Killin' It

I had the pleasure of fishing with Hollandpipper, our friend Nate and Hollandpippers forigen exchange student he is hosting. We had a late start of 8 am as the wind was in question and some rain was in the forcast. After thinking about what I should do and what I could do I gave up the area I had caught lakers yesterday in search of some Kings. We trolled from 40-80 FOW on S troll without a hit. Desperate to catch a fish for the exchange student, I worked my way back to my waypoints from yesterday and as expected the mud line was still in the same general area. I turned the boat north and started putting my laker lures down and Lukas the exchange student picked out and orange NBK stingray and I put it down on the rigger. 15 minutes later the rigger pops and I reel down on it to feel some WEIGHT!! I pass the rod off and with some encouragment Lukas lands his first Lake Michigan trout. After pictures and reseting lines I went back to my old faithful. I put Stryker back down on the other rigger. An hour later we have 5 fish. 3 lakers, 1 king, 1 steel. And THEN IT HAPPEND!!! A fish stole my Orange NBK.

Snap got straigtened out. HMmmmmm..

All in all a great trip. I hope Alex can get hte pictures up soon.

5-6 for the day

Dave

I marked alot of BIG hooks in that inside dirty water this morning wish I could of had a few more fire. Soudned like a few of the boats in 60 FOW did well.

Managed to sneak out for a quick trip this morning. Ran out 50 FOW and trolled south with a a king program ( Blue Dolphin, Green Dolphin, Bloody Nose ect.) Worked the speeds from 1.2 to 3.3 without a hit. After an hour and a half of looking for kings I switched everything over to my steelie and trout spread and found a small winning pattern. We worked our way inside between 35 and 48 FOW and went 2-4 on lakers. Diver with Striker (Yellow/black/orange ) and diver with Stinger Mixed veggie took all the hits right on bottom.

Should have brought the riggers with me... oh well. I was in a hurry and it was nice to get out..

Now to work.

Will post pictures later.

Jimmy I will be fishing early morning. I have to be to work at noon:(

Fish the 30- 60 Range top to bottom, they are there!!!

That muddy water and I are going to become close friends in the AM.

Anyone else going out?

MJ in standard / Mag is good too

Ken,

When I finish my back yard, you can store your boat behind mine if you want.

Withing reason, most guys are understanding, but if the bite is on.. you better be able to put the wood to your fish. 8# test is not going to do that.

The average bite for kings lasts about 2 hours in the morning. If the guys next to you have to kill 20 or 30 minutes of that watching someone land an 8 pound king on 8# they will be upset

I have been doing well shallow,

Put down in front of the pier heads fish the sand bars past the bubbler if you have had no hits swing out and troll back to the piers in 30-50 FOW.

This has worked for us this year. If you do well inside stay with it.

Dave,

I have been fishing in that area on and off this year. The majority of the fish have come N of the bubbler in 8-15 FOW on PB with body baits. Natural colors on the lake side and Bright colors tward shore.

Done well on

UV minnow sticks

Brads thin fin Copper/pink

j-7 black silver rapala has done well in the prop wash

I have been fishing 3 boards to a side and leaving the riggers and divers home unless your going to work your way out to 50 FOW looknig for kings.

we have done alot of it in the fall at the pier heads. Mostly during the middle of the night with less boat traffic. 3/4 moonshine jigging spoons have been our ticket.

Show yours off!!

I know the tape jobs are not the best, but this was one of my first tape jobs that I got to work this weekend.

Had a buddy fish out of PS Saturday and boxed a 13# laker.

WAH

Congrats on the fish. I know alot of guys have been boxing lakers around Holland this week and I can't get them to fire:(

SD I was using was something I tapped up at home. They fly is

Quad Glow Special from ITO flies

As for speed I have been working the slow speeds 2.0-2.3 as much as possible and then dropping it down to 1.5 every 5-10 minutes for a second and then back to 2.3. This has been producing alot of hits.

After the issues with loosing fish at the back of the boat, I have a new BIG net:)

Maybe just maybe I wont donkey punch a steelie in the face next time.

Tried that this morning for about an hour with NO SALE!!

Going to keep working at it I am going to figure them out sooner or later.

Nice catch.

Here is what the 16# came on

The 22 came on:

I was wondering the same thing!!

LOL Figi...

"It is a good idea"

Well I had full intention of making it to church this morning.... It did not happen. I got SALMON Fever!!

Set out around 7:30 from Holland and planned to run south past Saugy and troll home. I made it about a quarter of the way (50 FOW) and the graph LIT UP!!!

I set the boat down with my trolling newbie at the helm and started putting down the the divers and the riggers and took a second to grab a drink and the Diver starts to POUND!!! I pull the rod out of the holder and it was off to the races!!! 15 minutes later my buddy Rich landed his first big lake fish in a nice 16# King.

I got the last 2 lines set and I got to eat my breakfast as we trolled from 30 all the way to 70 FOW. I even crossed over the first fish waypoint and the big schools of fish had moved on.

I headed the boat south and started messing with some differnt stuff that I had wanted to tinker with and never had time.

About an hour later we had a SCREAMER!! on the highline with a Copper/Pink thin fin. I handed off the rod to my buddy again and he did a great job until the very end when he let the tip down and the fish got the hooks in the net and made a grand escape. OH WELL... I learned something that I will discuss later.

After an hour and a half without a hit I figued we would head for shore and try to find something in close. After switching out the divers and such I could not remember for the life of me what was on the outside board. I told Rich I was going to pull it and make sure it didnt have any garbage on it. I started to reel it in skipping the board across the top and all of a sudden THE BOARD STOPS!!! Confused I pull back on the rod thinking I had hooked a log, body, ect, and I was in for a SURPRIZE!!! A silver MONSTER started jumping behind the boat. Confused and exited I made the decisison to pull all the lines on that side of the boat because it hit a 1 color for browns. The backer was showing and I could see the spools. We started to turn into the fish to make up some ground as we worked the boat in and out of gear to keep the fish from spooling me. 25-30 minutes of back breaking fish chassing and a new problem presented itself. A king that would not fit in the net!! I had brought the small net because I did not plan on this happening. Rich managed a less then perfect net job, but none the less the fish was in the net.

A MONSTER!!!

22.10 POUNDS!!

We trolled most of the way back to holland and could care less what happend!!!

Side note... I need a bigger net!

What worked

Half a bubble spin doctor with a blue/green fly (will take pictures later as it is something I tapped up from a nasty old SD)

Copper/ Pink thin fin

Double green DW

What didnt work...

Green spinnies and flies

Any SS spoons

Tin can spin glow

]

I FOUND MY EASTER EGG!!

J 7 rapala