Mega Byte

Quick post...took us a bit to find them. Blue spoons worked best for us, and then a glow program right before dark. 22# king up in the warm water on a 200 copper with a blue jeans rv. That was in 153 fow. Got more bites inside of 117 FOW on divers and coppers 40 to 60 down. Someone was on the radio sharing they were getting bit in 75 fow. One 8# coho and the rest were kings. One was thrown back. Another should have been based on size, but it wouldn't have survived. The biggest kings were 22#, 19# and 16#. Sent from my SM-G991U using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

Nice job with the net! That's always a sketchy part of the solo adventure.

I managed to leave the handy-dandy notebook in the truck, so I don't have all of the details, but we mainly fished 140 FOW to 170 FOW. We did venture into 100 and out to 200. Just about every boat fished shallower than us, but we were getting bit and were able to avoid boat traffic so we stayed where we were. Our first bite was at 5:30 am (11# King) in 142 FOW on a rigger down 90 ft. It was a 11" white, double-slick paddle with a pickled sunshine fly with a 42" leader. I clipped 2 oz tadpole divers in front of my 300 coppers to get them to run deeper. One had a green flounder on and the other a green haze meat rig. At 6:12, the 300 with the green flounder went. It was a small king we decided to keep. That bait went multiple times for us. Our biggest king came at 6:54 on the 300 with the meat rig. It was a 21# king. While fighting that one, and on a West troll, we had another hit in 165 FOW, but I didn't note what pole that was on. It was a 12# laker. Then the 250s started going. One at 8:11 on a green jeans and one at 8:28 on a green flounder. Both got off. One looked like a steelhead and the other ripped it like a nice king. At 9:40 the 300 meat rig got hit again. At this point my note taking dropped off because my daughter hijacked my phone for a movie. But we continued to pick away at them at a pretty consistent basis, except when we went deeper than 170. We got a nice 11# steelhead as we pulled lines at 2:00. We probably would have limited out in another couple of hours, but I had kids that were tired and ready to head in. We finished with 3 kings, 1 coho, 4 lakers and 4 steelhead. 250s and 300s were good. Riggers down 60 to 90 went three times. Nothing on a 3 color, 100 or 200 copper. Wire divers only went once (laker). We didn't have high divers out. Baits that worked well were all magnum spoons: green jeans, green flounder, hulk. These got time in the water but didn't take fish: a-bomb, bloody nose, blue jeans. I'm sure there were a few others that I didn't note. We also had 3 flasher fly bites and 2 meat bites. So, for us, 140 to 165 was best, 50 to 90 down. Troll direction didn't seem to matter. We'll be back out on Sunday.

It's nice to see some big kings get boated!

We fished around 27 FOW a few miles West of West Sister Island. Troll speed between 1.3 and 1.8 caught fish. Chrome and blue bandits did most of the damage. Most fish came in the top 15 feet. Lots of big fish. 4 hours to limit on the 7th and 3 hours to limit on the 8th. (From first fish to limit fish.) We also saw the eclipse from the boat. Enjoy the pics. The biggest walleye was 8.5 pounds. Sent from my SM-G991U using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

And some pictures from my brother. Sent from my SM-G991U using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

We set lines out front in 50 FOW on a SW troll. The low wire heavy slidediver fired first. It had a white spin doctor and meat rig set on a 1.5 out 85 ft. As we were fighting that fish, I put the high diver out to the same side, with the same bait. We put it on a 3 setting and set it out to 150 ft. Right when we tightened the drag to stop it at 150 ft, it got bit and we were doubled up. We boated 17 and 12 pound kings. Then we had a two hour pause with no bites as we worked South. Then in 107 FOW the Starboard high diver out 150 finally fired with a blue-ish J-plug. It got off just as we were pulling out of the rod holder. Then another hour and a half pause with no action. During that time we had spun back North and sought deeper water. In 145 FOW we picked up a throwback laker on a Craigs Flounder on a 200 Cu. We kept heading NW. We got into the fish in 170 FOW where we picked up 3 hits in 6 minutes. The blue J-plug on the high diver fired again. A pink stripped plug fires on a 250 Cu. A double orange crush took a rip on the 100 Cu. That fish was really ripping line and a rookie tightened the drag too much and the hook got straightened. The others were boated and included a 10# steelhead and 9# king. Our last two hits came about 50 minutes later on 300 coppers. One in 180 FOW (17# king) on a blue Haze blade and meat rig. The other on a green haze blade and meat rig. That fish ripped the board back, but got off pretty quickly. We finished 6 for 9 with 4 kings, 1 steelhead and a throwback laker. Divers took the first four hits and coppers took the last 5. We ran a 15 rod spread with 4 rigger poles that never got touched. It was great to finally get a calm day on the water. Also, there were limited posts from me this summer because I've been crazy busy and had engine issues, which prompted me to repower with a Mercury 300 Pro XS. Sent from my SM-G991U using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

The visibility looks horrible! Thanks for the report! Sent from my SM-G991U using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

