https://www.greatlakesfisherman.com/fishing-hunting-outdoors/rss/1-fishing-reports.xml/RSS Feed for Lake Ontario Fishing ReportsenHolland report from this morning. Ended up going 9 for 9 with a really nice mixed bag of silver fish and a lake trout. Kept 6 quality fish and released 3 smaller ones. Started in 90 FOW and picked up an early fish in 95 FOW before eventually working out to around 180 FOW. Most productive water seemed to be 130–150 with fish scattered throughout the water column. Biggest takeaway today was the fish wanted SPEED. Best action came trolling east around 2.8–3.0 SOG. Tried slowing down and running meat for a while but spoons were definitely the better bite for us today. Best rods: - 225 copper was the MVP by far taking multiple fish - 3 color stayed hot all morning - 175 copper took fish - 150 copper also contributed No hits on the diver or downrigger for us today. Best spoons today: - Moonshine Soda - Moonshine Bad Toad - Orange/Black Silver Streak on the 3 color Coppers from 175–225 and the 3 color were key.Mon, 18 May 2026 01:42:20 +0000Saturday afternoon I was looking at the forecast up and down the coast. Didn't really like what I was seeing most places but settled on giving Ludington a try. Got a camping site at the State Park and drove up. Woke up around 4:30 am and decided it sounded too windy. Woke up again at 6:30 and decided to give it a shot - since I was already in town. Well, motores out past the pier heads and about 2 miles out started getting some pretty big swells out of the NW. I'd say mostly 1.5-2 feet but some definitely felt like over 3 feet. I got a smaller king setting lines and after netting it decided to turn around and troll back to port. Picked up 5 lb king in 50 fow. Then nothing until I crossed between the pier heads. I was in the process of rigging a few lines for some pike when the down rigger goes. Nice 7 something lb king. Started doing loops between the pier heads and picked up 2 more. Down rigger hits came with the spoon 5 feet back or so. Wouldn't touch it with a longer lead. LiveScope was showing a decent concentration of fish. With a surprise limit went back to the launch and loaded up and drove home. Got home before 2 pm. Fish hit the following: Stingray Jager Bomb - 100 Copper - king Stingray Orange Edge - 150 Copper - king Silver Streak Mag Chilly Willy - Downrigger 19 down - king Moonshine Mag Mongolian Beef - 3 Color Lead core - miss on a nice fish. Silver Streak Mag Ludington Hulk - missed another nice one Moonshine Custom Mag RV Double Trouble - Downrigger at 21 - king Moonshine Standard RV Bad Toad - 3 Color Lead Core - king. Speed everywhere from 2.0 to 3.5. Some people may complain about leaking that fish are at the pier heads. However I only saw one other boat do a couple loops. Plus fishing offshore is really hot right now. And it's where I would have wanted to fish had the waves let me.Mon, 18 May 2026 00:28:32 +0000Beautiful morning on the lake today. A bit foggy at first but lake waves were 1 ft or less by 8 am. Got a late start with first line in around 7 am. Before I could get my second line in the water a 11 lb king hit a MS Dancing Anchovy on a 10 color leadcore in 90 fow. Trolled out to 150 fow with best marks in 130-135 fow. Had a double in 135 fow but lost them both. Then another miss in 130 fow which I managed to lose as well. 3 misses seemed to be light hook ups. Talked to one boat at DNR cleaning station. They had 5 kings in 200 fow. Not my best outing but did have a buddy (bird) join me and the dinner was delicious.Mon, 18 May 2026 00:16:01 +0000Tue, 12 May 2026 17:23:29 +0000This is a very important call to action to stop 2 bills, HB5801 and HB5802, that will allow state licensed commercial fishers to catch and sell walleye, perch, lake trout and other sport fish. House Bills 5801 and 5802 have just been introduced in Lansing. These bills would significantly deregulate and expand commercial fishing and open the door to harvesting and selling species like walleye, perch, lake trout and other sport fish from the Great Lakes. Use of gill nets and trawling would be allowed. Michigan is home to a world-class walleye fishery in Saginaw Bay, Lake St. Clair, the Detroit River, and Lake Erie. Anglers travel from across the state-and the entire country-to fish these waters. This isn't just recreation-it's a major economic engine supporting thousands of small businesses: charter operators, marinas, hotels, restaurants, tackle shops, gas stations and