Holland 08-22-25 Evening

[zgrinder on Fin Warrior]

Not a big surprise that a lot of boats were out tonight. I ran solo tonight, fishing mostly 60 FOW back and forth over the Saugatuck channel.  Ran one dipsey (spoon), SWR off the downrigger as my lowest presentation (meat with no teaser) and 200 Weighted Steel on the other side (J Plugs).  Marked bait pinned to the bottom in the skinny water.  Reports were slow from 90 to 160 FOW.  I stuck to the inside cause that is what 2MD would do and kept working the marks.  However, I only got one jack about 8:00 and nothing else.  Put the evening program down, glow on SWR as my lowest line, a white spoon with a little glow on it on the dipsey and my money lure on the 200 Cu, a hand painted dark blue/green/gold/yellow ladder back J.  I have been running this J for over 20+ years with big evening bites.  Well it worked tonight.  After the sun was down in 55FOW that plug got bit, both hooks were set and the result was a 17.5# king.   I decided to rip the other two lines at that point.  There was another boat in my proximity that was patient with my boating the fish and the 180 maneuver I made to bring up the other two lines.  Looking back on it, running solo, I did not yield to his right of way after his vessel turned inland, although we were never near a potential collision.  I got him on 68 to thank him for his patience as I was in his right of way and he acknowledged it was not a problem.  So pleasant when captains are aware, understand what other vessels are doing on the water and not in a hurry to make way.   It is a big pond out there!

 

[littleboat]

Great on the Jplug change and catch. It can be quite a challenge when fishing SOLO to bring in the fish, clear the embedded barbs in the net and get back on course.
It really helps when you can work out course interaction with a completing captain after a fish capture. GOOD RECOVERY!

Sent from my SM-A156U1 using Great Lakes Fisherman mobile app

[FBD]

Fished the piers and channel in hella traffic last night and the recreational boats were very kind to my shenanigans.  Only had one tool open up his 48’ 5’ from my outer planer board and about swamp us.  Guess he could not wait another ten seconds to get somewhere.

 

For the amount of boat traffic the lack of boat passenger scenery was very disappointing.