BenLubbs

Hi Ben, I was out of holland last night and could not keep my sliders from tangling. Thought maybe because it was too rough and the rock of the boat was pulling the slider down to the mainline. Could it be that it was too rough?

Thanks for your report as well. I knew we should have gone early.

Good fishin, Dave

I'm not sure what to tell you, are you saying the sliders are tangling with each other or with the main line? I've never had problems. I would make sure you have enough tension on the mainline so that the slider isn't sliding all the way down the line. Also, don't put the slider on until your downrigger is as far down as you are going to put it.

Nice Job Terry and crew. When did you end up calling it a day? you looked like you were getting bounced around a bit when we headed in.

Well as Jimmy said, it's too early to put the boat away, the fishing is still great

Met my rider for the day, Mike, at the launch at 6:30. Had a feeling it was going to be a busy morning so only got out two downrigger rods and two leads. Motored out to 90 FOW strait out from the piers and started setting lines heading West. We got the lines set without incident but then it got busy. The downriggers with glow spoons on main lines and free sliders were on fire. The setups were Raspberry Carbon Moonshine on the rigger at 40 with a Flounder Pounder free slider and Mag Hot Lobster Silverstreak on the rigger at 54 with a Glow Yellow Tail Silverstreak free slider. At one point the Hot lobster and the Yellow tail both had fish on them (unfortunately we didn't get them both in the boat ) We made it out to 150 FOW before there was a break in the action and we had 5 in the box, a mix of cohos and kings from 3-6 lbs.

We started turning around to head back thru the water and got a hit on the Raspberry carbon. He took of to the port side of the boat and we knew he was a good fish. I ended up moving the lead on that side to the otherside of the boat so he wouldn't get tied up. When that fish was within 20 feet of the boat, the other rigger and 10 color go off simataneously, the first triple ever on my boat . Mike nets his fish while I hold his pole and the other rigger pole while the lead it screaming out. I get my fish up to the boat and it's hooked in the side and half the skin is ripped off the side. As he was coming in the net the hook pulled out and he swam away (I don't know how, half skinned like that). Mike gets the other fish in the boat (on a mag Easter Egg Silverstreak). Those two ended up being 14 and 12 lb kings. It was 8:30 and we had 7 in the box.

After that it went dead. We went back and forth thru that water a few more times with only a few hits and one small keeper that we threw back, hoping we would need room in the cooler for something else. We made our way out to 170 with no better luck finally got a hit on a tip from Dirty Dog but lost that one before we saw it. The last fish of the day came on a braid Mag dipsey set on 3 out 250. That was a 10 lb Coho and hit a Chrome/Kevorkian SD and a Purple/Glow fly (don't know the name or brand). We called it a day at just before 11 with the waves building from the East wind.

Overall, we were 9 for 14 or 15, and it was the best day either of us have ever had. There were 3 Coho and 6 King. SOG was 2.6 mph. Best water was 100-140. Good luck out there.

Great job Jimmy. I especially like your last comment as I was going to make the same

I've hear of pike eating baby ducks but never a steelhead eating a bird. A few weeks ago I caught a lake trout and the air bladder was bloated. When I cut it open out popped a half digested alwife with a bloated air bladder.

Oh, and my number one charter fishing fish catching tip, country music catches fish!

I will second that, though most of the people I have on my boat had country and then wonder why we don't catch as many fish

Since you posted Matt I was reading this in the paper today, it made me think of some of your comments and posts. Article The only time I've ever been on a charter (for my 12th birthday), the Captain told me I should look into getting a job mating on a boat. I blew it off at the time but regret it. I would love to charter my own boat some day and this article just gave me a little more of a drive to do it. Sounds like you had a great summer and a great job on top of it

Nice fish TJ.

Nice Job Terry and crew. You must have just got to the fish before me because that is the same stuff I was running but it wasn't working for me. I will say it was fun fishing next to all of the guys from the boards.

No, I just like to go and have a good time and meet some new people. Ive fished off and on in this league since 2006 and like every tourny that was put on if I win or loose.

