zgrinder on Fin Warrior

Skunked.  Worked 120-180FOW.  Simply just too much warm water piled up on the MI shoreline.  Had the riggers as far down as 150' and could not get below 52 degrees.  Found a nice bait ball at 165FOW with fish suspended below but could not get them to bite anything I passed through it.  I note the PS buoy indicates some colder water coming in.  Will try a few runs this week.

As promised, a pic of the 9" spin doctor and double skirted howie white crinkle fly with the size 2 Mustad hook.  The skirts are separated for the pic but they lay simply one on top of the other.  I run double skirt flies in the fall for the same reason I move to magnum spoons - bigger bait profile.  It helps to trim off some of the tube from the underside of the fly skirt with a box cutter to get a tighter overlay.  Probably should have put a coin next the hook to help with visualizing the size.  Lead is 22" from the connecting loop to the very top of the first fly skirt.  There is enough hardware hanging from the back of the spin doctor that justifies the shorter fly leader.

Dual report.  Tuesday 8/3 Janet and I went 3 for 5.  2 LT, one small king boated (lakers released).  One big king miss in 70FOW on a white spinny white fly on a downrigger as we were pulling lines with our last 2 lines down.  We fought it for a while but it unbuttoned early in the fight.  All hits came after sundown.  There are three threads to this.  Thread one - When the big fish strike occurred, my Penn 310 drag opened up and kept opening up each time a tightened it down.  This fish was never going to be caught.  So I brought all 16 reels I rebuilt in the off season and found I put the washer with the two points in last on 8 of the 16 reels.  How I made this error I dont know but now that I opened each one up I am confident they will work - got my inspection time down to 15min a reel.  Thread two - The king spit out the Gamakutsu #2 hool like it was a Skittle.  This had to be changed.  Thread three - the big hit came in shallow as I was working in from 120FOW to wrap up the night, save that info for the next trip.

Thursday 8/5, Janet is off to NY and I am solo running 3 rods but looking for big fish so this works well.  Lines down at 5:30pm at 120FOW.  Marked fish to about 150FOW the a ghost town out to 180FOW, decided to come back in and work slightly skinny water.  No tip ups and it is 7:30pm time to go shallow.  Note to thread #3, I was the only boat inside of 115FOW for the dusk bite - very happy to be there alone.  Note to thread #2 - prior to launch, I set up a big fish rig.  I have 4 reels set up with 40lb Ande for seaflies so I used what I had (30lb test would be just fine).  I figured at dark, the fish will not sense how big of a line is in the water.  Next, I rigged two back to back Howie white crinkle flies, one over the other over a Mustad 4/0 hook at 22" to run on a 9" white paddle.  Dont ask me why I got these hooks, it was an ordering mistake, the larger hooks I run are Mustad 2/0's but they will bend with large king.  I figured these monster hooks will not unbutton.  I will try to send a F/U pic tomorrow when I am back on Fin Warrior.

Made all my dusk bait changes and wound up 3 for 4, all kngs as the sun disappeared, bam, bam, bam then it was over.  The big king rig took a 15.5 pounder that was a joy to bring in.  I new the line would not break, the monster hook would not come unbottoned, and I could bring the fish in hot and not lose it in the net by myself.  The high dipsepys did not get any action unlike when the water was colder on Tuesday.  Another note to file.

So what i want to share for those dusk fisherman is to not be hesitent to beef up a big king rig and work shallow.  I loathed long lines but if you must, I expect this strategy will work as well.

Best, Capt Dick

Fin Warrior

Those kings are studs!  Nice work fishing down deep.

Great report and a very handsome cooler!

a 15# king in 45min of fishing is a highly impressive catch rate!  And you made the right call to play is safe - you don't have to go out but you always must come back.

Nice king!  Sorry about the gear.  Should be able to get the Canon parts to fix it.

