spieg

After not having the boat ready in time for the nice weather a couple of weeks ago, I finally got on the water for the first time this year. Left port just before sunrise with pretty poor visibility from the dark and snow. Ran south and set up a half mile or so north of the chalet's on a south troll in about 20fow. Lots of marks all day long in 18-23fow. Water temps were 42-44f everywhere except near Cook, it was 47-49f there. Got my first fish near that chalet's, brown trout on a flatline pulling a red w black thin fish. Second fish came just as I was passing Cook, coho on a 1 color lead core pulling a red with yellow thin fish. Circled back to run by the plant again on a North troll, but didn't pick anything up. Made a snowman along the way to try to make the best of the snow. It's a good thing there weren't any other boats out there, I had a pile of snowballs ready to go! After trolling north about 1/4 mile past Cook, I looped back south to make another pass. Didn't pick anything up along the way this time and ended up going a half mile or so south of Cook and working into 15fow. Made a big loop out to the North again into 25fow or so. Angled back in to 20fow near the south buoy at Cook and picked up another brown trout on the red with black thin fish on the flat line. Kept working North as the winds started to pick up a bit and another snow storm started. Made a couple more snowmen to help ignore the cold. Picked up another coho in front of the dunes on the red with black thin fish on the flat line. Kept on trolling north from there zig zagging through 17-25 fow. Passed a couple of pilothouse boats on south trolls along the way and decided that my next boat needs some kind of cabin. Picked up another coho along the way on the red with yellow thin fish on a one color to fill the box. Ran a two color lead core all day with a red with black thin fish on it, but never had any action on that. 

Hoping to make it back out on Sunday if the waves cooperate. 

Way to get an early start! Are the docks in at the public launch?

Thanks for the report, Dan! We got a two person limit this morning as well going a little further South. We started just north of the power plant and picked up two right away, then had to work a little for the rest. Took us about 4 hours to get our limit. Sounds like we should've just turned south out of the piers and set lines.

We ended up 12-16 (had a double to end the day and another one hit while clearing lines), most bites coming on thin fins (fire tiger and red with yellow ladder) and between 16-24fow and within a mile of the plant on the north side. 

Thanks for the report bigbones! I've been swamped this spring and haven't had time to make it out yet, but hopefully hitting the water tomorrow. I'm usually on 68 and my boat is Black Note. Give a hollar if you're out there tomorrow. 

I normally fish out of South Haven, but the amount of ice on the webcams didn't look very inviting. A friend and I ended up launching from the Benton Harbor launch to get the boat wet and give it the annual shake down. A dozen or so pier anglers were out. One of them said he had seen a few boats in the last few days, but that nobody was catching yet. We pulled out of the piers around 9am and ran a mile or so south and set up in about 30fow. There's still an ice shelf in about 20fow and the water was calm enough that the surface was freezing on and off throughout the morning. Surface temps were 32-34. We zig zagged south between 25 and 55 fow until we got a mile or so past the chalet's. Never had a knock. Searched around for warmer water all day but couldn't find any. At the pier heads it was 41f at the surface.  We fished until 2 or so and on our way back in one of the guys on the pier said he had caught two, but nobody else had done anything. Talked to a few guys at the boat launch and all had said they hadn't heard of anything being caught out of St. Joe yet. Should be soon though. Beautiful day on the water, lots of sunshine and a nice ride all day.