2MD

PUG got the Tracker Grizzly 18footer repowered but sadly had never caught any kings with the new motor so we rocketed down to Saugatuck as the sun came up and see if any late runners were still hanging out front.

4 for 4

Three Chinook and One Coho

What a BLAST!

Took us a while to find them and what they wanted and at what speed they would hit out of anger but eventually we got em dialed in.  Nothing directly out front or in the channel.  Sure a ton of em surfacing though – tight lipped they were - was maddening to watch!

Today they were north of the pier quite a ways right on the edge of the clean and dirty water in about 30-35fow.  They wanted it fast trolling north and slow trolling south.  Chrome red head and mongoose and a bright yellow plug were the chosen ones.

what a trip!

great job finding em & thanks for the report 

beautiful night! glad you found some

Water was still freezing cold & lake had flattened so PUG felt inclined to give it a try again.  Set lines at around 6.45AM.  Beautiful morning out there but unfortunately we couldn’t dial them in the same way we had on Sunday morning.

Ended up 2 for 5 on Kings

Also, landed around 8 sheephead with two of them being super large, one measuring 29 inches and the other 32.75 inches

Basically all of our king bites were on chrome read head.  Fish were pressed in super close.  For example the big one we got was in 11fow just a football field north of the north pier on a 1color

Deepest bite was in 22fow

We did run the channel but all that did was produce more sheephead 

Sorry LittleBoat that the kids had the music so loud I couldn’t hear you when we tried to communicate.  Did you end up boating some kings?

Passed by a guy trolling Holland channel on way in and he said he had landed 2 salmon so that is good to hear.

Anyways, if some of you guys go tonight please report so we can try to figure out if the majority of em are already up river or what exactly is going on

also, multiple people informed PUG that his videos from the Monday night trip would not play on iPhones so here they are reattached in a different format

this morning was similar to Monday night... lots of plants and quite a few males

17 for 30

tall seas especially while we were wrapping up and heading back to Holland

all jplug and no flasher today - two dozen of the hits came on chrome red head plugs - they wouldn't touch green which was weird so eventually PUG just ran 5 chrome red heads

water temp in the 50s yet they didn't come easy and PUG had to figure em out

all action in that 14-18fow directly in front of piers or a tad south

PUG is now heading to Saugatuck  -  conditions are now perfect for the Season Opener - will report later today on results...

pug checked Holland Channel late morning today

just did 2 passes

dipsey popped once but we weren't marking squat in channel or Mac so we pulled and will return later

what a trip!

Congrats on the Master Angler award Kevin! 

shoot yes they must have moved - wild

PUG may give going tonight second thoughts now

PUG suspected that with fall in the air we had better check in on the Saugatuck mud this evening now that the gang is back from Isle Royale.  PUG’s intuition served him well…

14for21 all in that 29-36fow with all bites taken in the actual mud itself (not the clean water) and most action being just south of the piers

Large white paddle with green fly on dipsey without a ring out 62 probably got taken 8 times.  JPlugs size 4 and up did the rest of the damage on 1color, 3color, and 5color (they wouldn’t touch the size3 plugs tonight for whatever reason).  Did get one nice Chinook on a moonshine greenjeans hologram spoon in 35 fow with the rigger out 37 literally scraping the bottom.

Several chunky mature Coho, lots of mature kings, one or two immature fish.

The most unique part of this trip was that all of the mature Chinook were male and 7 of them were plants which is something we have not seen in several years…  I guess this explains why none really tipped the charts in weight (apparently the DNR unfortunately uses scrawny nothing kings at the wier to gather spawn from so the DNA on the plants is innately a smaller fish we have seen in the last decade – almost all of the master angler kings we catch and get mounted are naturals).   Regardless, such a great night out on the water though and lots of good action!  Hoping some of the big mama mature hens start making the rounds.  Could be tricky with water temps warming but PUG is determined to find out… 

14for21 tonight just inside of where you fished this AM

FBD did bout the same a little deeper

just getting into Mac and will try to report later

20+ in GH channel my son reports

solid night!

seems like going out of PS was a good choice and that fish must of been setup in there south of GH

PUG had a super slow start and struggled to get em going tonight.  Worked through and around the Saugatuck mud and even out to 60fow.  Ice cold water but very few marks on the graph.  Seemed like we weren’t the only ones scratching our heads, including the guys further out in that 70-120fow from chatter on the radio.  Eventually after the sun went down we got some redemption with our program.  Went 4for6. Boated a smaller king followed by 2 large matures and then a nice chunky coho and also lost 2 other large matures in the nightfall chaos. 

