Jump to content

Duraflame

Members
  • Posts

    68
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by Duraflame

  1. Looking for some St Joe reports. Taking my Dad out for fathers day weekend. He's never done this before, and I've never been out of St Joe before. I'd like to get him on some fish so he can understand why I call this hobby an addiction. Couple questions:

    Which ramp should I use, the one on the island, or the one across from the island on the Benton Harbor side?

    Is there a cleaning station at either ramp?

    Are skams around, and what's the best method to catch them off a boat?

    Have kings been around and in what depth?

    Any help is greatly appreciated.

    Thanks!!

  2. No, they aren't pancakes, just 12lb balls with a small thick fin to keep them from spinning. We didn't make any tight turns at all. Usually i have a rookie on the boat, who thinks he's andretti on the turns, which screws everything up, but not this time. One weight was about 40ft deeper than the other, which might have had something to do with it.

  3. We ended up 5 for 5 with a several hits on riggers that didn't hook up. We did best straight out from the piers in about 160fow. All 8# or more, with the biggest being 18#. Spent 4 hours on the advice given, and caught one that was hanging by a huge school of bait. Went down to our honey hole and caught the rest. Had several tangles, including one DR weight tied up with the other. There must have been some really strong underwater currents that messed things up. We couldn't run dipseys because they kept getting caught in the lead lines, which took an hour to untangle. I had to cut the leadline and splice it back together. That spliced line caught the 18#er, so I'm glad I tied a good knot. The full core lead lines were the most productive. Caught two on a high stacker on the DR, with a spining bass rod and reel, which was a lot of fun. Red and Green glow spoons were the best at around 50ft down in 160fow. ProKing magnum spoons outperformed all others.

    I have never heard of the weights being wrapped around each other spread 10ft apart. When I pulled the one weight up, the other was wrapped on it. When I released it, it caught the top of the outboard, and nearly caught the prop. I would have lost my fingers if that happened. I got lucky this time, and I'll be more carefull if that happens again. Note to self, don't grab the wire bare handed, and don't bring it all the way up when tied together.

  4. I'm heading out of SH Friday and Sat, and I'm wondering what this strong S wind might do to the fish. I haven't seen many reports out of SH, so I'm kind of at loss as to what to try. I did well a few weeks ago in 160 fow chatching fish in the entire column. I'm pretty new to salmon fishing on the lake, so I don't have any experience to fall back on. Are they still hanging in the 100 to 150 fow range, moved deeper, is the wind going to scatter them, push them in??? Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

    Thanks,

  5. If you are able, I recommend using a planner board mast. I made two boards and the mast, which mounts into a seat holder in the front of my 18' OMC (Lowe) all for less than $75 not counting the dacron line, which i got for free, but it only runs about $25. I can run two 10 color lead lines plus 2 flat lines on each side. I often have inline weights on the flatlines, and those 24" cedar boards still stay far out. It is difficult on a windy day, when i'm running across the wind as it pushes me into one side, but other than that it works great. This still leaves me enough room to run a dipsy inside, then I have two down riggers straight off the back. I know this doesn't work with all boats, just my two cents. Let me know if you need more info.

  6. Thanks to everyone who contributed. I really appreciate your advise and experience. I do have a good marine radio, and I'm going to get some flares before i head out. I do not have a kicker, but i sure wish i did. About a month ago, I ignored some wind reports down in Portage IN, and I got caught in some 4 to 6 footers on my second time out ever on the boat. I was very white knuckled and soaking wet after about 1.5 hrs of battling the waves head on to get to port, which was about a 5 mile jog, but it was parrallel with the beach. The waves were so stacked, that my prop kept come out of the water, which was freakin me out. I was shocked how quickly the waves built up. I won't ignore the weather reports ever again. The positive side is that I learned what my boat is capable of, and how to handle the tight and tall chop. I was amazed that not a single drop of water came out when I removed the plug.

    Thanks again,

  7. I have seen all the reports coming in that the main king bite is out in the 150fow range. A few weeks ago, i did well out of portage, IN out about 3 miles, but I think the bite has moved out as well. I have an 18ft deep v Lowe, and i'm thinking about going out of either st joe or s haven. From the depth charts, it appears as that depth of water is about 8 miles out. If the weather is good, how far is too far with a boat this size?

    Thanks in advance for those who respond.

×
×
  • Create New...