Fished with Tom from Water Dog mid-day.  Set lines close to 2:00 somewhere around 140FOW, 4 riggers, 2 wire divers, no long lines.  Outer riggers set with blue silver J-plug & spotted green spinny / proctologist fly 115' down.  Inner riggers, SW tipped with wonderbread Brad's cut plug & herring oil down 140' and light line rod with mag frozen seagull down 125'.  Mag dipsy with blue holographic spinny / blue bubble fly out 200' and std. dipsey + mag ring out 210' with spoons, stopped the rotation at std. size frozen seagull.  The probe down 115' was still at 63 degrees so we pushed out to deeper water.  Just past 200FOW we got action.  Mag frozen seagull on light line took a big laker that stayed down forcing us to clear lines on the SB side to bring it in the boat.  There was a steelhead jumping out of the water behind the LT we were pulling in that we eventually figured out was on the SW rig.  Boated that and two more SH came immediately on the J-plug and the blue bubble fly.  At that time we had zero lines in the water and were in 235FOW.  Got everything back down, turned around and the two dipseys took back to back kings under 10#.  Coming back into about 195FOW the blue bubble fly on the dipsey got hit again with another SH.  After about an hour and a half of non-stop action it all came to a halt.  Pulled lines near 6:00 and came in.  Went 7 for 7 with 1 LT, 4 SH and 2 kings.  5 of the 6 rods took fish.  No big kings this trip but plenty of fun!

Fin Warrior

Nice pics to all!

Nice work in the AM.  Need to get the divers way out and the riggers below 100 to find cold water right now.

Fished the evening bite from 7:00-10:00.  Up till just before sunset I was doing more trouble shooting than fishing.  Checking voltage on each of the 4 riggers, determined the Cannon Mag 20 rigger with the Depth Raider unit that came with the boat (my old first generation Fish Hawk was superior) was putting out 0.81 volts.  So I grounded the cable to the raw water spicket McGiver style for the trip.  I am strongly considering equiping Fin Warrior with a Smart Troll system in the off season and retiring the Depth Raider.  Next, after sending my wire lines down multiple times with a Fish Hawk XD using different types of divers, I determined I spooled them up this spring with way too much 30# mono leader.  So I striped that down to about 7' and improved the depth by 10 or back where my charts are useful.  Tinkering came to an end when just at dusk Janet yelled tip up and we had our first king that came on Silver Streak Frozen Seagull down 92' on the SB aft rigger.  It charged the boat from the time it hit and came in so hot we lost it under the swim platform in the attempt to net it.  As soon as that rod was back in the water the wire diver 190' back on a one set went off with a small king that we unhooked at the back of the boat.  I did not get that rod down when the newly grounded SB rigger tipped with a white dodger / white fly tipped up however the fish came unbuttoned quickly.  Did not even have time to reel in the slack when SW on the Port aft rigger down 100' with a wonderbread Brad's cut plug and herring oil errupted.  Janet played it like an expert while I neutral dropped the engine a number of times to allow line to be gained.  The fight finished with a 16' king in the boat.  Some where in that fight the white dodger & fly tipped up again but nothing on it.  Then the action came to a complete stop.  The little radio chatter seemed to indicate most boats were struggling during sun up.  I ran the old school 4 riggers and two wire divers and no long lines.  4 of the 6 lines got hit all in 135 FOW but it was strickly a sunset bite for the Fin Warrior.  Will be back out on Sunday.

Really am thankful for the color and detail of your posts.  So happy for the good days that you have had on the water and the 'catch pics' are priceless.  Thanks for sharing.  I am amped for getting out this weekend in Holland.

A split ring failure is indeed rare.  Had that happen one time as well.  NBK is a 'Go To' spoon.  Three years ago Killer Blue was the ticket on the business end of a SWR.  Not the "Go To' lure since 2018.  Happy to read the action was good in Pentwater.

Great pic - that is a beast!

Congrats on taking the top laker trophy!

Holland 4:00-7:00pm.  Could not get out any earlier and had to settle for late afternoon.  Worked 120-170 FOW with the same results, one rip on the 300 copper with a meat rig but came up empty.  The flys were terrible so we pulled lines early.  Marked very little bait on this trip.  Janet (spouse and most trusted fishing partner) suggests I drop the long lines and go back to the 4 rigger program with a mix of flashers and spoons on light lines we ran years ago and on the other side of the lake.  It sure is easier moving around other boats without dragging boards.  Will give it a go next trip.

I sure hope that tangle did not come as dusk!

Fished the holiday from 4:00-7:00pm after running to West Marine to replace the house battery that gave up the ghost.  Blew me away that WM was open on a holiday and equally so that they had a group 31 Northstar AGM battery in stock.  WM saved the day as all my electronics were down. Worked mostly 115-145FOW.  Water was far colder than Monday & Wednesday when lines needed to be 80' down or more.  Plenty of marks but not a bump.  Turned to shore at 7:00pm to pull lines and the 300' copper on the inside of the turn with green teaser meat rig / green & silver paddle on a board came to life.  After a long battle, put a 20lb king in the box that will bless us with steaks tonight.

