Playin Hooky

Great Job! Very foggy out there?

Nice job guys! That 20#er still silver or starting to darken up? Gonna get out there again soon! You really need a helper on 10/1 Mike?

should've gone fishing instead of deer hunting! Nice job Steve and thanks for the report.

Thought long and hard about canceling this morning's run to the shore due to fog concerns, but crossed fingers and hit the road at 0350. Launched and crossed White Lake at 0550 and entered a slightly foggy channel, but saw boats out on the big lake. lots of guys on the piers and the channel temp was diving as we hit the pierheads. Set up in 45 fow and headed W, surface temp 49 degrees, 43 degrees 35 feet down. First fish, 8# mature king with a lamprey wound, on a 2 color with C-14. Turned around in 85 and made another loop, caught another 12# hen king in 72 fow on a blue/glo SD and white glow fly 90back on 3 in 65 fow, then missed another rip on the opposite wire. Lots of chunks of biofilm and snotstrings of algae in the water. Fog was beginning to close in. Third loop got another king around 6# king on the blue/glo SD and white glow fly 90 back on 3 in 84 fow. 4th fish was the most acrobatic 8# SH I've seen, fully clearing the water at least 10 times and then swimming straight at the boat after hitting a DW glow bloody nose on a 5 color. Fog got thick as flies on a windrow of alewives. A couple boats lost nearshore and had a couple close encounters with other boats unseen until within 100 feet. Long lull until we trraveled out to 140 and popped a couple 5-7# kings on the 5 color and a rigger with a blueberry muffin 35 down around 1100. Trolled for the pierheads and hit a beautiful 9.5# coho in 62 fow on the 5 color with BN spoon to finish the trip. Coming into the channel we must've looked a bit odd with coats and pants on as everyone else was headed for the lake with swimsuits and shorts on. Bet they puckered up in a hurry once they got out there a ways! A beautiful, albeit stressful day on the lake. For a while we were trolling in a rainbow, as the sun behind us shining through the fog made a circle of color out ahead of us. Hoping for 1 more trip in a week or two, or into October--unless the trail cams give us something to get excited about for bow season!

WOW! That's a great box of fish! Don't you just love a site like this for all the help it provides!

Nice work Tim! How many of us remember when a 7/9 evening was "phenomenal" fishing?

I'll beat it beat staying home and mowing grass though! You'll get 'em next time!

Mike, we may have seen you out there. Were you still out around 1-2 PM? We made a couple passes in that 140-160 range, marked some fish but never got anything going. That area helped us finish out a limit on Monday but didn't pan out for us yesterday.

Awesome! Do you recall your SOG with that down speed trolling N?

75-100 fow (90-95 best) 0600 -1100--13/16 8 kings 3-16#, 2 cohos 6 and 9#, 2 steelies 8 and 11#, 1 laker released. Surface temps 67-70, down temp @ 50 was 48-53. Colder water was sandwiched in the 90s range. What worked: Riggers 40-60 down (cohos on Stinger hammered silver/orange tip on fixed sliders) with white SD/green fly (0/1) and stingray mixed veggies (1 king); 3 biggest kings, 2 steel on wire and braid divers green FC/green fly and whiteSD/blue dolphin fly 135-175 on 3; 2 kings on coyote on a full core, 1 king/2 on Ace High on a 6 color, laker on glow bloody nose on a 200 copper, 1 king MS Double Trouble on a 250 copper. 1100-1400 Lake was FLAT calm and HOT! Never took a bite with high sun although flies were a bit nippy! Another great day on the water! Eric

Nice job Mike! Don't know if we heard you on the radio. We finished 15/23, took far too long to finish a limit after going 10/10 before 0830! Cores and copper early, riggers and wire divers later. Red Jamaican Sunrise took a pair, glow bloody nose a pair also, glo green scaly J and the white fc/green fly on the wire. 103-180 fow had a nice steelie and several small kings that wreaked havoc with the green dolphin slider. Beautiful day on big water! Eric

Not to worry though, those 20#+ fish don't carry that much more meat anyway!

nice job Tim! How long before the young man joins the tourney crew?

The 7# coho we caught yesterday on a J-plug had a huge recent wound behind and to one side of the top of his head. Most likely a foul-hook that took somebody for a ride until the hooks tore free...

Thanks Ken. Can't seem to get a bite going on the rigger presentation of SD/flies. Tried your program, had a number of fish "looking"--swim up and swim with the ball, then go away. Speed at ball was 1.7-2.0 Any ideas?

Good karma! I continue impressed with the quality of individuals I meet fishing--or on big water forums!

Awesome catches!

