tltorrice

I have 4 Shakespeare line counter reels (not sure of the model#). These are just cheep entry level reels that I bought to get started salmon fishing. I continualy have problems with the line counter buttons breaking and the clickers breaking. Even the windows on the line counters are broken. As far as performance they are used on my diver rods with power pro line. They seem to work well in that area and the drags are good. They are scheduled for replacement some time in the future. I also have two Okuma Convectors that I just got this year and they have been working great. However I have not yet hooked a big salmon on them yet to really test them. They worked will Walleye fishing. I have two Okuma (not sure of the model) that I have on my lead core rods. These are new and need to be tested. Then I have two Daiwa line counters. These have a 5:1 retreave on them. I think it is too high for Salmon, so I only half filled the spools with 20# mono and use them on my down riggers.

As the others are stating it is a good starting point. When in shallower water I run longer leads to get the bait away from the boat. In deeper water I stay in closer. It works good for me.

mrhookup, I have been reading what others have been doing because I had the same question. I started using a 100 foot rule. 30 down 70 back. or 80 down 20 back. I don't know if it is the way to go but it is what I am doing for now.

Welcome Glynn. I also fish St Joe from time to time but lately have not done very well. I trailer a 19.5 Starcraft and have been on Lake Erie lately.

I just returned from 3 days of fishing with friends at Sterling State Park. It is my first time camping at this campground. This was very nice, and great to not have to trailer your boat 73 miles to fish. We ended up with 22 walleyes after 3 days at an easy pace. We fished in front of Stony Point and Fermi from 23 to 25 FOW. The bite seems to have changed from earlier in the year. We only caught two fish off of bottom bouncers and crawlers. Most came off of Hot-n-Tots off of the boards and Stinger Scorpion spoons off of the riggers or mini disk. The best color was Red or Red with Black. The reports were those going into Ohio waters were doing a little better. We were pleased with the action we were getting.

Tom Torrice

I am going to hit St Joseph on Saturday. I am hearing the fishing is not on fire but I am going anyway. I am hoping some Skamainia action. It should be a good day. I will be on the water at daybrake.

We went out to the Toledo shipping channel last evening and set lines around 06:00. we trolled east toward West Sister from 1.7 - 2.2 mph. The further we got from the channel the more weeds we found. We went back toward the channel less weeds. We ended up with 8 Walleyes and pulled lines at 09:15. Spoons worked the best. Purple hammered (not sure the name) and moonshine spoons off the down riggers. Orange crawler harness on a 3oz bottom bouncer seemed to also be effective. It was a very nice night on the water. TT

If you go to Captain John King's web site, he has listed the GPS coordinates of all of the nets for the Manistee and Ludington locations. There are 12 so far. I use this as a reference since they can move some. http://www.michigansportsman.com/Net_Locations.htm

I put these in my GPS as waypoints and a net icon. Hope this helps. Be carful. TT

Great report Ed. I have not been out in a week and am having withdrawals. Hope to get out on Tuesday.

I too have been trying different naming conventions. I like the date with the lake or port in the name. If I am fishing in Manistee I name Man 060824. That would be Manistee 2006 Aug 24th. I went and marked all of the net locations in Manistee as Man Net1, Man Net2 etc. For now this is working for me.

Friday evening out of Bolles Harbor straight south to the E Buoy. Ended up with a three man limit of nice Walleyes by 8:30.

Went back on Saturday morning and only picked up 3 in the same area and lots of silver bass. We decided there were too many boats and every one wondering where the fish were. So we ran up to Stony Point and set up a troll in 23 - 25 fow. The water was cleaner and there were less silver bass. Completed our two-man limit by 10:30am. Black and Gold Hot N Tots on the boards seemed to do most of the work. Also stinger spoon in wonder bread on the downrigger were working very good.

I am hitting Bolles Harbor again on Friday after work. Then possibly on Saturday morning again.

Monday Memorial Day I went out of Bolles Harbor. We were on the water by 06:00am set out stinger spoons on the down riggers. Black & Gold Hot N Tots on the boards and crawler harness on 3 oz bottom bouncers out the sides. Had one walleye in before all of the lines were set. Black & Gold were working good. Only got silver bass on the spoons so I pulled them and converted to BB and crawlers. The harnesses were chartreuse, and silver hammered blades did the best. We had a 3-man limit by 10:00. Fished just north of the dumping grounds by the E buoy. Stayed out of the crowd.

Nice job on the eyes Baydawg. I have also been doing well out of Bolles on BB and harnesses. I will be out there on Monday. Tangle Factor.

Friday afternoon I took my daughter out for some walleye action and was not disappointed. We fished by the E buoy drifting and trolling crawler harnesses on 3 oz bottom bouncers. Hammered silver blades with green beads did the best. We tried an assortment of stinger spoons off the downriggers but no takers. We ended up with two limits. Fished from 03:00 to 06:30. Another nice day on the water and a whole lot better than working. TT

I will be fishing out of Bolles Harbor chasing some walleyes.

There are now 4 nets now. John Kings web site has their coordinates. I was reading Ray Schmidts web site and he states the nets are to catch white fish and incidental lake trout of legal size. All steelhead, salmon, and browns are supposed to be released.

I put on around 4 yesterday and went out to the River Raisin and trolled and drifted in the channel from 18 to 22 fow. Only caught two perch. Moved to just north of the E buoy and drifted. Picked up the first walleye right away on a chartreuse crawler harness on a bottom bouncer. Ended up with a two-man limit just before dark. Also used a gold hammered harness and gold hammered stinger spoon off a downrigger. The wind had died down so our drift was about 1.5. Later the winded died some more and I had to fire up the kicker to get us back up to speed the finish out the limits. Finally got some fish, I have had too many skunks this year due to the high winds and muddy waters. Good to be back on track.

I am currently running 30# Power Pro on my divers. I will probably stick with that since it is working well so far. Also I have been known to have a Tangle from time to time.

What is the advantage of wire over lead core?

Sign me up. This looks like a lot of fun.

Hi Capt Dick, my name is Tom Torrice. I fish Manistee about a dozen times a year. I just ploted the nets on my graph. It seems like they are a little to the north and not near any of my other marks. I hope they won't be a problem. The name of my boat is the Tangle Factor. Hope to see you on the water. TT

Went out of Bolles Harbor today around 01:00. The water was quite bumpy, more so then the marine forecast. Driftes on the west side of the dumping grounds. Water was very dirty only about 1 foot of visibility. No hits. Then the wind really cranked up and it was time to get off of the lake. Today was a boat ride. It beats cutting the grass. TT

Sunday morning on the water at 05:30am. Fished south of the pier from 25 to 60 fow. Marked very few fish. No bites. Water temp 49. After several hours ren down to Cook. Water temp 53 no fish. Cranked em in about 12:30. I spoke with other guys at the launch and no one was having any luck. One guy caught one fish. The radio was very quiet. I thought the warm weather would bring in some fish but not yet. Tight Lines. TT

Sorry for your loss Rich. I had to do the same thing about 4 years ago. I thought I would never want to go through that pain again. But they bring us so much joy I think it is worth the pain. You know if you didn't love them so much it wouldn't hurt so much. I got another dog (lab) about a year ago.

TT