jdh

Often seen boats in the Grand Haven channel start hooking up after a freighter departs in the morning.  And have caught fish from the pier casting to the dredge.

Fished from 8 until 12:30.  Tried inside of 50 for 2 hours with only 1 coho to show for it.  So we bumped out to 160.  Fished in 160-180 and went 6/8 out there and 7/9 overall.  Orange dodgers on divers back 30-35 feet took most fish.

It seems only a few posters put reports up anymore.  Most have bigger boats, so won't start posting until later in the season.  Also the Indiana section hasn't seen a report since 2019.  Michigan section is a little more active.

I think you're right about that.  Can't find an article to confirm it though!

From what I can tell, Grand Haven had a decent run based on the 2021 plants.  Saugatuck was good when the fish were in this year - but next year should be better.  Hopefully will even have a few run the Holland channel next year too.

-JDH

17 hours ago, 2MD said:

Nice job! Intense scene and very impressive pulling that off solo. Thanks for the pic.

JDH did you end up with a couple?

FBD is going tonight and hopefully he can let us know the status of the bite...

Just replied to your other thread.  Wound up 2-3.  Got a 6 year old his "most biggest fish ever!".  All hits on plugs.

Thanks again for the report.  We ended up 2-3 all on plugs.  We were finding a lot of seaweed on our lines.  Had to clear hooks each pass.

Went 5/8 this am off the sliders.  85-100 fow.  White plugs took 4 hits. Mix of copper, divers and riggers took hits.  Pulled lines at 8:30.  SSW troll 2.2-2.5 mph at the ball.

Love having the two boats!  I bought a 14 footer this year for small lakes.  Has a 9.9 Honda and a bow mount iPilot... and oars!

Maybe bump up to 25 lb leader.   I run 40lb braid and 30 lb leader.

Fished with dad from 6 am to 9:30.  Started it out right with a 20lb-ish king while setting lines.  Then trolled out from 100 fow into 150 fow no marks very little bait.  Cold water down 95 feet.  S/SW trolls.  200 copper fires with a white plug - gets away (maybe a 10 lb fish?).  Turn in on an east troll and work toward 95 fow.  Found a bubble of cold water in there so proceeded to troll north.  Cold water down 75-80 feet.  Hit a bigger king on the 400 copper and called it a morning.

King - 110 fow mag diver back 85 feet with a pro king 8 inch flasher chrome and dolphin tape with a green fly.  2.2 mph/SSW.

King/coho? - 135 fow on 200 copper with white plug

King - 95 fow on 400 copper with moonshine halfmoon blue shorts.

Slow for us too (2 in the boat).  Went 2-3.  What lb test are you running at the divers?

The bigger king and plug that it came on. Fish looks smaller in this picture that it was!

Fished from 7:30 to 10:30 pm, starting about 3 miles south of Port Sheldon.  Went south -close to Holland then turned around and came back.  Stuck to 125-150 fow. 1.7 - 2 mph trolling speed at the ball down 75 feet.  Never sped up because we were getting bites and fighting fish.

Started with an upper teens king on a meat rig, then a lake trout on a 400 copper, then a 20's king on a plug, then a 10lb coho on the other 400 copper.  Finally lost another sliver fish on a meat rig.  Felt like a 10'lb ish fish - coho or king?  First bite was about 8:15, last bite was about 9:30.  Lots of activity on the graph approaching dark - but for some reason I haven't been able to get fish to bite after dark.  Good bait balls around.  Cooler water was down about 75-80 feet.  Remember - fish are biting out of temp this year too!

1 King - Mag Diver on 1 back 151 feet - 8-inch Green Jeans paddle w/ UV meat rig

1 Lake Trout - 400 copper - Mag Moonshine Dancing Anchovy

1 King - 200 copper - White wooden carved plug (Best Lure Co.)

1 Coho - 400 copper - Moonshine Halfmoon Blue Shorts

0-1 Silver Fish - Mag Diver on 1 back 151 feet - 8-inch Green Jeans paddle w/ UV meat rig

Good night on the water!

Awesome report!  Needed an idea for where to start this evening.

Fished from Holland to Saugatuck in 120-135 fow.  Southish trolls. 2.2-2.4 speed at the ball.

8/10 with 3 nice kings, 2 nice lake trout, 1 coho, and 2 smaller lakers we let go.

5 hits on a green jeans 8" paddle running uv meat head.  Mag diver back 150-175 feet (all three kings hit this)

1 hit on greenish spin doctor and fly mag diver back 135 feet.

1 hit on 300 copper with mag flounder pounder.

2 hits on 400 copper with a blue ladder back Lake Shark Lures spoon.

1 hit on rigger down 80 with mag blue dolphin.

Fished from 7-11 pm last night.  Had 12 lines out last night and fished 100-150 fow. Went 0-3 - all steelhead that went acrobatic on us almost immediately spitting the hook.

Lines out were:

100, 150, coppers with stinger spoons (blue veggie and another veggie type spoon?) - 100 copper lost 1 steelhead

200, 250, 300, 350 coppers with moonshine spoons (something blue, green jeans, grean jeans rv, max flounder pounder) - 200 copper  lost 1 steelhead

riggers down 50 and 70 with moonshine flounder pounders and free sliders with stinger spoons - freeslider on rigger at 50 lost 1 steelhead

divers back 95 and 125 with moonshine spoons.

Marked almost no fish and no bait.  All hits were in 135-150 fow.

I understand some boats fishing the same water had some good success.

Thanks for the report. 

My theory is the bait is mostly in the harbors and the numbers of fish just moved off.  As the bait makes it back out into the lake they'll be back.  Also the cold water top to bottom isn't helping concentrate any fish.  Pretty sure salmon can move 10-20 miles in a night.

Slow.  Fished from 6:30 until 1:30.  Fished from 100-200 fow a bit north of Pentwater then moved straight out of Ludington into 400 fow.  Then moved close to big point.

Got hits at 12:30 and 1:30, both decent kings.  160 fow a few miles north of port.  300 copper with a torpedo diver to get extra depth.  So like a 400/450 copper?  A blue Lake Shark spoon took both hits.

Tried spoons flashers flies meat slow fast zig zags etc.

Yes, the clutch is supposed to spin when the ball comes up and you don't stop it.  Allowing the breakers to pop could cause the motor windings to overheat.  I just manually click the stop button when the ball is up.  Another reason to keep the clutch a little loose is to stop the cable from snapping if you bump something on bottom.  Never seen the clutch knob come loose. 

Sucks about loosing the cannonball with probe.

Did the new pulley arms break?

Fish came in 195, 175, 150-130.  We marked some bait pretty much everywhere.  Also had some big marks down 120+ feet.  Didn't chase after them though.

Short trip. 7 pm to 9 pm.  Fished from 175 - 205 and then back into 130 before pulling lines.  5/5 all kings between 4 and 14 lbs.  Spoons on riggers down 35-45.  300, 250 coppers.

Beautiful night on the water.

Probably? Not currently active.  I'm guessing the machine will be down until construction is done.

Yes.  Harbor Island launch.  They're working on some ramp repairs so only one dock is available.