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mincmi

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Everything posted by mincmi

  1. We successfully use a 8" spin doctor and spoon - usually jr or mini streak for browns and rainbows where we fish in the winter - Lake Jocassee, SC. Much shorter leader 18-24" and usually behind a diver and not the rigger. Usually only one in the spread when we do it. When fishing Lake Michigan we run other things behind the flashers.
  2. Slide divers are also an option that will give you the ability to have extend lead lengths without a long leader that can not be reeled up close enough to net fish without hand lining at the end.
  3. Like the norm, we found 2015 much tougher, fewer kings and smaller fish. Because we come from NC and only fish a couple of periods (this year only 1) our numbers can be skewed. While our fish average "only" dropped from 6.7 to 5.7 it seemed we had to really work and come up with an alternate plan quickly just to put a few fish in the box. If we did not run off shore and have some nice steelhead catches a couple of trips, our total numbers would have been significantly reduced from 2014. Port: Frankfort 2015 9 Trips from 6/28-7/4 Fish: 52-72 5.77/trip Best Trip 16-22, 7/2 AM 20 mile off shore to SW after being blanked for two hours over N Bank Slowest Trip 2-3, 7/3 PM 2 browns between piers after being blanked on N Bank 11 dinks 6 double digit fish Biggest fish: 18# King 4 Browns; 1 Coho; 8 Lake Trout; 23 Kings; 16 Steelhead 2014 9 Trips from 6/12-7/4, 8/30, 8/31 74-104 6.77/trip Best Trips 13-16 on 6/14 AM North side of Saddle 150 FOW; 12-20 7/4 AM North Side of Saddle and west troll off shore Slowest Trip 2-2, 8/30 PM in combat fishing between piers 4 dinks 29 double digits fish Biggest Fish: 19# King 1 Coho; 2 Lakers; 6 Steelhead; 65 Kings
  4. When we are targeting steelhead, we are not run flashers, meat, etc. and yet you still take an occasional lake trout or king - just like you take an occasional steelhead on something when targeting kings, or browns. If you just start just start throwing everything out there from a 3 color with a mini streak to a 11" paddle in front of a meat rig you are actually decreasing your opportunities as not everything plays well together. Sure you may run into a fish or two but the chances of having a big catch will be reduced as many of your lines will not be operating at their optimum. We use 30-35' 20# fluorocarbon leaders on the cores and Cu. That might be a little light, but the I like the action of the 20# over the heavier products with the long leaders. The divers only have about a 6-8' 40# fluoro leader, but they are slide divers that are set back 100' before going down if they are running in the top 30.
  5. Are you targeting steel or just putting out a spread that is covering various levels of the water column? When we are specifically targeting steel, we look for good water and then will work the top 25-30 feet of the water column with six boards and short cores and coppers, plus two braid divers. We will usually run the down riggers deeper but then they will have free sliders in the target zone. Majority of the hits are off the boards. All spoons usually for us, and 3.4 SOG is on the slow end. Usually closer to 4+. Like others have said, small spoons, mini steaks, super slims in orange but like to keep them honest with a green – usually a SS modified NBK in the spread. Halloween is one of our favorites. We have a standard size Halloween that is approaching triple digit fish if not already past the 100 mark. Sometimes they seem to prefer copper plated spoons, especially on darker days. Make sure your hooks are very sharp, and expect some violent hits.
  6. A lot of cold water after the North blow on Tuesday. Fished the GTASFA Wednesday League which was out of Frankfort this week. Ran down to the Hole but water was an icy 38 and no fish on the graph. After about 30 minutes there, decided to just run back to the piers and work the warmer river water. Ended up 4-5, 3 11# kings and a brown. Only boat in there and only boat that did not have lake trout at the weigh-in. A mini streak Orange crush took the brown and a king on 3 color and Halloween took a king on 2 color. DW super slim Pete's Steelie Bait took the third king off the rigger at 16. Tried running the temp break from river water and every time we were coming in off the South wall we took a fish either just before the pier or just inside the pier heads. Next morning tried the same patter - warmer water had moved to the north pier side but did not have a touch in there. Fueled up the boat and headed off shore about 8 going 16-22, our 3 man limit just after noon on Lake Trout (6) and Steelhead 10 - (one small 10" throwback that got us started out there). Orange crush and Halloween - super slims NBK, Pink Panties, and Orange Golden Icicle 2-5 colors.
