EdB

Could it be spiney water fleas? Once they get caught on your line, it looks like brown slime. Tough to get off and it will clog the line guides to the point you can't reel in your line. They have been bad at times on Lk Mich, primarly when water warms. The last couple years have not been so bad for them. I've never seen much talk about them on Lk Huron but maybe they are the culprit?

The spoon bite has been good on Erie too lately. One nice thing about being the fillet master for some of my fishing buddies is that the cutter keeps the cheeks. What's your favorite way to cook up a nice batch?

Looking good, I can hear the oil sizzling

Shooting deer in Sept-that sucks, unless it's for the youth hunt. They should cut back on muzzleload buck hunting and make all December doe only if they want to kill more does. They could extend doe season into January if enough aren't shot. I agree more does need to be shot in southern MI but we need to take some pressure off killing all the small bucks. How about a one buck rule and shoot all the does you need for meat.

When you hit a fish on them, the pull of the fish causes them to pull the back down and tilt the front up so they don't drag as much pulling them in. Hence, no release. Weight does go to the front. They have been a hot combo with spoons on Erie lately.

Great catch, great pics, some very nice browns there!

Nice job! Sounds like you had some great action. WTG!

Shu9265, I'm sure you'll be tearing up your way soon when those fish vacate Mi waters and head east. Now's the time on our end of the lake. I left my camera at home but one of the guys took some pics on a throw away, not sure if it was digital or film. I usually save those cheeks but the cleaning station had a line up and everyone wanted to get home so we all grabbed a knife and whacked them as fast as we could. The frying pan will be sizzling soon.

Had a good day on Erie yesterday fishing on my buddies boat. 5 of us got 25 walleyes, the size is getting real nice from the big year class we have been fishing the last couple years. We started in close in 16 feet of water with a spread of thundersticks on one board, spoons and big jon mini diver disks on the other board, 2 riggers and two regular divers(no rings) with spoons. It was a white bass attack in close and we got 4 or 5 white bass for every walleye. All the walleyes were coming on spoons so we switched over the other boards to all spoons and mini divers. Our leads were 35 to 40 ft. Later we streched some leads out from 70 to 90 ft and fish cames on all of them. We put it on a northeast troll and worked out to 20 feet of water. We got out of the heavy concentrations of white bass and started hitting more walleyes. It was a steady pick after that with only a couple doubles for the day. We just kept taking an out troll and then a in troll until we finished our limit. The big divers and riggers were also hitting fish. We had the big divers set on 3 out 35 and 40 ft and we kept the riggers just off the bottom from 15 to 19 down depending on the water depth we were over. We used stinger scorpions, mini-streaks and small yecks. Purples and pink colors were best. Blueberry muffin was very steady. All copper backs. Hope I can get out tomorrow if it doesn't storm. Good luck!

Being on tournament control in that kind of weather is a no win job, you're going to get bitched at if you cancel or if you don't. I have to agree though that if they allow it to start, they should let the Capt make the call when to quit. Trying to cancel a tourney early over a marine radio with boats scattered out 20-30 miles is extremely difficult to nearly impossible reach all participants.

I got this e-mail today along with the chart pic, pure BS. I'm fairly sure it is the Stone family out of Manistee and funded by the Little River Band. They seem to go out of there way to have conflict with the sport fisherman. The Tribal fisher out of Ludington has been working with us keeping us posted on net coordinate and avoiding prime salmon waters. The Stones lose and abandon nets, place them in prime trolling spots like this and the shelf off Manistee and create marine hazards and conflict. I can't believe the tribe continues to subsidize their operation. Hello to all LACA Captains, Associates, Business partners, community and fishing community leaders, Saturday morning, the 17th of May, charter boat operators reported a new net placed directly in front of Big Point Sauble. Information received today confirmed the location of this and other nearby nets. For the exact location of this and other nets go to http://www.ludingtoncharterboats.org and click on the Net Alert Logo. A new list of net locations has been posted today. The new net is positioned in such a manner as to pose a major safety issue as well as a substantial hazard to Charter and sport fishermen fishing in this area; and to transient boats attempting to 'round the point. It is located is in an area known for steep contours, strong currents, hugh waves and strong upwellings. In past years nets in this area have been abandoned and wound up as hazards to fishing and navigation. Additional nets have been placed in close proximity to this net, also in traditionally difficult net setting areas making it difficult to fish/traverse the vicinity. A strong potential for a loss of lives accident exists if these nets remain in this most heavily fished and traveled vicinity. All boaters and fishermen are urged to avoid and use extreme caution in this area. Boaters and fishermen who become entangled in any of these nets should report it immediately to the USCG by channel 16 and to the MDNR Rap line. It is VERY IMPORTANT to report all net related incidents to the MDNR RAP Line: 800-292-7800. When reporting a net incident, be sure to give complete Lat-Lon information, including both north and west numbers in degrees, with minutes in decimal format. Please include the depth if possible, also. In addition to the fishing and safety issues, the potential for a large negative economic impact to the city and businesses of Ludington also exists as boaters and fishermen become aware of the dangers and choose to avoid the Ludington area. If a major or fatal accident should occur as a consequence of these nets, the negative publicity may undo much of the efforts of the community to attract tourists and fishermen.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MI_FAMILY_RESCUED_MIOL-?SITE=MILUD&SECTION=STATE&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT May 17, 9:32 AM EDT Coast Guard rescues 5 from boat 8 miles from Ludington LUDINGTON, Mich. (AP) -- The U.S. Coast Guard has rescued five people from a sinking boat in Lake Michigan about eight miles west of Ludington. The Coast Guard got a distress call Friday from the 28-foot recreation vessel, and soon found the boat. WOOD-TV and WZZM-TV report those rescued include a 15-year-old boy, a 12-year-old girl, their mother and father, and another man. Two Coast Guard members tried to save the boat, but it sank and they had to be pulled from the water. It wasn't immediately known why the boat started sinking.

