There were storms in the distance and 2-4 foot waves, but it ended up to be a good fishing trip last night.  Paul and I fished from 6:30 to 9 pm in 100 to 135 FOW and ended 3 of 4, with some nice fish!  We took a 12 lb steelhead 55 down on a bloody nose magnum.  Then a nice 15 king on full lead core with Green Dolphin Glow.  The last fish, a 10 lb king came on a slider with a small orange and green spoon.  We didn't run any flies or dypsies.

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 Paul and I fished from 7 to 9:30 on Saturday night in 80 to 120 FOW and ended 2 for 4.  A 7 lb steelhead on full core came on a green, silver, and orange pro-king spoon.  Then a 6 lb king on full core on a greasy chicken wing.  Only 2 other boats on the water but it was a little bouncy and raining.

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I went ahead and topped off the supply of fish for the today's picnic at our marina.  I took Ryan and is buddy Jeff out last night and we did a lot of driving around, but ended up 3 for 3, and all the fish were trout.  We were all over the place starting in 80 FOW and going out to 205 FOW.  We picked up fish in 135, 185, and 110.  A 11 lb steelhead and a 6 lb lake trout came on a silver/green with orange on back pro-king spoon.  The other 3 lb steelhead hit on a 4 color lead with white pro-king spoon with an orange ladder back.  The lake was pretty shloppy to start but calmed down a little as the night went on.  No Flies!  no bites on flies either...  Boats on the radio weren't having much luck.  One that did OK was 3 of 4 and got there action in 185-210.  Today looks like a great day to be out there.  Happy 4th and good luck!

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 Jim and I went out last night in hopes of topping off my 4th of July supply of fish for the grill.  It was a slow night but we went 2 for 3 on some really nice Steelhead!  The first one and probably the biggest, came on the down rigger and got off the line after putting on a great airshow.  The next two, each about 12 lbs, came on full lead cores.  One spoon was a NBK and the other was the same Green Dolphin glow that has been doing so well this year.  The fish came around 100 FOW.  Surprisingly, there were no other boats on the water last night.  Although it was a windy and wavy afternoon, the lake calmed down after 6pm and there were only 1-2 footers on the lake by the end of the night, and with the nice breeze the flies were gone.

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 Paul, Dave, and I went out from 5:30 to 10:00 and it was a pretty slow evening.  Action seemed a lot slower when you consider I was fishing with 3 poles earlier in the week and last night we had 8 out.  We ended 3 for 4 and got a couple of nice fish.  When setting up the first was a 13 lb king we picked up in 90 FOW 50 down on a magnum green/white spoon with large black dots.  We stayed in that area for a while, but with no luck.  We headed as deep as 210 then turned back around.  We picked up a double in 180 to 190 and landed a nice 12 lb Steelhead on a white pro-king with orange ladderback on 4 color lead. The other half of the double was probably the biggest, but it spit the hook and it was a full core with glow green dolphin.  We took one more as we were pulling lines in 135 FOW on full lead core.  Nothing hit the 2 flies that were out on dipsies.

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I skipped out of work a little early on 6/24 to go fishing as it looked like the fog was clearing.  It was clear for a mile or two, but then I was back in the fog again and it wasn't until much later when I found a clearing North of the channel.  I was alone and fished the same set up as Sunday, but this time from 3:30 to 8:30.  The Green Dolphin glow on lead was hot again and took 3 of the 4 fish as I ended 4 for 4 on the day (2 kings, 1 steelhead, 1 laker).   A orange ladder back on glow spoon took a 4 lb steelhead on a slider.  This steelhead danced around on the top of the water all the way to the cooler where it actually jump right in my net.  I felt pretty good about landing this one after seeing a great airshow!  Once again the fish were on the small side so I am a little worried that I won't have enough for the 4th of July Picnic...

The fog cancelled my fishing trip with Paul and Dave this morning.


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Well, on Saturday too many fish got away so I decided to see if I could put a few of them in the box on Sunday.  I took a solo trip around the same time, 1:30 to 5 in the afternoon.  Again, there was a lot of action, but the bites were light again and I lost several fish and ended 4 for 9 on my 3 rod set up with 2 small kings and 2 steelhead.  Most of this action was around 200 FOW.  Because flies weren't working much on Saturday, I went with 2 riggers down 40 to 60 with 2 sliders and also one full core lead line all with spoons.   The full core with a green dolphin glow was the hottest and went 3 of 4.  I had good action on the sliders too, but couldn't get the fish hooked.  One of them was a half green and half silver pro king that has an orange sticker on the back side.  This spoon's been doing well all year.  So, for this afternoon trip, I'd call it a success, except for the size of the fish.  The best fish was an 8 lb steelhead.  There was a also a lot of fog and small black flies which kept it from being a perfect afternoon.


