jdh

Post a picture of your rig when you get a chance and I'm sure more people will chime in! -JD

I use Blacks releases. Used pinch release for about 3 trips back when I started and gave up on them quick. I haven't had a single problem problem with them. With regards to divers, you're doing something wrong. Not sure what though. Ask someone who looks friendly at the boat launch about your setup. Poor driving will tangle divers quickly though. Nice job getting into a few fish!

There were schools of coho in 10-20 fow south of the piers. I went 1-2 casting for them from the boat. Water was warm but the fish were in there. There I would expect there to be ore though with the cold water.

Thanks for the report. Sounds like 30-60 feet has been good near the pier heads - probably Saugatuck & Grand Haven would be better than Holland though.

I'm happy with the 13 hits. The bite was definitely slower for us than the day before, but was still pretty darn good. I avoided putting out the copper until a couple hours after we started fishing. I lost a 400 copper last year to someone who barrelled across my lines on a west troll - when the pack was all North-South and then yelled at me on the radio to "learn how to drive" because we made him reset his rigger & diver...

I'll keep a better eye out on the wave period from now on. Might have something to do with it. Thanks.

Holland 8-20 am Fished Sunday with my friend Lek who's from Thailand. He is used to river fishing, but not so much big lake. It was too bumpy for us to go on the SW troll like the pack, and we struggled to get through all the boats. We started in 140 and ended up getting bumped in to 130 before we managed to sneak out on the NW troll. As soon as we hit 140 again rods started firing. We went 4/8 in the the first 30 minutes or so before the action died down. The rest of the morning we struggled to get hits and finished the day at noon going 7/13. We only hit fish on a NW/NNW troll direction. Speed was 2.0 to 2.5 at the ball. What worked? Riggers for the most part, but we took a few hits on the divers too. Rigger down 120 early, 150 later - 11" Double UV white paddle & Poofster Fly - HOT (4 for 6) Rigger down 105 - Moonshine Mag Flounder Pounder RV - HOT EARLY (2-4) Mag Diver on 1 back 205 - Netminder UV Showtime SD & Spotted Dick Meat Rig (1-1) Slide Diver on 3 back 270 - Flee 4 All Standard Sized Fuzzy Bear - (0-2) We put out a 400 copper, but didn't get hit. Rotated a few spoons out on it but nothing. -JDH

Port Sheldon Buoy wave height? Before the new website came up I knew that my comfortable limit for fishing was waves under 1.7 ft. Now a few times like today I go out and the buoy is saying 1.2 ft, but it's definitely rougher than the "old" 1.7? And the the other day is said 0.7 yet the lake was flat as glass? Something just seems off. -JDH

Holland 8-19 am Fished with Kid Coulson and Andy today. Thanks Andy ( @firstin ) for visiting the mitten state from Wisconsin. We had a good time today! We set lines at 6:30 in 140 fow working out on a SW. Fish started hitting when we got to 150 fow so we turned SSW and kept getting fish until 170 fow. Then the action died so we worked out and switched to a WNW troll and started getting fish again past 190 out to 210 where we quit. Speed at the ball 2.0-2.5. Story of the day was our biggest coho wrapped himself up in the leader line with my blue dolphin and broke off about 40 ft back. We did a tight (as possible) turn and went back up my GPS track & found him and scooped him up! Finished 11/13 with 4 kings, 4 coho, 2 steelies, and a lake trout. What worked: 2-3 Rigger down 120 - 11 inch white paddle & poofster fly 1-1 Rigger down 95 - Moonshine Mag Yellow Flounder 2-2 400 Copper - Mag silver streak Blue Dolphin 1-1 400 Copper - Moonshine RV Mag Blue Flounder 1-2 Slide Diver on 3 back 250 - Fuzzy Bear Flee 4 All 2-2 Mag Diver on 1 back 225 & 300 - Netminders UV Showtime SD and BW Spotted Dick meat rig 1-1 Mag Diver on 1 back 180 - White Glow & Green Spots SD and glow fly 1-1 Mag Diver on 1 back 205 - UV Green Bikini Bottom SD & Green Fly Going again tomorrow. Good luck guys! -JDH

Tie a 2 ft segment of 40 lb mono to the copper and tie the leadcore to the mono.

My mistake. It was Sunday 8-6 am.

Port Sheldon 8-6 am Didn't find the big fish on Sunday morning but we had a good time and fished the water by ourselves. Only had to make 1 turn swing by another boat all morning! We found a bunch of bait and some smaller kings chasing them in 140-160 fow. Wound up going 6-8 with 4 kings & 2 lake trout. Ran a spread heavy with flasher flies & meat rigs, but the 400 copper with a spoon worked for us too. We went with a north Troll 2.5-3.0 at the ball and ended up in Grand Haven by the time we quit. What worked: Laker - Rigger down 110 - 11" white UV paddle and Poofster fly Laker - Mag Diver on 1.5 back 235 - 10" Spin Doctor Netminders UV Showtime & BW Spotted Dick Meat Rig King - 400 Copper - Mag Moonshine Blue Flounder King - Rigger down 135 - 11" Gibbs UV Red Stripe and a double fly (UV fly underneath a green fly) King - 400 Copper - Mag Moonshine Blue Flounder King - Mag Diver on 1.5 back 270 - 10" Spin Doctor Netminders UV Showtime & BW Spotted Dick Meat Rig

Just checked the buoys and the wind appears to have done different things in different places. In Ludington/Pentwater the lake flipped and the cold water is in close. Fish will probably be in front of the piers. In Holland it pushed the warm water in and the fish will likely be out 5+ miles...

To clarify my temperature thoughts - if it's a NW or NNW the water might cool down. If it ends up being a W or WNW maybe not. I'm hoping to be out fishing in Holland on Sunday and will be checking the buoy for cold water.

With a NW wind the warm water is going to stack up near shore. I haven't ever fished Pentwater before but I would be wanting to look for stable water - so deep. I would probably start fishing in 100 fow near the bottom, but look for the cold water. With 6 lines I would probably run 1 rigger & 1 diver down deep, 1 diver or rigger just around 55-60 degree water & then figure out 3 boards to get 1 a bit above the 55-60 degree water, 1 in the 55-60 degree water and then 1 just below the 55-60 degree water. Also, would run mostly spoons & plugs and trying to cover ground at 3-3.5 mph. Slowing down occasionally for a few minutes to try and trigger a bite.