Lion Den

Fishing has been VERY solid out of Muskegon and Grand Haven with a mixed bag of very small kings, good kings, big lake trout, and a ton of steelhead to be caught. Best fishing has been 120-160 for kings and a few steelhead. Inside water was warming up on Sunday. Larger kings deeper than 100ft and good numbers of kings 50 ft and up. Green Pro Chips/w Green No-seeums on long coppers, Blue Pro Chips/Purple No-seeums on long coppers and wire divers back 275ft. Oceana and White Pearl 11" Hot chips on the riggers 120 and down. Spoons on the top 50ft in Stinger Corey's Bait, Green Wiggle, Blue Freakin Veggie, Coyote, Steelie Stomper, and gold double orange crush regular size stingers took many average sized kings and an assortment of steelhead. Coyote regular Stinger on the 200 copper and Slide diver back 80ft with 50ft lead was rocken 3 days straight. Lots of cold water out there. Look for the temp breaks and slicks in the 220-300 fow for surface steelhead. Have fun. Had a great time fishing with the Coslows on KC-1 this past weekend and a couple days of prefish for the GH Offshore.

I know someone that got in a little trouble for fishing that reef. He had no fish, but they tracked him on radar and caught up with him when he returned. Don't know the penalty.

Around West MI most people use copper or lead for long trolling presentations, and wire only on the diver setups. In other parts of the lake some people use wire along with 1# balls, then a leader simular to the way we run copper or lead. (Thumper rod). As for letting out the copper, use the clicker as previously mentioned, but also make sure the tension nut on the reel is set properly and that will help eliminate backlash tremendously. Also, overfilling reels can cause trouble.

Excellent choice Mike, but remove or change the split ring on the nose. You'll be sorry if you don't buy another one or 6.

If you are referring to the 10 footer, it is a friends, but I believe that he still has it. dan

The lite bites are worth having in the boat. I used them quite a bit this summer. They take a bit to get adjusted correctly, but they really grew on me this fall. They were great in the channel in August.

For the few of you that still have boats out, I will leave a short report from my mini trip Sat pm. I didn't really feel like going off shore, or venturing too far away, so I worked just south of Muskegon a bit with my kids. We didn't tear em up, but ended up getting 3 coho, all in 47ish fow. One was almost 10 pounds (beautiful chrome too), the other two a little smaller. We started just south Bronson Park Muskegon and trolled to the shallow net north of Mona, then back almost to Bronson. Surface temp was 51ish in that area and 40ft down was 41ish in 60fow. 40ft down in 47fow was about 44. Two fish came on Lite Bites back 48ft on 4 with no ring. I had a Blue Cory's Stingray 150ft behind the diver. The other fish came on the rigger down 44 in 48fow with Blue Chrome Pro Troll and Blue Bubble Rapture. If I weren't soo lazy I should have put another slide diver out. Mostly I ran 3,4,5 color cores, and 50ft copper with spoons and small plugs and let em ride. No hits on those. All of our hits came north 3mph troll. There were some fish tucked tight to the bottom, and up very high, not much between. There was a fair amount of bait in spots. The coho had a mixture of very small to med sized alewives ingested. My son had his first dock to dock driving experience. Good time of year for training. I saw some boats off shore, but I didn't turn the radio on, so don't know if they got them or not, and we came in well before dark, so they weren't coming in yet.

Both of those questions are variables. Personally I depend greatly on my probe in the channel. Depends whether you are going with/against the current. Depends on river flow, and fish mood. As a rule I will troll 2.4-2.6 down speed. As for the lead, that varies too. If traffic is tight and turns are needed, so are short leads. If I can get away with it, it is sometimes very effective to lengthen the leads out. I have been VERY pleased with the SUPER GLOW Stinger balls fishing the deep water and mud this season. Remember that the plugs will dive some as you troll, so allow for that.

I left for work this am and forgot to post my report from last evening. Fishing out of Muskegon Monday pm was great. Well worth fishing the light rain. We trolled once through the channel with many fish, but no hits. Cleared the piers and limited in short order. Riggers 18-25 down and slide divers on 3 back 50 (no ring)was what worked for us. Green Glow Pro Troll w/ Green Dude on the high rigger took regular hits. Double Glow/Pink Dot Ace High Silver Horde on the deep rigger, and pearl 4" Silver Horde on the slide divers did the rest. The troll had to be directly against or with the current. All fish bit as we pulled away from bait pods. All but one fish were mature males.

Fishing remains pretty strong out of Muskegon, but COMPLETELY different from last week when the cold water overtook the channel. There was warm water all the way to 120 fow. There are some fish in the warmer inside water, but the more catchable fish are in the 50ish degree water 110-140. Best fishing was 85-135 down in that water. The currents caused by the flip flopping water are difficult. The cooler water was moving east as we fished Wed night. Best presentations are flies right now. Oceana Rapture fly with 11" double pearl Hot Chip continues to be the best by far. The new Silver Hypnotist by Rapture with UV 8" Pro Chip was second and Blue Bubble w/ blue 8" Pro Chip, Green/glow 8" Pro Chip w/ Hypnotist Rapture flies were also very solid. For spoons Blue Machine Stingray, and Wiggle Stingray on the long cores were good. Double Glow Silver Horde Ace Highs on the 300' and 450' Coppers took fish too as the plug bite remains good. Riggers 81-135 down and wire divers 160-200 back were best.

