Far Beyond Driven

No wind, no flies, no hot sun beating down on us, pretty sun set, ~ 1' chop we were able to climb on top of and run 40+. Other than laker barf all over my carpet, the conditions don't get much better......

15.71 is on my wall, not nearly as pretty as that fish. Catching it with the kids is a bonus.

Launched at 5:30, let the girls swim on the north beach until they were worn out and then ran out to 90' to find warm water piled in. Ran out to 120' and set up junk for kings and riggers and wires on the bottom to work on the laker program. Had a good rip on the wire. Wire diver + wife that is out of practice + trying to coach wife that doesn't want to be coached = lost fish. Soon after that the other wire fired. I proved my technique, gloating as I did, so my wife didn't get the net and I ended up slinging a 9# laker over the back and onto the floor. Headed back north, about 9 we were pulling them to get the monkeys in bed when a rigger scraping the bottom out 160' fired and just sat there. Andrea took this one and winched and winched and winched. We cleared in half the spread in the mean time, wifey did great net work this time and we threw a just under 13# laker in the box. Biggest fish for my daughter ever and biggest laker on TZ, which to admit, is out of teh 15 odd lakers I've caught in 10 years of owning that boat. I don't ever catch lakers when targeting kings in the summer. Caught 11 last year, one in the 14' looking for browns in April, one sub legal in the 215, and then 9 more in November and December in the surf looking for steel, two of those were pushing 14#. Not to be outdone by big sister, my 32# squeak reeled in her new bait on a full core to find a lively king on the end. He was released unharmed. 3/4 in June on a beautiful night with the family. I'll take it.

Thanks for the update. We were in 110' last night having bait balls black out the graph, oddly most were only 10-20' down and we had bait jumping the prop wash. No hooks up with them, but then our "high" rigger was at 110' and the deep ones at 140' to pound the bottom.

Any one that makes death threats and involves my children will not enjoy the last hours of their life.

"Thats a fact and they fish everyday most likely." They're also networked really well, and lots of people won't post when they're not on fish.

I see where you are going but that's not really the way I look at it. I just like bringing people with me, especially if they haven't ever or rarely get the chance to fish. If we catch fish, great, it makes it more fun, if not, well we got to spend time on the water I've hosted people from 6 weeks to 83 years old, 3 countries, and 14 states on my boat. Routinely entertain customers and suppliers. And everyone that's been old enough to have a license, has been made to buy a license. Kind of fun when you swing by Meijer's and the 15 year old behind the counter is trying to figure out why guys from Scotland don't have driver's licenses....

Not much fun trying to time your barfing as not to spray the entire side of the boat.

It costs me well over $100 every time I tow my Four Winns to the lake and run around for a while. If you can't find $7 for a day license, I don't need you on my boat. If you can't get one the night before or on-line and make me tow the boat all over the place during the prime time to be fishing, don't yell at me when my friend has 8 in the cooler before we launch.

I would advise against going sword fish fishing any time soon. You ran into Moby King. Many think Moby King does not exist, but Moby King is real and cannot be caught. Moby leaves a trail of stories and wreckage. I hooked him in 2002 in front of Saugy. Thunderstick off a yellow bird, 30# line. Lure was 50' out, board 50' from there. Fish hit, board literally bounced across the top like a skipping stone, counter went to 600'+. Got it back to 300', then back to 600', got it to 300', and then it went to over 700'. Finally got it headed in, in the mean time a slide diver got hit. I was the only other person on the boat, so I grabbed that, cranked the drag down, winched in a 15# king in about 10 seconds and pulled it over the stern like a crappie on a cane pole, threw the whole works in the cabin. Guy fighting Moby looked at me like "WTF" was that all about? We finally got Moby to the point where we got the yellow bird off the line, less than 50' to go, and the walleye crap hook on the T-stick gave up and broke. Moby spun a slow 180 and swam just under the surface going the other way. Honestly, that fish was all of 30#.

Should have been in the Grand Haven tournament with that cooler, but then Saturday morning was a bit "sporting". Not many coolers that heavy. I'll trade waves washing the top of my cooler over having to play bumper boats any day.

Blue dolphin DW off a rigger. I catch pretty much all 5 species on that set up over the course of the year. Also, riggers are by far the most verstile. Browns I can set them shallow with long leads, coho I can set them in the prop wash. Easiest rig to bottom bounce for lakers other than maybe a thumper, and a thumper isn't good for much else. Kings from April into harbor patrol, offshore steelies I can run them at 5mph, something my divers don't seem to like much, and then even fishing the surf until the access points up here ice up - my riggers will be in the water. Took an 11# steelie last year 3' down on the day after Thanksgiving. That said, took over 100 fish this spring before I set a rigger.

Dave: lots of junk all the way out to 230' off the stacks. Fun ride in - first trying not to launch off a 5' crest and then not punch a hole in the hull too.

