combat pay

I did not have any meat in the water.  

The weeds at the launch...in a word horrible.  

Dave 

lines in a 1730 and went 2 for 4 fished between 110 and 150 FOW  all fish came just south of the port in 120-130 FOW.

Marked a ton of fish but couldn't get them going.  

1- quick rip on a 400cu with std Moonshine rv Mongolian beef no one home

2-low wire diver back 170 with std moonshine rv mongolian beef-20 lbs king

3-low wire diver back 170 with std moonshine rv mongolian beef-12lbs king

4- rigger down 60 with rv mag moonshine rv mongolian beef. got into the wire diver and gone.  

Went 6-8. Productive water was 265-185 with the SE troll being the only angle we got hit.

5 kings and one steelie with the three of the kings being on the small side.

1- king 250 CU Stinger STD bloody nose spoon

2- Steelie 200 CU Stinger STD UV Green Gator

3- king 250 CU Stinger STD bloody nose spoon

4- miss rigger down 45 DW 11" with Big Weeinie Frosted Phil fly

5- king rigger down 45 DW 11" with Big Weeinie Frosted Phil fly

6- king dipsy set 3 back 125 NK-28 Wahoo

7- miss dipsy set 3 back 120 Moonshine MAG Flounder Pounder

8- king dipsy set 3 back 125 NK-28 Wahoo

Good luck out there

Dave

the lighthouse is the stick

We went 5-7 on the 22nd and 6-7 on 23rd. Fished north of the Stick about a mile or more both nights. Fish moved in shallow last two days. Deepest we caught a fish both days was 118 FOW. Majority of the fish were in 75-95 FOW.

On the 22nd:

1- King rigger down 55 DW 11" pearl slick tape Big Weenie Frosted Phil fly

2- King 300 CU Moonshine MAG RV dancing anchovy

3- miss 300 CU Stinger MAG NBK

4- miss rigger down 45 Moonshine MAG flounder pounder

5- Laker Dispy set 3 back 120 DW 8" SD KRW Aqua glow gold fly

6- King Dispy set 3 back 120 DW 8" SD KRW Aqua glow gold fly

7- king Dipsy set 3 back 150 Moonshine MAG Mongolian beef

On 23rd

1-king rigger down 50 DW 11" pearl slick tape Big Weenie Frosted Phil fly

2-Laker rigger down 50 DW 11" pearl slick tape Big Weenie Frosted Phil fly

3-King Rigger down 40 Northern King 28 Wahoo

4-King 300 CU Stinger MAG NBK

5-miss rigger down 40 Moonshine MAG Flounder pounder

6-King rigger down 40 Moonshine MAG Flounder pounder

7-King rigger down 50 DW 11" pearl slick tape Big Weenie Frosted Phil fly

Done in Ludington for this week...good luck out there

Dave

Fished north of the stick again went 5 of 8. Worked 130 out to 200 and picked up a couple. Came into 100-120 and got a flurry of hits at sunset.

1-king 300 CU Michigan Stinger MAG NBK

2-miss 300 CU Moonshine MAG Flounder Pounder

3- miss dispy set 2 back 200 8" DW SD White w/firecracker tape and pickled sunshine

4- laker rigger 80 down Michigan Stinger MAG NBK

5- miss dipsy set 2 back 200 DW 11" Spinnie with KRW Riverside

6- Laker Rigger down 55 DW 11" Spinnie with KRW Riverside

7- King Rigger down 45 DW 11" Spinnie with KRW Riverside

8- King full core with Moonshine MAG dancing Anchovy

Good Luck out there

Dave

Fished north of the Stick going 4 of 5. Got fish from 150-180 FOW. Got a late start and didn't have lines down until about 1930.

1- throwback laker, mag diver back 200 with a 8" SD white glow/pearl slick KRW Aqua glow gold.

2-missed rip on same thing as above

3- king rigger down 80 gold/black/wht glow ladder back Proking Std.

