Sea Eagle

Fished from 6:30 until 12:30. Went 4 for 5 or 4 for 8. Not really sure. Had three first timers on the boat today and they had three brief rips on the full cores, but no fish. The fish were either not there to start with or I did not do a good enough job coaching them to get the fish in. Final tally was: 3 kings and a laker. (1) 11lb & (1) 9lb king and a shaker (king) tossed back. (1) Smaller laker. Fished west to south west of the pier. All fish came between 80' and 110' of water. Blue dolphin on a SWR down 55' took the 11lb king early and a Nuclear Veggies on a #2 mag DD 125' back took the 9lb king, white double glow crush spin doctor/green fly on a #2 mag DD 145' back took the laker. The shaker hit 200' of copper with a green dolphin. The only thing that was biting hard today was the flys. As soon as the wind died it was like some kind of biblical plague.

Thanks for the report. Hope to get out this weekend - weather permitting.

There have been days we would have killed for four fish. Nice job on the 14lb fish. Good to hear that you had the opportunity for eight. I have been wondering what the fishing was like out of SH. Have not seen too many reports lately. I'm hoping to hit it hard this weekend.

Great job. I really like seeing the photos of the spoons you used. It gives someone an idea of the colors that are working and on what set up even if they do not have the exact spoon. I received a phone call fishing report from Eliminator yesterday as I was driving through the mountains of WV coming home from moving my son to Wilmington NC. Would have liked to have been out on the Big Lake fishing myself this weekend, but had to move my son to Wilmington NC. His job in Michigan went to Mexico, so he said "See Ya" moved to Wilmington and plans to enroll in a marine mechanics program at Cape Fear Community College. Wilmington is a big fishing community. Most boats are rigged for fishing, not pleasure. Big mix of large and small boats. There were boats coming and going on trailers all weekend. It was driving me crazy that I was not going fishing with them – perhaps next time.

Set lines around 7:00 AM in 80' of water. Trolled NW of pierhead all morning. Took fish between 104' of water to 125'. Went 5-5. 3 kings and two lake trout. Full core with carmel dolphin spoon took a king. SWR on the DR with blue dolphin spoon @ 65' down took a lake trout and a king. Slider on the DR with a blue dolphin spoon down 45'? took a king. Took a 10 lb lake trout on a 1/2 core with an orange killer spoon.

That was me. Funny story about your boat. Shawn kept telling me about this boat he purchased called the "Terminator" and he tells me he is talking to his wife on the phone one day and she asks him if he ever actually read what it said on the side of his boat, and as we all know it is the "Eliminator." PS - Good job on the fish. Not the greatest day weather wise, but a good day of fishing.

I will let my brother-in-law wear whatever he wants (except perhaps an Avalanche or a Sharks hockey jersey). He only comes up to fish with me once a year and we get on the fish every time he is on the boat. I do so good every time he comes up to fish that he actually thinks I know what I'm doing. Come to think of it, he is always wearing something that has Ohio Sate on it when he goes fishing with me - could it be that the fishing gods favor Ohio State? - Tell me it's not true!!!!! No way - it must just be a coincidence.

What can I say - my brother-in-law is from Ohio. Great guy and I have been married to his sister for 37 years.

Started seting lines around 6:30 in 45' of water. The reports all said the fish were deeper, but we could not resist taking a crack at all of the bait fish we were marking in the shallow water. We kept heading West as I set the lines, but never had a bite until we hit 110' of water sometime around 8:15, then caught 5 fish in the next hour. Hard to re-set the lines with only me and the brother-in-law in the boat. We were down to only a full core and DR left in the water by the time we hit 130'. Wound up 8 for 8 (5 kings, 2 lake trout and a steelhead). All 5 kings were in the 9-11 lb range. The two lake trout were 6-7 lbs and the steelhead was around 20” long (did not weigh it). Took fish between 110' and 150' with the majority coming between 110' and 130' 1/2 core with orange killer spoon took two kings, a steelhead and a lake trout. SWR with glow bloody nose at 75’ took a king and later the same set up with a blue dolphin took a lake trout. Full core with a carmel dolphin spoon took two kings. Pulled lines at 11:00 when the brother-in-law started chumming.

Fished in the AM out of South Haven. Fished north and south of pier in 60 -80 feet of water. Took fish between 64 ft and 75 feet. Went 5 for 8. 4 lakers and a 9 lb king. SWR on the down rigger with a NBK took 3 fish - 1 @ 45 ft down & 2 @ 65ft down. Carmel Dolphing Spin Doctor with a Jaded Peacock Yogurt fly on full core took 1 and 1 missed fish. Orange Killer on 1/2 core took the king and 1 missed fish. Carmel dolphin spoon on full core - 1 mised fish.

Nice job - how big was your big king. Sure looks like a nice fish

Great job. We are all going to have to get smart phones and post live reports - way too cool. Work pays for my phone, so It's kind of hard to justify a new phone when there is so much fishing stuff to buy - sush don't tell the wife. Thanks for the report. I'm heading out of SH in the AM.

I experienced the same problems when I first started out, but then I went to the palomar knot on my mono. I had been using it on my power pro for some time and tried it on the mono. I also started using berkly 20# big game for my leaders and for any other mono set up. I was sold on the big game when a buddy tied one end on a tree and the other end on a big stick and just kept walking back. Super strech.

Thats exactly where they are going - into the smoker.