Take the time and do it right. I had a buddy who had nickel and dime stuff going on all the time, finally dropped the cash and got the boat running great - no more nagging issues. Then his tow vehicle grenaded. Don't be afraid to drop me a PM if you want to go out on my dime. Sucks not being able to fish.

Rolled my oldest out of bed and met a buddy at the launch at 5:40 or so, no fog, which was great. Rolled down towards Saugy and set up in 25'. Third rod in, rigger goes off, fish runs across and collects everything, busts at the surface and is gone. So, pull the mess in and start over. Looked to be about an 8# king, blue dolphin DW back 20 pulls down 20'. Get set up, feeling really bad from a rough week and no sleep, but the 3 color rod seems to be acting funny. Point it out to George, he grabs in, soon we put an 8# king in the box. Moonshine Double Trouble Mag. Better. I'm in the stern and he points out a tap on the slide diver, pick it up, bigger fish than a tap, 9# king soon in the box. Mixed veggies glow edge nailer. Then the tournament boats came out and set up right on top of us, Unreel setting his boards within 10' of ours. F that, pull them and head for the surf. Don't even get lines set in there, my girl being the planer board line feeding out champ, and the shore side birds takes off. Hand it to her, a couple minutes later a ratty spawned out hen steelie comes over the back, and then after a picture gets put back in the lake. Took a couple shots across the piers at Saugy, lots of marks, ended up missing and losing two small browns in there. If we could have kept them all stuck, we would have had a pretty killer box on a tough day. As was, I was blessed to spend time with a good friend and a great daughter. Then I went home and slept from 1-9pm, woke up in the dark and had to wonder if the rapture had really happened.

Now you've got me wanting a mushroom swiss burger and their garlic bread with bar cheez. Hmmm...... Cool idea though.

No fish leaves the net on my boat without getting whacked with a flash light. One hit, check the pupil, if it's wide open, then and only then will the fish be handled. Mull loves to pose fish with hooks in them for pictures. F that. Hate hearing fish flopping to death in the cooler. This is easier for all involved, including the fish.

Ken: boat name is Twilight Zone, don't answer to either on the radio though - leave it on 16 once the first "you're going to run over my core" pops up....

I'm in, gotta figure out how I can get my fish quick so I can enter the sheepie tournament and fish that at the same time.....

That's a $180 reel and we're talking about modificaitons and updates to make it work when it breaks? Does anyone else think this is wrong, wrong, wrong? I've got Penn 309's that I back the drags off every year, they're on my half core and get used all year, and I do nothing, yet they just work. They're probably as old as I am. I bought a used 800 Shimano. Clicker broke. Fixed it. It broke again. Fixed it again. Not that it's easy to use as the button is in a damnable recess on the side and all but impossible to trip with gloves or if the reel is wet. Then the drag went out. After 4 trips and a 5# king. Really? Sold it as was and picked up two Okuma 55L's NIB off Ebay for only $10 more, and then sent them to Tuna and get the 6.1 to 1 gears put in, have not looked back.

I'm on my third Escort GT, raced and rallied every one of them, this one's at 186k and needs new front brakes but still runs like a champ. Actually, you can flog the hell out of it and it doesn't care and kicks back 27mpg regardless. Looks like crap, lots of rust, but when an Audi A8 would not get out of the left line I grabbed fourth and was in front of him before he could even blink. Going to miss that car when it goes. Will never be able to push any thing else to the limits and know what it's going to be capable of like those Escorts.

Skip it. Everything's late this year; the 6-4 event should be a good one. But then the sheepie tournament could be that Saturday. Last June sheepie tournament we caught over 350# of fish and quit at 9:30 for breakfast with a 16# in the cooler and a couple 14's released. How's that for June fishing?

.SATURDAY...NORTH WINDS 15 TO 25 KT INCREASING TO 30 KT. SHOWERS LIKELY. WAVES 4 TO 7 FT. .SATURDAY NIGHT...NORTH GALES TO 35 KT BECOMING NORTHEAST. SHOWERS LIKELY. WAVES 5 TO 8 FT. .SUNDAY...NORTHEAST GALES TO 35 KT BECOMING NORTH. SHOWERS LIKELY. WAVES 6 TO 10 FT. .SUNDAY NIGHT...NORTH GALES TO 35 KT DIMINISHING TO 30 KT. WAVES 6 TO 10 FT. Updated as of 4:10 Eastern today, looks like more than 1-3's. I'm out, going to be chugging Nyquil and getting about 12 hours of much needed sleep tonight......

Ken: Sundays don't work for me, so if it's scrubbed tomorrow, I'm out for this one. Kevin

Fished Holland last night in a 14'. Lake Macatawa was way worse than the big pond, and of course I used the launch with 4 miles of open water for the wind to play with....