more. We've seen this before. Lake trout were commercially fished to near extinction in Lakes Michigan and Huron. It took 60 years of taxpayer-funded restoration to bring them back-and they still rely on hatcheries. Walleye and perch followed a similar path: depleted, rebuilt, and now at risk again. Perch populations are low in many places in the Great Lakes. Opening these fisheries to commercial harvest risks undoing decades of progress. Around the world, poorly managed commercial fishing has repeatedly ruined fisheries. Public safety concerns are real. Expanding commercial netting increases navigation hazards across heavily traveled waters for both anglers and recreational boaters out for a cruise. Entanglements have caused serious accidents-and even fatalities. Today, Michigan has a relatively small number of commercial fishers-but more than ONE MILLION recreational anglers. These bills would shift access to a shared public resource away from the many and toward a select few, putting thousands of livelihoods at risk. Even more concerning: a large number of House legislators have signed on as sponsors. There are 60 co-sponsors which is a majority needed to pass these bills in the Michigan House of Representatives. Now is the time to speak up. Share this email with everyone in your organization, family and friends. Contact your state representative. Call or email their office and tell them: * You oppose HB 5801 and 5802 * You support protecting Michigan's sport fisheries * You urge them to withdraw support and vote NO Our Great Lakes fisheries belong to all of us. Let's protect them. We are also building a list of organizations and businesses who oppose HB5801 and HB5802 that we will present to legislators. If you can add your organization to this list, email - Info@glsalmon.org You can find your representative and their contact information here: https://www.michiganvotes.org/legislators Sponsors * Jason Morgan (District 23) * David Prestin (District 108) * Gregory Alexander (District 98) * Cameron Cavitt (District 106) * John Roth (District 104) * Karl Bohnak (District 109) * Parker Fairbairn (District 107) * Ken Borton (District 105) * Pat Outman (District 91) * Gregory Markkanen (District 110) * Jason Woolford (District 50) * Angela Rigas (District 79) * Jerry Neyer (District 92) * Brian BeGole (District 71) * Kathy Schmaltz (District 46) * Matt Bierlein (District 97) * Douglas Wozniak (District 59) * Luke Meerman (District 89) * Tom Kunse (District 100) * Gina Johnsen (District 78) * Matt Maddock (District 51) * Nancy DeBoer (District 86) * Matt Longjohn (District 40) * Alicia St. Germaine (District 62) * Jaime Greene (District 65) * Jay DeBoyer (District 63) * Bradley Slagh (District 85) * Bryan Posthumus (District 90) * William Bruck (District 30) * Mike McFall (District 14) * Reggie Miller (District 31) * Stephen Wooden (District 81) * Julie Rogers (District 41) * Erin Byrnes (District 15) * Peter Herzberg (District 25) * Carol Glanville (District 84) * Penelope Tsernoglou (District 75) * Sharon MacDonell (District 56) * Jimmie Wilson (District 32) * Jennifer Conlin (District 48) * Jasper Martus (District 69) * Julie Brixie (District 73) * Brenda Carter (District 53) * Veronica Paiz (District 10) * Noah Arbit (District 20) * Tonya Phillips (District 7) * Dylan Wegela (District 26) * Morgan Foreman (District 33) * Kara Hope (District 74) * Kelly Breen (District 21) * Natalie Price (District 6) * Samantha Steckloff (District 19) * Donavan McKinney (District 11) * Matt Koleszar (District 22) * Tim Kelly (District 93) * Ron Robinson (District 58) * Jennifer Wortz (District 35) * Nancy Jenkins-Arno (District 34) * David Martin (District 68) If we can generate 100s to 1000s of emails and calls to vote no on HB 5801 and HB 5802, we can stop these bad bills. Do it right now!Tue, 12 May 2026 10:46:45 +00004 for 5 this morning. 3 kings 1 laker. kept 2 and released 2. 