Fishing has been extremely good out of Muskegon the end of this week and weekend. Thursday night 60-70fow was best, a little deeper out and down on Friday and Sat, then back in 50-70 for the end of the weekend as some cold water slid back in. The fly and plug bite has been excellent this week. Silver Horder double glow Ace highs and Snake Skin Ace Highs have been extremely good on the 7-15 lead and coppers in the same zone. Divers 100'-200' and riggers 25-65 have been excellent. White/Pearl fishscale Hot Chip along with Oceana Rapture flies have still been the top producer day in and day out. The Oceana Fly has been hard to beat attached to any blade this Month. Hypnotist fly w/ 8" Green/Glow Pro Chips, Green No-See Um with same pro Chip, and Bull Frog Stinger Pro-Chip and NBK Pro Chips with previously mentioned flies have been excellent this weekend. Limits are coming fast and furious, now is the time to hit it hard.

As I expected the fishing got very good today. I fished just prior to the storm coming through. A friend called and warned me of the storm about an hour and half after setting lines. We pulled rods well before visible lightening since we had just got our 6th anyway, but still had some shocks as we put rods up in the rack. Anyway GREAT fishing 120-150. Fish have slid a little out and down since the weekend, and they have gone to a total fly bite. 11" White Pearl Hot chip with Oceana fly, Blue 11" Hot chip w/glow / Blue Bubble fly, Blue No-See-Um/ with 8" UV Blue Prochip on riggers 109-137 down, and 450 copper. We marked some fish a little higher, but no takers. The water has set up, get out there. 46 degrees down 120' in 140'. Very nice fish 1 18 1/2 on my scale, one 9 and the rest in the 15 range. Dan

Congratulations to Jennie Wright, Carrie Hamilton, Joanne Osmer, and Amy ??? for their second place finish on Friday on Run N Gun Charters.

Fishing has been pretty descent out of Muskegon, and is and should be getting better each day this week. Best fishing is 80-105fow, 60-90ft down. Divers back 150-200ft on 3, 200ft, 300ft copper and 13-15 lead colors and riggers 60-90 down have been the best. Green is by far the best thing going. Wiggle(best), Green Edge, Green Dolphin, Blue Dolphin and Blue Machine Stinger Stingrays have been the best producers in spoons. Glow Frog Pro Troll with Hypnotist fly, White Hot Chip Pro Troll with Bloody Nose Fly, White Hot Chip w/ Oceania on the deep rigger, Wild Fern w/ Green Pro Troll Pro chip have been very good producers on the flies. Congratulations to Run n Gun's Women's team on 2nd place finish on Friday. Princess Belle edged them out at the end for the win by a couple pounds. No weekend tournament due to weather. Dan

Check out www.seastriker.com Both the Billfisher and the Krok Swivels are very high quality. The Kroks are top of the line. The kroks have duel rotation. Billfisher are very high quality ss and less money than the Kroks. These are comparable to Spros. Dan

The flashers being sold by Stinger are being produced in cooperation with Proll Troll. The patterens are all created on Pro Troll Hot Chip/ or Pro Chip blades, and Stinger is supplying the paint and/or tape. The speeds listed above are all within range. I have caught fish on these from super slow lake trout speeds up to 3plus. I haven't had a chance to work with all patterns as my fishing has been a little limited so far, however the NBK and blue killer has been VERY good in the testing that I have done. Combine either one with Rapture's Hypnotist, or Last Supper and you will be good to go. I have been running these VERY deep much of the time. I have taken both lake trout and kings on these setups. The new UV blades from Pro Troll were taking fish for me earlier with Blue No See ums, but I have not been out in a couple weeks.

Everyone wants to blame the oil companies but their return is about 4 percent of the cost at the pump. On the other hand the state and federal government makes 15 percent of the cost at the pump and they don't raise a finger to drill, transport etc. They want to pound on the oil companies, but in reality they are making record profits too without doing anything except watching oil price rise. As for strong arming the other countries for more oil, we should be drilling for the oil that we already own. Even the willingness to do that would bring the foriegn barrel price down, which by the way President Bush nor the Oil Companies determine. Speculators purchasing futures determine the barrel price. OPEC and much of the mid east has realized they can impact oil price by simply making a comment or threat. When Pres Clinton vetoed drilling domestically 15 years ago oil was $19 barrel. If the government and the rest of the eco fanatics that the government fears would have allowed drilling then, we wouldn't be in this situation now. Polititions on both sides of the isle are to blame for not addressing this before, not just the oil companies. The Democrats for being part of that group and the Republicans for their lack of a back bone. The oil companies are at the mercy of the government. Every country in the world can drill when and where they want except the US. The government tells the companies where they can drill, how much they can mine, and how much they can refine. These are the same folks in that had the bright idea of ethonal that drove up the price of the food we eat. (once again listening to the eco fanatics) China tried this before us and now they can't get rice. Didn't we try gasahol in the 80's? That worked out well.

