FBD

Taking a small kid out to 250' in September? Awesome! Not catching anything, well, not so much. But it was a great day to try. We got two sheep in four hard hours of trolling in front of Saugatuck. Could see the bottom easily in 26', could see fish swimming around down there.

Two sheep. Was sure one was a king as it tore 200' of drag against 25# test. Side hooked about 6#.

Skunked off Saugatuck. 8-30'. Can't work the plume since throttle jockeys think that 100' visibility and the fog horn going off means go 40. Air horn out.

Skunked off Saugatuck. 8-30'. Can't work the plume since throttle jockeys think that 100' visibility and the fog horn going off means go 40. Air horn out.

Tried Holland again last night. Ended up 5/5 with 4 pathetically small sheep and a 5# walleye. About time to give up on kings and try harder for walleye. Two sheep on J plugs...

Tried out front Monday night, followed the plume, not marking much. 3' rollers and a wicked cold NW wind. Worked the channel after that. Took a 4# walleye on a 1/2 ounce hot and tot. He hit so hard that we debated for about two minutes to check the rod, and that was a yellow bird and not a bigger board. Only other excitement was a gill plate hooked 14# sheep that we had to pull lines and circle, as he wasn't moving.

Absolutely beautiful boat.

Never seen a flip being fish to the pier at Port Sheldon.

Labor Day afternoon 2012 we landed 17 kings, three coho and a 10# walleye doing laps in the channel. Had 33 hits in five hours. 2015 no fish in harbor. 2016 no fish in the harbor. 2017 one king and one brown in the harbor, fishing for walleye in October. I've fished pretty much every cold water flip in September for three years and hooked one king. Week of Labor Day 16 years ago in the three king limit era I had a 500# week and never put my boat on plane. So my conclusion is there are next to no mature kings in these parts come mid August as of the last few years. My offshore trips follow this, good in April, great in May, June is June, July is ok and then a steady drop in kings.

Best day coho fishing on my 14' we gave up on running boards and just ran flat lines - one out of each side. Then that got boring, so we put on Wiggle Warts and held the rods in our hands with 10' of line out. When a fish would hit, we would not even reel, just pick it up and sling it into the boat like a cane pole. Got to the point we'd stand up and pull the lures away from fish as they charged, seeing how many times they'd try to hit the plug before the gave up. This is with a noisy 2 stroke running 5-6' away from the lures. Gotta love aggressive coho. Also trolled up a steelhead on the river with a 15' lead to the lure, but 30-35' is more normal.

5/7, a bit shallower than you, all Lakers that your 21# could have eaten. Only kept two. White paddle 240' out, mag green dolphin on a 300 copper, best where chrome dodger with a green spin and glow and a green dolphin spin doctor with a yellow spin and glow but only on flutter ups.

I won a 7 color core on a reel once, a 45 series reel, with 150 yards of backing. I had a steelhead, not a king mind you but a 13# steelhead take that thing all the way to the knot in the spool. We had to spin a 180 and run the fish down to keep it from breaking off, making a mess of the spread but we landed the fish and my daughter got her trophy in the youth tournament we were in. I now have 250 - 350 yards of backing on all my junk lines.

I'll run j plugs and jointed rapalas up to 5 mph for steel. I run flashers 15-20' from the ball, spoons usually 25-50'. I tend to only run two riggers. More isn't better.

The Fennville Farm Unit in the Allegan State Game Area has good cover for rabbits. Being managed for waterfowl though the rules for hunting anything but ducks and geese area a bit complex. I have heard the sweet sound of beagles baying from some of the outer zones while hunting against the refuge for geese.