Corey K

Don't get to worked up many of these "big fish" are not weighed just estimates but, there truly is some giant King's this year. We've had a couple close to and around 40inches, and the biggest is around 27lbs and quite a few between 36"-38" most between 20lb-23lbs. SD's/Fly's and Kingfishers/Cut bait have been the best off coppers and wire divers.

Try one rigger/spoon close to the ball, like 6-8ft especially in the dark/dusk. I usually shorten my leads if I start getting a lot of rips on the dipsy's since I feel like that is the most aggressive presentation. I have not tore the fish up this year on spoons myself, I'm running half SD's/Flys and the other half Kingfishers/Cut bait. I'm switching out to MS spoons or an Ace Hi plugs later in the day on the riggers.

Posts like this will be norm, I can say that we had more blood smeared into carpet than normal on this trip and for once the boat owner was pleased. We had a blast fishing somewhat bumpy seas without a boat in sight, we trolled mostly East/West since I didn't want to end up 8miles North of our pier head...done that before...Best troll was South at a screaming 3.8-4.2 SOG with the waves when we did go North, and the fish liked it drawing lots of rips from the wire's w/flys back 75-125, depending on how much line had creeped out during the surges!!! Needed bags but it didn't matter much, DW SS UV Blue Dolphin was hot, RV Bloody Nose, Green Fly's/MT Dw SD's, Black Mamba/Blue Cow. 200's and 10c's were good. Also managed a double on a free slider with a younger King and solid 10lb Coho up top with the rigger down 70.

Fished from 8pm -9:30pm Saturday night, went 3 for 3. 2 Coho's and 1 King. Fished this morning from dawn till noon, went 6 for 10. 2 Steelies, 3 Kings, and 1 fat coho. Stern planer has been good for a fish a trip, easy way to get another line and pulls 5c,7c, and 150 copper easily. North troll best at 1.7 SOG, fished 120-150fow.

Ace High, Blue Splatterback on DR down 40

MS Bloody Nose on DR down 30

3 Color on stern planer w/blue dolphin NPN

200C w/Casper&Blue Cow

5C w/MS RV Green Flounder

240C w/Mtd dw SD/Green Fly

Wire w/White SD/Blue Fly, hot rod, lost 1 big king.

DR with black paddle/silver bullet down 100, lost 2 big kings...

Ended up 5 for 8, nice day but the fog bank forced us to pull the boards in early. East troll seemed to be the best, slow....1.8 SOG, still can't get the plugs going no matter how fast I troll...Spoons and Meat the best for me lately. 80 fow- 110fow is what we mostly fished.

200 Copper- 2 for 2 Casper/Blue Cow, 2 Kings 1 over 25lbs

5C- 0 for 1 w/old fixed hook plug, clear/red. Acrobatic Steelie

300 Copper- 1 for 1 SS Blue Dolphin, 12lb Laker

SWR- 1 for 1 SS Blue Whale down 30, 10lb Coho

DR- 1for1 MS Bloody Nose, down 30

DR- 0 for 2...UV green/ Clear UV Green down 60

One thing to try in that top 30 is leaving the riggers buttoned up and instead use 1lb weights on mono or torpedo divers w/long leads behind the weight. Really easy technique and I have caught a ton of fish in close or when the fish are up high.

What is a Black Mamba/UV Blue Ice?

I get the blue ice, but I haven't seen a Black Mamba flasher?

Look up the Kingfisher flashers, it's a color basically black/gray with red eye. Think they make a glow version as well, Black Casper has been good too.

Speed sounds alright, say 8-10 yrs ago it seemed like we always caught a lot of fish in the dark but the last couple of years I have had a better daylight bite. Just after daylight and before still being prime but I wouldn't worry too much about pre-dawn. I would try shorter leads with the riggers, like 6-10ft behind the ball for spoons. Free sliders with standard size MS spoons like RV Blue Flounder have been really good when darkish this year. I've also seen an increase in non-glow stuff work better...especially off the boards, SS Hot Lobster, SS Pluto, SS Hat Trick, and I'm not charging my MS spoons.

Started around 2pm, South troll in 130-140fow went 3 for 4 and then slowed down till dusk. Ended up 10 for 14 total, 105 fow-110 fow was the best. 5 King's over 20lbs. Riggers are not really working for us, longer leads yielding smaller fish for us. Best was South troll at 2.1-2.3 SOG.

300C- 2 for 3 SS Blue Dolphin

250C- 1 for 1 Casper/Blue Cow meat rig

200C- 1 for 1 MS Honey Pot

5color- 1 for 1 DW SS organge crush

Stacker-1 for 1 MS Bloody Nose down 50

SWR- 2 for 2 MS Flounder Pounder

Wire- 2 for 2 High back 120, Black Mamba/UV Blue Ice

Wire- 0 for 1 High back 90, Blue/Crush w/ Blue/White fly

Missing a couple numbers best I can think of.....lack of sleep

Spoons

1. SS UV Hat Trick

2. MS RV Blue Flounder

3. Yeck Pole Cat

Meat/Flasher

1. Casper/Glow Kingfisher/ UV Blue Ice

2. Black Mamba Kingfisher/ Blue Moo Scotts rigs

3. Green Frog SD/ UV clear green Scotts rigs

Wow, that Century is identical to the boat I fished out of yesterday. Buddy has a 96 Proline same style walkaround, length, but with a 250 Mercury. Very impressed with the speed and boat ride in a chop yesterday. I wasn't sure that a single 250 would jump that boat on plane, we cruised on plane at 32mph with 3 guys and a full tank (170), top speed around 40mph !! The only complaint is with the swim deck netting fish can be difficult.

