jdh

Ended up 5-6.  Mostly hit fish in the 160 fow range.  Water surface temp was pretty much 57-59 everywhere we were.  Two big kings were about 22-23 lbs.  Speed 2.2-2.6 at the ball (60 feet down)

Order of our fish was as follows:

WSW Troll

King - 140 fow - Dreamweaver Froggy 8" Spin Doctor and Dreamweaver UV meat rig - Mag Diver w/ring back 125 on 3

King - 160 fow - Silver Streak Mag Mixed Veggie - Size 1 Diver w/ring back 125 on 2.5

King - 160 fow - Dreamweaver Froggy 8" Spin Doctor and Dreamweaver UV meat rig (snapped us off at the boat) - Mag Diver w/ring back 125 on 3

ENE Troll

Steelhead - 150 fow - Stingray UV Gold Orange Tuxedo - Free Slider - Ball down 45 feet

WSW Troll

Coho - 160 fow - Stingray UV Blue Veggies - 400 Copper

King - 165 fow - Silver Stream Mag Lemonberry - 300 Copper

4-5 so far.  Started in 130 fow trolled west. 

Mag Divers back 125.  Meat and spoons.

Free slider on rigger.

400 copper blue veggie stinger

0 for 0.  Fished from 7 to 8:30.  The waves were too big for me!  1.5-2 foot rollers with 3's mixed in.  Wonder where they were coming from because it wasn't windy.

Went from 60 to 130 fow and then turned around.

I'll be back out in the morning and hopefully the rollers will have settled down.

Take the boat on a sea trial and see what you get.  Figure out what the idle speed is, and then decide how to dial it in.  My guess is the best bet would be one large trolling bag place on the same side as the running outboard could do it.

58 minutes ago, georgeb said:

If you ever want to feel totally alone and small on Lake Michigan, try being 40 miles from any land with a SW wind at 30 to 40 knots and 15' waves while headed to Chicago on a 35' boat.  That can change your outlook on what safe means.

 

I agree completely, respect the lake and expect it to not care about you.

Wow!  How did this end up happening?

Wouldn't have gone out without the stable forecast.  Didn't venture past 70 fow.  That was far enough away.

Been a few times the kicker brought me home.

.

Sold.

Motor fired right up once we got back to the dock.  Might be looking at replacing the power pack, the regulator and stator?  I've just about had it with this motor.  Might need to buy a rebuilt one.

Motor wouldn’t start at the dock so my plans were partially ruined.  So I thought.  Used the kicker to get out to 60 fow.  Fished north and then south between 60 and 70.  Lots of bait.  Lots of marks.  Cold water (55 degrees down 50).

Got a 20 lb king on a spin doctor out 120 on a high diver.

Got a 5 lb lake trout on a meat rig out 95 on a low diver.  Fished for about 2 hours.

That's what i was told too.  Never saw that law come down anywhere?  All meat is ballywho strips now.  Still got herring in the freezer though.

Pretty cold water out there today?  Looks like the lake flipped.

That's the way to do it.  The line counters work by assuming the reel is close to "full".  Copper adds so much bulk to the spool that the counters aren't accurate.

Nice job!  We couldn't find them this morning.  Tried shallow, deep...

Did manage a couple lake trout out past 200 fow.

Think we got hit in all directions except NW.   We started focusing on a 1/2 mile stretch and started weaving in and out.

Ended up the day 7/8.  Picked up a large lake trout on the diver with a meat rig.

Started in 90.  Fished out to 150 and then back into 130.  Started hitting fish in 135-145.  6/7 right now.  5 kings and a nice steelhead.  2.0-2.3 mph.

2-3 Rigger down 49 - RV Flounder Pounder standard size

2-2 300 copper mag silver streak blue dolphin

1-1 rigger down 79 - blue/white spin doctor and meat rig

1-1 mag diver on 2 back 185. Kevin's girlfriend spin doctor and meat rig

Still fishing, but will be wrapping it up soon.  Great morning on the big lake!

For late summer fishing with warmer water, I like the 275/325 idea.

I forgot, that I like to put a bead above the swivel to stop it from getting stuck in the rod end.  Reeling it down isn't likely to work then.  Best to experiment once all the equipment comes in.  Good luck!

Do you have 10 foot roller rods, or a regular rod with twilli tips?  If so, you and a swivel fits, you can reel the swivel back down to the reel every trip, and attach a piece of mono to it so you can re-string  quickly it next time out.

If you have the roller rods it will be difficult to break down the rods without having wire problems.

Fished for several hours this morning in 140-160 fow.  One hit on same rigger 100 down with mixed veggies spoon.  Got off.  Nothing else all morning.

Skunk!

Wear jeans - and a long sleeve if you can tolerate it.  There were lots of flies but didn't get bit much.

Took a short evening trip last night out of Port Sheldon.  Set lines around 7 pm and pulled lines at 9 pm.  Started in 135 fow and worked mostly NNW out to 155 and then SSE back to 135.  5-6 for the night.

Rigger down 100 feet - mixed veggie stingray spoon.  2-3 (two smaller kings)

Diver back 255 feet - kevorkian spin doctor & fly.  1-1 lake trout.

Diver back 185 feet - Chrome/Mtn Dew spin doctor & fly.  1-1 lake trout.

Rigger down 115 feet - MI Stinger Paddle - UV/Chrome&Green & fly.  1-1 lake trout.

Nice laker!  I didn't end up making it out this weekend, but hopefully I'll try tomorrow night.  Has to be one hungry fish out there!

Check the buoy for water temps.  Will have north wind blowing today and tonight and if it switched NE we might get a bit of a flip.  If not, I would set up in 70 fow and work out from there.  Kings are not plentiful right now, but if you run some stuff up high (10-20 feet), some stuff mid range (30-60 feet) and a line or two deep (90 feet or keep within 10 feet of bottom) you have a chance at picking up anything that might be out there (kings, steelhead, lake trout).

Or just give up on kings and run a bunch of stuff near the bottom for trout.

If the lake flips, then who knows what will be where.

-JD

Good advice Jason.

You could also run one downrigger rod with a two color leadcore.  Let the spoon and leadcore out, then put a clean spoon on that line.  I would also try some other types of spoons too (non-glow).  One of my favorite spoons is a magnum blue dolphin (by Silver Streak).  I also really like to use the UV spoons in the Stinger and Stingray size from Michigan Stinger.  I would guess greens and blues would work best. 

What kind of water clarity is there in the reservoir?  If it's not crystal clear, then some plugs might be effective run 50-100 feet behind the ball.

If the fish are very skitish due to a lot of boat traffic, it might be more effective to only run 2 downriggers instead of all four.

How deep do you usually run the downriggers?

I'm guessing most of the time , the fish are pretty deep in the reservoir (50 feet or deeper.  I would run both flasher and fly setups, and also clean spoons/no flasher.

How many lines are you running?  A few downriggers and a few divers?

What types of spoons have you run?