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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Skunk! Paul, Mark & I fished all over but only got two bites. We fished from 6:30-9:30 & from 65 to 190 fow. Maybe next time...

Ryan and I took the boat to South Haven for the Weekend to stay and see a bunch of movies at the Waterfront Film Festival.  The plan was to fish on the way down and on the way back.  We fished Friday morning from 5:30 to 11.  Things started off great as we were setting lines in 80 FOW off the Saugatuck channel.  We got a nice king on a 4 color lead and bloody nose spoon as we were setting up the lines.  Unfortunately this was the only action we had all morning as we fished all the way to South Haven in the 80 to 120 FOW range.

Then, on Father's Day, on the ride home, we got a couple miles North of South Haven and thick fog set in.  We ended up never dropping lines as the fog lasted the entire ride back to Holland.  We spent the long trip going slow with the eyes stuck on the radar and sounding the horn as when we thought boats were around.  Besides a large sailboat crossing our bow off Saugatuck, it was an uneventful, trip - except for the hundreds of small black flies that covered us...

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Well, Mark and I gave it our best last night, but came up with a skunk.  We had one nice fish on, but it spit the hook.  Our only bite came 80 down in 130 FOW on a Wonderbread Magnum spoon.  It was a little bouncy but we tried most directions and fished from 80 to 180, marking most fish in the 100 to 130 area.

I did hear a report from the morning that they didn't get anything until they made it out to 190.  We just didn't make it that far...


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Sorry for the delay, but unfortunately I haven't had anything great to report. Over the past week I went out twice.  The first was a dinner cruise fishing trip with Kris last Friday.  We fished from 6-8pm and ended 1 for 3, mostly fishing in the 120 - 160 depth range.  The nice 5 lb coho that we caught came in 65 FOW on our way in - We basically made one large circle to the North after leaving the channel.  For a Friday night, it was remarkably quiet on the water with only a boat or two out there.

The 2nd trip was Wednesday night.  Ryan and I fished mostly in the 120 to 140 FOW and marked a lot of fish 40 to 80 feet down, but we couldn't get anything to go.  We ended the night going 1 for 1 and bringing in a 7 lb king on a 12 color Lead, with a black spoon with green and white.

Hopefully another trip this weekend.  The Lake has been pretty flat so its been fishing friendly for most any boat and anyone!

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I fished on Capt. Jim's boat last night with his son.  We had a slow start but got a lot of action as night went on, fishing from 6:30 to 9:30.  We ended 6 for 10, all kings, including two doubles.  We had one shaker and 4 fish over 12 lbs, with one probably in the 18 lb range.   Earlier on, full core lead lines with spoons took hits but then the action shifted to the dipsies and spoons.  The downriggers finally got in the game with 2 hits as the sun was going down.  We fished in the 110 to 150 range with most of our gear down 40-80 feet.  The same pro-king spoon worked well as well as a variety of magnum spoons: Blue Dolphin, Carmel Dolphin, Blue & White, Bloody Nose.  Again, it was another flat day on Lake Michigan.  Its been a whole week without waves...



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Kris and I took a late afternoon fishing trip.  We fished from 4-8pm in mostly 140 to 180 fow. It looked a bit like amateur hour as we ended 1 for 3.  It wasn't the lack of fish that made me feel like a beginner, it was more the manner of bringing in the fish.  The first hit cam 100 down on a magnum blue and white spoon with eye.  Soon after hitting it surfaced and proceeded to rip out another 500 feet of line.  The line on the reel was nearly gone so my wife proceeded to put the engine in and out of gear so that I could make a little progress on the fish.  This still wasn't enough help, so she proceeded to bring in 4 more lead lines and one other rigger so that we could stop the boat and land this monster/fresh water shark.  Unfortunately, it became evident that    the fish was foul hooked in the belly and creating an enormous amount of drag.  We boated it and the fish wasn't a monster at all, but a healthy 16 lbs King.

Later, we got two of lead lines tangled, one of which was a core and a half.  As the two of were attempting to undo the tangled mess and save the lead lines, we got a fish on the core and a half - I'm sure are constant jigging of the line made the dark green/black/magenta Pro King spoon look a bit more appetizing. I then proceeded to hand line in this nice king.  Because of the fiasco, Kris thought it would be better to film the nonsense rather than take the net.  So now, I have the leader in one hand, the net in the other, the 8 lb King in my sight, and a videographer at my side.  Right before I make my move with the net, the king takes one last dash out and brushes the down rigger line and the hook pops off.  The fish was gone and all I could do was to rattle off a few choice words expressing my disappointment.

It was a fun afternoon and the Lake was amazing!

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I had big expectations for last night, only to be let down.  Jim and I fished from 6:30 to 9:30 and ended 1 for 1, with only a little shaker.  We marked the most fish around 140 FOW and fished the 140 to 170 region pretty hard from the surface down to 90 but nothing was happening on the spoons and meat rigs that we put out.  It was, however, a perfect night on the water - calm and sunny.  There were about dozen boats fishing last night.

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With the sun shining bright and no waves on the web cam, I slipped out of work early and fished from 3 to 7 pm.  The lake was like glass at times, and only 2 other boats were out. I ended yesterday afternoon 3 for 4, losing the only fish that had any weight to it.  The 3 small ones were 2 kings and 1 coho and came in 160 to 170 FOW.  2 came on a 4 color lead line with a small size monkey puke.  The other came 100 down on a dark green, magenta, and black pro-king.  I hope to make it out a couple more times this week.


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2 for 2 on kings right now, 160 to 170 fow. 4 color lead and also down 100.

Well, I went out for the first time yesterday.  The lake was calm and it was very nice to be on the water again. I had been getting a couple of reports for this past week, most of them saying that the Lake Trout fishing was pretty good and the Salmon was slow, but the few Kings that were caught were big.  Unfortunately, We only caught 1 Lake Trout, 60 down in 160 FOW.  We were all over from 70 to 180 FOW but didn't fish anything really deep.  It sounded a little slow on the radio with one boat reporting their only fish was a 23 lb King caught deep in 180 FOW.


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I've seen a few boats headed out the Channel, but I don't have any first hand knowledge to pass on just yet. I hope to start fishing at the beginning of May.  If anybody has any spring reports, please share them.  Thanks!

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