ekbelt

Nice Dave! Fun cathing those big kings... I can't wait to get back out there. Any idea where the coho went??

We had a big spread from a 3 color all the way down to 180 feet. When I keep seeing marks at a certain depth I always try to get a rigger in that same water to get them to hit. Most of the time it works. Last night was tough though, we really only had 1 rod firing. In my experience, during the spring the daytime is better fishing than early morning and later in the evening. That switches when the water warms up though.

Thanks for the report, it was tough fishing out there last night. The NW blow definatly stirred things up a little. We had our fish on 11" paddles and flies fishing deep, like 150-170 down on the riggers.

Went out with a buddy last night and we ended up 4 for 4--all kings (and some nice ones too!)

Started in 170 and did a west troll out to 200. Swung around and went all the way into 150 and tried to stay in that area the rest of the night. Beautiful night on the water, it was like glass.

Downrigger 170 down - white paddle green fly - 15lb king

Downrigger 170 down - white paddle green fly - 15lb king

Downrigger 150 down - white paddle green fly - 11lb king

5 color jerry lee silver streak mini - shaker king

Was really suprised to not get into any cohos. We moved in searching for them but couldn't get any. Tons of huge hooks in the 150-190 area.

Talked with a guy at the fish cleaning station and a guy in the morning had 15 cohos in close--50-60fow. Thats about all the information I got. Maybe the cohos are on the move?? The kings were blast, first I've got this year.

Thanks... heading out tonight. Looks like they didnt move much at all.

Nice work! What did you get the big king on?

I think its like 7-8 miles.

Check out http://marine.geogarage.com/routes

Then zoom into our area. The depth charts will load and you can use the route tool to see how far the depths are from the various ports. The route tool has two little rectangles connected with a line.

Thanks for the site Mike, its top notch and has the best information out there.

Here's a quote from a USGS Survey:

"According to our bottom trawl survey, round goby

numeric density has shown an overall increasing

trend during 2003-2009, but with high inter-annual

variability (Figure 9b). Round goby numeric

density decreased from 158 fish per ha in 2008 to

25 fish per ha in 2009. Round gobies have now

been captured at all transects, at depths ranging 9

to 91 m, and will likely continue to contribute to

the diets of Lake Michigan piscivores into the

future. Given the importance of round gobies in

the diet of burbot, an offshore predator, and in the

diets of yellow perch and smallmouth bass

(Micropterus dolomieu), nearshore predators, we

may expect round goby abundance in Lake

Michigan to level off in the upcoming years as

predatory control begins to be exerted."

And its source:

http://www.glsc.usgs.gov/_files/reports/2009LakeMichiganPreyfish.pdf

Based on this they've got them in trawl nets as deep as 91 meters (roughly 180 feet).

Nice work!!! Way to start the year!

I do a polomar, it can be difficult to cinch it up with 50lb though.

Nice Dave... the boonies isn't too far at least its good fishing out there.

Nice work Jimmy!

Nice job, great day on the water today!

Nice to have the afternoon off work for Good Friday. Fished from 1:30 -4:30 and ended up with a 3 man limit -- 16 for 18. Tossed 1 back pulling lines.

We fished 160-200 with 170-190 being the best. The wind kinda forced us into more of a south troll (SW and NW seemed to be best) and ended up in around 180 down by Saugatuck.

Fish came all over-- 3 color, 5 color, 7 color, braid dipsys at 180, wire dipsys at 220, riggers at 40, 60, and 120. Tried for some big kings but kept picking up cohos.

Best lures were white paddle pickled sunshine fly (rigger at 120 - 4 fish), mtn dew spin doctor mirage fly (braid dipsy 180 back - 5 fish), jerry lee silver streak mini, mixed veggies silver streak mini, dreamweaver super slim monkey puke with orange tape, double orange crush standard size and chrome green spin doctor green crinkle fly.

Kinks in wire... not good. It's a weak spot and eventually it will fail there. I spool up with 1000' and have always just cut back where the kinks are. Last summer I lost like 2 or 3 entire dipsy setups and finally decided to ditch that wire and respool. The old stuff had lots of kinks and always curly cued up at the end. Another thing to avoid kinks is always have the line tight. I put a bead before the swivel and also reel it in all the way to the tip always--when a fish is coming in, or when I'm storing the rod too.

Depends how tight it was spooled... If its tight already I would say no. I replaced my wire diver line last summer and did not do this 1lb ball thing. I spooled them nice and tight to start with. Have had zero issues.

I would say any... just depends on what you're comfortable with. I run a 18ft Lund Tyee and have fished in 5-6 footers--maybe not the smartest but I've never felt unsafe. Last few weeks we've been running out 10+ miles out of Holland with no issues. Just make sure your equipment is in tip top shape and you have good electronics. Pick your days... in July/August the fishing out of Holland was spectacular last year. Lots of nice calm days to fish.

Welcome to the site Mike!

Had to scratch the itch and get out there after all the good weekend reports. Had a short trip with my brother but we ended up 2 for 2 in a little over an hour. Left the dock at 7pm and ran out to 180. It was just a slight chop and we were able cruise at 30 mph the whole way out there. Fished 180-210 on a W troll and connected on a 3 color with double orange crush and also a rigger down 40 with moonshine blue beef-- both cohos.

Fish definaly dropped in the water column a little, we had zero hits on the high lines. Again the bellies were full of bugs. Had alot of marks deep but couldn't get them to budge.

Nice work Mike!

Pm sent on the bags.

Thanks

I would say around 6-7 miles... should take like 15 minutes or so if you can go 25mph.

Maybe the forecasted 15-25KT East winds on Friday will blow the dirty water in close out and it will finally clear it up!

One othe observation from last weekend... the water inside 50ft was really dirty and churned up. The further you got out the more clear/blue the water got.

Hard to say... I would skip the beach and start out in like 80-100fow and just head west. Run baits up and down the water column and then target specific depths when you get hits. It seems like the temp maps have been pretty off lately because its so foggy over the lake. When we went out last Saturday the actual temps were MUCH different than the temp maps. We had 61 in the plume, upper 50's in close and it dropped down to 44 offshore.

Nice work Terry! It was awesome fishing out there!