mj6131

8 for 8, 140 to 150 fow, a little north of pierhead. 2 steelhead on mono with 3/8 oz. weight, unknown spoon, had some red on it. 6 kings on riggers at 60 and 70, 1 on main, rest on free sliders, some candy apple flintstones spoon, once again, had red on it. Kings from one barely legal shaker to about 3 lbs. up to about 9. Water was 55 degrees on surface, and the fish acted like it was spring. (bad attitudes)

In 2014, 31,000 Skamania were planted at Tippy on 4-17.

Good job Larry, the Silverking will be fishing next weekend. Bottom paint going on today.

Lets have a great summer in St Joe. BTW did you check the St Joe City launch on Anchors Way? Are their docks in yet?

Docks are in. Shiny new fish cleaning station is not open though. That cross-current ripping like it is is kind of wicked on the way back in.

I have that Vac-Master model, and I love it! It's really nice to finish cleaning fish, throw them in a bag, seal them up, in the freezer, done! I agree with talking to Kent Butcher, but if you decide to buy online, be aware of this: Cabelas has them for about $1500, I got mine through Amazon for a little under $1000.

(Try sealing a bag of water, it's cool, it boils right before sealing.)

Agree with others, I have 4wd, have only used it a couple of times on slick ramps.

Saw a pretty humorous one this summer with a 24 or 26 footer, seemed fairly tongue heavy, and a front wheel drive van.

Other than the cruiser buzzing the tower it sounds like it was a good day to be on the water. Some people don't understand that their boat throws a wake, or else they just don't care.

That reminds me of the name I saw on the dinghy from one of the big boats: "What wake?"

0 for 4

Fish number one hit the sb rigger, shot right up, jumped outside of both dipseys, broke off. Fish two hit the same rigger, ran to the other side, wrapped around that wire, came off, at least he didn't take any hardware with him. Fish three took a short rip on full core, jumped twice, gone. Fish four hit rigger again, nobody home by the time we got there.

All hits were between 175 and 180 fow. The rigger that took three hits was at 70' The lost tackle was an 11" white paddle with pickled mirage fly. Other rigger hits were mod blue dolphin and orange flounder.

Full core was flounder pounder.

Water was 76 on top, in the 50's at 50 to 60, 49 at 70. Checked with Fishhawk TD in about 115. Think I should have stayed in there. (or at home) I blame the full moon.

Set lines at about 6:30, north of pier, 80 fow. Ended the night 14 for 18 or

19. Both riggers went right after setting, both nobody home. Worked out to about 120, 260 copper with MS blue flounder went 5 times in a row, landed 4 of them. Caught one more on rigger at 50, on a double orange crush free slider. Worked back in to 110 or so. When the sun touched the water, we had 5 fish, when the dust cleared a half hour later, we had 14. Pink panties free slider just couldn't stay in the water, every time I reset, I kept moving up, last time I set to about

35', still hit the slider. One hit the full core while I was reeling it in. Finished with a triple on, landed two of them. Lost count, or we would have held out for the limit fish, but I'm not greedy:D. 1 laker, 1 steelhead, 1 coho, the rest kings from about 5# to 15#.

Sorry if some details are hazy, it was all kind of a blur. This was the kind of night that keeps me addicted to this stuff!

It was around 10:00 when we caught the big king, he got into the wire dipsey and a rigger, decided that was a good time to end.

Messed around and caught a few nice perch until a little before 7:00, headed out to 90 fow. Spent the whole night near this depth. Ended up 14 for 16 at dark.

6 steelhead, biggest 9.5#, 8 kings, biggest 16.5#(the only one over 10#)

Full core with a UV Nbk went twice, one was the big king.

Port rigger at 50' with MS orange flounder went several times, including a double of 5# kings, one on main, one on dirty white boy slider.

Others that went:

Starboard rigger at various depths, from 40 to 80, mod blue dolphin

5 color with ?

Wire dipsey with 11"Mountain dew spin doctor and pickled mirage.

7 color w/flounder pounder.

Glass flat and hot! Surprisingly not too many flies. What a ride!