4- king 300 cu Moonshine mag founder pounder

5- king mag diver back 185, 10" SD blue bubble with Big Weenie blue bubble meat rig.

3 of our 5 hits happened within about 35 minutes starting when the sun touched the lake.

Another boat fishing up there with us got 11 but he got out there about 1500.

Fish are out there if you are willing

Good luck out there.

Dave

was trying to set new post ignore this..

Sorry

Went 2 for 2.

Dreamweaver 11" black paddle w/slick glow tape Big Weenie UV black death meat rig rigger down 40 in 90 FOW.

Dreamweaver 8" SD white glow/slick glow tape KRW Aqua Glow Gold fly on Dipsy set 2 back 130 in 120 FOW.

Over all very slow, marked a ton of fish in 145-155 FOW but couldn't get anything going with those fish.

Great night on the water

Good luck out there

Dave

First thing in the morning a Dreamweaver 11" paddle glow with white crush glow tape or the Dreamweaver 11" with the UV pearl slick tape.

After the sun is up a Dreamweaver 11" blue bubble or mountain dew. If the 11" is too much for them I just switch out to the 8" spin doctors in the same colors.

good luck out there

Dave

During the summer, day in and day out a 300 copper has been the best length I got. I have two of them, one for each side of the boat.

Last few years, most days once the morning bite starts to slow one 300 gets a Mag stinger, usually a NBK, and the other side gets a plug. That program as really put a lot of fish in the box for me.

So a 300 for sure.

Good luck

Dave

We have fished late in the season with great success. We have fished as late as December when we can get out. The steelies are all over the piers once the water cools off. We have had days where we have gotten our three man limit out of Grand Haven in about a hour and never fished over 30 FOW.

The immature kings are still out there too, they have the feed bag on late in the fall and you will have the lake all to your self. We tend to do well on the immature kings further off shore. 225+ FOW is the norm out of Port Sheldon. The fish also tend to be in the upper levels of the water column which makes it a lot easier fishing.

For us the late season is almost exclusively a spoon program and usually smaller spoons like the standard stingers and DW Superslims. You just have to dial in the colors, though the hot ones for us have been the dolphins in blue, green and caramel. Yellows and oranges will often figure in heavily depending on the light conditions.

The real challenge is the weather. Due to the waves your fishing windows will usually only last a few days and you got to be able to get out on a moments notice. Many days I have no plans to fish then check the webcams and buoys and go fishing two hours later.

Probably my best trip ever was a few days after the deer opener, 5 of took off out of Port Sheldon after seeing the lake was going to cooperate. We went 32 for who knows how many keeping a mixed bag of 30 in about a 5 hour trip. We were catching fish pulling lines. I have never had that kind of action any other time of the year and it happens to us all the time in the late fall.

If you put the boat away after the river run you are missing some great action. Break out the Carrharts and get some!!!

Went 10-14 with two of us in the boat. 175-210 FOW and West troll was it. Only one fish on any other direction. 2.6-3.0 at the ball was also key. Any slower and we were washing lures.

Rigger down 80 with a Dreamweaver SS Hello Darlin was good for five.

Wire dipsy set one back 200, with a Dreamweaver 11" UV slick with a KRW Riverside was good for one and a miss.

300 cu with a purple and gold tomic one and a miss

300 cu with a silver j plug good for one.

Rigger down 75 with a 11" dreamweaver green glow and KRW Riverside for one.

10 color lead with a R&R smash mouth was a hit and miss.

300 cu with a moonshine raspberry carbon hit and a miss

300 cu with a Stinger standard UV blue dolphin took one.

Good luck out there

Dave

Fished just north of the stick in 115-145 FOW and went 11 for 16 or so; all kings. Got kinda busy so lost count on how many we wiffed on. Only three mature salmon in the bag that were in the 14-15 lbs range, the rest were nice eaters in the 6-10 range.

