Black Pearl 5/22

 Fishing is excellent right now.  Catches are mostly king salmon of a variety of sizes.  We are fishing 130-240 FOW.  Downriggers and wire divers are set to target 50-100 down.  We have had spoons on our outdowns.  Flasher flies or meat rigs on our chute and divers.  Spoons on Blood Run coppers of 100-300 lengths.  Have a great holiday weekend.

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5/18-5/21/2023 Rod Boss fishing report

Sunday morning after the Mother Nature decided to reset the water we set in 110 fow found fish right away starting out 1-2 while setting lines. Continued to have a fairly good pic of the fish to start working through the 110-140 fow. With Alewives meat bites on both high divers back 140. Had a cousin chute bites with Black knight crinckle fly combo down 75.   Also had a low diver take with white paddle green dot green crinckle fly combo.   ​

On a hard west troll we took fish from 160-240 fow picking fish consistently every few minutes. We turned around and did a hard east troll and that was not nearly as productive. However it did harvest us a nice king at the end of the trip. ​

High divers with meat, low diver with paddle fly combo and the chute with a paddle fly combo did most the work today with all of them taking 4 or so bites each. Also took fish on 7 color, 140 copper, ​A few corner rigger bites to round out the action.

Who knows what will happen as the lake warms up. But the fish out of Holland are surely out deep. There is some fish inside but it sure seems that the main biomass is out in the 190-220 fow range. ​

May 12-13 2023 Rod Boss fishing report

The season is starting out good for salmon fishing. There is lots of fish out there. However the fish are scattered from depths of water from 50-220 fow. The salmon are being caught mainly in the top 50 fow with some coming down deep toward the bottom in the deeper depths. 

The rods that were working the best were 5 and 7 colors. 100, 140 and 200 coppers. Free sliders on the downriggers have also been productive.

A few meat and fly bites here and there but for the most part it has been a spoon bite. Good spoons have been Mongolian beef, wonder bread moonshine, orange chilly Willy. 

Hope this helps. Feel free to stop by slip E-1 and have a conversations about fishing 

Black Pearl Report 5/14/23

2023 has started with excellent salmon fishing out of Holland.  Fish are very scattered with fish being caught from 40ft to 240ft.  Fortunately, the ones you contact seem pretty willing to bite.  We fished 120-205ft landing 9 of our 18 bites.  Spoons in Stingray and magnum sizes took the majority of our fish.  5-7 colors of Blood Run Leadcore and 150-250 coppers took fish.  Blood Run wire divers back 170-190 on highs and 100 on lows took bigger fish with Spin Doctors and flys or Big Weenie Meat rigs.  Traxstech riggers took a few rips with mag spoons.  Happy Mother's Day!

Capt Mark Rapson

517 449-5543

www.hollandsportfishing.com

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Black Pearl Report 8/1

 Fishing is very good right now.  We have been catching mixed bags of kings, trout, coho and steelhead.  We captured 9 pink salmon during the month of July as well.  Fish are being caught from 150ft right on out to the 270s.  If you find a good troll and speed just let it ride on out.  Traxtech riggers down 140-200 have been taking a complete mix of fish with Big Weenie meat rigs, paddles and flys and spin doctors/flys.  Divers back 200-300 on highs and 140-200 on lows have been productive with the same rigs as riggers.  Blood Run coppers in 250-450 lengths with a mix of spoons and Big Weenie meat rigs, and spin doctor/fly combos have been taking fish as well.  

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Black Pearl Report July 11

 Fishing remains good out of Holland.  We have been catching 7-15 fish per trip with mainly lake trout mixed with steelhead and a few kings.  We've been fishing 120-170 ft of water.  Riggers near bottom for trout.  Divers back 330-450ft have also been taking trout.  We've taken the majority of our silver fish on Bloos Run coppers in 100-275 ft lengths with small orange spoons and a few fish on meat rigs.  Have a great week!

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7/7 - 7/8/2022

7/7/22 We fished from 120-145 fow holland to Saugatuck with the best water being south.  Finished 8-15 for the trip. 

Corner riggers were the best for trout with spin and glows.  1 low diver bite for trout is the only additional trout bite we were able to get. With silver bites coming off the 175 and 225 coppers with standard spoons.  

7/8/2022 We fished the same waters as 7/7/22 but the fishing was better north by holland. Had a hard time getting the fish in the boat. At one point we were 2-10 but finished strong at 6-17. 

Corners again were good for trout. Also a high diver towards bottom with a pro troll and green fly worked up a trout. 

Silver bites came off the 100, 125, 175 coppers. Standard size spoons. No silver fly bites today. 

Hope you enjoy your weekend. Hope this information helps. 

