Turfwrench

I hear ya Jason and thought we might be able to get together over there but the brutal winds left me with fishing Traverse. Good luck on your next trip. We are done for the west side this season.

Wow, what a tough weekend to head to the west side. Set up camp in Mesick on Friday night in the rain. Rained all evening and into the night. Wind and wave report prompted us to hit up Traverse City West Bay on Saturday morning. Launched out of Elmwood and starting setting lines, second rod set and bang first fish on, 10-12lb king 56'down on rigger. Kept heading across the bay and worked towards the north, had another good fish on the wire diver 190 back that ran me out to 330' and hit a loop in the reel, couldn't give it any more line and snap went the leader and fish. By 8am the fish quit but we continued in not so pleasant weather as the rain clouds and squalls continued to pound us several times in the morning.

Went back up to West Bay Sunday morning to get a double going first thing in the morning, one on rigger 90' down and another on the wire diver 190 back. While I was fighting the one on the wire my grandson was battling the one on the rigger rod. Unfortunately his fish wrapped under and over the other wire diver and got cut off. I was able to land this brute on the wire. Fishing again shut off at 8am. All fish seemed to be quite deep in the bay, surface temps were in the 70's. The fish we caught were all bronze.

Monday morning was able to get out of Frankfort in the morning, break was at 30'. First light bite was good then immediately died also resulting in 1 for 2 before the sun came over the dunes. Wind and surf picked up putting us off the water by 10am. Just some real tough conditions, wishing the weather would have been more cooperative.

First off I will say I don't do major holidays. Been there, done that, and don't have the patience to do it again. Jet skis, seadoos, etc are the worst offenders at the launches. At Tawas a couple years ago and attempting to get into the state docks only to have the jet skis blow past in the harbor and tie up all the docks while they sat and bs-ed and trying to decide who was to drive next. They were using them as their own personal dock with no concern of anyone launching or trying to come in to retrieve. Same scenario at Pt Sanilac, they come blasting up to the docks in a no wake zone with no concern for others. The ones at Sanilac got a not so nice verbage on no wake and what their actions did to the boats at the docks that didn't appreciate being tossed about while trying to load or unload. They just gave a dumb look and went about their horseplay.

It would be nice to have a dock attendant directing traffic at the busy launches. It certainly would curtail a lot of problems and get people in and out quickly. During the busy times at the DNR launch at the mouth of the Saginaw river I have seen the attendant there directing and getting things done smoothly.

I guess they don't teach etiquette in boating safety......it should be a mandatory item having your boat fully loaded and ready to go before you launch. Something like retesting for your drivers license. (How many do you think would fail??) Upon retrieval get the boat on the trailer and pull into the tie down lane, not just out of the launch and block it for the next half hour while you pull the drain plug, put the antenna down, stow rods, and take your gear out of the boat.

Ok,,,,now I feel better

I currently am running Okuma CV 45D reels spooled with 1000' 30# Mason wire on Shinamo TDR rods with twilli tips. Entire setup less than $180 and it performs great. The rod has plenty backbone to pull the mag dispys and plenty strong enough to bring the fish in. It is certainly the most exciting rod on the boat.

And I thought the fleas are a bad enough problem as we encounter them frequently in lk Huron but what did get to me was the algae that attached to the lines in Frankfort a couple weeks ago. Would much rather deal with the fleas than the algae as it was on the riggers and the wire divers.

Well Brandon you haven't missed much at Pt Sanilac lately as the surf conditions have been all but favorable. So spent this past weekend prepping my gear for another run back to Frankfort for a few days. Hopefully all the holiday fools will be long gone.

I prefer freshly cut belly fat off of a fish I caught. Lots of flavor, oils....and the fish just love it.

Usually seems to be either some funny stuff that happens at the launch or something that has a tendency to boil under our skin. Earlier this season we were approaching the launch but had to wait for an open dock to come in on between the jet skiiers and other boats that had just came in or were going out. This one boat headed in well before me so we sat in idle figuring he had his truck at the water ready to load.....sitting.....sitting and still he hadn't moved the boat. Finally the other side of the dock opened and we pulled in, tied off, retrieved the vehichle, loaded, pulled out to the tie down and this individual was still sitting and the boat wasn't even near the trailer yet. I looked at the name on the side of his boat......"Bout and Hour" best thing he could have ever named that boat. :no: He was still putting his rubbers on so he could hook up his boat......gotta love it.

Normally I don't run meat as I fish Lower Lake Huron and we just don't have the fish yet nor the action on that type of bait that keeps me running that slow, spoons at 2.8 - 3.4 sog does the trick here. Now last week at Frankfort we did put down a couple Yooper meat rigs, that would be fresh belly fat sliced off of fish we caught......does it work......ahhhh......much better than store bought packaged bait. The fish don't seem to care if it is lake trout, salmon, etc....but it is fresh and has flavor. And yes we caught fish on them!!

