zgrinder on Fin Warrior

Fished South of Holland from2:00-6:00pm in 135-190FOW.  Had a few marks in shallow but no takers.  Picked up one small laker in about 170FOW on 300' weighted steel with a UV watermelon spoon.  Otherwise it was very much dead out there.  Water fleas are picking up.

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

Thanks for the report.  I ran a J-Plug on my last morning outing to no avail.  Glad to read you got some action on one.

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.

Wes - I didn't pick up any boats that shallow this morning and didn't know you were out there.  Didn't work for me either so I left for deep water the fish SH.

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!

Nice to see some big fish being caught.  We were out on the 19th but came up empty.  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.

Went out mid-day in the fog with Janet.  Lake was very calm.  Ran 150-200FOW and back once and pulled lines after less than 2 hours as the flies were overwhelming.  Had to put on long pants in 90 degree weather to keep from being bit.  The flies were the only bites, what a pity.  Spent more time setting up the boat and cleaning up the fly mess after docking than time the lines were in the water.  Will try again when the wind and cloud cover will provide some relief.

I laughed so hard I cried.  Great post

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 42^o 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.

The big king - great hook set on the high dipsey.

Good hunting this weekend!

For pulling 300 copper or a full core, I use the Off Shore SST boards with the stock OR-18 clip.  Between the weighted line and the 50lb Power Pro backing, I add about 10' of 30lb mono specifically for clipping the line to the boards.  I gave up on trying to get Power Pro to hold on to anything.  Last night I just ordered some gear to spool up two weighted steel wire reels.  I like how copper wanders nicely in the water but I am loosing patience with how it spools out and lays back down on the reel.  Since you just made the switch, were you happy with the performance of the weighted wire line?

And better luck on your next outing?

Great report.  I would be very happy with a box full of Coho this time of year.  Kings are always around.  Coho tend to be harder to find once the water warms up.

I have had those outings where its nothing but tip ups for most of the trip.  It drives me crazy.  Better luck on your next float.

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.

This one is going in the smoker

The champs of the day

Fished north of the harbor but not quite up to Fort Sheldon.  Finished 9 for 10 from about 6:30 to 11:30am in one of the better trips in some time.  The action came in about 150FOW and I ultimately never worked much outside that zone trolling North and South most of the trip.  I could not get much of anything to hit early morning under the cloud cover.  Once the sun broke and swapping out UV lures for early morning glow and dark spoons, things picked up.  The one Spin Doctor / fly did nothing and I pulled it early to go with all spoons.  Also, J-plug on SWR had no takers and was pulled early.  Blue spoons were dominant for kings but most were in the 5lb range and released.  I kept one 10lb king and another that I could not unbutton off the back of the boat.  Green UV spoons took the rest other than the Coho (tonight's dinner) that came on Orange Crush.  The SH that kept jumping on the SB long line while the Coho was brought in on the Port long line was eventually landed with one barb left in its mouth that about fell out.  I will take fish luck when I can it and added my good fortune to the fish box.

Inspired by Mega Byte, I did my best to take notes during the trip on my yellow pad and loaded the data in the table below.  Dipsey bait depths came off of Smart Troll probes.  SWR was +10' on top of the Smart Troll reading.  Big marks again between 120' to 150'.  I assume these are LT but will have to put a line down there next trip to see what is down there.  Hope to build a log sheet over the next few days to improve my reporting.

Way to funny.  Same output I posted from Saturday but we pulled lines around 6:30pm and had fewer hook ups.  Hope you had fun with all the action.

I know how frustrating it can be to get on some fish and not be able to double back over due to boat traffic.  Like you, most often I fish outside the fleet.  I am impressed you have enough time to capture all the data when the fish are hitting - thats double the work.  Thanks for the report.

Fished mid-day on Saturday with primarily a 4 rod top water set-up, small UV spoons in silver, red, green and blue in search of Coho, one Spin Doctor & aqua fly on a rigger and SW down deep for that King.  Set down in 160FOW trolling west, marking fish between 35-50' and a few big marks at 85' all the way down to 150'.  Some reports at the dock of fish caught in 220' but we found nothing and flipped around north east to 150' and then turned around again south to south-west.  About that time we must of crossed over a school of small kings.  Four rods went off in rapid succession.  We released them all and retired the 200' copper that was a tangled mess.  Somewhere in the rush SW got hit as well but nobody was home and found we had only one line left in the water.  Set the spread back down then finally, we got the Coho we were searching for, not very big but we will double up on the veggies to make a full meal.  On our last pass, we released another small king and had a solid hit on the 100' copper that broke the surface after a big run.  As Janet took the board off, the wire broke just before the Fluoro leader.  I retied all the lines not that long ago and must of not seen the damage to the copper-leader union - drats.  Fixed it at the dock over a cold one.  The most active set-up was 100' copper tipped with a UV green dolphin.  Spin Doctor & aqua fly saw no interested and was retired half way through the trip.