I know Terry, I'm just giving you a hard time. I had a great time meeting everyone this year too.

Again, thanks for setting this up Ken. Also a big thanks to all of the sponsors this year.

Thanks for running this Ken, its been a couple years since Ive done this league and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Enjoyed every minute of crushing the competition right Thanks for setting everything up Ken, even if the weather didn't cooperate much this year. I'm already looking forward to next year. I'd also be willing to help where ever it is needed.

Nice job Mark!

Saturday we had a 6 degree break in 195. I don't deer hunt so I guess I'm going to be chasing fish until November.

You had me going too. Still an awesome fish.

Thanks Captain Ron, we were fishing next to you for a while Saturday morning and it was a pleasure as opposed to some of the other charters.

I did forget the highlight of the day. There was an awesome moon at the weigh-in

I'm gonna keep this one short because there's not much to tell. Were greeted by fog in the morning in Holland. Made the run to Saugy in 40 FOW where the visibility was better. Got one fish our first pass on a 2 color with silver/orange head J-plug right in front of the channel. Spent the next 2.5 hours trying to get a hit with no success. Ran out to 150 and headed west. Picked up a small king while picking up a planer board in 180 FOW on a 7 color with a miami dolphin. Found a temp break in 195 (went from 52.4 to 58.0 in 50 ft. Worked that for a while with no success. Heard some one catching fish in 110 and headed there for the last 45min and got nothing. Was a very slow day for us, ending 2 for 2 in 6 hours.

Nice Job Tim!

Proctologist is one of my go-to flies, it defiantly catches fish.

They are predicting 5-10mph winds and 0-1 ft waves for saturday

May want to change up to mono dipsies with those short let backs to absorb some of the shock.

Also I added a 2nd and 3rd net (river had net) to the mix to avoid having no net when the mayhem happens. J plug harnesses suck when they are embedded in the net. Sometimes pays just to cut off the plug and retie with new harness to get the rod back down asap and set the tangled net aside until you get a lull.

I'd go to mono, but I don't have any, only wire and powerpro. My powerpro rods are 10 ft which is longer than I want to run so I went with the wire. However, I run Blue Diamond rods, which are soft for wire rods and absorb the shock pretty well, they were just pissed off last night.

Jimmy, last night someone on the north side landed a spoon on the opposite side right next to big red 10 ft behind my boat. Nick has it right about sail boats too, some A$$ decided to pull a Uturn 15ft off the back of my boat, lucky he didn't have a keel or he'd have ended up with one of my 2lb balls in his boat.

Slick was cutting the waves pretty well. We were jealous as we were getting pounded.

Thanks Kevin, I'm very happy with how the boat handles the waves, though you did end up with more fish

Well, tonight I got the chance to fish with Nick (Paulywood) and his brother Eric. We set up in Lake Mac at around 6:30. We got one hit our first pass down the channel on a blue/white/black ladderback Ace hi 13 down on the rigger. After that it is hard to remember exactly what happened. We got two fish in the boat on a sliver/orange head #4 J-plug on the two color (yes, you read that right Ben'den Rods caught salmon on a J-plug ). One came in the channel, on outside to the south of the piers. The second was pushing 20 lbs and was fun getting in the boat (from what I could tell Nick tried to gill it when the fish wrapped the hooks of the J-plug in the net then ended up just grabbing it behind the gills to get it in the boat )

We also took 4 or 5 hits on a Mag Green Splatter Silverstreak on a dipsey with no ring set on 3 20ft out on the wire. And let me tell you, they were SMASHING it. The first time we thought the line snapped the fish hit so hard and then was just gone. After that we hooked into them only to have them come off as soon as we started fighting them We may have also had a hit or 2 on mongolian beef.

There was funny stuff going on with the riggers where they were bouncin all over, not sure if fish were slapping at the baits or if they were running into the balls. Ended 2 for 7 or 8 with a sheephead in too. Anyway, fun was had by all and Nick and Eric are welcome aboard Ben'den Rods any time they want.

I've been catching fish on f/f but I have no problems running moonshines all day. This afternoon I was wishing I had more.