Wasabi

What leader length range do you consider acceptable for lure action from the end of the first color to the lure?

Slow day, 2 for 3 - left the pierhead at 6:00 to set lines in dead calm water - already light out. Set up in 80 FOW SW troll heading towards the pack. First fish at 105 FOW on full core with superscrew - rookie dove the planer board which then released and went down to the fish. 0 for 1 on what was acting like a nice king.

Next fish again in ~103 FOW, free slider on downrigger set at 93 feet. Greasy chicken on another super screw - ugliest damn lure I have in the box, but the fish like it.

Next fish was on a copper slide diver set at 2, 150 feet back - modified blue dolphin, for another greasy chicken. Time to get out the smoker and pray to the fish gods for perch to show up. Scanned around in 25-35 FOW in front of spy glass - no sign yet.

Pulled lines at 10. Temp break at 45' down. alewifes in the bellies

Slow day, 2 for 3 - left the pierhead at 6:00 to set lines in dead calm water - already light out. Set up in 80 FOW SW troll heading towards the pack. First fish at 105 FOW on full core with superscrew - rookie dove the planer board which then released and went down to the fish. 0 for 1 on what was acting like a nice king.

Next fish again in ~103 FOW, free slider on downrigger set at 93 feet. Greasy chicken on another super screw - ugliest damn lure I have in the box, but the fish like it.

Next fish was on a copper slide diver set at 2, 150 feet back - modified blue dolphin, for another greasy chicken. Time to get out the smoker and pray to the fish gods for perch to show up. Scanned around in 25-35 FOW in front of spy glass - no sign yet.

Pulled lines at 10. Temp break at 45' down. alewifes in the bellies

W2G Jason, see you out there! Nice report 2!

thx guys

How's the bellies looking for bait fish these days in SW Michigan?

http://www.lakescientist.com/2011/lake-huron-salmon-fishery-decline-is-a-learning-moment-for-others-117

ASIAN KING hybrid stocked in chicago river! Awesome!

Nice job. I am curious, did u try slowing down your speed a little bit to see if your hookups improved?

ah yes, combat fishing 5 miles from shore, always wondered why they think they have to fish next to you to catch their own fish. There is a LOT of water out there, spread out people and remember, I got a full core out there! Or at least learn the rules of the road and follow them.

Thanks guys.

Anybody noticing any baitfish/alewifes in the coho stomachs from the recent slaughter goin on in SW Michigan waters? The dozen or so I've cleaned so far were all empty.

http://www.mlive.com/outdoors/index.ssf/2011/04/collapse_of_lake_huron_salmon.html

Talk about an expensive 2# fish, hopefully they learned their lesson to not be greedy and unsportmanslike.

Headed to St. Joe on Sunday, set lines around 9:30 out in front, right after the rain stopped. Thought great, we'll stay nice and dry now, yeah right! Fishin was steady all morning picking up cohos while dodging the boats. No rhyme or reason to the trolling pattern in front of the harbor mouth, n/s/e/w/sideways/everywhich way but loose - made for a long day dodging. Must have been the crazy busy bite goin on along with the 30+ knot winds and sharp waves comin over the bow and gunwale. brrrrr

Ended 10 for 12 in an out of the mudline. Most fish on riggers, 24' down, 30-35 FOW on orange dodger with blue fly, black/green fly (Thanks Mark ), and pink/black fly. Also took fish on flats with hot n tots (pink and orange) and thin fins - metallic pink and also burnt orange.

Can't take it anymore, no new posts on the site, warmer weather coming this week, and hockey season is almost over... bring on the fish!

Weekend was a wash, thank u IN DOT. My buddy was late - didn't launch boat til 830 pm sat nite. Found cold beer but no cold water in ps - still had fun but didn't get home till 1am.. Slept in sun am and went to sh late am for perch- found waves instead. Gonna give away boat and start playin cards.

South Haven, south 31 FOW Thanks Boets Crew!

Got a buddy coming in from IL to troll Sat night and Perch Sunday. Need a perch report between St. Joe and Muskegon please. Thank you.