I am banking on next weekend. The effects of the hurricane will be long gone and so will the holiday fools. Will be back to Frankfort for 4 days and hopefully the weather will cooperate, if the winds don't will run up to Traverse Bay and give it a go there. Stable weather has not been the norm for the past several weeks.

This may help. I put this together a couple years ago, it seemed a lot of guys that fish the lower end of Lk Huron caught browns and were calling them atlantics. I put the red lines in on the jaw to show the difference. The top and bottom fish (atlantic) are the same fish with the middle fish a brown.

Jason, we will be heading up on the Friday and returning Tuesday afternoon. Will certainly give you a holler. Maybe after this hurricane goes thru things will change up with the fishing.

Good job on the fish Jason. I certainly agree on the deep and slow action. We were up there for three days and left the day before you came up. Stayed south of the harbor in the early mornings to avoid all the boat traffic up on the bank then worked our way up past the point after the traffic died down. Only fish that we got up high in the water was a couple steelhead otherwise the salmon came from 70-90 down on the riggers and the wire divers 175-225 back. Gonna go back up the weekend after the holiday to give it a go again, hopefully the fish will be a little higher and a lot more active.

For Port Huron you can try Anderson's Pro Bait and there is also a Gander Mountain.

Bass Pro Shop in Great Lakes crossing would be your best bet.

I run black ones on my wire divers. They have been the most exciting rods on the boat. Some days they have been the best rods accounting for most of the fish, some days not, but most often do help put fish in the box. I don't run other colors as for me I want the fish to look at the lure trailing and not the dipsy.

Good job on the fish Grant, you guys fared better down there than we did in Frankfort. That was a nice fish in the pic you sent me...., Sunday the fish were biting better and of good size but as the rollers and surf went up my crew went down to chumming so had to pull and head back in so you will have to rib Randy next time you talk to him. lol

My favorite bait shop set me up with Shimano TDR dipsy rods with twilli's spooled with 1000' 30lb Mason wire on Convector 45D counters. He also put just enough dacron backing to make sure reel was filled to capacity. I can't tell you how pleased I am with these rigs. They are in the water every trip and have counted for numerous fish in the box. The Tdr's handle the dipsys and the fish quite well and the 45's are plenty fast enough to reel in a slack line and still good power stroke when bringing in the fish on them. I have the wire in both stainless and the brown color but it doesn't seem to make a difference color wise for the fish. And the real beauty was still under $175/set up.

Limits of fish are far from the criteria that I judge the day by. Catching a few fish of quality is great and a limit is a bonus, at least for those of us that fish Lk Huron. Time spent with my family or friends on the water have a greater impact on having a good day. Catching limits of fish in waters that have plenty of fish is not a real challenge but fishing waters that have limited fish provides you with a real challenge to put fish in the box and will put your skills to the test. Now that to me makes for a great day!

I have left fish before too Brandon, sometimes it pays off really well.

J, I don't call it the dead side........I call it the skilled side. If you can consistently catch fish here......well you can darn well catch fish anywhere. Need I say more??

Good luck Brandon, hint, hint, run the blue green dolphin after the sun is up!

Some great fishing to be had in lower Lk Huron. Are you missing out on it? Yes there are fish and plenty of them.

85-125 fow was our ticket. Fished waters from my Wpt's from last year, way south of the pack (yep, we had a good bunch of boats out there) and it held fish. Steel, Kings, Lakers and pinks, and walleye too.

The eyes were taken 80 down or the riggers @100fow an 156 back on the wire dipsy. They have made the turn out of the bay - several boats hit up a few eyes.

Yes, we have!!!! a good fishery!

Sounds like you had a great time and got plenty of fish too. I fish mostly Pt Sanilac and I will have to say that there are plenty of fish out there that makes it worthwhile. Mixed bags are the norm and some real nice fish can be had. No, we don't have the great numbers of kings but this has been a great season so far for salmon over here and managed 3 good kings last week. Are we on a comeback......maybe...I am sure not to the extent that it once was but still enough fish to keep me going back. It does amaze me that more are not fishing it but that is fine. We don't usually have any boat traffic issues out there. Will be heading out of Sanilac in the morning to give it another go.

Ok, the easiest way to describe it:

to a 3 way swivel attach one of the 3 rings to the main line

on another ring attach 2-4' piece of mono and then attach diving bait to this short line

on the last ring attach a 6-8' piece of mono and attach a spoon

lower the body bait in the water and it will start to dive, then toss out the spoon. The body bait will dive down to depth pulling the spoon down with it. So in the water the body bait will be running a bit deeper and in front of the spoon, the spoon will be fluttering up a bit higher than the body bait and further back.....most fish will hit the trailing spoon.