2MD

well done!

might run the Saugatuck mud either Saturday or Sunday this weekend - PUG has guarded expectations since the run is probably 90% through but still fun to do - sometimes we get decent size browns and steelies on the plugs into October - if we go I'll let you guys know the outcome... FBD you fishing this weekend?

great night and your photos captured it so well! glad you were able to connect with a few of the graduating Chinook class of 2026

haha yes that one was massive - far inside board north of the north pier - heart break when it broke everything 15min in - seemed like the biggens where stacked around the outside corners of pier tucked in closer to the beach in that 7to10fow - less boat traffic and spoke in there - wish PUG would've figured that out sooner

4for14 on Chinook 8for8 on drum had a couple breakoffs on the bigger fish of the night that entailed losing orange boards and whole 9yds which felt defeating (pug tip of the day: never run 20# mono highlines in fall combat fishing) that 9fow to 16fow was best FBD had em going real good and PUG appreciated the advice as it took Parker a bit to dial em in 20260920_200751.mp4

hadn't been out with PUG for the longest of while and with all the east wind and rain it kinda felt like now or never ended up going 8for11 and the coolest part was we hooked some big ole school fall kings that fought nuts - been less of those around this year but PUG somehow put us on a pod - one Male measured 38 inches and had to have been around 20-21pounds - several higher teen hens - what a blast all our action was in that 10-13fow directory out off Saugatuck channel - PUG just had us making passes - seemed like south troll was a little better - groundspeed 2.7-3.1 did the trick - riggers down 6 with size3 plugs bacl 60-70ft behind ball - 1.5 color with special new blue & green plug my son found from some joint in Maine went a bunch - high lines witj different size5 plugs like green ladder got smoked - dipseys out 20-28 with big ole paddles went 2 or 3 times in less than 12fow believe it or not (these are the bites that came off - lost a mongo hen doing this) this skinny water fishing is so fun - no sheephead either tonight - BONUS 20260919_191201_1.mp4 20260919_191819.mp4 20260919_192247.mp4

nice looking fish! your big king even had color to it yet

PUG realized that cold water was still hugging the bottom in close so he and a couple of my sons and their buddy decided to take Parker out tonight. 9 for 14 all in that 38-45fow. Rigger on bottom with paddle and then jplugs on leads and dispeys was apparently what got it done. Here are some photos they shared. Tall seas. Black kings!

yep... i think they managed 8 or 10 so far there directly off kzoo mouth in that 45-50fow

PUG and the boys are back out there tonight but this time on Parker so we will have to see how they end up. Rough seas and water may have warmed a bit but they did send me this photo a few hours ago which i figured was a good sign

thanks guys - so the other day on the metal boat it was rigger down 38ft with big paddle that went 9 times the boys said before eventually breaking off - dipseys with size3 plugs as well as 5 colors and 7 colors got the other dozen or so bites - sadly pug lost a lot of gear in the chaos including a full 5color and orange board but that is how the fall madness goes

yep 2 man limit they reported having 23 on in that 38-42fow so it was a battle and didn't come easy congrats James & Isaac! IMG_20260909_102920.heic

PUG took my son and his buddy out this morning in the tall seas & slop and boated a couple now they are back out tonight getting into more 42fow directly off Saugatuck 2man limit is coming

congrats man - you guys were dialed in!

congrats you are on a northern roll!

PUG managed 6for10 getting a late start and having to motor out into 6footers - was nuts because the bouy had read 1.3ft just 50min earlier and when we left pierheads they were 6ft but literally no wind blowing. PUG is from the east indies and figured it was tsunami. We figure it was from big cell 200 miles north that had crossed lake mi 2-3hrs earlier. Anyways, all action came in that 110-120fow 6for10 mainly matures and lost even a few heart break ones at back of boat tonight. All bite was 70-90 down spoons. Riggers were best. High diver paddle out 280 all went. Do did other high diver with wonderbread moonshine spoon out 220.

thanks for the info over the radio last night - PUG was looking at getting skunked until you clued us in to that 90-95fow down deep bite

PUG managed 9for14 all in about 95fow 70-90 down fishing north of Holland off Geneva deep diver out 140 meat was good high diver out 260 meat as well riggers and copp300 with moonshine spoons also performed started super slow with no action until 830pm - had a quadruple at sunset and landed em all so that felt good

PUG and the gang set lines in 130fow at around 7pm and trolled out to as deep at 155fow. Picked up a few right out of a gate zig-zagging in the 140s. SW and SE trolling directions were good and the bites weren’t insane but we had 4 or 5 fish by about 8.30PM. We were way south and down closer to Saugatuck and slide into that 130-120fow and zig-zagged there back and forth for the remainder of the night and that went pretty well. Speed seemed super important and we were constantly toying with it using the digital trolldown controls on the F300. In general they just seemed choosey tonight and only wanted to bite if we were 2.8.-3.1 ground speed. Ended up 10 for 16. Every rod on the boat took fish except the starboard rigger for reasons unclear to PUG. Highest hits up were on the copp150s and I bet they went 3 times. Twice they were steelhead. Those were orange and white spoons. Copp200 and Cop250 produced with moonshine spoons. Rigger had a decent one on after dark that came off unfortunately and that was 72 down on moonshine spoon. Copp300 and Copp350 both got smoked running spoons. Meat was quiet and eventually we switched them out for paddles and spinnies and flies and they all went. Big fish came on blue bubble spin doctor high dipsey out 240 (which put it about 60-70 down). Some of the matures we were netting were really darkening and showing signs that they had been up by the river already. Crazy to think that fall is just around the corner. 20260813_190243_1.mp4 20260813_210309_1.mp4

excellent report! I think we were right there by you after 9pm and you're right the SOG that worked best for us was 3.1 so to get em to chow it had to be faster than normal

super late start (set lines at 7.30PM) + super slow start (not even a bite until the sun disappeared fully at around 9pm. Went 9 for 15 in the next 65min, however, so that felt redemptive. our best depth was 122fow but after dusk we were getting them on as close as 102fow PUG is wise beyond his years & recognized the lake had flipped warm again and that is why we went quite a ways north... when we pulled we were even north of Pigeon Lake highest setup to go was 5color chrome red head (big ole steelhead) copp150s went 4 or 5 times with moonshine spoons dipseys were hyper active each were running meat riggers went only once or twice - spoons copp350 went with moonshine spoon 20260807_212713_1.mp4 20260807_211517.mp4 20260807_204352.mp4