Cory, GJ out of Ludington. Thanks for the report. I'm having a tough time leaving the walleye. I may get a salmon trip or two in.

Yes that is a big problem, also is the reason I have not been over there since late May!!!

Took a friends boat for it's first Salmon trip...Started a little rough but it was a nice day and the boat fished pretty good. Ran North and then trolled South from 240fow out 400fow. Ended up 7 for 9, 5 steelhead and 2 Kings. 2 of the Steelhead were over 10lbs and both Kings around 18ish.

300 copper w/ Raspberry Carbon MS

10C w/ SS Hot Lobster

5C w/ MS Green Jeans

150 copper w/ SS Pink Panties

SWR w/ MS Bloody Nose down 40

Free Slider MS RV Blue Flounder with rigger down 70.

Thanks for the pic, what kind of release is that on the tow arm? Osprey yellowbird release?

1. You can never go wrong with crawlers!

2. Fish on the bottom after a big wind

3. Don't give up on fish that pop off right away...

4. Troll faster at first then slow down if need be.

5. You don't need fancy blades to catch walleyes on the bay....

6. The fish don't care if you have glitter on your boat!!!

7. Don't horse bigger fish even if you know its a cat or drum...seen that happen a million times...

8. Drag some of the btm bouncers just tick the others see what works better!!

Ah forgot about "Drag the Waters" "Sleep" got to have Pantera either on the boat or on the ride to the lake.

Sounds like we need some Metal Heads...."South of Heaven", "Mandatory Suicide", "Raining Blood"-Slayer "In Due Time" Killswitch Engage "March to the Sea" Baroness "Bleed the Freak" "Sea of Sorrow" Alice in Chains "Swerve City" Deftones "Parabola" Tool

I've had boards dive early in the fight and blamed the problem on drag being too tight or sticky. I've settled with leaving my copper/lead rods creeping slightly and with my Convectors I like to hand strip line get the drag going smoothly. I've seen people loosen drags when the drag was set right but was sticky and then they panic trying to tighten the drag. To tight of drag will encourage board diving but sometimes there is nothing you can do about it, pacifically in big waves. (that was a Uncle Si quote").... I've never liked boards releasing, I remember using the old yellow birds when I was little for walleyes and salmon. It has made a big difference with good releases out there now and how much better you hook fish with that resistance of a board.

Kelly, get yourself a cheap pair of those steel mesh gloves! I wear one on my off hand while cleaning fish or cutting up deer. Saves on cuts big time and helps with grip a lot, I don't care if people laugh....The grip is the number 1 plus of a glove, rubberband the glove to a rod holder for the ride home to air out.

You can also check the Net report from that website, it is from last year but from what I've seen they are pretty close. Heard some may have got shoved around with ice chunks this winter. Pretty much outside of 200fow you are safe... I'm so sick of nets!!! Every where I go there are nets, from the Saginaw Bay to Lake Michigan...Also like mentioned above check the fishing reports, they put an excellent report out with all the details that help on a 1 or 2 day trip.

Thanks for the replies, sad as I type this with Jones hitting a 2 run shot... I might look into the gaff option for a back up. Thanks again.

About half of my trips are solo, when the weather is good I don't wait around I just go...The last couple of years I have done fairly well fishing alone but, there is some drawbacks, netting fish...I hand line my dipsy rods most of the time, and I tail fish a lot of the time. Have I lost some fish, you bet but not really all that many. Does anyone have a particular lightweight net that works well when fishing solo, I've also thought about a saltwater single hook gaff that is long enough?? My nets are just to heavy, just looking for suggestions. Thanks

We started in 60 fow, didn't work for us.

Set up around 8am, winds picked up and trolled out to 240fow. Slow, marked very few fish, best speed at the ball was 2.2 on South troll.

2 lakers- 65 ft down-RV Flounder Pounder

1 coho- free slider SS DW Orange Crush, rigger down 80

1/3 Kings- Wire back 300 Scott's Blue Cow/Black Mamba

1/2 Kings-Rigger down 150 Scott's Red/glow/Casper

1 King-350 Copper 10"SD/Green Frog/Green Frog Big Water

Overall pretty tough, no real pattern for us but the Kings were all decent size between 18-21lbs.

Wind made it tough yesterday, stayed in close and fished 70-90 fow most of the day. 200 copper w/ blue kevorkian took 1 King, Riggers down 46 and 60 took 3 fish w/blue dolphin and UV Hat trick. Snuck a 300 copper out at the end with a casper/ UV blue cut bait rig and took the last fish. Ended up 5 for 8, all Kings with one at 20lbs, and the rest in the teens. North troll was the best, 2.0-2.3 SOG.