Mega Byte

I know out west (Pacific Ocean) they'll run a 11" paddle in front of a spoon with a 6' leader between them as a standard setup. I've taken salmon on that setup in Lake Michigan, but usually I run my spoons naked. If you're running 4 riggers, I'd start your morning with 3 flashers and run one naked spoon as your deep line. Run the flashers a bit higher in the water column in the morning and the fish should come up to investigate. If they don't hit, they'll peel off and head back down and see the naked spoon. As your morning progresses, you may have to remove the flashers if they aren't getting bit and go with naked spoons, or try increasing your length behind the cannonballs. I usually lower my cannonballs as the morning progresses also. You can also run fixed sliders and free sliders above your primary baits.

Good stuff. I thought I add a printable recipe for those that want it. Adirondack Salmon Chowder.pdf

We ran 6 rods total, all targeting kings, but only 1 rod was hit. A ringed slide diver on wire with a 1.5 setting out 170 feet with a Ghost meet rig. It got bit in 144, 153 and 162 FOW. All hits were just South of the point by the bathhouse. We tried a few similar setups on other poles but they weren't touched. Kings were 15, 16 and 18 #s. Sent from my LG-Q710AL using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

It was a father daughter trip tonight, but we had trouble finding the fish. Worked 100 - 150 FOW from the pier heads to just north of the dunes. Never marked a fish or bait. Got hits in 123 and 129 FOW. Wire mag diver on a 1.5 setting out 180' took a 15# king. It was on a ghost paddle and meat. That is a PR for my 10 year old. A braid slide diver out 170' on a 3 setting with a blue jeans spoon was hit. It looked like a smaller king (8#s or so), but it didn't make it to the back of the boat. Tons of river debris in the 75' to 85' FOW range. Saw lots of logs and one entire tree out there. The tree had about 20' above the surface (laying horizontally) and 30' below and behind the surface log. Be careful when running in the dark. Sent from my LG-Q710AL using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

I've heard it only works with a full moon. Make sure you have the nets in Muskegon marked on your GPS. You can barely see them during the day.

That's a busy night!

Short trip for us tonight. I wanted to get my son out on the water, but he can have a massive case of the cranky pants if he doesn't get enough sleep. That kind of puts a damper on his fishing. So tonight was a really short night for us. We ran a 9 rod spread. We started setting lines in 70 FOW and worked out to 150 and then back in. We had rods set by 5:16 and were pulling what was left around 7. 115ish was the best water for us tonight. We took all 6 hits is in a 50 minute window. If we would have stayed longer, we would have pulled a lot more out because we were on the fish. It was a fun, crazy night. Time FOW Toll Fish Bait Pole 6:28 PM 133 SE 15# King Green Jeans RV 250 Cu 6:45 PM 115 NE 16# King Purple Mag Spoon Braid Slide Diver w/ring, 3 Setting out 150' 6:55 PM 115 N MISS Stinkly White Leroy Paddle & Meat Wire Diver, 1.5 setting out 150' 6:56 PM 113 N 7# King Green Haze Paddle & Meat 300 Cu 6:57 PM 113 N MISS Blue Jeans 250 Cu 7:20 PM 115 N MISS Ghost Paddle & Meat Wire Diver, 1.5 setting out 170' 3 Spoon Hits 3 Meat Hits Flasher flies were not presented. The wire divers each got absolutely slammed, but they came off quickly. Riggers didn't get hit. One presented a Blue Flounder and the other a Kevin's Girl Friend spin doctor and meat rig setup. The 300 Cu Kevin's Girl Friend spin doctor and meat rig didn't get hit either. One of the fish we lost came off when it ran into the board that was being reeled in with another fish on it. It was a great night out there. It was a lot calmer than I thought it would be. It should be flat for tomorrow morning. My boat stalled on a us a few times while trolling. It happened while were were hooked up which made it interesting. I'm getting that checked out before we hit the water again.

Wear boots. This was Friday afternoon. The fish cleaning station is closed.

