Whatahoot

I'm with you FBD!  It can really be tough, especially from pictures.
I'll stick with being jealous and live vicariously until I can get out there myself!

Thanks Ed!

Rick

Awesome, thanks for the report! 

I have also heard of guys doing very well with the Steelhead run up the rivers the last month.

Yes, MC's has some basic stuff.    The Holland store has quite a large selection of Stingers, Silver Streaks and Moonshine spoons and plug selection.

Also have ice fishing gear and a couple of Daiwa 47 reels left.

White Lake Canvas has made several awesome covers for me.  Highly recommend them.

In Holland, Nautical Needle is good and as mentioned Canvas Innovations does good work also.

I suggest talking to a couple of them, they will look at your boat and give you and estimate and design input before starting.  From there you will be able to decide who you think will work well with you.

What-a-Hoot

Sorry, I may have been the last to know it... but I stopped at MC's in Holland today and picked up a few spoons.

All Fishing stuff is 15% off.  Some other stuff as much as 30%.

Not a great deal, but I would expect the sale will get better the closer to closing sometime in April.

Rick

Not sure where you live, but I buy ours from either West Marine (Holland or Grand Haven) or Cabela's (G.R.).  Any major sporting goods store should have something relatively current.

We keep our out dated flares as spares.  You can keep expired ones (you just have to have something current, type dependant on type/size of craft) and in an extreme event, you can't have too many?!

We also have contacted the Coast Guard and let them know when we are shooting them off for practice.  They appreciate it so they can ignore the radio and phone calls...

Think about it, how many of us have actually fired off our flares, especially the pistol type.  Probably not a good thing to experience it for the first time when the stuff is hitting the fan!

What-a-Hoot

Agree!  (The Frankfort Chamber is going to love you!)

It's been our home away from home in Holland for the last 25 years.  We were up there 13 times last year and have plans to retire there.

Having said all of that, the sleepy little downtown of Frankfort struggled for years but has been a lot busier the last couple of years (since Stormcloud Brewery come into town?), more business is a good thing!

For us it's the same as someone else commented about their Spinnies, we leave our flies hanging somewhere to dry out before putting them away.  We have space on our center console helm.... Somewhere where we don't lean into or bump into the hooks 

Thanks Ed, I think we're all going a little stir crazy about now!

Frank, Glad to hear you are well on the way back to recovery!

I am sure you are almost as anxious as we are to see you back to full speed!

Rick

What I meant by increasing the Alewife population, is about raising them and planting them from out hatcheries.  I just don't recall hearing or reading about it in the Great Lakes.  I'm a hobby fisherman and not a expert, but it seems raising bait fish would be more effective and economical?

Here is an example from a Maryland Hatchery, note the ratio of predators to bait fish...

Hatcheries Division 2015 Stocking Summary: 
•American Shad – 1,439,000
•Hickory Shad – 1,477,500
•Alewife Herring – 802,600
•Blueback Herring – 328,000
•Largemouth Bass – 33,242
•Walleye – 604,000
•Bluegill – 87,464
•Redear Sunfish – 20,000
•Hybrid Sunfish – 3,318
•Golden Shiner – 135,000
•Yellow Perch – 56,000
•Tiger Muskellunge – 4,000 
•Trout – 470,030*

*fall 2014 & spring 2015 stockings 
 

Awesome news, I like the proposal direction!  Thanks for your efforts and update.  

Maybe I missed it but I haven't heard anyone talking about increasing the Alewife population?

Looking forward to hearing how the conference call goes today!

Nice catch guys!  How do you like to prepare your gills?

For those hand sized gills I will filet them or take the heads off, gut them and scale them.  Salt and pepper (maybe a little Old Bay) and fry them up in a cast iron skillet on the grill until the tails are crispy (keeps the smell and mess out of our kitchen).

Now I'm hungry, What time is the fish fry?

Thanks Ed, looks like we need a few solid days for the water to set up.

Any action on the Piers in either Manistee or Ludington?

I'm heading up to the Platte River this Friday without a boat, thinking of taking a casting rod and trying the piers on my way back.

I'll call the bait shops this week but I appreciate any updates!!