It was really slow for most boats in Pentwater. I found some colder water near the dunes, where the surface temp was 52 rather than the 57 degree water that was deeper. This colder water was right over structure and contained the most bait fish I have marked all season. Seemed like a good spot to be, but we never marked any big fish and only took a single hit which was a nice 11# steelhead. We fished 80 FOW out to 217 FOW. The bait was in 106 to 119 FOW and anywhere from 25 to 50 feet down. We found a smaller school of bait in 170 FOW. We fished the cold water, at the transition points and in the warm water targeting kings and steelhead. The steelhead hit on a small coho sized (5") orange spin doctor and green/gold/purple peanut fly on a 3 color. That setup has been producing a lot of steelhead for us lately. There was also a ton of bait in the channel. The channel isn't very deep and the turbulence from the prop seemed to disturb or spin up those baitfish and the gulls were feasting behind the boat. Sent from my SM-G991U using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

We have seen a lot of lamprey scars this year. I don't think they treated the rivers during COVID. We'll be headed out of Pentwater in the morning. I am hearing it is slow. That is one big steelhead! Nice job. Thanks for the report. Sent from my SM-G991U using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

Solo trip this AM. Took a 17# king in 116 FOW at 7:20 am. Worked out to 202 FOW. All other fish were between 134 and 173 FOW. All hits came on a 300 Cu with a magnum Yeck Wart frog. Limited out. All kings, but the other four were younger class fish. 2.3 at the ball. 2 hits came on outside turns. Troll direction didn't seem to matter. Sent from my SM-G991U using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

We did a late trip Wednesday night. We left the dock at 7 and had lines set by 8. We fished water 118 to 90 FOW on a NE troll. We finished with 2 young kings, a nice coho, and a 25# king. My daughter thought it would be fun to pose with the fish over her head tonight. [emoji1] The 250 Cu with a Mag Yeck Wartfrog fired at 8:20. We boated a nice Coho. At 8:38 the heavy wire slide diver out 120 with a green knight spoon took young king. We reset it, but this time only out 100 feet and 17 minutes later it fired again with another young king. Another 15 minutes went by (so around 9:15) and a 200 Cu with a glow Submarine spoon took our last fish of the night. It was a 25# king. This one she couldn't lift over her head. [emoji38] Then we pulled lines. Sent from my SM-G991U using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

Sweet. Nice job. Sent from my SM-G991U using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

I had that happen to my lower unit in 2015. It sounded like someone dropped a screwdriver in a blender. Glad you made it in ok. Sent from my SM-G991U using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

Nice job! I think we will be out again on Monday. Sent from my SM-G991U using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

Yeah...those early mornings catch up with you if you don't nap during the day. Great job. Sent from my SM-G991U using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

I bet that was blast. Sent from my SM-G991U using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

Awesome pictures. Great job! And koodos to you crew for being willing to get up early! Sent from my SM-G991U using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

Nice solo net job. I have found extending my net handle is really helpful when netting by myself. Sent from my SM-G991U using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

Pictures Sent from my SM-G991U using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

I took the morning off work and took my girls out for a trip. One stayed in the cuddy cabin sleeping most of the time though! She's not much of an early bird. We decided to try some deeper water to see what we could find. We left port and headed west. I started setting lines in 160 FOW and we worked west. Everything fired today except a 100 Cu Craigs Flounder which I took off after a couple of hours and a 300 Cu with a Magnum Green Knight. Here are the details: Time Speed FOW Toll Fish Bait Pole 6:37 AM 2.4 192 WNW Miss Mongolian Beef Mag High slide diver, #2 setting out 160' 6:53 AM 2.5 199 NW 21# King Green Jeans Mag Rigger down 60 (60' from the ball) 7:24 AM 2.4 204 W Miss Green Knight Mag 200 Cu 8:10 AM 2.6 215 W Miss Bad Toad RV Mag 250 Cu 8:34 AM 2.2 226 W 11# Coho Green/White paddle and green fly Rigger down 70 (30' from the ball) 8:41 AM 3.0 227 NW Miss Green Slice Mag Heavy wire slide diver, 2 setting, out 130' 8:41 AM 2.5 227 N 9# Steelhead Green Knight Mag 200 Cu 8:59 AM 2.5 227 N Small King Yeck Wart Frog 250 Cu 9:33 AM 2.3 226 S Miss Green Jeans Mag Rigger down 60 (60' from the ball) 10:18 AM 2.5 230 W Coho Yeck Wart Frog 250 Cu 11:15 AM 2.4 240 W 13# King Mongolian Beef Mag High slide diver, #2 setting out 200' 12:00 PM 2.6 223 SE Laker Green Jeans (Regular size) Rigger free slider w/ ball down 70 For those viewing on the app, the above table with look bad so use this image: (Click the image to enlarge it) Here's the hit chart: (Click the image to enlarge it) I'll reply with pictures.

Great solo trip! They are often hard to find and dial in with a three rod spread.