slickwater

You guys saying the water is to cold need to come up north and fish. I fished out of Charlevoix yesterday and it was 54-59 degrees at 80' down and 66-68 degrees on the surface. Marked no bait and only caught 3 greasers and their stomachs were empty. Even went for a 17 mile run to a spot that has always produced lots of kings and there were none there so we ran back to another king spot and got the greasers..

Lake Michigan is starting to be just like Lake Huron was 10 years ago.

Hit another 15 lb king in Leland this morning that was full up on ales. Great to see these fat healthy fish! I could definitely fish Leland again next summer

Did you only catch the one?

Oh and by the way It's nice to be on a website where every comment doesn't break out into an argument. THANKS GUYS.

Here is a herring that was coughed up from a perch in st. Joe

From this graph shot I'd say there is allot of them[ATTACH]1314[/ATTACH][ATTACH]1315[/ATTACH]

Not to sure if that's a herring or not. It kind of looks like an emerald shiner but with it's mouth closed can't be for sure. But at least it's food for the salmon.

Caught / kings in Leland Thursday. One was empty, one had 7 alewifes or herring, who knows. They came within 1/2 mile of one another. Lakers were full up too. Bait is there, I think we just got lucky as first timers out of that port

Glad to here salmon are at Leland.

The DNR is also talking about stocking herring. So hey, if those alewfies did die off... Herring wouldn't be so bad.. We'd be having so big ole kings just like Lake Ontario. But then again from what I've been told straight from someone who is on the board of the DNR that this year the fish will be bigger, and the alewfie population is rebounding very well, and that the fishing in the next few years should continue to get better. They also plan to stock more kings in the following years. So it is good news. From my view, i think next year were gonna have another big king year. The fishing won't be great, but I think it'll be exactly like 2013. Not very many kings but they have all been hitting the feed. We've seen a good number of large fish that are not the mature 3 year olds who will run this year. As for the alewfies, they appear they've found food to eat too

Herring have already been stocked. People have been catching a lot of them in both grand traverse bays and in the pine river channel and lake charlevoix for a few years now, but the ones they catch are over 18". But I don't know if there is any natural reproduction.

Steeliebob, I don't think the alewives will ever get out of control like years ago. Look at Lake Huron. Salmon numbers are still way down and the alewives still haven't rebounded to bring back the salmon numbers.

Just wondering how the sunrise side is doing for salmon and steelhead? It would be nice to see some reports from Oscoda to the bridge.

I wonder how stripers taste. They might not fight as hard as a king but hey they would be better than Atlantics.

I didn't have any expectations fir this year because of 2012. I didn't get to fish out of any of the hot ports so my catch rates were normal. But last year wasn't very good. Might have to sell the Islander to someone that would use it on Saginaw Bay for walleye. Because I could care less about catching lakers. And when I went out last week all we could catch was lakers. From a 3 color leadcore all the way down to 90 all over 120' of water. Every rod had a hit in a 3 hr period.

Wish I could find some alewives to net so I didn't have to buy herring. Some days tbe herring is all they want and others it won't even get hit. And I bet alewives are more consistent since they are more of a natural prey species.

Put some mag spoons in the mix.

22' Starcraft Islander. 205hp 4 barrel carb. 3-5 hr fishing trip around 5-10 gallons of gas. But that is making a 20 min run though a no wake zone(4-5mph) and then only going out about a mile or 2

Is salmon fishing that bad this year that the only reports are from the same few ports every week?

But wouldn't the more backing you let out make the leadcore go deeper. But you use a mono leader right? Same thing.

Thanks. I only run one prode anyway.

When I had a Depth Raider I used a Klincher. The rivet that goes through the body to hold the snap swivel was replaced with a bolt (non stainless) and 2" of extra stripped coated cable wire run through the U shaped fitting and terminated on the bolt. All of the stripped wire, the bolt and the snap swivel covered in a couple of coats of liquid electrical tape with the snap open so all of it was coated too. Once dried the snap could be connected to the probe and allow for removal of the probe from the rigger. It worked well for the 4 years I had it.

Sold the DR because I was always having to fix the coated cable where the coating would come off and it would stop working whenever the uncoated part hit the water. Even went so far as to replace the cable after year 3 rather than patch it, but the new cable was just as bad.

How did you fix the coated cable? I don't know why mine is wearing off. I'm using big jon riggers.

I'll get a photo of how my depth raider probe is set up when I get in my boat again.

I'm going to put a 3 color and a 5 color in the boat just in case. I already have a 10 color that is the ready core with the dacron backing. The 3&5 color leadcores I was thinking of putting them on 2 of my rigger rods that have 17# mono. But am I asking for break offs? I will probably only use the 3 color for Atlantics with a possible king getting on there. And I was thinking of going with a 12# leader on the 3 color for the Atlantics and a 17# leader for the 5 color.

Also with the 3&5 colors how much backing behind the board do I let out? I usually only let out about 30' with the 10 colors (is that alright to).

Thanks everyone.

So would the 36" ones work from amish outfitters. Or are there a cheaper company that would work just as well.

The bags are 27".

The end of the bags are probably 2-4ft from the transom. Not sure. I don't remember. I don't use them very often salmon fishing. I'll check to see what size they are and exactly where the bag of the bag is.

Sorry guys my mechanic misunderstood what I asked him.

Engine is in perfect working condition. Purrs like a kitten.

The boat has the 205 4.3L 4 barrel carb. My boat mechanic says not to put anymore stress on engine that it might ruin the coupler in the drive and have to have the drive taken off and checked before I fish again.Not sure what bags I have they came with the boat. How do I get the right measurement on tbe bags?