Rigger down 26 in 31fow – moonshine spoon

5color with with moonshine mag spoon – green jeans in 32fow

Dipsey with glow jplug out 60 in 34fow

5color with moonshine mag spoon – green jeans in 37fow

Dipsey with green splatter glow jplug out 69 in 38fow

Rigger down 28 in 33fow – moonshine spoon

Local buddy of mine in closer yet got em real good too on his 14footer.

Also, ZGrinder had handful of fish earlier on and gave us some advice while we were searching and we sure appreciated that (we were fishing too deep apparently but we slid out because we weren't marking jack squat)

Then another guy PUG knows off Holland apparently connected with a couple matures in that 70fow range after sunset deep down right off the bottom.

Heading north to Isle Royale for a week with a bunch of the kids on Friday morning, so PUG is going to have to back off for a while.  Leave a few for him when we get back!

awesome job & thanks for the detailed report 

cool videos too!

after you left and clued us into where you were getting bites we were finally able to dial in a little ourselves so thanks for the help out on the water too

there will be more and more big dogs showing up and staying put- had a handful yesterday - they are starting to stage... lake is abnormally cooler this year and that helps

may go try to find some tonight 

ran out of Holland at 345am down to Saugatuck and setup in close, deciding to gamble there seeing as the lake flipped
first fish was at 450am
ended up 9for14
34-40fow south troll was mainly what worked
wonderbread plug and chrome spindocter green fly and a handful of other plugs and moonshine spoons were what worked
we suspect we would have done better out deeper in hindsight but it was a lot of fun and PUG was quite pleased 
full moon played a factor too on the sunrise bite

what a trip! thanks for the report 

This sort of thing happens more often in Muskegon or Manistee with the arms around the pier.  Not very common for Holland though.  I honestly can sympathize for the guy and kinda picture how he might have made the mistake.  That weather station (that we swear by in the fall) deep inside the Holland channel flickers green and because it is directly across from the lighthouse I suppose it could allow for someone mistaking it as the tip of the north pier?  I don’t know… sad & scary situation and just glad everyone lived.

Sad & scary what we encountered leaving the pier heads this morning:

https://whtc.com/2024/08/15/holland-woman-thrown-into-water-after-boat-crash-with-pier-head/

Thankfully no one drown or was killed in the crash!

Setup in 150fow at around 7am

Got a double in 158fow

Took a 3 more hits in the hours that follow

Ended up 4for5

Super high winds & current and the lake was really really building out of the south and that made it tricky, especially considering the fish we were targeting were down 90-130

A couple larger boats just kept trolling west but Parker stuck around… I wonder how they did? Sure was getting rough out there.

What worked for PUG:

158fow Copp350 with an extra 200ft of mono let out at the end to get it down just a little more – kevins girlfriend SD blue version and blue fly – 18# king aka our biggest fish of morning

158fow Deep dipsey dialed on 1 out 190 on white SD greenfly

162fow Another on same SD

151fow Deep dipsey dialed on 3 out 290 wonder bread jplug (thanks for the color suggestion ZGRINDER!)

125fow White paddle on rigger down 120

Gonna be rough now til at least Monday but the lake should flip over, which makes PUG excited

thanks the super detailed report!

PUG just woke up and is gonna give it a try here in about an hour before the weather goes fowl and will try to update later

if anyone else is out off Holland radio Parker on 68

what a hoot! great job figuring em out - the secret recipe was down deep with plugs apparently... awesome!