fishy1

Welcome you will find a good bunch of guys here without alot of bs.

Can you tune tune the spin doctor's to run with spoons or do you use all SD's or paddles?I've tried SD's a few times with no luck.In saying that our salmon fishery on this side of the lake isn't the same as you guys have.I think I caught 3 or 4 chinooks last year,biggest about 8 lbs,the rest are coho,bows,lakers and pinks.

You can run spin doctors with spoons mixed in the spread as they are more speed tolerate than paddles at least in my experience. I prefer to run paddles at a slower speed than I typically do spinnies and spoons.

Welcome and glad to see your wife enjoys the water with you, my wife also loves the salmon fishing we have in Lake Michigan, good luck this season.

The advantage to using spin doctors is that they are adjustable to change the roll speed of the flasher, where as the paddle style isn't. They both produce great results when the speed is dialed in.

meat works better in the northen ports,

but what a mess

Check out cold water tackle and thier line of batrix imatation herring strips,I have been using them for years and see simular results as using real cut bait but without the mess and hassle of real herring. Also I have used the same strips for over a couple of seasons as they are durable.

In Ludington I run alot of spin doctor fly or meat rigs when the fish go deep,the rigs just give off alot of vibration for the fish to hone in on.

The 50 kz usally marks better as it uses a wider cone angle and usally used in shallower water (200 or less ) 200kz will usually mark thermo also but tend to mark less fish as it uses a smaller cone angle 8-12 degree.

Good job and great idea to stay off they bay,I decided early on in the season that it was to risky to continue fishing on the bay. I had some good fishing on the inland waters and will live to fight another day, no fish are worth risking your life over.

I fear that like other government agencies that are in need of funds that an unspoken reality is that the government is seeking funding any way it can. I believe they should be very slow on stopping people just to inspect and should have valid reason most times. Let them inspect in the parking lot or at the ramp. Stoping guys while fishing is uncalled for unless they have good reason a violation is taking place.

That being spoken boaters need to not give them reason to suspect everyone and obey the rules and be safe.

There may be violations that aren't visable so that is why they have to board , like working bilge pumps,blower motors,flame arrestors and so on.With that being said I encountered the same problem of being stopped 3 times in a month in Ludington and a call to the commander had the crew write down my boat name and number and they never stopped me again that season.Even with an annual auxilary inspection they still tend to inspect you. I for one will never see it as a inconvienence to be inspected as you never know when you may need them.

The cost of licenses is still a bargain at the purposed rates,I hear people object all the time for many reasons but still manage to buy booze ,cigs. lottery. The cost to take your family to many activities has increased dramaticly over the last 16 years yet we all have managed to find a way to do the things we truly enjoy. The cost of these licenses should be considered a bargain for the amount of enjoyment you get for a full season of the outdoors. Just my opinion.

I also responded to your post over on LOU.

The key to fishing browns in the summer is you find where the top of the thermocline meets the bottom (50-55 deg). That is the outer limit of the water you want to fish, fishing inside of that. For instance, if 55 deg is at 60 feet down, then the area you want to fish is 60 feet of water and shallower, concentrate on areas with some sort of bottom structure, even subtle bits of structure, will hold concentrations of browns. I've had great days on brown trout in mid summer, mid day, fishing in 35-50 feet of water.

It's almost entirely a spoon bite. I've caught incidental browns on flasher/flys, but leave them in the boat when I'm targeting browns. They are a bit spookier than kings, so a little longer leads on riggers (30-40'), 3-5 color lead cores on boards, divers on 3-3.5 setting, out 80-150 feet all work well. A bit slower troll as well, typically 1.8 - 2.2 at the ball. Generally within 15 feet of the bottom, but fish the marks. If there is bait and hooks in that nearshore zone, they are probably brownies.

some big Lake Ontario mid summer, shallow water browns over the past couple years:

17lb mid afternoon, 40-45 fow

13.5 lb late morning 35 fow

typical mid summer cookie cutter, same day as the 13.5 above

14.5 lb, 3rd of a triple header of browns in 38 fow, mid afternoon.

Tim

Good advice I know the few times in the summer I got into the type of water your describing I did manage to catch a few extra browns. I never targeted them but I'm sure with the right approach more could be had where I fish in Ludington.

Maybe we can share experiences here. In my experience Lk Ontario does not seem to have the early morning bite or after dark bite that Lake Michigan does. I am usually up in Olcott in May so maybe it has to do with time of year. It just cracks me up to see guys leaving the dock well after first light and being on the trailer and in the local tavern before it gets dark? I am thinking that the biology of the foodchain is different in LK Ontario and that causes the difference. Maybe there is a early and late low light bite and I just have not hit it yet. Maybe it is less prominent at that time of year in the spring. I all reality I like being a little lazy and getting out later and back earlier if it does not hurt the chances of boxing fish. Anyone else have this same experience?

I fished out of olcott with a friend of mine who lived there in the late 90's to early 2000's and did as well with the early and late bite as we do in Lake Michigan. I believe though we tended to catch more fish out of temperature than I recall doing here.I can't remember the boat name but there was a charter captain name Don who fished there out of a 30ft chris craft just wondering if he is still there. Also used to talk to Bob Cinelli also.

1 thing I learned a long time ago better to much motor than not enough you can always throttle back.

I don't think they will sell the tape or other products in bulk to the general public but WTP have had their packaged products available via the web site for quite a while. I have ordered it before because I don't know any sources that have a good selection of the different colors. Here is a link to their site where you can order direct: http://www.shopwtp-inc.com/index.php

Witchcraft will sell you any of thier tape products they have but you have to buy full rolls.I have bought from them for over 20 years now as just a guy off the street.

I met Ken along time ago at the Micigan Sea Grant meeting in Ludington this man has truely done a great amount of leg work for us to enjoy the great lakes fishery we have.I hope for a speedy recovery and my prayers go out to him and his family.

Blue Fairways shows how on the tournament trail video, I believe last years episode from St Joe.

If it's for entertainment purposes it would be nice to see more fishing and less commercials.

I have used both single and treble hooks and the key is making sure thier sharp regardless which you use and I stick with treble hooks and as Dave Engel from Best Chance Charters says 3 hooks will catch more fish than 1 !

I've uused the torpedo downrigger weight and found it has just as much blowback as a 12 pound cannonball style, not worth the money.The torpedo weights that you attach to you lines though work great.

If LMC doesn't get their coal ash discharge exemption renewed this month, they can make Seattle a two for one deal and send the Badger with it. You're correct, the cost to move that hull to the west coast would be staggering.

We could only be so lucky.

Isn't insanity described as doing they same thing over and over and expecting different results.

Beatiful job on the mount you can tell that they know thier fish.

Just looks like a good chop I thought maybe they might have been out in larger seas.

Greta reason to buy a foreign piece of sh** as if toyota doesn't have issues like the 7.4 million vehicles they just recalled. By the way they do great things for our country and remember to help keep the japanese economy running.

In todays society if you aren't on a pro staff or posting numerous videos you must not be a real outdoorsman, I'm sure its justthat I'm 53 years old and don't feel the need to prove myself to anyone some people just need the reassurancethat thier life wouldn't be complete without bragging.

Tony exact problem I had boat needs to be stripped and bottom prepped correctly if you just sand what is on there and paint over it you will still end up with the same results , been there done that.I had mine stripped ,barrier coated then painted and haven't had any issues since I had it done 3 yrs ago, better done right the first time than to have to do it over again.If you just had someone paint the bottom without them stripping it you can't blame them but if they are reputible they should of explained that to you in the first place , just my experience.