Mike Flinsky 

Rod Boss Sportfishing 

616-218-6264

Slip E-1

Happy Independence Day!

 Fishing has been on the slower side for silver fish.  We have been catching 8-14 fish per trip with the majority being lake trout mixed with steelhead and a few kings.  We have been fishing 110-160, shallower in lower light and deeper as the sun is higher.  We have been targeting lake trout with riggers on bottom and high divers back 300-400 ft.  Our low diver back 140-200 have taken a handful of silver fish with big weenie meat rigs.  Blood Run coppers in 150-450 have been taking a few steelhead and kings pulling spoons on the higher stuff and meat rigs on the deeper.  Have a great Fourth!

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6/23-6/24

 Fishing is improving.  We are no longer fighting the full moon.  We are averaging around 15 bites a trip.  Trout are biting corner rods with spin n glows and some divers with paddle flies just off bottom.

Silver fish have been biting coppers ranging from 50 copper  all the way to 450 coppers.  The best copper rods have been the 50,175,250 and 450 coppers.  With standard size spoons and 8 inch paddles with green flies.  

Enjoy you weekend on the water. 

Mike Flinsky 

Rod Boss Sportfishing 

Slip E-1

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Happy Father’s Day 6/17-6/19

Picking up decent numbers of trout with a few silver fish mixed in. Averaged around 10-15 bites per trip. The full moon played some havoc with the bite this weekend. The early bite was good with a little lull in the middle with a strong late bite. Most of the trout bites came early in the trip and the silver bites came later in the trip. 

The king bites came in spinny flies and 8 inch paddle and flies on a 225 copper, high divers just off bottom. Meat bites came on 400, 450 coppers and low divers back 220. The spoon bites all came 100,125,200,350 and 450 coppers.  Hot Jordo, natural born killer, starburst, Mongolian beef and helmet.  

Most of the trips was spent in the 110-150 fow with 120-130 fow providing most of the bites. 

Mike Flinsky 

Rod Boss Sportfishing 

616-218-6264 

Slip E-1

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Rod Boss Sportfishing 6/1 - 6/9

 

 Fishing remains strong. Picking up good fish in good numbers. Fishing from 160-180 fow seems to be the best water currently. Strong spoon bite. Using standard size spoons on coppers ranging from 100 to 450 feet have all taken multiple bites per trip. Spinny flies on diver rods have been work with high divers set back 350 and low divers set back 220. Green flies behind Trout candy 10” spin doctors and all chrome spin doctors have been working the best. Downrigger rods set between 45-85 with spoons on main and the sliders have taken multiple bites over the last few weeks. 

Mike Flinsky 

Rob Boss Sportfishing E-1

616-218-6264

Black Pearl 6/13

Fishing remains good out of Holland.  We have been fishing north in 130-200ft.  The majority of the catches have been chinook salmon with a few coho, steelhead and trout.  Blood Run 75-250 ft coppers with regular stinger spoons have been our top catchers.  The same spoons on outdowns 45-65 down have been good.  Our divers have been slower but producing our bigger fish with Big Weenie meat rigs.  Highs back 200-300 and Lows 120-200.  Green/chrome and UV/yellow have been best.

 

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Black Pearl Report 5/27

 Fishing is very good out of Holland.  Salmon are being caught from Saugatuck to Port Sheldon in 120-180 FOW.  100-300 Lengths of Blood Run copper with a mix of regular size spoons have been rocking fish.  Blood Run wire divers back 200-230 on highs and 90-120 on lows have been taking bigger fish.  Downriggers down 40-70 with spoons have also been good.  Have a great Memorial Day.

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Black Pearl 5/9/22 Report

Salmon are showing up off Holland from the beach out to 70ft of water depending on the day and species targeted.  The coho have been between the sand bars along the beach out to 30ft.  We have been targeting them with body baits on flat lines and short cores.  We have taken kings from 25-70ft depending on where the warmer water ends up that day.  3-7 colors of leadcore, 100-200 coppers and riggers down 15-25 ft have been best.  Stingray, Mag Silver Streaks and Fuzzy Bear spoons have been most productive.  

Tight Lines,

Mark Rapson

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The fishing hasn't been very good in the past couple of weeks. I've talked to several fisherman and its been tough in all depths lately.  I heard of one great fishing trip, but he took his friends across the lake to Wisconsin for the weekend!

With our 4th of July cookout coming up, I still need some fish for the grill, so despite the dismal outlook, Kent, Tony, and I headed out last night and started fishing at 6:30.  It wasn't too rough, but by 6:40 Tony was sea-sick and I wasn't feeling too great myself.  But by 7 we hooked into a monster on the down rigger, 55 down with a magnum Green Dolphin.  It was a great fight and we didn't see the fish until it was right behind the boat and we new it would be big, but the it size surprised us; WOOH! Kent helped guide it in while I netted.  We were so thankful to get it netted smoothly on the first attempt as the line broke just as it fell in the back of the net. This King went 24.8 lbs and was the biggest fish we've caught in long time.