You just reminded me that I have minnows in the bucket in the cooler from Sunday...Doh!...

Went 11 for 13 (one throw back), for our 2 man limit.

Fished 1:00 to 5:00 ( in the rain).

Started in 170, out to 210, back in to 160. 165 was best.

Rigger at 60' with Moonshine orange flounder was best, took 4 I think.

2 on full core with blue dolphin.

1 on dipsey w/mag ring 260 back, green spin and fly

1 on dipsey 180 back, blue spin and fly

1 on 8 color, forgot what spoon.

1 on Craigs xmas free slider on rigger at 80'

1 on mod blue dolphin on rigger at 48'

5 for 6 (or 7 for 9, if you count the two tiny throwbacks).

From 2 p.m. to 5, 45 fow, just south of pier head, in and out of the mud line. 2 kings, 8 and 10 pounds, 3 average coho. All were on flatline with thinfish, 2 color with jointed rapala, 3 color with thin fish. A little bumpy, only saw 3 other boats.

I've been playing with this recipe for awhile:

http://forums.chef2chef.net/chef-blog/?p=506178

Not really set up to cool smoke, so I've done a lot of messing around with time, smoker door open, etc.

I like it, it is definitely a different product than regular smoked fish.

20# big game. It don't matter what line you use, every once in a while it's gonna break. You can't find all the knicks and cuts so don't think big game is your problem.

What he said...

But as has been mentioned, it's fairly cheap, so don't let it get too old. I had some reels with the line going on 3rd season, two of them broke off with no load on them. The tackle I lost cost more than a 2600 yd spool of the big game.

That's like a stimulus package...

All those people running to buy more rods.

Took a friend for his first time on Lake Michigan...(stop me if you've heard this one:D)

Lines in a little before 7:00, 125 fow. Five minutes later, rigger at 72' with MS silver flounder pops, 10# king. When my friend got up to fight the fish, he said his legs felt like rubber. After landing the fish, we had a chumming incident. I circled back around on the spot, both riggers pop(first rigger same as above, other rigger at 60', with silver redhead j-plug). My friend fights the first one, I hold on to the other. Put the rod back in holder to net the fish

(15# king), the other fish spots the full core and heads for it. When I picked the rod up, had it for a minute, dragging the full core board, then broke off. At least that spoon got to catch one fish before I lost it.

After all this we had a really serious chum incident, decided to call it. Waves don't bother me, but some of those noises...

Oh well, probably saved me from being rained on.

Lines in at 7:00 in 70 fow, out to 120, back to 100, finally caught a small king on slider on the rigger set at 60', at about 9:30. Right after that, noticed dipsey acting funny, it was twisted up with the SWR on the other rigger, lost a new fly and a blue dolphin. Decided that was enough, went looking for perch. The pack was in 50 fow, cruised through, marked nothing, saw 1 small one caught. Went out to 70 where I had marked some earlier, caught 16 nice ones, and some small ones.

Not a great result, but beat being at work.

You can get a tubing notcher that is made just for this purpose(has a clamp, and a guide for the hole saw) from Harbor Freight for something under $50.

I think the 2" tube is a little bit big for it, but it can be done. You can of course also make your own. Too much to type here, if interested, pm me.

If things straighten up wind and wave-wise, I'm going to try to go Thursday or Friday, will definitely be out over the weekend. I'll let you know...

My most consistent producing spoon for kings has been the dreamweaver magnum lemon ice followed by the green dolphin.

Me too, with mod or killer blue dolphin right in there.

I think you cruised past us on Saturday. (thought I saw a Sylvan that looked like a porcupine:D) Should have stopped there for perch. We came 10 short of a 4 man limit before we ran out of bait.

I had a couple this year, on their third season, just break off, not even with a fish on it. Don't think they were kinked, but can't say for sure. I replaced both. Of course, then I lost the new 10 color when the backer broke just above it. At least I lost that one to a fish.

It wouldn't hurt to seal the end-grain with whatever. (sealer, paint, wax...)Just something to slow the uptake of water.

Thanks a lot!

The wife has been bugging me to put the cameras back out. If she sees that picture, she'll probably force me out, even in these temps...