Mega Byte

The hot bait for us was a spotted dick meat rig, back 190' on a magnum dipsy diver dialed to 1.5 on a wire setup.. It took 4 fish between 131 and 141 fow. A white/glow paddle & pickled sunshine fly on a SWR (30 Cu) with the rigger ball down 75 took 1 in 138 fow. As did a glow plug with a blue ladder back on a high diver (Size #1) (braid) set on a 3 and back 200' in 121 fow. Misses were a blue glow moonshine spoon down 50 on a rigger (not sure of the fow). Missed twice on a glow plug, green ladder back down 75 in 149 fow and down 100 in 130 fow. After these boys went out on a charter last bumpy Saturday, in the rain, and got one fish, this is a pretty good haul. 4 kings and 2 Coho. The bigger kings were 18#, 14#, 14#. First fish was around 6:30 am I think. Last was around 9:30ish.

Now that is an amazing catch! Wow. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

GBTyeel, So I was telling my dad about your efforts and struggles to catch fish. He leans back and says in all seriousness, "Ahh, yes. He's not wetting the net. You've got to wet the net before the boat knows it's ready to catch fish. How many times has that worked for us? No fish for 3 hours, then we remember to wet the net and BAM, the fish start hitting." I laughed because that did happen a lot when I was a kid. So when all else fails, wet the net. Hopefully you can get out there this weekend and give us a good report.

Fished Friday night off of Silver Lake and the point south of Pentwater. Was 1 - 2 in 150 fow including the biggest of the night which was a 22# king. We worked our way back in where we did better a few days early. Finished the night with a flurry of 5 fish on at the same time. I don't even know what that is called. There were only 4 of us in the boat and I don't have autopilot and someone had to net, so this was interesting. We were all fighting fish and no one was driving the boat and the 5th pole started screaming and we just looked at it, shook our heads and kept fighting our fish. We ended up with 5 kings (22#, 21#, 20#, 18#, 14#) and 2 smaller coho that were probably 4 pounds or so. Silver Horde glow plugs had many of the hits, with green and blue ladder backs doing well. Meet rigs behind a spotted dick paddle, a dark green paddle and blue spin doctor took fish as did a blue fly behind a blue spin doctor. Lines that took fish were wire poles with magnum dipsy divers set on a 1.5 and out 155' and 135'. 200 Cu, 250 Cu, 300 Cu, and riggers down 120 (for our big fish in 150 fow). When we moved in closer (95 - 115 fow) the riggers were set between 70 and 50 feet down and they both took fish. Trolling speed was 2.5 at the ball. As mentioned in a comment on another post, we also went over a bait ball so big my graph readjusted bottom from 117 fow to 20 fow. It stayed that way for about 30 yards as my rigger poles started shaking like crazy with all the fish hitting them. Once we got through the school, bottom readjusted back to 117'. I could see the leading and trailing edge of the school on the graph, but when it got thick, that is when the graph registered the top of the school as the bottom of the lake. We did not mark any big arches around the bait which was surprising.

I would agree with Dr. Hook. I will often run 12 lines and only get 6 or 7 hits, sometimes on the same line. That means half of my lines are just washing lures. Think about it, if you put two more poles in the water, it's like doubling the number of trips you take only with no additional fuel costs or time expended. Just make sure your pole count per person is legal.

That is really good for only 3 rods. Nice job. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

Nice job handling the chaos on a solo trip! Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

That livewell solution worked great. We ended up with 17 walleye and big catfish in the box and that livewell kept all of them fresh from about 8 am until we pulled lines at 2 pm.

I decided to go with a pump that sprays the water. It is a portable system so I can use it in a cooler or one of my big fish boxes. Someone was complaining about all of the bubbles caused my those air stones and they would have preferred something that filtered the water and sprayed it. Plus, this system can serve as an emergency bilge pump which is nice. http://www.marinemetal.com/products/12-vt-air-pumps/super-saver-kit/item/super-saver-kit We're going out in the morning, we'll see how it does.

I am starting to think I need a livewell for those long, hot summer days. It gives me the option of releasing some smaller walleye if we get into a school of larger ones. I'm also not sure if I'll be able to keep ice frozen on all day trips. My boat has a small (51 qt) baitwell built into the transom, but not a livewell big enough to hold decent numbers of fish. I am thinking of either using a big cooler or one of my big 108 qt fish boxes built into the deck of my boat. (The fish box drains through a macerator pump and then discharges out the side of the boat.) I've seen some livewells that filter, pump and spray water into the livewell for aeration. I have seen others that use air stones and just bubble air into the livewell. It seems it is easier to pump air than it is water. Just wondering if you guys would have any recommendations when it comes to implementing a livewell. Links to some of the things I am considering are below: http://www.westmarine.com/buy/marine-metals--powerbubbles-12v-dc-air-pump--1184357 http://www.basspro.com/Frabill-Aqua-Life-Tower-Pump-Aerator-System/product/1408061724/?hvarAID=shopping_googleproductextensions http://www.boatus.com/fishing/articles/building-a-livewell.asp http://www.pensacolafishingforum.com/f39/cooler-seat-into-live-well-144859/

Great post. Nice looking king and you named your colors which is a lot better than I usually do because I don't remember all the names.