Fireworks off the channel were good last night.

Fin Warrior

Fished between Holland and Saugatuck from 5:00 to 8:45pm between 110 to 170 FOW.  Only action came between 125-140FOW after 7:30pm.  Went 1-3 boating a 8lb king.  Two long lines @ 10' and 22' down set for steelhead to my surprise did not get touched.  Deep SWR run between 65-80' with spoons and a Brad's cut plug inked with bloody tuna oil resulted in no action as well.   Downrigger 50-55' down after subtracting out blow back rigged with a Michigan Stinger killer green (similar to NBK but green on both edges) about 50' back off the ball took the king and had another release soon thereafter but came off with one head bump.  Dipsey 3-set about 40-45' down with a copper/gold spoon + red witchcraft tape (something I gave new life to in the off season) had a great rip and a short lived fight until the hook bent and the fight was over.   The king had one big alewife inside.  Marked some balls of bait fish between 50-70' down.  Great night to be out and the flies where very infrequent :). 

Fin Warrior

You are my hero fishing at the crack of dawn on a slow bite.  Many thanks for the report!

Trolled just south of the harbor between 160-210FOW but mostly in 170-190FOW.  Picked up a small king on a purple stinger off a 2-set dipsey 105' back.  Took a 10lb king on SWR 135' down with a green/chrome j-plug.  Only good marks were below 100'.  No bait balls marked.  Put a second keel on my Otter boards in the off season and ran them off the outriggers for the first time.  They tracked beautifully.  Ran 200' & 300' copper off the sides but unfortunately, it was not worth the effort on this trip.  Word on the dock is 1-3 fish is the current fill for the fish box.

Fin Warrior

1:00pm shake down run to check all water craft systems and fishing gear while trolling 40-70 FOW.  Caught one laker in 66 FOW on a green fly / green spinny 40' down on a rigger.  It was the only bump over 2 1/2 hours.  North wind was biting by 4:00pm.  Friend down the dock caught 3 lakers and one king in 40 FOW earlier in the day.  PSS dripless seals are spraying water at 4000 rpm, SB side is actually dumping quite a bit so yes I have my shake down project to get after.

Fin Warrior

I am jealous.  It was a beautiful evening to be out on the water.  Great to here some Coho are in the Holland area.  Launching at the end of the week - be there soon.

Went 3 for 5 tonight on silver but it was far better than that because the fish were a bit active and I finally made the right counter moves to get 5 bites.  The little chatter on 68 seemed to indicate not much was happening.  Set down a little south of the channel in 110 FOW to set lines.  Strong current from the blow yesterday so managing speed and blow back took some work.  Took a small king in 116 FOW on a downrigger 66' down with a Moonshine Hot Lipps mag. spoon but with the blow back, depths was likely 44' down.  Let the fish go to grow up to be a line ripper.  About 135 FOW the same set up lit up again in a much bigger way.  The good fight ended early and the king was skipping its way across the top of the water with my mag. spoon and I had nothing left but a slack line.  Fixed that problem but it got me to thinking.  Marked hooks 75' and below, along with a few bait balls, but no hits.  Reset the high diver (3 set, 145' out and about 50' down) with a mixed veggies.  About 30 min later in 127 FOW, it ripped and a good fight ended in a 10 lb king.  Reset that line and changed out the other high diver with a Moonshine bloody nose going with the white spoon - color tip program program.  Got pushed out to 130 FOW but near the bait ball I marked earlier and big fun happened with the high diver bloody nose spoon that resulted in a 20lb king in the net.  The leader broke, the 45lb Sampo coast lock swivel was destroyed.  Not sure how I got so lucky.  Got that all repaired but not takers for a while.  Pulling lines after sunset, the high diver bloody nose lit up again. About 20' off the back of the boat it came unhooked (I immediately changed out the hook on the spoon after that).  Likely about the same size as the 20lb fish landed earlier based on the fight.  It was a bit disappointing but the way I looked at it, it was a bonus fish that happened to hit when all lines should have been up and likely happened because I ran over the bait ball vector to the shore line (another good move).  Very fun evening. Too many trips with no marks, no hits, swatting flies and the tolling brain fog sets in.  Hope you guys have the same fun on your end of season runs!!!

Thank you for rewarding all of us on the site with your catch data.  And the pics too!  Got me to thinking that I need to do a better job of that myself.

Interesting findings that the fish moved out by evening.  Water looks gorgeous.

Fin Warrior - Holland, MI