jdh

One small king on a rigger down 53 in 110 fow.  Moonshine green jeans. Very few marks.  In 150 fow now.

Fishing solo.  Lines set in 80 fow.  Moving WNW.  

3 hours ago, VTECHokie said:

Two questions:

1. Regarding Note #3 directing the user to always use Berk. Big Game line diameters.

Question: Is there any reason I can't use the exact line diameter from the manufacturer if they specify capacity in MM line diameter/Meters Capacity?  I would just need to convert millimeters to inches and meters to yards correct?

2. The calculator is designed for Copper/Lead core mainlines.  Can I use the calculator to estimate a reel set up with mono backing, braided mainline, and flourocarbon Leader? Is there something to the calculations/formulas specific to copper/leadcore lines?

Regarding Note #3:  If the fishing reel you have states for example 300 M / 0.45 mm, you can use that info - but convert it to Yards and inches.  So 300m x 1.09 = 336 yards.  0.45 mm / 25.4 = 0.0177 inches.

Regarding using other line types.  It isn't specific to line type.  The red text boxes that say Backing/Core/Leader can be changed to say whatever you want.  Just as long as you type in a diameter and a length in the respective boxes, it should work.

54 minutes ago, 2MD said:

nice work man!

question: so you set lines in 120fow or did you start in closer at first? considering going tomorrow morning and debating if they will be in closer starting out...

We started in 90 fow straight out of port. Trolled SSW into 150.  Then bounced around between the different 160 to 120 and back.  North troll was more productive. 

Most of our fish hit near some decent schools of bait.  Once we trolled off the bait (marks disappeared) the hits stopped.  I was worried about the north wind kicking up so we trolled north and left the fish and didn't get any more hits.  Should have stayed in the productive water.

Two of us on the boat this time so was nice to set 6 lines 

Still fishing, and here's the report so far:

7/10 with 5 kings 2 coho.  Mostly fishing in 120-160 fow.  2-2.5 mph ball speed.

10 lb king.  Downrigger down 60 with flounder pounder.

10 lb king. Slide diver back 145 with white plug.

5 lb king.  Downrigger down 75 with flounder.

3 lb coho.  Slide diver back 145 with white plug.

5 lb coho.  Downrigger free slider, ball down 55, stinger blue dolphin.

2 lb king.  400 copper.  Silver streak green dolphin.

20 lb king.  Mag diver back 185.  Green meat rig.

Three missed were:

Downrigger free slider ball at 55 (coho), blue dolphin.

300 Copper (steelhead), flea-4-all spoon.

Mag Diver back 115 (coho) pro king flasher.

Will pull lines soon.

Posted above.  Got a later start launching at 5:30.  Didn't do great but got a couple, but I fished 6 am to 8 am only and then had to head in for work.

Sorry.  Radio not working.  Went 2-2 right before sunrise.  Both about 5 lbs kings.  In 90 fow.  Nothing after that and I have to head in and go to work.  I'll try again another morning!

Was a beautiful morning on the water.

Thanks for this report.  I got a campsite at the state park and will be launching maybe 4:30 am.  Can only fish until 7:30/8 so crossing my fingers.  Going to be a solo trip so we'll see how I do on the net!

2 hours ago, ceboet said:

That may have been us at the ramp JDH. We were 13 for 18. Set up in 190 on a SW and seemed to get better as we went out. turned at 250 but the bite slowed as well. 400 copper went 6X's +. Rigger at 70 < 90 went 4-5X's and wire divers took a good beating as well. Lot of marks 70-100 down with that being the target zone. All flasher fly's, whites and greens. Mixed bag with one nice 4-year old coho a few Steel Head, 1 and 2 year old Kings, as well as 2 released Lakers.

Sounds like that was you.  Spoke to a three different groups that did well in deeper water.

King was on the 8-inch paddle.  Laker was on spin doctor.

Motored up close to Grand Haven.  Started around 6 pm in 100 fow on a SSW troll.  Trolled out to 150.  Then trolled east back into 120 fow and trolled SSW into 140 fow.

Pulled lines at 9 pm.

Went 5/5 with 4 kings and 1 lake trout.  Only 1 king with good size.  The others were around 3-5 lbs.

Flea-4-all spoon on the 300 copper took thee fish.  Green flasher flies took the bigger kind and the lake trout.

A bit bumpy but overall a nice evening on the lake.

