6/12/2025 Rod Boss Sportfishing

 Fishing has been pretty decent the last few weeks leading up to the cotton flying.  Seems like fishing is starting to hit it normal June slump.  Hopefully it will be a short lived slow down.  Fishing has been good in the 180-210 fow going for Salmon.  It has mainly been a spoon bite with a couple fish being taken on flies or meat but the majority of the bites are coming from spoons.  Copper rods from 100 to 400 lengths have been working the best.  With a couple extra bites coming on the downriggers, and even fewer bites coming from the diver rods.  Good luck happy fishing.  

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Black Pearl 6/2

Well we are back in and have been sporadically fishing over the past month.  The May weather has fishing a few weeks behind with water temps mainly in the high 40s.  We are fishing 160-220ft from Saugatuck to Port Sheldon.  Catches are mainly king salmon in the 5-12lb range.  Riggers 80-150 down with flasher flies, divers 180-260 on highs, on lows.  Our 150-400 ft coppers with a mix of spoons have produced.  Cottonwood season is fast approaching so get out and enjoy this week of nice weather. 

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Rod Boss Sportfishing 9/1/2024

 Fishing has been great for the last couple of weeks  not sure how long it will continue but it has been really consistent.  Start fishing 70-95 fow on a north troll holland to Port Sheldon then move out deep on the south troll return to port.  High divers back 180-200 low divers back 90-110.  Mix of meat and flies on the divers.  Flies and spoons on coppers, lengths from 175-400 with 200-300 lengths doing most of the work.  Riggers with spoons early maybe taking 1-2 bites with spoons  riggers haven’t really been that productive for us  but the Chute in bottom continues to be the best rod on the boat.  White spinny fly and white fly down the same depth as what your graph is.  

Probably the last post for the season.  Time to work on the boat and the equipment to hopefully make next season even better!  

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Rod Boss Sportfishing 8/25/24

 Fishing has been great!  The full moon is ending and the fish are biting very well.  The fish don’t start to bite u til the sun starts to come up.  80-100 fow, north trolls have been best lately.  Lots of current so running very fast to the north 3.0-3.4 then run very slow 2.0-2.3 to the south.  Riggers down 50-70 with spoons and spinny flies, high divers back 170-200 low divers back 90-100 all with a mix of meat and flies.  200,225,250,325,350,400 coppers have all been active with mainly 8.00 paddles and flies.  The 

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Rod Boss Sportfishing 8/23/24

 The week after the lake flip has been pretty go so far.  We have been fishing from 70-140 fow.  Starting inside early then moving out as the day goes.  Mainly paddles and flies on the medium to lower coppers 250-400.  Probably not worth running many coppers above this as the fish seem to be in the bottom 2/3 of the water column early then maybe the bottom half of the water column as you go deeper to the 100-140 fow.  Mix of meat and flies on the divers have been working.  High divers back 160-200 and low divers back 90-110.  Riggers down 50-70 have been active, mainly the slides as there are a lot of cohos around.  

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Rod Boss Sportfishing 8/14/24

 The lake has warmed up from the blow over the weekend.  With temperatures from top to bottom of the lake being around the 70 degree mark.  You can start to find colder water on the bottom of the lake as you get deeper.  The 180-240 fow has been producing good numbers of fish you just have to to get the lines deep enough to get to them.  High divers back 300-400 with meat flies and low divers 200-250 back with meat and flies have been quite good.  Riggers have been really good down 100-150 and just off bottom.  The rigger just off bottom has been the best rod on the boat.  If you have coppers 350 or deeper maybe they will go but they have been fairly inactive.  

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Black Pearl 8/14

 Salmon fishing continues to be good when the weather allows us to get out.  Fish are being found in 160-220 FOW mainly below 100ft.  Riggers and wire divers have been most productive with a combination of flasher flies and meat rigs.  Looks like more rough weather over the weekend but hope to be back out Sunday and Monday.

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Rod Boss Sportfishing 7/20

 The lake flipped and a full moon  the water inside is colder than the water out deep. You can’t always fish the pier heads and expect to be productive.  However when the lake flips it is a good opportunity to try something different  

We fished the pier heads today.  White body moonshine spoons Happy meal, black pearl, green jeans, dirty white boy, mean jeans, solid glow, green jeans half slice, helmet, raster goose were all good spoons.  On 2,3,5 colors and 50,125,140 coppers.  Small diameter divers on 2 diver rods. 

We went 20-30  with our 4 man limit.  

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Rod Boss Sportfishing 7/7/2024

 Fishing is about as good as it gets.  80-90 fow of water to start and then maybe sliding out deeper if the fish move out.  Spoons on coppers 125,150,175,200,225 have been really good.  Happy meal, dancing Alwewife, U of M froggy, Shelly snack and green pirate have all been productive  high divers out 80-150 with meat rigs and low divers out 70-90 with spinny and paddle flies have been very productive also.  Riggers with spoons down 35-60 and chute down to bottom have been picking up a few trout here and there.  Start early as the bite shuts down on the sunny days.  