I cancelled my plans today to fish on the south end of the lake due to the wind. It was blowing hard this morning. I called my buddy up at Ludington to see if he was swabbing his deck and was surprised to catch him on the water fishing. He said there were 3 footers when they went out but when I spoke with him just before noon, he said it laid down all morning was almost calm then. They had a decent box too. Guess I should have hit the road north.

When the fish are deep, wire diver rods paired with magnum divers can't be beat. Throw on a blue blue bubble spin doctor and fly on and it's a guaruntee;) Meat rigs and other flashers work on them too. I'm not there yet but fishing is starting to heat up for my buds right now.

I'm there every weekend and 3 weeks of vacation time between the end of June 30 to Oct. Maybe we'll see you around sometime.

I tagged my bird yesterday after a couple weeks of scouting and hunting hard all this past week. Sure was good to sleep in today but after a cup of coffee, I was wishing I was in the woods. The bird was nice but not a huge one, 9 inch beard and 3/4 inch spurs. All week long, the public land gobblers where demonstrating their wisdom. I had close calls every day but the hens showed me up. I love the general tag for turkeys even though I have some great private land to hunt. There a large tracks of public land around here and you can hunt that gobbler you hear off in a distance. Property lines do not become an issue in a lot of places like they can on private land. The birds do get pressured but I put a lot of miles on the truck and my boots to find places that don't get over hunted. My morning started being set up between two groups of gobblers in the trees. I sat there for a while letting them tree gobble. I was getting ready to reach for a call when I heard some clucks behind me. A hen was on the ground very close. I didn't dare more or turn to look. She got very vocal and the gobblers loved it. I've got a live decoy now. I heard the closest Tom's fly down and in minutes, I see them slowly moving my way. The hen is still talking, this is going to be great. The gobblers start strutting about 70 yards out, both are long beards. They start coming again. About 50 yards out, they drop off a slope next to the trail they are on. I can't see them but a couple gobbles tell me they are still coming but they are just out of sight. Another gobble tells me they are slipping by, darn it! The two gobblers come back up and appear on the trail about 50 yards past me and I see the hen is now with them. I couldn't turn them and they continued on. I made a quiet move to another spot and set up. I sat there a few minutes thinking about making a call when a gobble booms off just behind a large thicket. He is close but behind the cover. I slide around the tree I'm sitting on to get in a better position for a shot. I grab a call and give out 3 soft clucks. He gobbles. Five minutes later I give a purr, 2 more soft clucks, and he gobbles. He know's I'm there and within 60 yards so I put the call down and ready my gun. Five minutes later, I see a black spot moving behind the brush. He steps around it and I get to see a nice full strut. He keeps coming in to about 15 yards and I pull the trigger. No one was around to take some pics when I got home so I got a few by myself: It's hard to hold your bird up with one arm and take a pic with the camera in another. This has got to be one of the uglier turkey photo's posted this year:rofl:

Hey, I thought you guys would like that pic of that girl who got her first turkey. That was the best turkey pic I've seen this year but it was hard to look at the turkey. I didn't mean that for the contest either, that was meant for your viewing pleasure, sorry

Nice bird Upper limits!

Nice job RD!

Congratulations Rich! That's a nice bird.

I never expected this. I was down to downtown Benton Harbor today whackin some coho's on Lk Michigan. While we were prepping the boat at dawn at the launch, we can here this hot gobbler going off repeatedly behind and east of Tackle Haven. He was to far away to pin point his roost but there sure aint a lot of country in that neck of the city.

The coho's are still going at St Joe. Not hot but a nice steady pick today. Sure was nice to get back on the big water. We started about 8:00AM and trolled south and never turned again. We fished till 11:00 and got our limit of 12 coho's, threw 2 back pulling lines and landed one nice king about 14lbs. We also lost another nice one. The king came on a orange/red spoon taped by my buddy flat lined behind a board. That spoon hit some coho's too. They also liked chrome/blk thin fins, waukegon rigs and DW SS fireball off the boards and on hi slide divers out 15 and 20. J-9 orange and gold jointed raps took a few too on a half core and 2 color. Good luck!

A marine surveyor is a specialist who will check the overall condition of your boat and rate it. Area's of critical importance in a survey are the stringers, stern and overall structural integrity of the haul. They will check moisture content in these areas. It will cost a few hundred for a survey. It is a good idea to get a survey before you buy a large costly used great lakes boat. If they have been slipped in the water for many years, there can be a risk for rot in the haul. Water can penetrate from leaks or cracked gel coat. Having this done prior to purchase can help you avoid buying a worn out boat. Hope it all goes well for you. Maybe someone here can recommend a good surveyor. I can't since I haven't been in the boat market for a long time. If you don't get a recommendation here, check with marina's around the great lakes or maybe the yellow pages in port cities. Not all surveyors are equal, a recommendation is best.

Neat video! If you speak with the blueberry farmer, you should also discuss fall hunting his land and offer to shoot a hen. That will help cut his flocks. Sounds like it could be a good deal for you and him.