Thanks!

Rick

Kudos for going out and gutting it out!  Smart to go in when you did. 

We had two Sheep last Friday in 70 fow off of Holland, I don't recall catching this many this far away from the piers?!

Good job!

We fished Holland from 9a to 2p and saw all of the marks  in 40-50 fow but couldn't get a hit.  The water was turning over all day.  Strange currents and temps at 50 fow kept changing from 48 to 52 to 55 to 58 in short distances.   Went west to 100 fow and marked nothing.  Went back to 60 fow and hit a nice steelhead on 225 cu and blue dolphin reg. spoon.  Only to come up 2 ft short of our net when it did a 5th Spin-o-Rama and spit the spoon at the net.  Got a great look at what looked to be 8 lbs.  pretty fish!  We ended up 2 for 3 with 2 Sheephead in 50 fow on our way into the pier heads.  One was huge, easily over 10 lbs.. Lot's of grass in the Holland Channel made it rough.  Long day for a white striped cat.  But a Friday on the water ain't all bad!

Thanks for the report, glad you salvaged the trip!


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Thanks Ed!  Good to let the little guy grow a little more.  I haven't been able to get out this week and with no other reports I was getting concerned   At least you were able to get out.   A lot of East wind predicted it will be interesting this next few days. We hope to get out tomorrow evening if the rain holds off long enough.

Thanks for the feedback.  I agree with others that keeping a log can be a drag (pun intended).  I haven't kept a log all these years because I tend to remember what works in certain conditions and stick with what works for me.   Salmon fishing on the big lake with 6, 9 or 12 lines (vs. solo fishing with single rods or less than 4 rods) at once presents a unique opportunity to keep it all straight while we are trolling.  Especially as I learn more and pay more attention to what is in our pattern at any given time.  I will start trying different methods and see where it all goes!

For recording what worked, I will start taking more pics of the fish with the lure in it's mouth before cleaning up.  I also like the pics Dirty Dog regularly posts with lures on a piece of paper with rod/depth etc written next to it, including "hot" for the those that deserve it.  I like it.

Absolutely! Nice fish on a quick morning trip!


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Thanks, I also thought of a whiteboard, we could take a phone pic at the end of the trip.  Looking for ideas and as Lured Inn said, "sounds like fun" is what I fear will happen in reality.  That's why I'm looking for creative Ideas that may just work :-)

I am thinking of starting a fishing log (for the first time in over 50 yrs of fishing!).  I got motivated after this weekend when we broke off a fish (broken snubber) and my buddy asked what tackle we lost.  I looked at him with a blank stare because I couldn't remember what we had out on that rod... LOL!  I think they call this disease CRS?!.  Not to mention trying to keep all of the fishing report details straight by the end of a trip. 

I know some guys keep a log so I am wondering how you keep track of not just what fish you caught (fishing report details) but how do you keep track of what stuff you have out on your lines and adjust for what's hot during the run.  Keeping track of 6, 9, 12 rods is getting difficult.  We do change baits occasionally during a trip so "scripting" our setup to start won't work (like the first 10 football plays).

I came up with an idea for a log book format that I would keep on the boat (clipboard or a binder) and scribble down notes and details as time permits (hopefully too many fish to take time out!).  It would look something like this in the pics attached.

Curious what works for you guys!

Thanks!

Sorry, posted as 9/4 but actual was 9/5... I guess it WAS a long weekend!

Fished 7:15 - 11:00 am north of Holland on a SE Troll in 80-100 fow to Saugatuck and turned around back to Holland.

2 strikes and misses @ 8am in 85 fow, 1 on DR 40 ft down on Glow Grn Frog spoon, 1 on Dipsy on 1 setting back 60 back. Broke off when the ring ripped out of the snubber (2 yr old twisted rubber type), damn!

9:30a trying to reset a rigger for lakers when a cloud came over us in 80 fow SE troll, 2.4 mph at the ball. Bang, Landed 12 lb Laker on 250 cu on Grn/yell Big Weenie meat rig and a 7 lb Coho on same 250 cu rig. All in about 15 minutes. Put the rigger back down and never had another hit.

Saved what looked link a skunk.

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