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Paul and I had a nice afternoon fishing trip on Saturday, June 22nd.  We fished from 1:30 to 5 and ended 2 for 7 in 150 to 200 FOW.  There was enough action to keep us excited, but the bites were light and the fish was usually off the line after the initial strike.  We ended with 9 and 3 lb kings.  A glow green dolphin spoon on lead took 3 hits and a variety of other spoons got hits too.  The 2 dipsy fly set ups were slow and only took one hit.


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Hey - I'm sorry the reports have been lacking, but I haven't had the time to fish too much lately.  I did go out twice in the last 2 weeks.  The first time was on June 12 when my family took a trip down to South Haven.  We went 5 for 8 in 85-110 feet of water on our way there.  A bloody nose spoon on lead core took 3 hits while a home made orange mirage fly on green and mirage flasher took 2 fish on a dipsy.  The kings were small but we took a nice 10 lb Steelhead.
Next, on June 18, Shane and I went out after the storms and got skunked and had no bites.  We marked a lot of fish in the 85 - 95 FOW range but couldn't make it happen.  I blame it on the storm (of course its not technique).  Hopefully I'll make it out tonight or this weekend.

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Not much fishing info to report on my trip last night with Dan and Terri last night.  We ended 1 of 1 and took a nice 5 lb Coho.  It was a perfect night on the water.  It was warm, calm, and sunny.  We only saw 1 other boat out fishing.  We were North, South, East, & West and spent most of our time between 60 and 110 and picked up the one fish in 65 FOW on a 8 color lead with a green/silver/orange spoon.  

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Well, I finally got the boat in the water on Saturday and took a trip fishing on Sunday evening from 5 to 8pm.  Ryan and I fished mostly in 40 to 55 FOW.  We started on the South Side of the Channel, but ended up going 2 for 2 just North.  1 Shaker on a 10 color lead with a blue dolphin like spoon and a 7 lb king on dipsy set on 3 back 85' with a white/silver spoon.

I've heard of others catching fish and having good luck including a 20 lb king.

Good luck!


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Mark and I fished last night from 6-8:30ish and ended 2 for 5 in 90 to 115 feet of water.  Beside being happy with the 2 fish we caught, we were also pretty happy to have survived the storm that blew threw while we were on the water.  I knew that there was a small front coming through and thought we might make it through a small clearing that we saw on the radar.  Well, that clearing closed in on us, and we were smack in the middle of it all.  There was 40+ gusts, lightning and thunder, and plenty of hard rain (at times blowing in horizontally).  Anyway, I think Mark wished we stayed at the dock, but immediately after breaking into the clearing we got 2 hits which made things a little better.

We fished 6 rods - 2 down, 2 dipsy, & 2 lead.  We had no action on dipsies with flies.  One hit on a core and a half lead on my favorite black and green ladderback Pro King (which broke off on this big fish).  2 hits and both fish we boated came on a whitish JPlug 55 down.  The other down rigger took two hits on a wonderbread magnum spoon down 85 feet.  The fish were 7 and 9 lb kings.

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Ken and I fished last night from 6 to 9 pm and end the night 2 of 5.  One king was 22 lbs and put on a big fight and a bit of a water show.  It hit on the dipsy with white mirage fly then ripped out 250 feet of line.  It looked like it might be a steelhead at first as it launched itself repeatedly out of the water.  We nearly didn't get it in as it crossed up the other dipsy and a downrigger.  The other 9 lb king came on a whitish jplug, 85 down in 90 feet of water.

It was a pretty slow night for us and we kept on getting stuck between boats and not able to get where we wanted to go; There were a lot ob boats out last night!  Even when we were clear of the fishing boats, it seemed the sailors were there.  After trying to get out of the path of one sailor, we realized, that the sailboat just kept aiming for our us.  At this point, I had now turned my transom in the direction of the sailboat, so if they still intended to come at us, they would eventually land on our swim platform.  Well, they kept coming.  Upon their arrival, just turning away enough to avoid our planer boards, they greeted us with a "Catch Any?"

Good luck to those in the Fishing Tournament this weekend!

Wade


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I fished on Mark's boat (D-23) on Tuesday night from 7-9:30 pm, mostly in 100-135 FOW.  We were 2 for 3 with both fish being small kings, 3 and 7 lbs.  Of course, the one that got away was much bigger!  One hit was on a flasher/fly meat rig 50 feet down on a rigger.  Another was a mirage fly/flasher 60 down. And the other was on magnum orange mirage spoon on lead.

Another marina fisherman was 1 of 5 and they were mostly 80 - 110 FOW.