We fished the Grand Haven Offshore this weekend. My fishing report will sound general, but the pattern is pretty broad. Wed-Sun we spent time from south of the number change near port Sheldon to the 12's in Muskegon. We fished the number change Sat am to start and spent the rest of the time on the 7's and 8's. The best water was 135-180 by Sat-Sun. It was outside that earlier. We caught fish from the surface to 50 ft, then from 120 to 240 down. Colors were all over too. We took fish on Steelie Stomper, Caramel Dolphin(best) , Double Blue Edge Kevorkian, Orange Crack, Jawbreaker, Tangerine on the top 50ft. All in Stinger Regular size spoons. On the deeper stuff we caught fish on the New Green Wiggle Stingray Stinger, Blue Machine (best bait), Blue machine yellow nose, Green Clown, Can't afford it, Green Dolphin, Killer Dolphin, Black Rasberry, Blue Dolphin, and probably couple more. See what I mean? All of those spoons were Stingrays or Mag Stingers. We ran about 80 percent copper and leadcore. We took a few on flies, but spoons were best for us. Rapture Bloody Nose w/ 11" White Glow Pro Chip on the deep rigger, and Oceana with Mt Dew Pro Chip on the same rigger did well at times.Generally speeking the larger fish were deeper and the smaller fish and steelhead were high. The fish size is VERY segregated right now. The smalls are together and the bigger fish (relatively speaking) are together. Find a pod and stay close to it. Get in the fish and you can get them quick. Get off of them, and you will have a tough time.We didn't run any divers Sat-Sun. Daniel

Fishing has picked up significantly in the last week out of Muskegon. I finally got out on the big lake this sat for a mini shake down Sat am since I had a repreave from kid's soccer and didn't have to leave for inlaws till late am. There seem to be fish anywhere from 90-300+, and from 25 to bottom. The deepest of both of those numbers is probably the best. There seems to be no real pattern on spoons as fish are hitting a wide array of Stingray patterns. Jawbreaker was the best for us Sat am but the new NBK Stinger Pro Troll and Blue Killer Pro Troll with Hypnotist and Last Supper Rapture Flies both did very well in the short period of time on the water on the deepest riggers 120' to 140' down.

I can't honesty remember if I sold this one or not. What length do you want?

Hypnotist LG

I haven't seen the rods that you are talking about. That said, I have added roller tips to lead core rods on my boat. I do like it, but it is not neccesary. It is a little smoother on the retrieve. I suppose in theory the wear would be reduced, but I can't say that has ever been an issue. I like ugly stick rods though and $30 with roller tips sounds pretty good depending on the action. The roller tips alone are $10 at the low end. I will add this about copper. I know a lot of guys fishing copper on non-roller rods. I still prefer roller rods. I do think that copper wears. I have seen copper flecks on the rod when it rubs against stainless. Daniel

We pulled the boat Sat afternoon, but I couldn't do it without setting some rods for a bit. We fished from about noon to 2 or so. For those of you that still have a boat out, and have shot your game, the fish are still biting. I considered fishing the shore, but ended up going out to 90ft+ as I didn't have time to do both. We ran a limited 2 rigger, 6 lead spread (3 color, 4 color, 7 color, 50ft copper and 100ft copper, and 175 copper, no divers. The riggers took fish at 37ft and 47 down. We took fish on pretty much every rod except the 7 color. Color didn't seem to matter. Blue Corey, Steelie Stomper (gold and silver blade), Blue Glo, NBK, Hawk Wild, in Stingers all took fish. Check your rods often as there are quite a few dink kings in the area. If the board isn't tracking well, you have a fish. The steelhead are worth the trip though. The fish came in the 120-130 area. Water temp near shore has dropped to 46+ and out it was a pretty consistant 48+.

They don't make a wide frame lense wide enough.

For those that still have their boats in the water or available, I will post a short report. I havent visited the boat for a few weeks, so Friday I checked it out after returning from a Pheasant hunt to SD. I decided to take a ride to Lake MI, and then decided to set some lead core out for a short fish. I fished for about an hour from 12:30-1:30. I fished 45+ and then went shallower. I ended up catching a sheep on Hawg Wild Reg Stinger on a 6 color. When I reset it, it went again, but we lost that fish whatever it was. Right after that the 50ft copper went with a Red Devil Reg Stinger attached. My son landed a nice steelhead. All of the fish came within 15 or 20 minutes of hitting 27 FOW. Imediately after boating the steelhead, we pulled lines and returned to port. Based on my findings, my boat will remain in the water for at least the next couple weeks. Water temp remains in high 50s near shore.