We hoped catching the fish would settle his stomach, but it didn't, so we turned around to head back in, promising that we would quit soon and get back to land.  On the way back, we had another screamer on the big dipsy set at 100, on 1, with a pearl fish catcher and fly.  We new we had another monster, but this one broke the swivel on the old snubber behind the dipsy and we lost it.  

So, 6:30 to 7:30, 1 for 2, with the action in 125 to 130 FOW.   

Maybe it was because we had low expectations, but catching that 1 fish was so much fun! 

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Report from 4-10-21

 From Z-Dock: We were a steelhead away from the grand slam. 

-There are lake trout throughout the water depths of 40 feet to 200 ft and normal size spoons are best on downriggers and divers. -There are coho shallow from 5 feet of water to 20 feet. Mini streak spoons on 1 color of lead or size 5 flicker shads on flat lines are best. 

-brown trout are also mixed in with the coho on the same baits.

-small king came on a 3 color lead on a thin fish. 

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So, In hopes of being able to cook Salmon for our annual picnic, we went out fishing last night, despite all the bad reports.   Unfortunately, this report is that good either...   Craig, Kent, Ryan and I fished from 6:30 to 9 pm in 80 to 120 FOW and ended 1 for 3 and did catch a nice 8 lb King.  It was 80 down in 90 FOW on a Mag Glow Flounder Pounder. 

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Sunday July 29^th:  Cleared the pier heads just before 6:30am to hunt fish till lines up at 1:00pm.  Steelhead – could not find one.  Downrigger bite was happening and the kings were back.  Didn’t bother with 300’ copper since the water was so warm.  Worked my way outside of the fleet to about 155 FOW.  Pick up a young king on downrigger 60’ down with a fish flash / spoon combination at about 7:30am.  Took another hour before getting bit again in 145 FOW on SWR down 80’ with a holographic spoon on the business end.  Waited until 12:30pm for the next bite.  On a SW troll in 135 FOW passed a boat going North dragging a yard sale but fighting a fish on one of the lines.  Wishing that was my boat, I bumped SWR off the bottom and boom, tip up and at the end of the battle, I was rewarded with a 20lb king, hook out in the net no less.  Belly was full of bait fish.  Dipseys were silent and not a factor in the hunt and the water was warm on top.  Everyone is running long lines, some managed well and others not so well.  Need to have patience and avoid running over lines this time of year – unless of course, you must.

Capt Dick
Fin Warrior

I committed to fish at sun up rain or shine and the weather & waves were perfect.  Not hot, no flies but lots of nats.  I also was reminded why I like fishing the low traffic evening bite.  Sun up is akin to government cheese being handed out at the trailer park.  Boats roaring by throwing out wakes as your setting lines, vessels not understanding who is stand on and who is give way in a crossing situation, 360 loops to get the boat running <150' off your gunnel out of harms way.  But that's OK, I will be back out tomorrow.  The bait fish are sparse and bite has slowed down.  My last three trips produced fish with empty bellies.  Went 2-for-3 this morning.  Banged a steelhead as I was setting lines in 100 FOW on 3-set dipsey 130' out with a evil alewife on the business end.  Then nothing for hours till the other 3-set 125' out dipsey roared to life with a 13.5lb king.  Black spinny with a black/gold fly did the deed.  That same rod got spanked about 20 minutes later however, the fish broke off the fight very quickly.  As I was pulling lines, double orange crush on a 2-color copper, 10' down on a rigger, the last rod in the water popped but it likewise was gone as I picked up the rod.  Coming in, there were still small pods of bait fish inside 100 FOW at about 20' down.  Likely why the steelhead are still in the skinny water.  Need to pick up ice for tomorrow morning :)

Capt Dick
Fin Warrior

Dropped lines at 4:00pm for a few hours of pre-Fourth of July fishing.  Worked the 120-180 FOW north of the harbor with the action coming in 135-155 FOW.  Landed 3 steelhead, one last year adult at 12+lbs and one modest coho.  No kings on this trip.  Steelhead appear to be be big and abundant this summer.  All the action was on riggers, 65-80' down.  Proctologist fly on a 8" chartreuse spinny  and magnum holographic spoons continue to work well.  Just one drive by on an orange crush dipsey and no action on the full copper line.  Top water is beginning to warm up.  Water flies are back but not too bad - get the flea flicker line out.  And of course the biting flies are always around when its hot and flat.

Capt Dick
Fin Warrior