zgrinder on Fin Warrior Posted July 19, 2023 Share Posted July 19, 2023 Lake calmed down on Tuesday with 1' waves from the NW. I had not been out in over a week so I was primed to troll. Fished the evening with lines down by 5:00pm through sunset. Trolled north of the harbor mainly North & South between 130-140 FOW with one venture into 110FOW that did not produce any bites. Finished the evening 5 for 6. I tend not to run long lines when fishing solo because it takes quite some time to bring fish in. However, posts on this site convinced me to run a center chute rig and I was 'schooled' on how effective long lines can be. Five of the bites came on the center chute rig comprised of 300' weighted steel with a 16oz weight fastened immediately after the weighted steel was spooled out using an OR-16 clip. On the business end was Brad's Cut Plug loaded with tuna set behind an 11" paddle. Based on prior Smart Troll measurements with this rigging, at my trolling speed of 2.3mph, the bait should be down about 70' The first strike was the best as I just happened to be watching the rod tip when I noticed it arc 90 degrees down to the water followed by a screaming drag. That battle produced a 19lb king. I decided that if it was going to be a big fish night, I need a better hook and replaced the Mustad 3550 2/0 with a VMC 9650 X-strong 2/0. Good thinking but the other three kings that come on the right were not as big as the first (13, 9, 5lb). This was the last line pulled after sunset and it got bit in the dark. I lost it somewhere after removing the 16oz weight. The leader on the the Cut Plug was all twisted and likely got wrapped around the fish in some manner. A bit surprising it came off as the hook was buried in each of the other catches. The riggers produced one fish late in the evening, 11" white paddle white fly down 85' on the ball (15lb). Of course it got caught up in the weighted steel line but fortunately it did not wrap around and I was able to land the fish and release the weight steel line back down by hand. There was a call out for a fishing report which got about 10 responses. My apologies for not contributing as I was at the beginning of bringing in the 13lb king and maneuvering around another boat with boards out. I recall in one of the report fish being caught in 160FOW and other hits coming on dipsey meat rigs and blue flounder on a downrigger. One other comment, all the fish caught and released were naturals, noted as (N) in my report below. # Time Fish FOW Latitude Troll Rod Bait Depth Bait 1 5:43pm King(N) 19lb 135 42o51.300' NW 300WS + 16oz 70 Brads Cut Plug & Green/Silver Paddle 2 6:24pm King(N) 5lb 141 42o51.900' N 300WS + 16oz 70 Brads Cut Plug & Green/Silver Paddle 3 7:28pm King(N) 9lb 132 42o51.870' S 300WS + 16oz 70 Brads Cut Plug & Green/Silver Paddle 4 8:22pm King(N) 13lb 131 42o.49.050' S 300WS + 16oz 70 Brads Cut Plug & Green/Silver Paddle 5 9:35pm King(N) 7lb 133 ? N Downrigger 85B White Paddle White fly 6 9:50pm Miss 130 ? N 300WS + 16oz 70 Brads Cut Plug & Green/Silver Paddle 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZachEno Posted July 19, 2023 Share Posted July 19, 2023 Nice work and thanks for the detailed report! Those cut plugs seem to be doing really well lately.Sent from my iPhone using Great Lakes Fisherman 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdh Posted July 19, 2023 Share Posted July 19, 2023 Awesome report! Needed an idea for where to start this evening. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littleboat Posted July 19, 2023 Share Posted July 19, 2023 Great catch, but did you mean 7-18?Sent from my Z5156CC using Great Lakes Fisherman mobile app 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zgrinder on Fin Warrior Posted July 19, 2023 Author Share Posted July 19, 2023 Arrgh, you got me Little Boat. Writing up the post the morning after and I missed that little detail! Post is from evening of 7-18. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littleboat Posted July 20, 2023 Share Posted July 20, 2023 I don't know if you can change the post date in the app. But if you sign in on a computer I believe you can. I've made the same mistake myself. Still a great night of fishing and fun report to read.Sent from my Z5156CC using Great Lakes Fisherman mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeaFoam Posted July 20, 2023 Share Posted July 20, 2023 I was out solo yesterday as well. Fished 90-150 fow. 3 for 3. 1. 11 lb Steelhead, 110 fow, 10 color, Mongolian beef. 2. 7 lb lake trout, 125 fow, rigger down 110 ft, Kevin’s GF SD, pickled sunshine fly 3. 7 lb Steelhead, 100 fow, 10 color, Mongolian beef again i didn’t find the kings but it sure was beautiful out there. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littleboat Posted July 20, 2023 Share Posted July 20, 2023 Nice catch Seafoam. Got to get them before the weather turns on us again.Sent from my Z5156CC using Great Lakes Fisherman mobile app 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeaFoam Posted July 20, 2023 Share Posted July 20, 2023 Nice catch Seafoam. Got to get them before the weather turns on us again.Sent from my Z5156CC using Great Lakes Fisherman mobile appYeah. Looks like Saturday at this point. Sent from my iPhone using Great Lakes Fisherman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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