Hot setups were the wire dipsys. One had a 11 dreamweaver crushed glow 11" paddle with a KRW riverside fly, set 2 back 120. It was good for 3 and a few misses. The other wire dipsy had a Moonshine standard founder pounder, set 2 back 100 was also good for 3 or 4 and a sreamer we never got in. The other set up of note was a rigger down 40 with a silver horde 4" plug. Don't know the name but it is a mother of pearl with black dots. It was good for 2 or 3 and a miss or two. The rest were a mish mash of presentations.

We had a lot of short hitters last night that would whack the lure and never even hook up and were gone. Not used to that but oh well!!

Short cores were dead and a hit and a miss on a 300 CU with a mag stinger NBK.

Great night on the water overall.

Good luck out there

Dave

Went 12-16. We were catching fish pulling lines, with only two of us on the boat two nice kings got a free pass tonight.

5 of the 12 were in the 16+ lbs range and the rest were 6-10 lbs. We kept, 2 coho, 2 steelies and 6 kings.

Fish for us were in 130-150 FOW with all but two fish coming on a east troll, speed at the ball was above 2.6 to catch fish.

The hot set ups for the night were a full core with a standard Stinger UV blue dolphin. It was good for six of our hits and 4 fish. The other was a Dreamweaver UV slick 11" paddle followed by a KRW riverside fly. Had that set up on a wire dipsy set 2 back 120 and on a rigger down 60-75. That was good for five Kings and all of the big ones.

The other set ups that got hit were a 5 color with a Standard Stinger orange alfonse and a 3" j-plug green w/black on a rigger down 35.

Great night on the water.

Good luck out there

Dave

95-125 FOW was the depth for us. We ran till I found water on the down temp that was above 41-42 deg. We found 44 down 35 in 95. However, I noticed on the way in and we were pulling lines that the SW wind had pushed the temp in toward shore. We pulled lines in 80 FOW and had the right down temp.

We have consistently found fish the last couple weeks by looking for that slightly warmer water of 44-45deg compared to the surronding 40-41 deg.

Good luck on sunday.

Dave

went 7-10. Fog made for and interesting navigational experience. Boy do I love my Garmin GPSmap.

3-4 on a 11" Dreamweaver UV Slick Paddle with a KRW riverside rigger down 35

1-2 on a Stinger UV NBK rigger down 30

1-2 on 7 color with a Dreamweaver SS candy apple

1-1 on 3 Color Stinger standard NBK

1-1 on a full core with a Proking Black and gold with a glow ladder back.

6 Kings and one steelie. No real hogs today but a nice group of varying sized fish. Nice to see the 2-3 year olds showing up in my catch. Last few trips has been almost all 4 year olds; I was starting to worry about where the younger fish were until today.

Good Luck out there

Dave

I love all the other torpedo diver items I have bought with one exception; the probe wire. It would work then not work etc etc. The core copper, no matter how I protected it broke on almost every trip. I never got two full trips out of a splice. Plus, unless you are a really careful the outer sheath comes apart and is a real pain.

I think people saying it is a little harder to attach to the clincher are putting it a little mild. I found it to be a real pain to attach. I noticed no real difference in signal when it worked and no noticeable difference in blow back.

I personally wouldn't touch it...the extra cost versus coated cable vs pain in the A** factor didn't pan out for me.

Just wait till you are in the middle of the lake on a hot bite and cant get your down speed right or keep your baits in the right water because your cable crapped out. Or better yet craps out right out of the chute and you fish without a probe for the day and you are in deep monetarily on torpedo wire. My wife thought my head was gonna explode and I filled the swear jar to the brim in about 45 seconds flat. The third time that happened I was done.

I will give Matt credit he made it right when I wasn't happy.

Dave

go shallow with cold water close in and it generally pays off. The salmon like about 48 degree water. If you got that on the beach they often follow the bait right up onto the beach. Mid day or high sun they will shy away and go a little deeper, but usually not to far from the bait.

I have been hearing reports of limits in 50-80 FOW last week or so. I plan on being out tonight and if the cold water holds I will be inside in 60 FOW or less taking a look. If I don't find them there then I will go west until I start marking fish.