Zach from the shipstore, had the best report of the year catching 17 fish in the morning in the 130 FOW area!

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We had a lot of fun last night and were able to pull up to the dock at the end of the night with our head held high.  Efren, Leo, and I fished from 6 to 9:45 pm.  I had been trying to get my friends from Mexico into a few salmon, but we didn't have much luck the last couple of times out.  Well, the fish were biting again, and biting on everything that we threw out on the line.  We ended the night 6 for 9 with bites on 7 different set-ups.  Downriggers at 40 and 45 down got 3 hits, 2 of which were on a flasher/fly meat rig.  A 4 color lead line with an orange and gold spoon got one.  Both 10 and 12 color lead lines with spoons also took hits - 2 of which were on a small ladder back Pro King spoon with black and green sides.  Dipsies and Flies also had 2 or 3 hits.  Both a magnum wonder bread and a silver wonder-bread got hits.

Our luck came in 130 FOW and we we circled and did figure-eights through the same spot all night, picking up a fish each time through.  Of the 6 fish we landed, 5 were good size kings and 1 was an 8 lb steelhead.  One of the Kings weighed 22.4 lbs on the scale! This was the biggest fish my boat has seen in a few years! 2 Other Kings were over 10 lbs. We lost another 10+ pounder right behind the boat as it crossed up with our dipsy as it made a last second run.

So much fun!

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 From Capt. Steve:

On board the J D Lady Sunday 7-22-13 AM we fished north of the Holland pier in 100-170 FOW in rough and confused seas. Wind was ENE at 15-18 mph with a strong north current. I had two ex-Navy veterans on board which was good because anyone with poor seas legs in the AM would not have lasted long. The bite was somewhat slow but steady and we ended up 7 fish for 9 bites. The kings were 3-4 year olds and nice sized. The big bonus was a 12 lb 4 oz brown that we took in 140 FOW on the rigger just before we wrapped it up. Meat rigs and regular sized spoons worked the best.

 

The PM trip was just the opposite from the AM trip with flat calm seas and very little wind or current. We set up almost in the same spot I left in the morning and caught a small steelhead and small king in the first hour and then it slowed down. We fished out to 190 FOW with a good number of fish on the screen but not much action. The rain and clouds came about 6:00 PM and with it the fishing improved greatly with doubles and a quad right before we beat the storm back. The end tally showed 9 fish for 12 bites. If I put both boxes of fish together, we managed to catch kings, cohos, steelhead, lake trout, and a brown trout in one day. Now that's a mixed bag!

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It was difficult fishing last night.  I probably wouldn't have gone, but when you have friends from Taiwan and Mexico in town, its better to go out, than miss an opportunity.  Because of 3-5 foot waves and a strong current, we started out with a few tangles and decided to only fish 5 lines and we couldn't be very selective in our troll direction.   We ended 0-1, with nothing to show for our effort, except for 1 seasick Mexican.  We fished in mostly the 100-120 depth from Holland to Saugatuck.

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From Capt. Steve -

Fishing aboard the J D Lady on Tuesday 7-9-13 was good in spite of 50 yard visibility due to the fog the entire trip. Fellow marina slip holders and family were on their first time salmon fishing charter and did an outstanding job of landing 11 fish: 9 salmon and 2 steelhead. The best water for us was 100 - 120 and depths were 50- 60 down. All hits were on spoons; blue in the morning and orange in the afternoon.

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Where did the salmon go...

 Double Skunk! Boo...

Efren, Pauliz, Capt. Steve and I tried fishing Tuesday morning from 6:30 to 10 in 80 to 180 FOW and had 3 bites, but never could keep a fish on the line.  Efren and I went back out and fished from 8:30-9:30 pm and once again, got nothing.  This may have been my most disappointing day of fishing yet!

I have heard that the Lake Trout are biting, so if you know how to target Lake Trout, you'll probably get a few.


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Friday night, I took out my friends visiting from Mexico.  It was a great night to be out, except for all the flies.  We fished from 6:30 - 9:45pm and ended 2 of 3, with a 7 lb Steelhead and a little king.  We started out deep and fished the 180 - 210 area, and while we marked fish 40 to 100 down, we couldn't get any takers.   We worked our way back in and took the steelhead 80 down in 85 fow on a Mag Lemonberry.  The Steelhead put up a great fight for Efren and put on an aerial show for all of us.   Just before finishing for the night, we took the little King on a green fly and dipsy, 170 back set on 1.5 in 80 FOW.

While it wasn't big numbers, it was better than being skunked.  I'm still a few fish short of a picnic (Marina Party on the 4th), so I'm planning another trip or 2 before then.

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