Scott

Sounds like you had an amazing trip, one for the memory banks for sure. I am no electrican, but as for the electrified fishing, you may want to check the grounding on your boat, esp. considering you were having issues prior the rods goin live wire. You should have less than 1 volt discharing from a downrigger cable to the water. I remember a graphite rod giving me jolts on a sunny day and came to find out it was from a short in the downrigger, carried right up to the fishin pole. I've seen the results of a guy getting fried to the downrigger when lightning hit the boat and he was reeling it up - the wife and young son had to drive the boat back to the dock with him cooked to the downrigger - NOT WORTH IT MAN.

Thanks MC2, will have to give it a whirl if I ever catch another one. Wish I could justify a slip, but my boat qualifies as a dinghy for some boats, it's a 16' whaler. South Haven is definitely in the top 3 for my choice of places to slip with the next boat.

We ended up with over 50 in a few hours time. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw him, I thought for sure it was a laker, walleye, or salmon down there, no jumps, but quite the good time for about 10 minutes. Good luck!

PERCH PERCH PERCH PERCH PERCH PERCH PERCH PERCH!

Thanks again for the tip on Deerlick for Perch. Dropped anchor just north of the pack in 33 FOW. Got steady perch action all day on minnows and nice size too. Best perch fishing I've had in 3 years. Didn't move once all day. Doubles and jumbos, very few throwbacks, and NOT ONE GOBIE!

We did however have a big surprise catch - ~12-15# CATFISH on my bear paw perch rig w/ 6# test on an ultralight! Did I mention we didn't bring the net on the boat today? GRRRRRRRRRR. I can grab a steelhead, walleye, or salmon no issue, but not sure how to pick up a catfish, let alone clean it didn't want to! ? :confused: Managed to get one photo with the new phone from 10 foot away, but couldn't get it to take more with the bad boy alongside the gunwale 3 times. Ready to go again!

Approximatlely how far south are Deerlick and the 3rd dune?

Congratulations Jim on the Rockwell moments with your grandkids, we can relate on the tangles last night. You can send me the project with the tangled core for a spare, but take the copper to the scrap yard!

What an absolutely awesome night aboard the Just Hook'n. 13 for 19ish, lost track. Mark, Bruce, Ralph and I hit the water just after 5:30 and pulled lines before the sunset night bite because THE COOLER WAS FULL! Set down ~80 FOW out front, then trolled into waves to get to depth, then turned south for rest of night, staying between 105 and 120 FOW. First fish came ~7pm and was steady all night. Waves 1 foot or less forecast YEAH RIGHT! reality was 2-4 w/ occasional 5's, NW Winds were blowing pretty good. Slaughter house for female pig kings tonight. 6 female kings between 13 - 16 pounds! Rest were smaller kings 4-8# and 3 small greasy chickens (one throw back). Green Siggs Rig Fly caught a beast tonight came in at just under 16# See photos. Mark has a nice photo he'll post of the 6 bigger kings - FRAMER! Rest were on Green frog / mtn dew paddles / green flies, yellowtail and modified blue dolphin spoons hit several too on the full core. Wire dipsy was literally white flame hot @ 150-175 feet back on 1.5, along with riggers set at 85 and 54. 2 doubles tonight. One of the doubles actually was a triple - Had a double on one rod and another fish on the other rod at the same time - fixed slider (king) and down at 85 (laker), but broke off the slider king on the wire dipsy behind the boat. 2 for 3 in that set. Awesome way to say adios to June, bring on JULY!

ScottieP

well done el capatan!

Rupes and I got a late / slow start Friday evening, set lines after 8 @ 105 FOW just north of Holland to a bunch of radio chatter about fish biting left and right. Couldn't pay for a bite, zig zagged between 135 and 95 for what seemed like an eternity, THEN it happened ~100 FOW. 4 for 4 in no time at all. Kicked the skunk out w/ a small king on the wire diver 225 on 3. Started getting dark so pulled the corner rigger to give white glo paddle w/ green fly an extra charge. Reset to 80' and it wasn't down 2 minutes when wham, 15# king slammed it-Gonna be a smoker going tonight boyz! Boxed and ready to go again and a 3 color w/ bloody nose took of with a 6# steelie. Wasn't 10 minutes more than the 5 color w/ mixed veggie went. I think Church ought to make their boards glow. Funny, wasn't much line at the awesome new fish cleaning station at Holland State Ramp at 1 am.

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