger 10 11:03 AM King 7lb 148 42o 49' 03" SE Dipsey 1-set 46 Green Dolphin UV / MI Stinger 11 11:28 AM Coho 5lb 131 42o 48' 06" SE SWR 42 Tuxedo Blue / MI Stinger This one is going in the smoker The champs of the day