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Black Pearl 4th of July Week

 Solid fishing out of Holland this past week despite the lake rolling.  Catches of king salmon, steelhead and lake trout are the norm.  Fish have been scattered from 75ft-160ft with the majority being caught 30-70 down.  Riggers 40-60 down with spoons and paddles have been decent.  Divers back 160-200 on highs and 90-110 on lows with a mix of meat rigs and flasher flies.  150-400 coppers with spoons on the higher gear and flasher/flys on the deeper stuff.  Happy Fourth of July!

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Rod Boss Sportfishing 7/6/2024

Fishing continues to be great.  Big numbers of big fish around at the moment. Make sure your equipment is where is should be or you could break stuff off.  

80-110 fow in the morning has been good.  125, 150, 200, 259, 300 coppers have been productive spoons like Happy meal, dancing anchovie and u m froggy on the high coppers and spinny and paddle flies on the lower coppers have been best  Divers with meat and flies have also been good.  Highs back 150-200 and lows back 80-110.  

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Black Pearl Sportfishing 6/24

 Fishing has been stellar out of Holland the past week.  Catches of 10-17 fish per trip with kings, coho and steelhead.  Sea fleas are getting thick so time to put Sea Flea line on your riggers.  Riggers 60-90 down were decent with flasher/flies.  Blood Run wire diver back 180-240 on highs and 100-160 on lows were very good.  Blood Run 200-400 coppers were also good.  We had flasher/fly set-ups on nearly every rod.

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Rod Boss Sportfishing 6/21/24

100-110 was good to start then moved out to 120-140 both north and south trolls were productive. North troll was better. Coho spinny and flies on chute down 53 and high divers back 150 were good. Low diver back 90 -120 were decent 8 inch paddle and flies. Corners down at bottom spinny flies were also good. Straight out to the north and back. No takers on meat tonight  

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Rod Boss Sportfishing 6/15/2024

Today was pretty good fishing. 90-100 was really good to start both north and south trolls. Then moved out to 140-150 both north and south trolls were good. High diver back 350 meat and low diver back 200 spinny fly. To start high diver back 150 low diver back 90 with spoons went well.  Spoons on higher coppers and meat and fly mix on deeper coppers. Whites were good early, Purples and blues were good both early and late. 

Black Pearl-Memorial Day 2024

 Fishing out of Holland has been pretty slow the past week.  Catches have been 3-6 fish per boat of mainly kings and a few lake trout.  Low light fishing in 80-100 ft has produced mature kings but the bite window is short.  Once the sun is up fish are being caught sporadically out to 240ft.  Our best rods have been Blood Run wire divers back 140-200 on the highs and 100-120 on the lows.  We've had best action with Big Weenie meat rigs and DW Spin Doctors.  Hopefully fishing picks up soon.

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Black Pearl 5/6/24

 2024 is off and rolling out of Holland.  King salmon are scattered but showing up in decent numbers.  We have caught fish from 80-150 FOW the past week.  We took fish on 150-300 coppers, wire divers back 180-230 on highs and 90-130 on lows.  Riggers 40-90 down also produced.  We ran spoons on our coppers and outdowns with regular Silver Streaks and Stingray sizes being the most productive.  Divers with flasher flys and meat rigs produced.  Hopefully we get some stable weather and less wind this next week.

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Black Pearl 8/28

 Well fishing has been very good over the past few weeks.  Definitely winding down on the mature kings as they move north.  We've been catching 10-15 fish per trip with a nice mix of coho, kings, steelhead and a few trout.  The kings have been from 110-150ft.  Coho get thicker as you move out to the blue colored water.  Our Fishhawk temp probe has been critical as the late August winds have been shifting the water around.  Our riggers have been 50-90 down with regular size spoons on the outdowns and a flasher/fly on the chute.  Our high divers at 200-230 back and lows at 90-120 back have been taking mature coho and kings with meat rigs.  Blood Run coppers in 200-400 lengths have been pulling regular sized spoons and flasher flys.  Have a great remainder of the season!  Black Pearl came out of the water today so that's a wrap on 2023 fishing for our crew.

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Black Pearl 8/14

 Fishing has been excellent the past week.  Catches mainly consist of king salmon in 70-110 FOW.  Our rigger have been productive with paddles and flys 50-80 down.  Wire divers back 160-200 on highs and 80-120 on lows with Big Weenie meat rigs and paddles/flys.  200-400 Blood Run coppers with flasher/flys and plugs.  

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Black Pearl Big Red Week

 Fishing has been excellent out of Holland.  We've been taking fish from 100-140 most of the past week but the east and north winds have cooled the lake each day.  We ended up fishing 70-80ft the past few days with catches of mature kings.  150-250 coppers with ace high plugs and moonshine spoons, divers back 120-180 on highs and 60-80 on lows have been most productive.  

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Black Pearl Week of July 24

 Fishing has remained excellent out of Holland.  Kings and lake trout have comprised the majority of the catch.  We've been fishing 90-170 FOW this past week.  Blood Run wire diver back 180-280 on highs and 90-140 on lows have been very productive with Big Weenie Meat rigs.  Our Traxstech riggers have been taking our trout near bottom.  Blood Run coppers in 175-450 lengths have been taking fish with a mix of baits. 

If you have a Salmon Fishing Report for Lake Michigan please click on the "Comments" link below. Fish On!