  7. We were running four boards, two divers and two riggers with free sliders on this trip. Pretty typical set up for us.
  8. No - it is a Dreamweaver Glow Frog - White Belly with the sun reflecting off the tape in the photo. First time I have run it. Put it on as a low light change up - took a couple fish. Here is a snap of it:
  9. We were 26-37 (6 Steelhead, 2 Lakers, Coho, 17 Kings) over the three days. Largest king was 18#. Nothing fast, just picking away at them, and no real strong patter other than all spoons for us. One trip it will be riggers and free sliders, next slide diver, and next time cores and coopers off the boards. If I could get them all working at the same time we could have something. Have not had a hit on a spinney/paddle. Have not run meat. Surface temp about 58 – Three degree break to 52 at 45 – 44 degrees at 70. Strong N blow expected tonight (Tuesday) so expect changes. Evening low light bite has been the most consistent but not spectacular. Area 51 on the slide diver and standard size RV Blue Flounder Pounder on free slider probably the most consistent. Other Moonshines spoons on low light bite as well. Orange on short cores off shore. 300 Cu with Modified Blue Dolphin took biggest king. Fished 150-200 North – some fish between Saddle and Green but sporadic. One morning had all our hits before 6 AM. Picked up and ran over to 6 mile and marked a lot of Lake Trout but could not get them to go. Same thing in West Platte Bay – my lake trout program sucks! Next morning did not have a hit North and finally pulled at 7:30 to run off shore 15 miles were we picked away at some steelhead in a small trash area. Fished down in the hole on Monday night. Mark more fish there and took our best king. Also was working tighter to the bank in 65-70 FOW.
  10. We fished Frankfort for three days in June 13-15 and three in July 2-4 and took 74 fish, 22 were on a Black Screwball. Usually only had one in a 8-10 spread, and occasionally two. June it was good in the standard size, July they wanted mag. That spoon pattern has been one of our best for us the last six seasons.
  11. Fish stayed consistent for us. Similar program as previous Frankfort thread. 10-15 on Thursday night with Black Screwball on the rigger still very good. 12-20 AM on the 4th. After taking a quick five on the early bite, turned west and found big temp break. 65 on the surface and 42 at 30’. High lines started firing as we came into that water. 200 CU with Pink Alewife, then Halloween on 4 color with mix bag of steel, kings & lagers. Changed over to orange on short cores and divers running between 20 & 30. Had good action until losing the break as you continue to head west. Surface moves from 65 to low 40’s.
  12. Fished Frankfort 7/2 PM and 7/3 AM. Took two man limit each time fishing north. PM trip we were 10-13 with a nice #19 before we were set up off the slide diver at 199 and a Black Fin Tuna. White Screwball was our best off the rigger at 85. White 8†paddle and Blue/Green Dolphin Eye Fly at 65 took several as did the Double Blue Eye Ghost behind an 11†Blue Bubble paddle on wire diver at 225. Green flounder pounder at dusk nailed a couple as a change up for the BFT. Only one rip off a board and that did not hook up. AM trip 10-14 that started with a double off both divers and then another double off the 200 CU with Pink Alewife and 4 Color with Michael Jackson. P/F off rigger took a fish so we had five before 7. Then went two hours only one hit. Finally made it back to where the fish were earlier, and had changed out the white screwball for black. It went five times with four boated and 300 CU with RV Green Flounder Pounder finished us up about 9:45. Key for us was finding the 47* water. Temp dropped down about 10’ from when we started, and as soon as we dropped down there we started taking fish again.
  13. 6/13 PM Fish never took off. Worked hole and ended 3-5, all little fish. Not much happening from anybody. 6/14 AM Did not want to mess with the dinks, south so we went north. Had the bank to our self in glass like conditions. Worked in & out from 150. Finished 13-16, 10 kings, 3 steelhead. All the kings were between 8-14. Black screwball off riggers at 60 & 65 took six. Mix veggies – 5 color, Holloween – 4 color, Pink Panties – 300 wire all took multiple fish. Sexy Veggies SS on 7 color took a fish. Only one hit on a p/f early and loss that fish, only diver hit all morning.