60 - 90 fow. Super slims in green and blue were best on riggers and divers. No board bites.Sun, 10 May 2026 23:04:16 +0000Fished Muskegon this morning. Went between 50 and 140 fow. Ended up 9/10 with 8 kings and a steelhead. Mag and standard size spoons down 30 to 60. Ended up close to Duck Lake and then trolled south for a few hours. No hits after 9:30 am - except the steelhead.Sun, 10 May 2026 16:44:50 +0000Fished to the north past the steel plant up th pavilion. We went from neat short out to 60’. Thin fins, flicker shad, flasher-fly. Flatline, riggers, dipseys. Nothing. Never marks a fish or any bait. Picked up and moved south past the inlet. Nothing. Pulled lines at 3:00. I know the Coho club had a decent catch last weekend but we couldn’t figure it out the vid on the club page shows all the boats headed SW at the blast off out of Michigan City. All them big boats must have out to deep water or closer to Chicago? Sent from my iPhone using Great Lakes FishermanThu, 07 May 2026 15:04:51 +0000Fished mid morning shakedown cruise, 9-11:30am. Went 1 for 2. Both were steelhead, but I lost the second one in a bumbled net job being solo. Fished 40-80fow, 1/2ft waves, wind 5mph. Surface temp 47.5°. 1- steelhead, 7.69#, 27-1/2", bloody nose mag, DR dwn 26', back 50, 2.6sog, W dir. Ball tmp 47.6, 51fow (9:45am) 2- lost 2nd steelhead (9:53am) on 3C, caught on thinfin, approx 6-7#, lost in net strikeout. Sent from my SM-A156U1 using Great Lakes Fisherman mobile appWed, 06 May 2026 17:51:33 +0000Fun afternoon with a friend and his daughter. Ran 9 lines on my 16' boat for the first time in many years and it actually all worked. only had a crossed line at the end pulling lines. Got out from 2:30 to 5:30. We focused on 15 to 20 FOW. Managed to get 2 hits as the NW wind and waves increased - not forecasted... First hit - we netted a nice Coho. Hit on a blue/orange Rapala (F11 I think) on a flat line off a board in 15 FOW on a N troll at 2.5 to 3.0 SOG about a mile N of PS channel second hit - we netted a nice fat 28" 8LB brown. Hit a Gold with orange thin fish on a 1 color off a board in 20 FOW on S. troll at 3.0 to 3.3 SOG a little less than a mile N of PS channel. We had to chase the brown around with the net, he went across the back of the boat a dozen or so times but never got into either slide diver. I tied all brand new 15Lb leaders for this trip and I am glad I did. I believe it is a master angler brown Wind picked up, I turned the boat back N and it was hard to go up wind without spraying the boat so we called it a trip. Great Times. More to come...Mon, 27 Apr 2026 01:02:19 +0000Fished 7:30 to 10:30am, 15-21fow. Got another half dozen for my limit. 4 out of 6 on Rapalas, blue minnow, purple minnow, Bandit traffic light and Sprinkles got the other 2, all were dhjs or deep diving cranks. Lines were 44-67 behind cranks, 1.4-1.7 trolling speed was best. Walleye were 19-20-20-21-21-23". Water was as yesterday chalky with areas of stain. Little waves covered the lake. Water temp 54.1 at ball 8ft down. BIG bottom half of TREE (12ft long , 12" dia with short thick branches sticking out) went under my boat ( 2-3ft below) while trolling. It was easy to see it even in the chalky stained water. It glanced off part of my cable on my Fishawk probe. I thought it was going to take it off and mess with my lines on the boards. I was just glad I didn't hit something like that while on my way out. Later I lost a board but made a recovery. Heading home to holland now, remember to head out east then go north. Now its back to salmon fishing. Sent from my SM-A156U1 using Great Lakes Fisherman mobile appThu, 23 Apr 2026 19:35:02 +00001st trip on Lake Erie ever. Late start. Went 6 for 6 on. Rapala DHJ12 Blue Glass minnow and Sunfire DHJ12. Bandits Deep walleye Sprinkles. Walleye nation Reaper disco. Fished 12-20 fow. lines ran from 44 to 60ft back. Trolling speed 1.4-1.7 was best, fish were 19, 20,18.5, 22, 21, 23". Ran east and north, water was chalky to semi-stained. Ran one small spoon picked up large white bass. Water temp was 51.3 at ball in 12ft down Sunny day, very little waves. Enjoyed the day. Sent from my SM-A156U1 using Great Lakes Fisherman mobile appThu, 23 Apr 2026 01:41:35 +0000Fished 6:30 -9:00 am mostly to get boat straightened around and ready for the season. Most boats were out past 100 FOW. Didn’t hear any reports this morning but did hear earlier in the week that some boats were successful in 140-170 FOW. I fished inside mostly 45-75 FOW. Marked a ton of fish at all areas of the water column so I stayed inside the others. Perhaps not a great plan. Went 1-1, 8:45 am , 11 lb King, rigger down 40 ft in 66 FOW, orange mag ms spoon. No hits on 3,5,7 color leadcore with various orange, green spoons mostly standard sizes with small red and orange SD and dodgers. Either didn’t have on board or couldn’t find my thin fins. Beautiful morning. Sent from my iPhone using Great Lakes FishermanWed, 22 Apr 2026 20:09:51 +0000My boat has not seen April fishing in 10 years. It is ready this year - We did the shakedown trip Saturday