Good twilight bite this AM on wire divers SD/fly on 3 out 140-160 and green glow J 50 down off a rigger. 2 mature kings and 7# coho before 7 AM, another fish took my #5 green glow J when it ran through a wire diver. A dink coho and an 18.5# king on a 250 copper with a black crackle J around 8AM. 100-110 fow best early on a NW or SE troll. Dead slow after that until around 11 when we found another group in 80-90 and took 5 more kings 6-15# and an 11#coho on wire divers SD/fly. Lost 6 fish that hooked up and had a couple other slash/dash with nobody home. Standard DW bloody nose dominated the rigger bite 60 down. Temp (mid 50s) started around 50 down and pushed deeper in shallower water. Early fish were feeding out of temp and later ones were right at the tcline. East wind early did not seem to roll water at all, although a scum line with LOTS of garbage in it set up in 90 fow late. Long cores with spoons, plugs or fc/fly did nothing other than the 1 big fish on the 250 Cu. Couldn't get a SD/fly on a rigger to go either!! Needed 2 more wire divers! Big, thick aggressive fish! One had me weaving the rod though the rigger and wire like last week. Hope to get back later this week. Good luck to all in the meantime. Eric PS if you lost a well-worn blue/silver#5 J-plug on a braided line in the past couple days (at least), it was a 6# coho...

Thanks Ken! We're headed west in the early AM. Will throw the whole SD/Fly box at 'em! Haven't run them on riggers yet because the spoon bite was doing well. Eric

Nice job! How long of a lead between the ball and sp/fly was best?

Whitehall 8/16 AM Fished N out of the channel. Slow start to the morning. Surface temps mid to low 60s break was around 35 down in 60-100 fow 44-47 degrees. Fished 60-110 fow. Only 1 hit and miss on a rigger 35 down from 0600 to 0700. Then a 5.5# king on a stinger hammered silver/orange end set as a fixed slider 30 down in 100 fow N troll. Another shaker on same slider shortly thereafter. Then a long wait until around 0900 when a fish bombed the wire diver with blue/white spinnie & blue dolphin fly out 140 on 3--a 24# KING! (Largest fish I've personally boxed on board my boat.) 95 is fow E troll. 10 minutes later a screamer on a 6 color with std SS blue dolphin. Cleared a side and did 4 circles around that fish but couldn't get him to the boat. Eventually popped off and the hook had a scale on it--likely foul-hooked a nice king. Next action at around noon when a 15+# king hammered a stingray mixed veggies on the rigger at 50 down 88 fow E troll. That big hen stayed low and swam under the boat going forward, wrapped a cable and dipsy line and we managed to unbraid that potential fiasco and land her! A couple hits and misses on the 5 color with std Stinger green dolphin, took a 4# king on 200 copper mag stingray Coyote, caught an 8# king missed a pair on the rigger sliders--all around 100 fow S troll. Then the same wire diver went again in 90 fow E troll--21# king! A couple other "here and gones" on the 5 color and rigger sliders--very frustrating with the small fish slapping at lures and not hooking up. Finally a 18# king on the 200 copper/mag Coyote. 8/someteen-ish with 4 or five drive-bys. Landed all the big fish for a nice box in total after a slow start. Full moon may have slowed the twilight bite but big kings were hungry later in the morning. We stuck it out and were rewarded with 2 of the best fish in several years! Thanks to all who've posted here-- the info is helpful to us "out-of-towners"! Good luck and hope to get over there again neaxt week. Eric

After a super trip with 8/8 including some mature kings last week, we fished Whitehall last night with high expectations. Sat down in 100 fow and began marking fish. Temp was in the upper 40s @ 50 ft down. Shortly after setup a 250 copper with a mag stingray coyote fired. Had the leader to the rod tip when the 8ish# king rolled and popped off. Stayed in the 100 to 120 range and continued marking fish but no takers. Water was laying down and clouds were thickening so we headed east and had a rip on the fixed slider standard lud watermelon around 45 down. That fish wasn't big, and didn't stay on long...then a drive by on a full core with a MS double trouble...then a rip on the wire dipsy that felt like it had some shoulders as it turned and ran--and broke the 50# leader?? FINALLY boated a 4# king on the watermelon slider at 45 down in 90 fow. Turned back out and took a rip and gone on the 250 copper--again--then had another small fish rip a blue flounder and on the rigger and promptly pop off!! So a 1/7 finish--not at all what we hoped for--largely due to smaller fish slapping at the lures and not really biting the hook. With the exception of the dipsy hit, none seemed to be over 10#. A radio report had a coho caught earlier in the evening. Maybe that was the issue?? Trolled until around 1100 and marked lots of bait and hooks in the 60-80 fow range, but not a sinlge rip on a glow program with various spoons and spinnie/fly combos. Beautiful night on the water though! Somewhat disappointed to wake up this AM and not see the blustery SW winds that were forecasted...or I'd be fishing right now instead! Good luck and catcha bunch when you get out! Eric

Well done Ken and crew!

With reports like that, you're gonna have a lot of tradesmen willing to work for you!

Good Luck Duane. Won't make it tomorrow, hoping for another run over on Tuesday!