Will try to get out a few more evenings this week.  Some boats at the ramp had done pretty well in coho and steelhead in 200-300 fow.  Heard that 400 coppers we're working well out there.

Launched at 5:30 got to the pier heads and almost turned around.  Waves were much larger than expected given the buoy was report 1.3 footers at the time.  Stuck it out and took us 45 minutes to get to 90 fow.  Fished from 90 out to 150 and then turned back in and tried 90-110 fow.

Went 3/3 all kings.  Two about 3 pounds and one about 20 lbs.

Pulled lines at 9:30 am.

400 copper with double trouble took the big king.

400 copper with green jeans and downriver at 95 with white paddle took the two small fish.

Probably going to try again in the morning.  Hopefully it's not as wavy.

Thanks for these reports.  I've been wanting to go out there for several years and just never make it.  Maybe this year I'll give it a shot!

Good job fishing given the weather.  Check the offshore forecasts, and never trust "light" north/northwest winds.  Those frequently blow harder than predicted.

pretty sure its 5-6 miles.

Fished from 3 until 9.  140-190 fow.  Ended up 8/11.  All fish smaller than 5 lbs.  All kings.  Three fish lost were much bigger and all bit in last 30 minutes in 155-140 fow.  NE troll.  Mostly on spoons.  Blues, greens , glows, orange, gold..  no real pattern on color.  2.3-2.5 fish hawk speed at the ball.

I think the winds dictate where people fish off of Ludington.  Bait can get pushed around.  Most of the time I've fished, I've gone pretty straight out - and I've done very well in the past.  I do know people will run north to the point - but I think that's more in July and August.

Thanks for the replies.  I have all the gear - copper, leadcore, wire dipsy, mono dipsy, etc.  I think I just need some more time on the water to figure things out and get on some patterns.  My goal this weekend is to clean up the boat and get everything organized and labeled.  That should help on the water.

I need to get this figured out!

-JDH

I'm getting frustrated with fishing this year.  Haven't been able to get away from work when the weather is nice.  Been too wavy when I've been free.  Finally got a day I could take off work and hit Ludington this morning.

Fished from 6:30 am til 12 going 3-5.

1 king and 2 drop back rough steelhead in the boat.  Other two bites were kings.  Bite from 80 to 220 fow. No pattern, other than 3 bites on blue dolphin.

Still trying to figure out how my boat fishes.  But I feel I can't catch fish anymore.   Other boat were reporting 5-10 kings in the box.

Need to learn to adapt to what's working I guess.

I shouldn't complain, but I'm cranky and running on little sleep!

Al that said, it was an awesome day on the water with my dad this morning even if the fishing wasn't great for us.

You've been fishing a lot.  Love the reports.  Wish I had a few reports to contribute but I've been too busy this spring or it's been bad weather.

Fished 6:30 to 9:30 am.  Worked WNW from 120 fow out to 180 fow and then back in on a ESE into 85 fow.

1-4.  Picked up a 7 lb laker.  Other three hits were likely salmon.  One was really big and straightened out 2 points of a treble hook.

160 fow (WNW troll) - Mag Diver on 2 with 8" MI Stinger Green Jeans Flasher and riverside fly back 189.  0-1 (big king)

165 fow (ESE troll) - Mag Diver on 1.5 with Hammer Time 10" Spin Doctor 1-1 (laker)

145 fow (ESE troll) - Downrigger 89 ft down - 8" Pro King Mt Dew Scum Line Flasher with Frosted Phil fly (chartreuce & flashabou).  0-1 (coho?, smaller  king?)

120 fow (ESE troll) - Downrigger 89 ft down - 8" Pro King Mt Dew Scum Line Flasher with Frosted Phil fly (chartreuce & flashabou).  0-1 (big release, no one home)

Waves were pretty tight coming out of the ESE leading to limited acceptable trolling directions for us.

Didn't mark many fish in the cold water (55 degrees or colder) where we had most our lines.  Lots of marks in the 70-60 degree water.

Not to die in the heat at the river mouth!

Need a cold rain to help them out, and get them upstream.

Bite's tough out there for some reason.   Thanks for the report!

There has to be some other species down there other than kings.  But I would think if they were sheephead we would catch some.  We took two silver fish hits last night, both hits came at 3 and 3.3 mph.  We tried fast and slow and in-between.

The king we did bring in had 10 alewives her her stomach.

-JDH