from noon to 2PM We netted a nice Coho - She hit a Monkey puke Stinger on a 1 color in 20 fow 1 mile S of Holland Pier on a N troll at 2.5 - 3 SOG - only hit. Boat and the new electronics ran perfectly. Now I need to get out deeper to try out the freshly rebuilt riggers. Let the FUN begin...Mon, 13 Apr 2026 10:02:18 +0000https://data.freeboard.tech/station/45029/ Thanks to all who donated to make this possible.Fri, 10 Apr 2026 18:52:00 +0000Getting the boat wet for the first time in 2026 this Saturday. Heading out of South Haven or Saugatuck in the evening. Any reports on Walleye or Coho?Thu, 09 Apr 2026 23:23:34 +0000Hello gang I am new to the lake and would appreciate any advice on fishing near and around the naval station. I have not boated on Lake Michigan before, but I am a Marine who has plenty of time on the water. I'm looking for discussion of what types of fish we can target, what basic rods and reels for a lake setup, etc. Not looking to spend a lot of money - just to be safe and have fun fishing with my sons. Any and all info is appreciated. Semper Fidelis! Sent from my iPhone using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile AppWed, 08 Apr 2026 16:20:35 +0000I am interested in everyone's opinion on the water level decline and reason/s you believe this is happening.Tue, 07 Apr 2026 02:30:27 +0000If anyone's interested in creating a Salmon fishing Network based around those of us who typically fish from say...Port Washington to the IL line, please send me a message and I'll start an email group. As we all know Sharing/ receiving info on up to date, daily depths where the fish are, is half the battle. I've been Salmon fishing LM for 30 yrs, recently retired and plan on going a few times a week this year.Mon, 06 Apr 2026 14:18:03 +0000Hello, Purchased a Hewescraft hardtop sea runner late last year that came with a Lowrance Elite FS 9 at the helm, NAC1 Auto Pilot w/ sea star hydraulic steering. Got the boat out once before winter hit hard; (did have to bust through some ice at huron to get onto erie!) the auto pilot worked great making steering adjustments from the HMI inputs on the Lowrance. Decided I wanted a Lowrance mounted at the business end to be able to make auto pilot steering adjustments out back.. IYKYK. Installed a 12" Elite FS at the helm and moved the 9" out back with just power and ethernet between the two units. The 12' at helm has the transducer and NMEA network connected from a splitter. Everything syncs and works except autopilot on the 9", ALL works on the 12" now at the helm. The aft lowrance connected by only ethernet states no autopilot computer. Is it just a NMEA 2000 I'm missing to the 9" or is it a configuration setting that I am missing? Thanks in advance for any help. If you are familiar with these systems, please let me know if you need more info to provide input.Tue, 31 Mar 2026 00:50:17 +0000Good afternoon. Question for those of you that enjoy fishing solo: What is your best practice for netting a feisty salmon when you're by yourself? Long rod +long leaders + long landing net + feisty fish = Early Release?Mon, 30 Mar 2026 18:44:52 +0000Set up by the power plant around 11 am. Found 50 degree water and marked fish but after 2 hours of no bites we decided the next to nothing for visibility wasn't going to work. Moved out to 100 for and the visibility was still less than 3 feet. Tried out there for a few hours and got 2 coho on the brads thin fish red squiggles. Also had a lake trout snap on a modified blue dolphin mag near bottom, but didn't stay on long. Boat worked great and managed to burn a decent amount of last years gas off.Thu, 19 Mar 2026 23:43:17 +0000One ramp is in at both Holland and Port Sheldon. They are pushed far in to accommodate for the low water access. Watch your props when you leave the docks. Port Sheldon is really showing alot more shoreline protruding. Check the pictures. 6 trailers were in the lot at Holland. None at PS. Though it did look like one boat broke the skim ice there much earlier. Anyone going out there, let us know how the channel is? Sent from my SM-A156U1 using Great Lakes Fisherman mobile appThu, 19 Mar 2026 19:06:30 +0000Open to all. Both events will be hooooge.Thu, 19 Mar 2026 14:31:57 +0000A great Lake to catch big Blue Walleye 4/5 hours to GTA - open water season only angling. 1600 kms of shorelines - like 1000 lakes joined together. Blue Walleye, Yellow Walleye, Smallmouth Bass, Northern Pike , Lake TroutWed, 18 Mar 2026 17:26:30 +0000