EdB

Great catch!

Nice job!

Welcome to GLF Theus, the wrinkles are getting deeper for all of us.   Mike sold his great lakes boat and moved on to other activities with his kids.  I haven't seen him around here in awhile but hope he is doing good.

Nice catch, nice job with the kids!

Got to love having some good water without the crowds, nice catch!

Nice catch!

Coho is just starting for trolling and should get stronger.  The fish will move north when it warms to St Joe to Holland and offshore.   You could probably do well dragging bottom for lake trout when the coho leave Michigan City.   You can hit some kings in the spring for a couple weeks.  Usually the first 2 weeks of May is best but I've never fished MC then.  There was awesome king fishing off St Joe last year for about 2 weeks in May.   In years past when king numbers were much larger than today, it was very consistent.  Spring king fishing has been more sporadic in recent years since there are a lot less kings out there now.  Mega Byte shared a good video on another thread for browns, these tactics could work on browns at MC, they are around in spring.

If it has a water pump impeller, I would replace that.

Nice catch!

Had to work for them today on the river.. I hit 3 big males and boated 2 of them and my buddy got one. All drift fishing spawn. These 2 had some shoulders and put up a great fight.

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We had a good bite yesterday, my buddy and I got 8 cohos and 1 nice brown. There were hitting both steelhead bags and steelhead skein fished on the bottom. The coho's are on the small side this spring compared to past years, threw 4 back that did not make the Indiana 14 inch size limit.

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The harbor has been packed with ice lately. It looks better today on the web came but dependent on the wind, it can blow back in and clog it up. I never start trolling when the ice bergs are out. Many years ago pier fishing, I saw a boat get blocked from returning to a harbor when ice blew back in, they busted a prop trying to power through it, disabled their boat, got caught in the ice flows and dragged south. The Coast Guard helicopter arrived, dropped a basket and pulled up each angler to rescue them and they lost their boat and all their gear. Talked to a salvage tug crew 2 days later who attempted to find it and they couldn’t.

Water temp is real cold for trolling and I don’t have experience doing so when this cold. I guess speeds from 1.5 to 2.5 mph. When it is this cold, I prefer steelie skein fished on the bottom off the pier or shore. The guys at Michigan City really like shrimp and squid fished under a slip bobber on small jigs and they get them that way too.

Could take a couple close up pictures of it?

I think it is a great idea.   I would like to see any revenue generated dedicated to improving  king salmon, coho salmon, steelhead or brown fisheries since our lakes are now being dominated by Lk Trout.  Lot of uses for the revenue to improve the science to manage our resources.  For example, Feds want to stop funding coded wire tag research for salmon.  This is key data that is needed to evaluate inter-lake movement of kings and success of stocking locations so we can get the best bang for our buck for our reduced stocking program.

Welcome to GLF!

Is it possible to remove the reels off the mast and mount on my permanent rocket launcher made from 2in pipe?   

The Great Lakes Salmon Initiative annual meeting is tomorrow at Jay's Sporting Goods in Clare MI.  Good day for a road trip to get some new gear and make your voice heard. The DNR will be there to answer questions and listen to anglers. The situation with Lk Trout is troubling. Their population is exploding and anglers are facing creel and or season reductions in Northern Lk Huron and Traverse Bays.  More info:

What can we as anglers expect fishing this year on Lakes Huron and Michigan? What can we expect in future years? So much depends on weather, water levels, productivity, bait fish, and states/federal stocking agenda. For example we are facing Lake Trout creel limit reductions and or season closures in northern Lakes Huron and Michigan 

The GLSI has been advocating to maintain Chinook plants, coho movement, zonal management, Brown Trout movement, angler access, economic impact and resisting the native only Lake Trout agenda. To get answers to these questions and many more join the GLSI this weekend at:

This Saturday March 2nd 2-5pm
Jays Sporting Goods Clare, Mi

Randy Claramunt the Lake Huron Basin Coordinator and Dave Carrofino from the MDNR Tribal Coordination Unit are scheduled to attend. They are here to answer questions and more importantly to listen to anglers. 

AS anglers we can expect the MDNR to manage our fisheries properly but we also have the responsibility to tell our managers what we want. Even more importantly they need to hear what we want as this gives them the power to negotiate with federal agencies for our interests.

TOPICS:
*Chinook reductions/increases
*Federal vs States agenda
*Zonal Management
   *lakes wide impact including UP access
*Coho movement Lakes Michigan Huron
*Recreational angling economic impact
   *Charter vs Recreational angler
*Tribal interests Consent Decree 2020
   *whitefish vs cisco  vs lake trout restoration
   *state/tribal trout allocations
*Bait assessments
*Intra lake movement of fish
*Fish tagging/clipping/stomach data and how anglers can 
 participate
*Commercial angling

These topics listed are some of the items that you may want to hear about. Again, this is your time to learn, participate, ask questions, give your opinions and be heard!!

Hope to see you there

Because the 2018 harvest limit for lake trout in Grand Traverse Bay was exceeded, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources is looking at some regulation changes for 2019. Before any changes are proposed to the Michigan Natural Resources Commission, which has the authority for establishing most regulations, the DNR is inviting the public to learn about options during a meeting Wednesday, March 6.

More info here:

https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7-350-86469-490350--,00.html

I like a 9ft medium to medium light rod, you want some backbone with a sensitive tip. I prefer spinning reesl and this would be your most economical set up.    Center pin reels are becoming more popular for float fishing(they are best for that) and you need a longer rod but they cost a lot more and not as versatile, for example, you can't cast with them and drift fish.   You can float fish and drift fish with a spinning reel.  Best time of the year is March and April in Michigan, I don't fish Ohio or PA, runs might be a bit sooner there.  You can reduce your learning curve a lot by hiring a guide.   A local guide can put you on the best water.   There are good spots and bad spots on any river system and guide can help here and they can help you with timing the run too. 

You should look at Great Lakes Holders for your divers.   They are best for divers because they lock in the down the position but you can always pull the holder up and in when a fish hits.   This makes it easier to get the rod out of the holder, especially when it's a big king and you don't have to extend way out from the gunnel to get it.  They are extremely durable and your diver holders take more stress than any other rod holder.

http://www.greatlakesholders.com/

Welcome Matt,  lot's of guys willing to help here.  I fish Lk Mich  from St Joe in March, April, May and Ludington from July to end of Sept but we spend late May/June on Erie from Bolles Harbor and do some early season jigging there in April too. With the huge year class of walleyes it is going to be great this year.   Glad to share any info we have at both Lk Mich and Erie if you are fishing the ports we are at.

Capt Chucks in Ludington has it in summer, not sure about winter.

Welcome aboard!

I have a printed manual, where are you located?

Some of the best coho fishing is in April and May on the south end of the lake but the fish are small, 1-3 lbs.  That is fairly reliable fishery.   The best king fishing last year was in May due to conditions that had fish concentrated in the SW side of Michigan.  That is not a sure thing, King fishing was tougher there in prior years and sometime Wisconsin gets the concentration in spring.  It is really wind and water dependent.   A more predictable fishery is from the 3rd week of July to mid August off north central MI and WI.   Salmon populations are down in recent years from lower stocking and inconsistent natural reproduction.    It seems the best fishing in recent years is dependent on water conditions concentrating bait and fish.   If you could pick your port as close to your dates based on recent conditions, that will result in the best success but that can be tough when booking travel and charters in advance.  If you can fish weekdays, you can book a charter on short notice.   Scroll back in time on the Lk Michigan salmon reports forum and you can get a feel for the action last year.