Eyefull

Russ, that would be like the little boy crying wolf!!! Thanks guys.

Thanks guys, any ideas on how to get a very set in her ways wife to see the necessity of a larger boat? Anyone got anything for that:eek:?

My favorite is always the one that caught the last fish:lol: Having said that, I always seem to not be able to resist puting out the Silver Streak Mixed Veggies.

Yep, thanks, it is a 2470, I did end up getting a couple of different listings for it. Will be putting it in the "very interesting" column for now. Thanks

I took a brief look at a 26' Pursuit that was for sale right down the street from the Ludington City Launch. Would like contact information if anyone knows the owner, and any firsthand insight about this particular boat would be greatly appreciated.

During my two week stint in Ludington, my FishGilz glasses finally broke after two long seasons. I thought I would hit a few places in town and pick up a good quality pair of whatever brand glasses in the $70-90 range. I thought I would. What I found was the $150-200 Costa Del Mars, Maui Jim's, and Raybans. Also a great selection of $12-15 junk at most stores. Nothing between. What are you guys using that your happy with and is there any hope of finding quality in my targeted range? I know that the lens quality is definetly in the upper end glasses, but I also know that they aren't any more able to withstand me sitting on them than a $15 pair.

Good luck guys, I am hoping to get back over in a couple weeks again.

Sounds like the big blows did good for the fishing, the bank has been producing as it should the last couple days I'm told. Adam, don't hesitate to go out to the 230-270 fow in off hours for bonus steel and cohos. I set down one afternoon at 3:00 and had them going before three rods were in.

One thing I forgot to mention was that the Streak Minis seemed to get bit more than the normal size or mag spoons we always use fishing salmon. Maybe associated with the bait size they are currently feeding on? Anyways, the hooks on the walleye size spoons take a real beating from kings, so we ended up switching out almost all of them to Gamis, and even then still had to be real careful when pulling a king.

I just got home from two weeks in Ludington. Our annual trip was a week earlier than normal so that comes into play with my assumptions. My overall impression was that the fish were about two weeks behind schedule and my trip was a week ahead, meaning it was much more like fishing in early July than August for me. The fish were scattered and pounding numbers was tough. The normal morning and evening whack fest on the bank was spotty and almost non existent. No on to the results which I was still pretty satisfied with. My morning trips averaged a mere 1-3 fish per trip. I leave the dock at 6:00, so I missed the best bite by almost an hour from what my charter friends were telling me. I also got my first Lake Michigan skunk this year on a morning trip! I didn't change things up much from the past, running up to the bathouse and setting up in 50fow, trolling north to the point and beyond. I ran a 9 rod spread with the usual Silver Streak spoons, a couple plugs, and a Flasher Fly thrown in at times for good measure. I would usually pick a fish on the pass in shallow, then get another fish, maybe two fishing out deeper from the point to the west. Thinking back, all of the morning fish came on UV Streaks either off riggers or wire divers. My afternoon fishing was much better and actually, for me at least, made my whole trip. From tips from CJ and Paul, I began to look out in 230-270 fow straight out from the harbor. A very nice mix of kings, steel, and bonus cohos were out there in decent numbers. I set up in 230 fow and trolled north, working the top 50 fow. I put the riggers at 40 and 55 feet down, wires at 50 and 85 feet back. Two 150's, two 250's and a 350' section of copper were the go to rods out there, accounting for most of the deeper fish. Again, Silver Steak Minis in a variety of UV colors took most of the fish. The afternoon trips did see plugs taking a few bites as well as an occasional flasher fly bite. Surprisingly the normal "orange" spoons didn't seem to make much difference to the steelhead catch. But having too much orange in the spread did seem to lower the kings and coho bites. My evening trips left the docks at 4:00. We averaged 5-7 fish per evening trip, with two evenings coming in with 9 and 10 fish respectively. The catches were almost always an even mix of kings, nice size steelhead, and bonus cohos and lakers. So with all that said, it looks to me like the best fishing is still coming. It seemed like each day, there were more fish around, and as luck would have it, looked like the fleet did real well the last couple days in on the bank, after I left:lol: My biggest kings came on morning trips on the bank. The offshore kings were nice fish, but not the 20# pigs we got in close. The average size of the steelhead out deep was very encouraging, lots of 8-10# fish and one that was at or around 15#. Sorry for not giving all the details, but this novel would have been much longer if I spelled out each fish and what it came on, hopefully the generalities help. Sorry, those that fished with me can attest that I didn't have a camera along, so no photos. I am hoping to get back over there at least three more times, when the tuna wars get going in full strength.

Great stuff as usual. Looking forward to coming back this next spring and putting on another casting demonstration if your nerves can take it:lol:.

I am loading two Diawa Sealine 47H LC's with 1000' of Blood Run Wire. My two reels don't have the starting pin to attach the wire to, so I am leaving 50ft of backer (25# mono) so the wire doesn't slip. What is the best knot or method of attaching the wire to the mono? I know it has been asked many times but my memory is crazy short. I was thinking maybe a really small crimp, covered with shrink tube? Should really never get to that point on the spool anyways?

nope. Travel team little league tourneys.

What he did

Awesome, all cleared up. Done with therapy and even back working in the rod shop again.

Adam, I'll be in Ludington from July 20th thru August 4th. We'll have to hook up for at least a BS match.

Happy B-day Terry.

I knew the fish was large, but when I saw the looks on Mark and Dons face when it came to the surface with the diver, my knees got wobbly. I just kept thinking "Don't do anything stupid and lose this one!" LOL

Sorry Don, I forgot about the ones my wife took. They are on her camera. I'll post them when I get done with therapy this morning. Grandpa passed away last evening, thought you should know.

Welcome aboard Joe. Everyone on this site loves to help out and even help you spend your money LOL! No shortage of the best up to date information here.

Yep pretty close, 10' leader plus everything else.

I edited out about 18 minutes of footage, the fight was about 20 minutes long. You can here Don poking fun at me, asking "Want me to put it in reverse?" The fish fought like a king.

I had similiar problems with my Yamiha 9.9 when new. It ended up being that at idle speeds the fuel pump can't efficiently suck fuel through the anti syphon valves and the line goes empty. I knocked out the one in the ball pump and there was another one in the T fitting for the big motor. Since then it has been fine.

Yeah, Don asked for a center rigger rod with a soft fast tip. Used an American Tackle glass blank and wow did it perform. He reads that tip like a book to tell if there is a fish there. Now to fill in the corner riggers with the standard rigger rods and his downrigger program will be totally killer. Like he needs more advantage LOL:D.

Priceless! Got a video of the wall laker burning right now, hopefully will upload to youtube quickly, then I'll post it here.