2MD

Fishing was been kind of slow off Holland - disappointing based on some of the reports I had read leading into the steelheaders tourney... 5-21 MORNING setup in 50 FOW - hits came in 62 FOW 2 for 3 mono dipsey 90 back dialed on 3 - green jeans moonshine spoon rigger 38 down - happy meal moonshine spoon (this went twice) trolled all over but aside from these hits as the sun rose nothing else went on core or high-lines or you name it 5-22 EVENING (fog advisory was "lifted" at 6pm so headed out - worthless weather reporting that was - fog was awful and made coming in at dusk probably some of the toughest navigation I have had to do yet - locating and getting in the channel as sunset was one thing but navigating Lake Mac back all the way from the west side to the east side with 30 foot visibility was another!) (also very SAD that a teenager drowned out there last night - lots of activity there was with rescue teams and CG Chopper) Anyways found fishing to be similar to that morning Trolled back and forth from 45-70 FOW - ran 10 rods (4 boards, 4 dispeys, 2 riggers) 2 for 4 riggers down 32 and 38 took the fish - happy meal moonshine spoon and flounder pounder moonshine spoon did the trick again 62 FOW was the only spot we took bites - SE troll and NW troll was only angle we took could get bites with - when trolling NW had to troll 3.1MPH to get them to go and took a 14 pound king doing this NOT TOO MANY OTHER BOATS OUT THERE YESTERDAY - WHO ELSE HAS BEEN OFF HOLLAND IN THE LAST FEW DAYS AND WHAT AM I DOING WRONG? ARE THE KINGS MORE STACKED UP 8-20 MILES SOUTH OF HOLLAND (someone said that was true)

Caught 3 or 4 monster kings at the Hamilton Dam yesterday - lost a big one that fought so aggressive it pulled my big lake clamp swivel apart - pretty much all foul hook ups and obviously all released. Great time though and 2 of them shattered the 20# mark. Kings still jumping and gathering in the docks in front of the pipe and Crescent Marina. Bite has slowed though and more and more turning into snag catches. Lots of kings in the black river and nordelos creek. Insane to see them move through. They are so much bigger this year than we have seen recently. Reminds me of 2001... QUESTION: does anyone on this board know of HalfWay Creek south of Holland? It spills into Lake MI just south of the sliders and Laketown Beach. Checked its mouth out last week with the jon boat and the kids. Nothing happening there but just curious for next year if kings actually gather in front of this puppy and blast up it? Makes good sense that they would. Just think an alternative to combat fishing the pier. Would be giving a whole new meaning to high lines since the water is all of 3-8 feet deep there.

that is awesome you caught a 20LB 3 year old - says a lot about how they will be weighing in next year. Do you have a photo of the beast?

we bagged a 21 and a 23 and two 24s the kids and I - the best were the two 24s at the end that came inside of Mac on dipseys when the run was just starting - both jumped like crazy and one even launched a solid 4 feet in the air when just along side the boat it was a good year - biggest kings in 11 years (recall the 2001 hogs that quickly tapered off in 2002) my biggest king to date was a 30.5 master angler hen that somehow we managed in 2003 in shallow off of Saugatuck - thought I could shatter that record this year but it didn't happen - not yet at least 2014 is probably going to be a strong year - we caught a few 3 year olds this fall that were as big as the 4 year olds we were catching in 2004-2012 and they got all winter to chow down on bait

Thanks for the report - yes it is depressing how the year is wrapping up. I have been on a dry-spell here and not gone much in the last week. Kids and I did go Sunday night for about 90 minutes. Netted one big one on an orange board high-line J plug just out in front of big red inside the arms when setting up lines. It was like fighting a small mouth bass - the thing buried the orange board and went all the way under the jon boat with all the current ripping through there - somehow we still got em. Missed another on the rigger outside the channel in 25 foot while passing from the dirty water to clean. Then left the west side and went out to the east side of the lake and setup and trolled the shipping channel and in front of Crescent Marina there (where we have been catching a few kings casting from the shore) and ran 6 orange boards with hotntots and huskie jerks. Didn't get a bump. Did that for only 45 min with the 3 year old on board it wasn't going to last much longer. That is what I know... Someone else finds a pod of em inside of mac that can be trolled over then please let us know!

went back to Crescent today and fished for about a half an hour - no kings there today - did catch a nice largemouth on a hotntot though - need to get out on the jon boat again sometime in the next day or two - am going to troll the east side of Mac with 8 orange boards and a couple riggers running a variety of depths and see if I can find em - no doubt the main thing I am going to find is sheephead and weeds, but worth a try...