jdh

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.

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!

Picked up 2 smaller kings 2-3 lbs in 160 last night.  Fished from 5 until dark.  Smaller spoons down 100 to 140 down.

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.

If they wanted to protect numbers, the limit would be dropped from 5 to 3 again.  As it is, the DNR seems to want us to catch as many salmon as we can.  I bet you a bunch of Charters would be happy if they lowered the limit to 3 again.

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...

Wish I could have gotten out this morning.  Nice job on pulling in one big one.  The last several big kings I've hooked have all gotten away.

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

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