FBD

Took my oldest out today, to get s brown for a year long derby we are in, before they dry up.  

Was not expecting heavy chop.  I mean like we probably should not be out in 51 degree water in a 14'.  And the wind never let up.

Set up trolling with them and hit a 14" king setting lines, j11 silver rap off a bird.  Missed a hit on a Jerry Lee mini streak one color, then took another punk king that smoked a f11 blue rap.  Then a 4# laker on a mixed veggie mini streak on the other one color.  All these fish went back.

We had to stay out in 15-20' as the waves were breaking on the second sand bar.  Being shoved sideways isn't fun.

At this point she laid down on the floor to take a nap and I slugged into them.  Boat control was a nightmare so I wasn't expecting much.  Certainly wasn't expecting the blue rap bird rod to start screaming.  Kicked Andrea awake and she got the rod and I crazy Ivan'ed the boat to get the poor man's auto pilot working (waves on stern) so I could clear lines as this fish was going where ever.  Lines cleared I dropped it out of gear to slow it down, and we were still rolling 1.2mph just drifting.

As usual Goof did just fine and I netted an 11#+ steel.  Not the brown we were looking for but I'll take it.  We quit since half the lines were in and it was now a cauldron for the row boat, and went and stopped for ice cream, as that's our thing.  Just days ago it seemed she was too small to see out of the boat; next fall she starts high school.

Great report by the way.  Keep them coming for those if us trapped in our cubicles.

Don't run it / sold all my meat gear.  I have caught my own ales but they don't hold up as well as herring.

Having been thrown off Captain King's site I was tongue in cheek joking about how he changes his spots depending on what he sells.  Builds great stuff, I'll say that.  But when I posted about running Michigan made Eppinger spoons for browns off in line planers I was a heretic, but now that he makes spoons you have to run them.  I bet once he starts 3-d printing plugs those will be the only things that catch browns.

I think this may be the first year they went to clipping steelhead and not kings any longer.

I thought you had to run meat and those who stuck with spoons were idiots.  I mean you have to run rapalas to catch browns too, right?

Had a day on the Zoo where my wife's side of the boat had a Tadpolly, a WiggleWart, and a Hot and Tot to my mag lips.  The good news is I got to fight a fish.  Her side of the boat doubled.

3.0, 3.5, good colors.  I fished them for an hour on a day I knew were on browns, in fact I experimented with a lot of stuff that day, and it was 3 fish to 8 on my side versus the proven side of the boat, mine coming on Shad raps and a Jr. Streak.

Naked.  I bought a pile this winter as they were God's gift to river steelhead fishing.  After 17 hook ups on anything but mag lips to 0 hook ups on mag lips while running my proven stuff on one side and mag lips on the other,  I returned all the unopened ones.

Glad to see Great Lakes Angler has turned into a Mag Lips infomercial.

Saugatuck 5-15 pm

Took my dad and middle daughter out last night.  Bait for the most part has jumped into the river.  Good luck spawning guys.  Herd of sheep  at the piers.  We fished 15-20' and were busy all night until the lightning chased us off.  At one point 2 rods were in holders, and five hooked up.  J-11 orange rapala on a one color was the only rod that never got bit.  Took two on a paddle and fly.  3.5 mag lips off yellowbirds best.

Spinny went 22/28 with 14 Lakers, 4 kings, 3 coho, and a steelhead accounting for 144.3 pounds of fish.

Holland 5-13

So after my skunk in Grand Haven, I doubled down this weekend.  Either stuff got real or I was walking away for the year.  I can't justify the expense of fixing and running the Four Winns this year, so I put all the chips down on the 14' and my fishingist crew member.

Screw you fish.  You may gave gotten my favorite spinny ever, that I will hate to compile how many fish it took, as a consolation prize, but you lost today.

Set up all by ourselves in 47' and didn't turn the tiller until Oval Beach.  We started with a deep hooked 15" king on a flounder pounder down 30, then my best spinny, before it twisted up and broke off, grabbed an 11# king.  Missed another good hit on that.  At least it went down fighting on its last trip.  Two more good kings on the flounder pounder, then a sheep in the plume at Saugatuck.

Did a few laps in the mud and got a pair of fat coho and an 11# king that hit 12' down and 10' back and popped up outside of the two planer boards on that side.  I enjoyed throwing him in the cooler.  Might have said disparaging things about his lineage or unwed parents as he got iced.

