mrhookup Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 Decided to hit Grand Haven Saturday morning with a couple of my good fishing buddies Alex and Jake. With the cold water in tight having warmed ten degress to 55F on the surface, we were hoping that despite the less than stellar reports throughout the week, the fish had finally found the bait in the mud. Having heard the bite in there has been short lived at first light, we decided to get there extra early and fish in the dark for a bit. Started setting lines at 4:30am with the place to ourselves in front of the pier heads. About 10min after getting our 6 rod spread in the water we had our first fish on. We were 2-4 with a couple smaller kings in the net by 5:30am before another boat had even broke the pier heads . As it started to lighten up a little bit and the parade of boats was exiting the channel, the bigger fish started to bite. Our next 3 passes across the mud line included a double of 18lb and 21lb kings, a 25lb king, and a double of two very large skamania steelhead that were both lost near the back of the boat after an amazing aerial display. To our surprise, most of the boats headed deep with only about 4 others staying in tight and a couple of those bailing after about an hour. Finished the day at 1pm going 9 for 15 (7-10 on kings, 1-4 on steelhead, and 1-1 on coho). North and South trolls in 25-35 FOW across the front of the pier heads accounted for almost all of our hits and we never went deeper than 45 FOW. A couple things we noticed throughout the morning: anytime we put a flasher/meat rig down it killed the king bite on our riggers and divers, and most of our hits came in the clear water just before or just after crossing the mud line, no hits trolling alongside the mud line on either side. It was an all spoon bite for us except for one small king early on a plug. Here's what worked: Stingray Nitro Twister - 175' back on board with 1oz dive bomb - 6lb king Stingray Nitro Twister - 175' back on board with 1oz dive bomb - lost king Stingray Nitro Twister - 175' back on board with 1oz dive bomb - lost king Green Lightning Ace High - rigger @ 14'- 8lb king Stingray Michael Jackson - rigger @ 24' - 18lb king DW Carmel Icicle - Slide Diver on 4 out 30ft. - 21lb king Stinger Gold Dbl Orange Crush - 125' back on board with 1oz dive bomb - lost steelhead Stinger Jawbreaker - 125' back on board with 1oz dive bomb - lost steelhead Stingray Carmel Dolphin - rigger @ 16' - lost steelhead Stingray Michael Jackson - 24' down on rigger - 25lb king Stingray Michael Jackson - 24' down on rigger - 8lb king Stinger Steelie Stomper - 125' back on board with 1oz dive bomb - 9lb steelhead Stinger Steelie Stomper - 125' back on board with 1oz dive bomb - 4lb coho DW Carmel Icicle - Slide Diver on 4 out 60ft. - 23lb king Stingray UV Green Dolphin - Magnum Slide Diver on 3 out 45ft. - lost king Jake with our first fish of the morning Alex with his first fish to the net The result of our first double of the morning Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrhookup Posted August 17, 2014 Author Share Posted August 17, 2014 more pics... Jake with the big fish of the day and his biggest ever the only steelhead we managed to get to the net Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrhookup Posted August 17, 2014 Author Share Posted August 17, 2014 more pics... each of us with our biggest fish on the day the catch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buster107 Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 Great job!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
highpointdf Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 We did very well deep on Friday, deep. Twelve in the boat friday morning. We were one of the boats that went out deep saturday, assuming. Bad move. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmfishon Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 awesome job the plan paid off !! gotta love that, glad you spoke of the flasher meat rig result, i dont buy the best thing ever some guys talk with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrhookup Posted August 17, 2014 Author Share Posted August 17, 2014 awesome job the plan paid off !! gotta love that, glad you spoke of the flasher meat rig result, i dont buy the best thing ever some guys talk with them.Thanks Grant. This is our first year running meat and it's been very hit or miss for us, although this isn't exactly a "normal" year for water temps out there right now. They've worked best for us on divers running 50ft down or deeper, nothing shallow on them so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BenLubbs Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 Nicely done Kevin! I'm surprised how clean those fish look for being so close. A couple of the ones we had yesterday were looking pretty brown. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin1950 Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 Thank You for that detailed report and the "Fish Porn". Planning a couple of outings this week but out of South Haven. Send some of that cooler water toward the Southern Basin, Please.Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wheres Joe Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 Great Job KevinI went out of GH on Sunday Morn before dark and landed 2 kings and 1 steelie. Lost one at the back of the boat and lost a monster who snapped my leader from the dipsey. All fish on plugs except the brake off which was on a orange spoon:( All fish were full of spawn. 8:30 AM and the bite just died. I was doing the same program as all the charters around us. East and west troll between 90 and 125 FOW. For $10 you would think GH would have a fish cleaning station at the launch. Guess we are supporitng the Fountian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrhookup Posted August 18, 2014 Author Share Posted August 18, 2014 Great Job KevinI went out of GH on Sunday Morn before dark and landed 2 kings and 1 steelie. Lost one at the back of the boat and lost a monster who snapped my leader from the dipsey. All fish on plugs except the brake off which was on a orange spoon:( All fish were full of spawn. 8:30 AM and the bite just died. I was doing the same program as all the charters around us. East and west troll between 90 and 125 FOW. For $10 you would think GH would have a fish cleaning station at the launch. Guess we are supporitng the Fountian. Yeah I'm personally not a fan of the $10 fee or the 25-30min channel ride to the lake, both are reasons I fish Port Sheldon most of the time. I really only head to Grand Haven when there is the potential for fish in the mud (since Port Sheldon doesn't have that) or if it's late in the season and I think there are more mature kings staging closer to port. I do think you can get a yearly pass for $50, so your committing to fishing it more than five times if you want to save money. I believe I've fished it 4 times now and I didn't get the season pass so I've reached my limit for saving money there ....I do wish they had a cleaning station as well though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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