SH has been good to you! Nice fish! Sent from my LG-Q710AL using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

I brought the net this time. Got the prop fixed but I'm still having speed issues and it won't plane out. It makes it hard to run anywhere. I'll check compression tomorrow. Now, on to fishing: Time FOW Toll Fish Bait Pole 7:42 AM 124 ENE 21# King Blue Jeans 200 Cu 8:10 AM 132 SW 21# King Kevin's Girlfriend Spin Doctor & Meat 300 Cu 10:05 AM 163 E 18# King Stinky White Leroy paddle & Meat Wire Mag Diver, 1.5 Setting out 170' 11:45 AM 158 SE 10# Laker Dancing Anchovy Spoon Braid Slide Diver w/ring, 3 setting out 150' 12:02 PM 143 SE MISS Kevin's Girlfriend Spin Doctor & Meat 300 Cu 12:40 PM 140 W 13# Laker Ghost White paddle & Meat Rigger down 90' 12:53 PM 163 W 17# King Green Haze Paddle & Meat 300 Cu 12:55 PM 165 W 17# King Kevin's Girlfriend Spin Doctor & Meat 300 Cu 2 Spoon Hits 6 Meat Hits 0 Flasher Fly Hits The hot bait was the 300 Cu Kevin's Girlfriend Spin Doctor & Meat which went 3 times. I ran two 300 Cu poles for the last half of the morning and that setup to 4 of the 8 hits. We started setting lines in 70 FOW and worked as deep as 185 FOW. I thought this chart did a good show of showing where the hits were and how spaced out they were. After the two hour-ish lulls we had, we move to more out front of the port and the action improved. Most of the morning we were a few miles North of the port. We pulled lines at 2 PM. Enjoy the pics.

Nice job!

By the way, the fish cleaning station at the Holland launch is closed. The one in St. Joseph was closed too. Sent from my LG-Q710AL using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

1st trip to Holland. Launched at the DNR launch on the NW end of the lake. You need boots to get to the dock. We get launched about 6:20 and I quickly realized I left the net at home. I have no idea why I took it out of the boat. I usually don't do that. We motored out, but had some boat issues and couldn't get it up on plane. We slow walked it out to the big lake. Lots of boats right out front so we set up early in 35 FOW on a NW troll. Picked up a 14# king in 48 FOW just before putting a board on a 200 Cu with a blue/green Captain Chuck's custom spoon (mag size). We decided to keep heading west. To make a long story short, here's that got hit: 105 FOW. W. Green Jeans RV. 10# laker 300 Cu 112 FOW. N. 8" silver/green paddle and green fly. Braid slide diver w/ring out 157' on 3 setting. 120 FOW. W. NBK mag spoon. 10# king. Braid slide diver w/ring out 150' on 3 setting. 130 FOW. N. Stinky White Leroy paddle & meat. 19# king. Mag dipsy diver on wire out 130' on a 1.5 setting. 154 FOW. W. Dancing Anchovy spoon. 250 Cu. (Missed it.) 160 FOW. NW. Kevin's Girlfriend Spin doctor meat rig. 10# king. Rigger down 54'. 160 FOW. NW. Big silver pro-troll paddle and double aqua Howie fly. 8# king. (Double header.) This fish came up from 100' deep to investigate. I dropped the cannonball and it hit before it fell 8 feet. 130 FOW. E. Stinky White Leroy paddle & meat. (Miss - off before we could grab the rod.) Mag dipsy diver on wire out 173' on a 1.5 setting. 117 FOW. N. Kevin's Girlfriend Spin doctor meat rig. 20# king. Rigger down 54'. Every fish that made it to the back of the boat we got in. We took our time and tired them out. I got on the swim platform and as we brought them up to the boat, I use the fish Grabber to hook them under the gills and swing them into the boat through the tuna door that leads to the swim platform. Enjoy the pics: This was a fun trip. I got to take my brother, his pastor and son out. We made it back in, and got the prop issue fixed for $23. I'll be back out tomorrow morning. Sent from my LG-Q710AL using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

Thanks for the update. This is helpful. I'm heading out of Holland in the AM and PM tomorrow.

Why I was kid fishing with my dad on the big lake back in the 80s, it seems like we rarely caught lakers. It was all silver fish. Coho, steelhead and kings. We never targeted lakers. I'm sure if you targeted them on bottom, you could pull them in on a regular basis. It seems that lately we've been catching a lot of lakers in our King spread. We've taken 7 in the last 2 trips. For your guys that have been doing this a while, are you noticing more suspended laker hits than in the past? Just wondering if there are that many more lakers than in the past, or they have move up for more food? I'm assuming it's the increase in plants and their numbers are up. Second laker question...are there different strains of lakers in the lake? I filleted one that had grey/white flesh and another of the same size that was almost as orange as a coho. What's the difference?