Finally for giggles we put her on the beach, mostly as 2.4 mph back to port wasn't much slower than 8.2 WOT throwing up a tug boat wake with a heavy cooler in the bow, and under blue skies at 11 am a board shot back with a vengeance.  8.3# brown added some character to the box.

A 27 minute ride in reminds me how I miss the Four Winns.  Fishing 11 hours on less than 4 gallons of gas over the last two trips didn't.

RIP 10" white spinny and hand tied purple mirage fly.  Thanks for the master angler laker last spring, and the literal 100's of other pounds of fish you provided.  A hell of a run we had.

Grand Haven 5-10 pm.

25 boats in there.  Never saw a fish fought or a net lifted.  Marked two hooks all night.  Occasional tree barfed out of the channel to keep thing interesting.  Sunny when we left so I put the rain gear back in the barn.  Ended up soaked.  And skunked.  And cold.  And frustrated.

Pretty much all the bait in the lake is running the piers to spawn.  You could sit in the only oasis in a desert and think there's plenty of water.

Holland 5-4pm

Was expecting chop, dirty water, and rain and chewed up beach or dirty plume water.  In effect, perfect conditions for browns while keeping most boats away.

Dead calm east wind instead of north that was forecast, sun came out, gin clear water.  Could see the bottom in 17'.  52 degree water from last trip blown out and replaced with 43 degrees.  Even went inside the first bar into 4' to see if there was a ribbon of warm water trapped in tight to no avail.  Found an old log in the bottom there that wanted my spoons too.

Went into ultra stealth mode and managed to scrape up a pair of browns both on small natural colored presentations oddly on the rods closest to the boat fishing in the choppier water.

This is the Saturday of Tulip Time.  Should not affect getting to the tournament, but you may want to plan a route home that does not involve crossing Holland via down town or even US31.

I've got at least one kid in the parade so I'm not sure I can make it to this.

Think we talked to you on the radio.  Ended up 4/4 with a 10# sheep, two 3# browns, and an 8" king.  Caught the second brown about two minutes after putting out a copper mixed veggie based on your info.  Thanks for the tip.  Had a coworker out for his first trip on the big pond.

One we got had a 6" brown in it too.

Any one getting those 10-14" Brown's that should be next year's fish?  I haven't heard of one and that doesn't bode well for year.next year

No kidding, no shortage of boats in tight.

We fished the plume, went 4/6 with a 16" coho, 20" brown, 27" laker, and a no kidding 7" steelhead.  Missed two fish, one very large, on a gold black rapala f9 on a slide diver. Fish we caught were on flutter devles in silver back, silver blue on short cores.

Fished 9:30 to noon in Port Sheldon.  Hit 120-170.  Caught a coho on an orange dodger peanut fly out 50 on a wire diver setting lines.  Only hit.  Thin fish, spoons, flasher flies from two color to 125' down and not another sniff.

Where are you located?

I think we're in the same area, let me know if you ever want to see one.

Order direct from Eppinger, hammered silver Jr flutter devles.  Then put a 1/8" stripe down the edge with black sharpie.  This doesn't hold up well, so it will tell you if you're dragging bottom.  Then bend them into a lazy s shape if not so applied at the company.  I've had them come bent and come flat.

I add a sticker eye to the front, my friend, the only other guy I know who runs them, switches out the hook for a small siwash.

The mongoose, and sparkly blue tape versons from the factory have their days too.

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Met Syonker at his old stomping grounds before he moved inland, and gave it a try this morning.  Plume was colder than the lake so that didn't work.  Then we found a log or wreck that cost him all three spoons on his side.  Then we missed the first hit.  Finally cracked the nut, silver black edge flutterdevle on a one color out deeper where there was chop instead of in close.  Those took seven hits, the same in mongoose took the first, shad raps took two, and a Jr streak in perch took a coho.  Ended up with eight browns and a coho, of course the two browns we let go at the end were the biggest.

How powerful was the flutterdevle today?  I pulled one of my rods and put one out just messing around as we had a limit of browns hoping for something else, and mine got hit in five minutes.

Great trip, great company, great snacks.  That's why we do this.

What's the brand on that monkey puke? That's a killer brown spoon but the Stingers only hold up for a couple fish before the paint is gone.

Nice king.