Dr Hook

It is not necessarily a matter of spawning runs, which yes, traditionally are better mid to late August. Usually king and coho fishing will begin at the south end of Lake Michigan in late April/early May. Kings will usually then work north up the coast. Best fishing out of Holland last year was Mother's Day to Memorial Day. August king fishing never materialized as it has in the past out of Holland. Presumably, though not certainly, this is due to decreased stocking. Northern ports such as Ludington and Manistee would probably be the places to go late summer.

I like the idea and would definitely buy one. It might pick up more traction with the powers that be by decreasing the lines a bit; one stamp on board 6 rods, 2 stamps 9 rods, 3 stamps 12.

Haven't lost a board since going to braid backing and lockjaw. Which means tomorrow one is probably gone.

In my experience, the hot lure is usually the one you only have one of guaranteeing you’ll lose it next trip out Sent from my iPhone using Great Lakes Fisherman

Steelheaders had their veteran's outing yesterday morning. All the chatter was on channel 6.

Outstanding!! They should be up here in Holland soon Sent from my iPhone using Great Lakes Fisherman

Works fine for me as well

Sorry for the late post, but had too much going on after fishing yesterday. First trip of the year began with the top of a picnic table passing us by in the channel on the way out. Blew through the skin ice on the way south just before the Saugatuck channel. Set up in 25 fow just north of the point and began trolling south. Began out first trip of the year with a double on coho just south of the point which is where we had our best marks. Trolled 2.9 to 3.6 SOG with best speed 3.2-3.3. Trolled south til we could the the steam from the power plant on shore then came back north. Trolled out to 50 fow on the turn and picked up a laker , except for that we pretty much kept between 25 and 30 fow as marks would drop off beyond 30. Finished the day 6 for 9 with 3 coho, 2 lakers and a skinny king. We had one hit on a rigger which came off, but the rest came on 2 color, 25' copper and braid 0 dipseys set back 75'. Only hits came on orange jointed rapala, orange and black thin fish, and dark orange dark blue spoons. .

same here for a couple weeks at least

Looks like the plastic is too brittle for the tension screw. I've used Luhr Jensen Dipsey divers and never had a problem

I don’t usually pay attention to barometer, but if I did want the info I’d check the closest buoy Sent from my iPhone using Great Lakes Fisherman

You need to check out inline planers such as TX-44 or TX-22. Most people run copper or lead core off planers to get the desired depth. I suppose you could run divers off a planer but I wouldn't recommend it.

Great report. Hopefully the lake trout reduction won't be used to leverage by-catch concessions in the upcoming tribal negotiations. One other stocking point that was brought up is that lake trout are going to be stocked more off shore in refuges and open water reefs rather than inshore.

Early bird gets the worm...... ........which he then uses to go fishing.

One of em was me probably. We started an hour earlier and finished an hour later. Set up in 75 fow with good marks on a south troll. When they ran out, trolled west to 135. No marks or bites so we came back in and began marking fish between 115 - 120 fow. Finished 3 for 3 with 2 kings and a small laker. Larger king was 15 lbs but had teeny tiny eggs. Probably would have been 30 lbs next August. All hits came from 115-120 fow. Big king came on 180 copper with Moonshine Rickety Ranger, laker came on slider with blue dolphin 90 down, last king came on rigger 80 down with magnum Silver Streak but don't know the name. Blue black and chrome with white nose. Trolling speed was 2.7 to 2.9. Very slow but given the poor fishing lately, quite happy with 3 fish.