Ergude

Solo trip. Went straight west to 120 feet, set up at 8:00 am and went SW. 1st fish 15 inch king on kervorkian spoon off rigger at 70ft. Threw that one back as it was unhurt. Went out to 140 feet, not much going on. Spent rest of trip around 120 feet. Had double on, SWR with silver pro troll flasher and small black/white spoon down about 75 caught 6 lb king. Other one off rigger down 65 glow yellow/green spoon, 3 lb king. While throwing those 2 in the box diver set on 1.5 back 210 goes off, solid 8 lb king on black/white spoon w/green ladderback. Last fish came on same diver and spoon. 5 lb king. That set up has really worked well for me this year, and the spoon is starting to show some wear. Had to leave with one fish short of limit as storms were rolling in. Made bee line to snug harbor just before it dumped. Ended up 4-4 with 5th small one tossed back.

Awesome hog, Ben. My biggest this year was an even 19, on a glow frog paddle & green fly this weekend. Sounds like a great time with your friends. Thanks for the report.

Thanks to all the replies and ideas. I like the walker divers a lot, and feel they will go further out from the boat than torpedoes, and I use snap weights on the lead core some too. Maybe I'll try adding the torpedoes to my LC using the snap weights and see what happens.

Nice report. Been schooled by my better half a number of times. It will be interesting to see what happens with the water temp this week. BTW, what equipment are you using to get the down temps? Thanks.

Nice work, sounds like my trip. Good luck in MN.

Jacob: I need to thank you for that last king. It was your report on the radio that convinced me to go shallow! Thanks for sharing. Bill

Went straight out at 5:00 pm to 85 feet and started on a NW troll. Set out a 5 color and 2 Walker divers, working on 4th rod when the lead core rips at 90 feet, nice steelie on orange/silver spoon. While my youngest son is fighting that one a diver goes off, 5 lb laker. While I’m netting the steelie the other diver goes off, what felt like a nice king. Came unbuttoned after a long run. Three poles set up and all go off in less than 5 minutes! Thought it would be a crazy night, but quieted down after that. Went out to 110, circled back through same area but no takers. Heard radio chatter they were in closer so headed shallower. Picked up nice 14 lb king on watermelon glow mag diver back 75 in 50 FOW about 9:15. Ended up 3 for 4. Started marking lots of fish and baitpods around 60 FOW. Not so much deeper than that. Graph really lit up after dark. Water fleas still around but didn’t seem quite as bad. Great night on the lake. 6 steelhead:thumb: 1 coho 12 kings:thumb: 7 lakers

Is anyone using the torpedo divers instead of dipsey's? If so, what setup is working best for you? I picked up a couple at the spring show, but haven't tried them out yet. Supposedly they are best for the midday bite when the fish are scared off by the dipseys. Thanks for any feedback.

I only use 4 lead cores, but then again my boat is only 20' with an 8' beam. Two 5 colors, a 3 color and a 2 color. The fives can easily be converted to 10 color equivalents by adding snap weights, and they don't take half an hour to reel in. I can throw the 3 or 2 down as an SWR or add snap weights on boards to make them a 5 color. Works great, especially in boat traffic. Picked up 3 steelies at high noon last week with the five colors and 6 oz snap weights.

I've been using the offshore release method as shown above for the past year. It's added quite a few extra fish for me. Typically run a smaller spoon or smaller j plug on it. Don't often use it when I'm going solo, though. If a big king is on the main line it can be tough to release the clip by yourself & keep the king under control. It's best to have a partner available to take it off. They definitely work & add extra fish.

I hope to try Ludington sometime in the next month. I get up there occasionally for work and might have to bring the boat along. Thanks.

Went to Manistee for a weeklong family vacation July 2 to the 9th. This was my first time fishing out of Manistee, and after a very solid 2 months out of Holland and Muskegon was looking forward to the Manistee waters. Fished 4 times in Lake Michigan and twice in Manistee Lake. The fishing for pike & bass in Manistee Lake was a lot better than for the silver fish. All my Lake Michigan fishing was done from 80 – 200 feet, except for one trip out to 650. Caught 3 steelies one morning in 110 feet and that was it. One came on a glow watermelon on a diver back 100, the other 2 came on black/white spoons with green ladder back on a 5 color with a 6 ounce snap weight. Both of these came within ten minutes of high noon on a calm day. No salmon. The radio chatter was all saying the same, as well as the locals at the dock. Lots of fish being marked, especially in the 80-100 foot mark, lots of baitfish, but only a few being caught. The charters were running way out 20+ miles. The fishing weather was fantastic, but the catching wasn’t. Nice port and town. One thing I did see for the first time was my sonar showing a fish mark going from 10 to 20 feet below my lines up to my riggers, following along for a while, then going back down. They also would sometimes show up a few feet above the riggers, and then would make a mad dash 20, 30 or even 40 feet down. Wasn’t doing anything different from what works for me at Holland/GH/Muskegon. Switched around between clean spoons, FF’s, and 2 or 3 color SWR’s which always were winners for me before. Any ideas?

Nice Job Shane. Your son will always remember his first biggin caught with dad. And your good samaritan example was awesome. I'm hoping to go Friday with my youngest son and my father in law. Thanks for the report.

In my experience they're typically huge, hang down around 20 to 50 feet. Can't miss them. Last fall I saw a lot out of Muskegon. Not so much yet this year. The season's just getting going good. Hopefully the weather will cooperate. Good kuck to you as well.

Good job in a tough situation. Those trap nets do give me the heebie jeebies sometimes, though. At least they were easily visible yesterday with the small waves. Did you see any bait balls? I only saw one bunch, and none of our fish had anything in the stomach either.

Will do. We're very proud of him.

This is my first report, so here goes. Went straight out from the piers and set up in about 85 feet. First trip for my oldest son on the boat. First fish was 6 pound king in about 115 feet on 3 color/church board. Black/white spoon with yellow squigglies (?). 15 minutes later same rig goes off, this time 5 pound steelie. ½ hour later same rig goes off, 5 pound laker. Dodged around the nets for a while going SW then headed back NE. Tugboat and dredger cut off my planned route around the nets so had to turn west again, 82mm silver walker diver on 3 back 85 w/ mag green /silver SS spoon rips with a very nice steelie, went airborne 5 times, takes out 200 feet then nothing. Line comes in and the leader was frayed. 20 lb Berkley Vanish Flouro. 2nd time this year a nice fish has broken that stuff, so it’s going in the trash. Last week my father-in-law lost a big king on it. Going to 30 lb big game. Last fish was 4 lb laker on DR green/red flasher and green fly down 45. Ended up 4 for 5. Finished at 12:30 as my son had to go to work. I let my son do all the reeling and I netted. He’s getting ready to take off for 5 months of Army Officer training before being deployed. Hope we get in a couple more trips before he goes. Great day on the water.