  14. 6/12 PM Very foggy and a bit bumpy when we started yesterday evening, plus the water was very cold – 42 outside the river water. Planned on just working the harbor area because of the fog and took a lake trout right between the pier heads on a 100 CU and standard orange crush as I was putting in onto the board clip. Trolled out to about 40 feet and turned, came in and made a lap round the bay but nothing else. As we came back towards the piers, the fog was lifting as so we trolled straight west. Finally we started hitting fish about 150 FOW around 9:00 pm. Finished 6-9, the rest kings 8-11 pounds. Couple fish on wire diver with a 11” Blue Bubble paddle, Dolphin Eye Fly, standard black screwball on rigger at 70 took three, mag bloody nose Moonshine on rigger at 50 took two. Broke off a fish on the 100CU/orange crush. Boards not really firing. 6/13 AM Started at 5:15 in the spot we finished the evening before and only had a knock off on the Screwball just after set up. Worked south in 200 to 150 into the hole. Finally had a flurry on the NW edge working east. Had good action from about 6:30-7:45 going 7-10, six kings and a steely. Largest king was 14. Think we missed one fish after that and knocked off about 8:45. Black was good for us this morning. Screwball at 65 took three, Black Fin Tuna at 55, Black super slim Icicle on 10 color, and Sea Sick super slim on 150 CU. Steelhead on 4 color nuke veggies. No hits on a diver this morning.
  15. Thanks for the reply Griff. Was finally able to talk to a tech at Kell Labs. He mentioned to look at some simple things first 1. He said to make sure that the probe is suspended in the bucket, which I could not remember if I had so that was the first thing I did. Still dashes. 2. That Kell Labs have had at lease 8-9 instances where new 9v batteries were bad fresh out of the pack. I had already replaced the battery, so I put another new battery in the probe and that was the answer. Looking forward to getting to MI this week. Thanks again.
  16. Thanks for the report. Pulling the boat to Frankfort from NC on Wednesday. Looking forward to being back on Lake MI for a few days.
  17. I have a depth raider that came with the boat we purchased last fall. Our readings for speed were significantly different from our other electronics. Upon inspection of the probe, I noticed that the paddle wheel was not spinning freely because the axel rod was bent. I ordered a new probe and antenna. I have installed these item per the directions from Kell Lab. but only had the dashes on the console unit when we had the boat in the water. Since then, I have restrung the the coated cable through the antenna, replaced the battery in the probe, and cut off and restrung the connection to the upper tab of the probe. I have not had the boat back in the water at this point, but only in a bucket of water and still only have the dashes on the console unit. Question 1 is: since the probe will only work in the water, is a bucket of water "deep enough" to active the probe to send the RF signal? Q2 - If it is deep enough, I am still only getting the dashes. How can I test that the probe is transmitting? Q3, How to test to see if the transmission is being picked up by the antenna from the coated cable? Q4, How to test from the console unit to the antenna connection? I have been trying to contact Kell Lab this week, but that has been unsuccessful. Any help to correct this would be appreciated. Thanks, Evans
  18. Charlotte, NC - not Char-Lotte' - where we are in the middle of our trout tournament season on Lake Jocassee, SC. Vacation and fish out of Frankfort in the summer.
  19. Maybe in your lifetime . . .! Was reading yesterday from the Benzie paper that not only was the record low in 1964, but the recorded record high was in 1986, just 22 years later. Now 26 years after that high, we are back at near record lows again. There once was a gate on the north Pier in Frankfort (you can still see the iron piping in the concrete if you look) that they would close during high waves to keep idiots from venturing out and being swept off. We would catch browns in the spring inside that gate in the mid 70’s, just a decade after the record low water levels. Now there must be at least 50 feet of beach west of where the gate was. Was surprised that the difference between the record high and the record low was “only†six feet so that peaked my interest in seeing some data on just how cyclical the lake levels are. I looked up the NOAA records for rain fall in Michigan (they did not specify the site that data is recorded). In the period from 1896-2012 Michigan receives about 31.5†of precipitation. From Aug-July of the following year: Years Total Avg. Notes 1900-1909 307.38†30.74†1910-1919 294.78†29.45†1920-29 302.45†30.24†(Record low of 22.45†in 1925) 1930-39 291.09†29.11†(1930-31 avg. 23.73 as Plains Dust Bowl sets up) 1940-49 313.29†31.33†including 37.62†in 1943 1950-59 315.32†31.53†Avg. 35.2†from 1950-52 1960-69 311.06†31.11†37.52†in 1960 before fall to avg 27.70 from 61-64 leading to record low lake levels in 1964. Then from 1965-69average 32.54 1970-79 325.18†32.52†1980-89 332.16 33.22†From 1971-1987 only one year below 31†of precipitation (1977 – 27.42†a year in which I recall heavy snows in NW MI) including 37.28†in ’85 and 35.60†in ‘86 leading to a record high lake level in 1986. 1990-99 328.97 32.90†2000-2009 334.60 33.46†Including the all time record of 37.87†in 2002 plus 37.43†in 2004 and 37.65†in 2009 the only decade with three 37†rains. 2010-2012 98.59 32.86 Looking at this data, the trend is up for precip over the century. We have fallen back slightly over the last three years, but not dramatically, especially in light of coming off a record decade. There has to be other factors leading to the near record lake low at this time, but would look at this as an off year in precipitation and not a downward spiral. .
