jdh

Nice work.  Wanted to make it out today but had a last minute meeting schedule late afternoon.

Late report but here it is:

Fished from 5:30 to 8:30 pm setting lines in 170 fow.  We worked west into 210 with nothing then worked back east.  Went 4/5 in 185-170 fow with two nice steelhead and two 6 lb kings.  Hits on 300 copper mag bloody nose, 200 copper yellow plug, downrigger at 125 with 11” white flasher fly, downrigger at 95 with mag blue dolphin, mag diver back 225 with kevorkian spin doctor.

Cloud cover let us escape the heat and although the flies were bad, didn’t have too many biting flies.  Great evening on the water.

Lake is trying to flip.  Might be one last flury of mature coho and kings at the pierhead tomorrow.

On a solo mission.  Launched at 4 and ran to 150 fow.  Worked out to 280 and turned north and three steelhead hit the deck quickly.  Super slim spoons down 60-70 on the downriggers.  Worked back in with two lines on downriggers below 100 feet looking for a couple salmon.  Just hit one in 145 fow on the big white paddle down 105 feet.  8 lb immature king.  Will see if I can get my last fish.  2.6-3.2 speed at the ball for all fish.

Canada trip went well.  Never seen such a poor bite for walleye though.   At least the bite lasted all day.  We did figure them out.  1 oz and 2 oz salmon jigs.  Find a school and jig aggressively over them.  Get a few fish and move to the next school.  Fish were deep too.  In 40-75 fow and as deep as on the bottom (this lake has a lot of water 80 feet and deeper along rock shorelines).  Looks like they were chasing schools of Cisco and other bait fish.  Got a half dozen pike from 24-32" trolling evening with big spoons. Picked up 1 lake trout jigging too.  Seen a high 40s pike chase a 12 inch small mouth.  Lost a 40" fish right next to the boat.

Biggest walleye was 23".  Most were 14-18 inches.  Bigger fish were over the deeper water.

I think I'm done for a while.  My coppers are all spliced and my leaders are getting really short.  Off to Canada next week to chase eyes.

Fished starting mid sliders working south in 90-120 fow from 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm.  At 7:30 we started heading in shallower.  From then we stayed in 85-75 fow the rest of the night.  There were bait balls for miles.  Marking a few bigger fish, but not too many.  About 15 minutes after sunset, the 150 copper fires with a plug.  Then the diver back 110 fires with moonshine crabface.  Got both to the back of the boat at the same time... plug fish rolled and spit the hook but we did net the one on the spoon.  Both setups fired again a few times, and we picked up a 2 lb king on the downrigger with a plug also.

Overall ended 4/7 with a steelhead, a coho, a mature 6-7 lb king, and the small king.  The fish we lost were about 5-10 lb range - no big ones this time.

I had the LiveScope down and it was pretty fun watching the bait balls lift up off the bottom as it got dark.  When we left at 9:30 the bait had spread out and we were watching hundreds of little marks in the 20-40 ft range swim past.

They’re making you work this morning!  Keep on em!

Awesome to see they moved in.  Screen was pretty blank this morning.

A little wavy, but great evening on the wayer.  Picked up another one on a 300 copper with moonshine flounder pounder.

In 85.  Got three more hits.  Only one in the net.

Downriggers at 75 with big green paddle.

Diver back 115 with moonshine crab face.

150 copper with yellow ladderback plug.

Marks dried up.  Out in 130 again.  Moving to go into 80 fow.

Worked back in.  Heading towards 100 fow.  Not many marks.  No other hits.

Out now.  A little sporty for my boat.  Trolled from 90 out to 140 fow so far on a WNW.  Just lost a big one on a 150 copper with a gold super slim rasta goose.

3/6 now.  King on a blue spoon 300 copper in 90.  Ran out to 200 fow.  1/3 out here diver back 225 with a moonshine RV don’t know name.  Also 300 copper went again.

Fishing by the piers in 40 fow now.  1-2.  Kings.  One on 5 color and RV Flounder pounder and the other on a yellow plug on a size 1 diver back 45.  Not marking much.

Anybody know if things were good in GH this morning?

Short story - 4/6.  Longer story - Started setting lines at 7:10 pm.  Had our spread in by about 7:20 pm.  Had our first bite around 7:30.  Next hour was quite eventful.

Fished with a south troll 2.5 mph starting straight out of Holland in 105 fow.  Stayed in 105 fow until we came back in.  Ended up with three kings in the box, 1 small one, 1 medium, 1 large.  Also picked up a nice catfish.

7:30 pm - 400 copper with bright colors superslim spoon - small king

7:35 pm - 250 copper with green glow plug - 10 lb catfish

7:40 pm - 200 copper with purple superslim - fights us a while and gets off

8:00 pm - downrigger at 95 with 11" white paddle - big king - 20 lbs (wraps up in line and makes us turn around to chase)

8:05 pm - 150 copper with dreamweaver ladderback plug - big king - eventually gets off

8:30 pm - downrigger at 95 with 11" white paddle - medium king

No bites from 8:30 to 9:15 when we pulled lines.

Tried the harbor.  Was loaded with fish but they weren't much interested in biting.  Warm water.

It's been a great year for fishing solo.  Going out in the morning again.  Back to work tomorrow afternoon.  

Limited out.  7/7.  Downrigger down 55 with silver streak bloody nose was hot.  3 coho.  2 kings.  1 steelhead.  1 lake trout.  Mostly in West Platte Bay crossing the shallow water - 65-75 fow.

Doubled up and got em in.  20 lb king, 8 lb steelhead.  Downrigger down 55 with a bloody nose silver streak and a bright colored super slim on 150 copper.

Working up a good tan.  Haven’t found any fish interesting in what I’m dragging.

Out solo in 600 fow now.  Set lines about 2 hours ago.  Marking a few in the 40-60 range.  Seen some steelhead swimming around on the surface.  No hits yet.  Working my way north to Point Betsie - plan on working into West Platte Bay

Based on fish stocks, Holland Saugatuck and South Haven would have the most returning kings this year.