littleboat

Port Sheldon and South Haven bouys have been pulled, others to follow.

 

They were a great help this past year offsetting poor and changing forecasts.

 

 

 

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I'LL HAVE TO BUY ANOTHER NET!

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I didn't launch today but checked out the ramp situation.
Holland has one ramp out, leaving two in.
Port Sheldon has two ramps of the three out. One ramp will stay in at each place until ice out (Yeah!). The footing on the ramps is silently slippery becareful.
Lake water level is very low.

 
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Those freezing temperatures did not give me any incentive to go out this weekend, so I stopped and talked with several of the brave souls that did go. The results showed lots of shad and other bait fish on their displays with occasional dink caught similar to my pictures above. Some had gone out to 160fow, noting that the shad had disappeared once they left the shallower area 50-80 fow.

The gates are closed across the street at the state park as well as the cleaning station, and parking was full in the lot next to the ramps. Port Sheldon was open to park in.





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Some of my previous catches at night on Muskegon Lake. I'm looking forward to this year. That's a 41"-17# pike I'm holding with a 25" walleye. A whitefish in another picture






 

Got out today in 45-60 fow. Lake had lots of chop but not too bad if you didn't go out farther. Went 1/1 after a heavy battle, emptying a reel of 2C with a 40 jet diver on a board.
After wiping the sweat off my brow, I calmly reeled in my aquarium candidate and released him instead. Since you can't keep them.
There are lots of shad and small fish in the fishfinder pictures. The kings should get big with this swimming buffet around by spring.

 
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What is the length of those spoons? Maker? Tadpole size? Nice catch in the spring anyway.

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Amazing bite in all that shad.

I got a late morning launch and fished for a 2.5 hr window in 2ft waves with only a fly by bite in 50-60 fow. The water was cold but I couldn't put it to my advantage even closer in. The shad were all over the place shallow or deep.

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Me either, wish that would change.

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I'm looking to do some night fishing during the week this year. Message me if you are interested.
 
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Great catch.That magical hour of sunset always gets some good eaters. Your low and high beams must really be working well. I guess the fish can't drive during the day?

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Nice looking steelies and eaters! Good turn around on resetting lines. Smart reset.

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Ed, what depth and how far down were you fishing PUG wonders??? Parker may try a little offshore tonight. Thanks

I was in 100-125 fow (updated report). Down 80 with ball. All hits came on the same setup. I ran alot of stuff. Flasher flys. Jplugs, a 300ws. Working with just 3 rods makes it tough. I always try and crowd the thermocline from above and below, as you can see in the picture.

I think the night trip you are planning would be a great idea.

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The steelies are being tough to catch this am.

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3 for 4, all kings. I'm trying to save my last 2 spaces for steelhead. Lake is 1/2' waves.. it looks like the steelies got another day to fatten up for my table.

The details updated:
Solo, fished 100-150, best was 105-125 fow. Thermocline was at 75ft. Went 3/4. Saved 2 slots for steelhead,  but I could not fillfull my goals. Fish bit from 6:30-7:37am for me. My hopes were dashed as I wasn't able to get a bite over the next 3 hours.

1-King, (6:55am), 5.05#, Bloody nose RV mag off downrigger,  2.0 Sog, W trl, 48° btmp, 80 ft dwn, 107 fow.

2-King,( 7:05am), 5:34#, Dingle lt grn slider std on downrigger, rigger was dwn 80ft, W trl, 113 fow

3-King, 7:37am, (3;23#), Bloody nose RV mag off downrigger,  2.1 Sog, W trl, 48° btmp, 80 ft dwn, 125 fow.

Lost 4th on 250WS.

The fish may have been smaller than I prefer, but the meat was nice and red.

You can see the fish and bait around my cycling riggers.

The cleaning station was pretty light, with a couple of groups coming in with one fish totals.
 
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Congratulations! I know you and the crew have been waiting for this moment. Great catch, and you played the weather right.

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Great catch, and I'm glad you got back safely.

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Good night for fishing and relaxing.

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Until they pull the ramps, I will be fishing.
I would like to get some more steelhead, I love the way they jump.

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I'm glad you had a beautiful flat lake for your last trip. Fishing has been tough, as you mentioned.

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Fished solo 6:30am-12pm off Holland and Saugatuck, very HOT out there today. Lake was flat for a change, surface 69.8°, air 68.3°. Not a lot of boats out. Parker passed me on the way out of the channel.
 
2 for 4 today, caught one on my newest WS 250 line I made last night and the other on rigger cycling.  Beautiful day.
 
1-king, (8:02am), 3.68#,  RV flounder pdr mag,  Dr bk 55, dwn 45, 2.4 Sog, E trl,  50° btmp, 75fow.
 
2-coho, ( 11:36am), 4.89#, Wonderbread J-plug, 250WS, N trl, 114fow.

No hits on 8C or high diver.
 
Lost one jumping Steelhead (around 10:05am) on a green ladderback j-plug on the WS 250 as he crossed several lines. I was trying to untangle the mess when I lost tension on the line. He then sped off.

The big sweeps in the picture on my graph was when my 8" double jointed husky jerk was first seen by the fish. They came, they saw and said "so what" and left. It's not the big splash I was hoping for.


 
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Certainly, it would be nice to have your reports back on this forum. We miss your commentary!

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thanks for the report 
man if only we could get the piles of em in that 40-70fow to eat

They must be saving their energy for the final moment of the run. Something needs to startle their status quo to get them to move or defend their territory. Does whatever I think of count as an extra rod. I only have 3 to use now with my license.

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I got a late start today, but even if I was early, I don't know if it would have made a difference. Getting fish today was tough.

 

Fished 6:44am to 11:35, 90-146 fow, 1 for 3, small steelie, waves 1-1/2 to 2ft. East wind. Made my 1st WS rig last night, and it was the only thing that caught a fish. Lost 2 off downriggers with one biting just as I was clearing a line. Pole shook and bounced, but he spit it out when I got him near the boat.

 

1- Steelhead, 5.13#, ( 8:25am), RV Flounder pdr mag  300 WS, W trl, 2.9 sog, 106fow

 

The waves settled down about 11:30. The fish seemed to have  decided to go golfing today on the other side of the lake. I hope they did well anyway.

 

 

 

 

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You gave it a good try. The waves certainly haven't been reading the forecast correctly. Playing your other options, I thought, was a good strategy. I would have loved to see you turn over a walleye. The fall is still young, but I agree that the run is going to be interesting this year.

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