  20. We finished our last weekend for the year on the salmon hunt before pulling the boat back to NC. Disappointing that we lost a few trips to the wind, but did pick up a couple combat fishing in between the piers on Friday morning. Friday evening and Saturday morning we were able to get away from the crowd and find fish north of the point in about 200 FOW. Ended up 14-20 with the UV Double Blue Eye Ghost Eye Fly behind an 11†Blue Bubble paddle parked at 140 on the rigger going off like clockwork. Took fish on 300 cooper and 12 color, and free slider on spoons and braid diver with Black Hootchie and Eye Fly at 300 went off a couple of times. J-Plug at 130 was quiet on Friday, but took three on Saturday. It was never fast but steady until the fish shut down on us at 8:30 with the rise of the full moon on Friday and again at 9 am on Saturday leaving us one short of our limit. Trolled for another two hours without a hit before heading in. Wind was too much for us on Saturday evening and Sunday morning so we packed it up for the year. Looking forward to reading your reports throughout the year and can’t wait until Memorial Day 2013 to return. Tight Lines!
  21. Fished the 4th tournament and just could not get the salmon going. Had to weigh in all stealhead. My think is that we won the trout division! Naturally, that night we boat two kings over 17 each. Did not fish Thursday morning but had a trip last night and this morning. We are 22-43 since we arrived and started fishing Tuesday night. Did take our first 25# of the year today. We have been working a little inside of most of the traffic North at about 120 FOW - 85-100 on the rigger. Have been taking a number of fish out of temp on free sliders and 10 color. Several on 300 CU and finally got our divers going in the 225-245 range. What's been working best: Riggers: Black Fin Tuna early evenings., Moonshine Glow Wonderbread low light. 10 Color with MS Mag Mod Blue Dolphin 300 CU with SS Evil Alewife Divers - 11" Blue Pearl Glow with UV Blue Dolphin and UP Double Eye Ghost Eye Flys
  22. Trailered in from NC on Thursday. Was going to fish South Haven yesterday before an issue with our kicker had us off the water before we put a line down. Pulled the boat up to Frankfort where we keep it for the summer only to find the wind significantly stronger than it was at the lower end of the lake with waves splashing over the South pier and thinking that we would not get a trip in until we come back in July. Finally at 7 pm thought we would go check the water temp in the harbor only to find it in the sixties. As we peaked out past the break walls we found that it was 3 footers rolling in but we could fish it. Ran straight west out to 75 with surface temp at 49 and trolled SW into it staring just before 8. Finally took a 6# king off the DR at 120 on a modified Blue Dolphin in 170 FOW. Worked out to 215 without another hit before swinging round to work in with the wind. Same set up took 8# king when we hit 175 FOW. After the sun sunk into the water we took a 10# king on a braid diver at 225 with an 11†pearl/blue paddle and a green dolphin Eye Fly in 135 FOW. Soon as we put that in the boat the 10 color with a black screwball started screaming with what felt like the best of the night. End up breaking off the nano leader that we use in the Carolinas during the winter. We talked about changing it to the standard floro we use here, but thought we would give it a chance before chasing the larger fish of the summer. Mistake! Our last fish was a 7 # laker as we just moved the down rigger up to 65 as we hit 110 FOW on a Moonshine Bloody Nose. Pulled the rest of our lines five minutes later at 9:45. 4-5 on the short trip saved what could have been a very disappointing fishing trip when you come from NC and it takes 17 hours to get here. Family wedding will keep us off the water for the rest of the weekend until we return in July.
  23. I hear that the plug bite has picked up in Frankfort this last week. We fished there the week before and it was mainly a spoon bite for us. Only had 3 on plugs of the 25 fish we boated but all three of those were on moonshine plugs (Happee meal, green flounder pounder, & Raspberry Carbon) at low light. Zero hits on J-Plugs for us this year.
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