jdh

Got out tonight and setup in 110 a few miles south of the pier heads. Started getting fish right away. Went 11-11 releasing a small lake trout.

Best troll was south/south west. Had to keep turning the boat to get hits so bumped the speed up to 3.0 on the fish hawk.

What worked:
4-4 - 300 copper silver streak mag blue dolphin
2-2 - 350? copper pro king 8" paddle - mt dew tape and yellow fly
2-2 - wire diver back 170 - green/blue spinny and meat
1-1 - wire diver back 120 - pro king 8" paddle - chrome/green with green/white fly
1-1 - downrigger with uv 11" paddle and green white fly
1-1 - slide diver back 120 with mixed veggie color mag moonshine flounder pattern (unsure of name)

3 fish over 20 lbs, average weight probably about 17 lbs.

Get out there and go get em!

Might have to rethink my plan for tomorrow morning!

Now it's working!

Good job!  Thanks for the report.

Nice job.  Went out of South Haven for a few hours tonight, but couldn't find anything... except trout of course.

Good job!  Nice to hear some groups of kings are making it north.

Nice job.  The fish were still biting yesterday, and they were stuffed full of alewives.

Definitely one of my better days on the water!

Fished again this morning, but the fish appear to have moved out.   Got 4 coho and only 4 bites.

We didn't know we were dragging them along, but they weren't hooked bad and seemed lively, so we sent them swimming. They took off pretty fast.

Fished 9 am to 3 pm.  Went 6/10 with 2 coho, 2 12-inch kings, and 2 Lakers (4 & 8 lbs).  Was fishing mostly 20-30 fow about 3 miles south of Saugatuck.

3 Color - Stinger UV mixed veggie:  1-3 lake trout.

Mono planer board back 85-105, floating Smithwick rogue blue /chrome/orange: 3-4, coho, coho, king, missed 5-8 lb Brown at the boat.

Slide Diver back 15 ft, mini streak copper spoon: 1-1 king.

One color mini streak lemonberry: 0-1 something angry!  King?

Rigger down 50, dodger & orange spin-n-glo: 1-1 laker

Good time for a first trip out.

SOLD.

Sounds like a fun day on the pier.  I remember when it was much more consistent fishing several years ago.  I had a couple seasons where I got sick of catching 1 fish every 5 trips or so and pretty much hung up the pier rods.  

Whitefish do not count towards the salmon limit.  You can keep 12 of them!

Gotcha.  I replaced the handle/lever this year on mine because the trim/tilt switch had shorted out.  Cost about $80.  If there's other issues it can get pricey quick!

I did some quick searching and found the following setup for trolling inland trout or sockeye salmon:

https://gonefishingnw.com/making-a-custom-wedding-ring-lure

Probably not what you're looking for though.

I don't have an answer about a replacement, but what's the issue with the existing controls?

Update.  I found a magnum version.  Still don't know the name.

I've used this mini streak to great success until the orange strip of paint wore off.  Now it just sort of works.

I want another one though, but I cannot find it anywhere.  Any help?  It had an orange strip with pink/white/yellow dots.

Thanks.  Looks like I'm busy tomorrow.  Maybe Sunday.

I understand some people have been putting the hurt on some lake trout in this area.  Not too likely, but I might go for a boat ride tomorrow and was wondering what water the lakers are typically schooled up in right now.

Any tips?

-JDH

I've done it on my 1993 70 hp Johnson outboard.  When you run a 50:1 premix you need to keep in mind that it will be going through too much oil at low rpms or at idle.  If I understand correctly, the VRO will run at 100:1 when at low rpms and will ramp up to 50:1 at full throttle.  If you troll with the motor it may not be the best idea.  When I use mine it's only at or near idle when I'm cruising out to the lake, but I run a kicker once I start fishing.  Make sure to run it hard near the end of the day to clean any extra oil or carbon accumulated during idle or low rpm periods.

I've run the 20's with 15 lb test line.  I would run 30's with 20 or 25 lb test.  I did install the dragmaster kits in them though.

Are you running the divers off of the triple tree?  If the angle is too high on the diver rod you'll have trouble getting separation.  Diver rod holders are usually best just above horizontal.