Fished out of South Haven on Easter Sunday for three hours. Fished south to power plant and back in between 25 & 40 ft of water. 2.5 mph troll. Wound up 11 for 12. Three man limit on the Lakers, a 14 lb King and a small Coho. (2) flat lines with thin fins on outer boards, (2) SWR (2 colors lead core) on middle boards with small orange killer spoons, (2) ½ cores on boards closest to the boat with magnum orange killer spoons, (2) down riggers set at 25 & 35 feet with UV blue dolphins spoons with mixed veggie sliders and a thin fin on a high line 300 ft back down the chute. SWR took one fish, down riggers took three and the ½ cores took all the rest. Thin fins (red/tiger stripes & gold/pink) were cold as the water.

Great job - thanks for the report. Tring to get out on Sunday. Was wondering if St. Joe or SH was were we should go. Usually better down in St. Joe, but SH is an easier run out to the big lake + I keep hearing about low water levels in the river in St. Joe. I think you just convinced me to go to SH.

this looks like the hot set up - thanks

I just purchased two Big Jon Pro Tournament down riggers with auto stops. I have a depth raider speed/temp probe hooked up on my current manual down riggers that I want to put on my new electric down riggers. My question is - Will the auto stop trigger bead run through the depth raider spring antenna that goes on the down rigger cable OK or should I or attempt to enlarge the inside diameter of the spring antenna? Should I move the line guide with the auto stop switch further out than 1" as shown in my owners manual and install the depth raider spring antenna between the rod block and the line guide or should I shorten the depth raider spring antenna to 1"? Just looking for some advice from someone who has hooked up a depth raider on their Big Jons. Thanks

I am. I have only been salmon fishing for five - six years now and as you can guess I have a lot invested in both money and passion for the sport. This was the worst year for me since I started. My first year I just did not know what I was doing and the fish were few and far between. Two years ago we really hammered them, but then again I was told that you could troll car keys and catch fish. Going into last year I was feeling pretty cocky right up till it slowed down in July. We never got skunked, but had to work real hard for our fish from July on. I do not have enough data points to really know what to make of last year. I have to echo all of the observations, we had a really good spring and early summer, but hot water from July on (we could not find cold water 140ft down in July - 74.2 degrees). Then again we never marked so many bait fish. I guess time will tell. Everything tends to be cyclic and I guess salmon fishing is the same. Mother Nature has a way of making adjustments to whatever man does to her. I just hope that there is nothing to this global warming stuff and that the hot water is here to stay. I’m not set up for bass fishing and besides they taste like crap.

I see the time of your post today is 7:53AM - you on vacation today too?

I made something almost identical for my boat. I printed out a few copies and use them to plot my initial spread before I go out. I also laminated a copy and use a dry erase pen to mark what I have down. It come in handy when we start wondering what we want to chage out next

You don't need no stinking AP - you just need another set of hands in the boat to help drive - hint, hint. I remember a night with just you and me in the boat and we had three kings on all at the same time. We got them all in with no one driving the boat (ya I know how lucky we were). They say you loose a fishing buddy when he buys a boat. Seems like we just need to coordinate our outings better. Your boat or mine.

Thanks for all of the advice. I plan on getting a closer look at all of the various brands at the Detroit fishing show this month and will more than likely purchase at the GR show in March. I’m leaning towards either the Scotty's or Big Jon Brutes right now. My buddy has run his Big Jon captain packs for more than five years now without any issues. One of my main goals is to be able to get down deep and since you need big balls to go deep, I’m looking for something that will handle the bigger balls. Thanks Daybreak (John) I never considered looking at the power draw and good to know that you guys are successfully using your Scotty's down deep on a routine basis. I also like the lighted depth readout on the new Scotty’s. Not the biggest consideration, but it sure is a nice feature. “You need big balls to go deep†sounds like something good to put on a tee shirt.

I'm looking to up grade to electric down riggers this next year. I currently have a couple of big jon manual DRs that I picked up for $50.00 several years ago that I like a lot, but I want to be able to run bigger balls to get down deeper if the fish are out in deeper water like they were this year out of South Haven when the water temp in close hit 80 degrees. I was wondering who likes what brand and why?

Fished out of South Haven on Saturday morning. Went 11-12 with two knock offs (too slow-too bad). Took my brother-in-law out on his first salmon fishing trip. He had a blast and as far as he knows we do this good all of the time. Set lines around 6:30 AM NW of pier head in 70ft of water. Trolled N – NW and S – SE all day between 70ft to 90ft of water. First three fish came off of the downriggers set down to 40ft -50ft. (1 small king & 1 small coho) on SS Glow George spoons & a medium sized king off of a double pearl glow spin doctor with a blue bubble fly. We had two medium sized kings off of #3 dipseys set down at 40ft with a mnt dew pearl glow spin doctor with a seaweed fly on one & a mnt dew/chrome NBK spin doctor with a yogurt orange crush fly on the other. Our largest king of the day came off of a #3 dipsey set down at 60ft with the mnt dew pearl glow spin doctor & seaweed fly just as we were pulling lines. We had five fish (4 kings all medium to large & 1 medium coho) all of off 10 colors of ledcore running mnt dew/chrome NBK spin doctor with a yogurt NBK colored fly. The SS Glow George spoons off of downriggers have worked very well for us first thing in the AM lately, but spin doctor/fly combos have produced best as the day wears on. On Saturday, mid-morning, we could not keep our lone leadcore rig in the water – it was smoking. #1 dipseys with spoons have not produced any fish in the past few weeks and will likely get put up for a while. I’m sure that #1 dipseys would work fine running the spin doctor/fly combos, but we do not like to run spin doctors on both #1 & # 3 dipsey settings next to each other for fear of “making rope†out of our fishing lines. Rumor has it that my fishing partner Rich is going to purchase us another leadcore rig when he gets his bonus check in a couple of weeks.