BigHam12

Fish 6:30-8:30pm straight out of Holland. 3 for 3, 3 kings, largest being 15lbs with the other two 5-7lbs. Water was warm top to bottom, had to go 120-130ft down to find 49-50 degree water. Fished 130-160FOW, with most marks and all fish taken in the 140-145FOW range. Downrigger with white paddle/white fly 125ft down took 2 kings and low diver 250ft back with blue/green meat rig took the 3rd king.

Haha, here’s a picture of the moonshine spoons: Blue Jeans, Five Eyes, and Green Jeans. You can look them up on fishusa or Captain chuck’s II websites. Most local tackle shops along the lakeshore will carry Moonshine and/or Dreamweaver products, just say the names and they’ll know what you’re talking about. Tomorrow morning looks like it has the best conditions potential to get out there, but we’re going through a windy stretch this week.

I agree with everything Zgrinder said. My opinion your best bet is to stick to one port and do your best to learn it. Keep working zones in/out north/south in Grand Haven until you find some hits! The weather buoy out of Port Sheldon (https://limno.io/station/45029/), just south of GH is also a very useful tool. I typically target water around 49 degrees and as you can see in the buoy data the South winds have blown in a lot of warmer water and moved that "sweet spot" to 60-80ft down, which means Kings have probably moved deeper in at least 100-140FOW range. Over the weekend we had cooler water and break point was around 40ft down so I was hitting nice kings in 90-110FOW... The strong South winds pushed that break point deeper, so last night I was getting kings in 120-140FOW and 60-80ft down (Out of Holland). The King bite will always be best the hour of sunrise & sunset (6-7am & 8:30pm-9:30pm). It's absolutely worth the early mornings and late nights! The simplest and most cost effective lure during those times in my opinion are the Moonshine RV magnum spoons (green jeans, blue jeans, five eyes), or a Dreamweaver A-Bomb spoon. Meat Rigs also work extremely well, Dreamweaver Kevin's GF and pickled sunshine are classics that work very well, or anything green/chrome. Most local bait shops will sell Familiar Bite Atlantic Herring cut bait for meat rigs that works very well (I know Mac Baits in Holland does). I'd be very curious to know if your Yellow Bass works tho! Keep us posted on how you do! Always happy to share info with new big lake guys. The link again: https://limno.io/station/45029/

Haha, 2hrs of sleep, but so worth it. The lake conditions were too nice not be out there!

Fished 7/12 Friday night & 7/13 Saturday morning this weekend, so combining into one report. Combined 7/9, 6 Kings, 1 Lake Trout. Found some good size with the kings weighing 7lbs, 14lbs, 17lbs, 20lbs, 20lbs, and 21lbs! Good class of adults this year! Friday evening fished 8pm-9:30pm, Saturday morning fished 5:45am-Noon. But all kings were taken in an hour window right at sunset in the evening, or an hour window right at sunrise Saturday morning. Saturday morning the lake was absolute glass and sunny so I suspect that contributed to the early shutdown from the Kings. All kings were caught in 90-110FOW, targeting the 49 degree temp line, 30-60 down generally. Bite was all spoons (mostly green jeans) and meat rigs for me. I always have a few flasher/fly combinations in the water but none of them took hits. 7/12pm: 3/4 (Landed a double of a 20lb & 21lb king!) - All fish caught in 90-110FOW straight out to very slightly North of Holland. Temp break wasn't deep, 30-40ft down, so 200 coppers & divers set not far back did the work. 8:30pm (King, didn't land) - 200 copper: Moonshine RV magnum Green Jeans Spoon 9:00pm (7lb King) - Low Diver 80ft back: Dbl White Pearl SD w/ Pickled Sunshine Meat Rig 9:30pm (21lb King) - Low Diver 100ft back: Green Dot Chrome "The Closer" SD w/ Chrome Two Face Meat Rig 9:30pm (20lb King) - 275 Copper: DW magnum A-Bomb Spoon 7/13am: 4/5 - 3 Kings, 1 Lake Trout. Lost one in the morning as we doubled up right away on coppers on boards, they slammed both boards on the same side at the same time. Was able to narrowly avoid tangle and land 1 of the 2 to start. Kings were all in the first hour of the morning in 90-110FOW, 40-60ft down roughly. Again generally straight out from Holland. West/NW troll took all Kings. 6:00am (King, didn't land) - 200 Copper: Moonshine RV magnum Green Jeans Spoon 6:00am (14lb King) - 275 Copper: Moonshine RV magnum Five Eyes Spoon 6:30am (17lb King) - Low Diver 100ft back: Green Dot Chrome "The Closer" SD w/ Chrome Two Face Meat Rig 7:15am (20lb King) - 200 Copper: Moonshine RV magnum Green Jeans Spoon 11:15am (10lb Laker) - Low Diver back 200ft: Green Dot Chrome "The Closer" SD w/ Chrome Two Face Meat Rig 150FOW, targeting late day Lakers with my low divers. For context, my low divers are wire running DW 124mm divers on setting 1.

Got busy so posting late. Fished out of Holland in the evening 7:30pm-9:30pm last week on 6/13. 6/7, 5 Kings, 1 Coho, ranging from 5-9lbs each. Took first fish at 7:45pm, and last fish at 9:30pm while pulling lines. South winds the day before pushed warm water back up to Holland. All fish were caught between 110-140FOW, and deeper in the water column. Downrigger down 90ft and 275-400 coppers all took fish. Direction didn't matter, caught fish trolling south, caught fishing trolling north, and while turning between the two directions. Here's what worked: Downrigger down 90ft: 11in Dbl white pearl paddle w/ Pickled Sunshine fly (took 2 fish) 275 copper: 8in Dbl white pearl spindoctor w/ pickled sunshine fly 325 copper: Moonshine 5 eyes mag spoon 350 copper: Dreamcatcher spindoctor w/ UV Gasoline meat rig 400 copper: Chrome Green Dot spindoctor w/ UV Two Face meat rig

I absolutely know that frustration! lol. Sometimes they just don't bite but what I've found best is to just stay in that zone where they're marking and keep circling it until the bite turns on, which is typically right at sunrise or sunset. Some evenings it feels like a 30-60min window where they'll turn on and bite, then just be on them. I've found Moonshine RV glow spoons to work best then. I'll troll over the marks in the daylight with all sorts of different baits and nothing, not until the sun kisses the water and disappears does it suddenly became go-time and they bite.

Fished 6pm-9:30pm. 1/3, 9lb Laker early & lost a decent king at sunset. Lake was very calm, very light South/Southeast wind made for easy trolling any direction. Spent the first couple hours out deeper out of curiosity, 160-190FOW, picked up 9lb Laker in 160FOW halfway to Saugatuck on Low Diver with meat rig. Didn't mark much out there. Around 8/8:30pm moved back in and started seeing some great marks along with some bait in 120-130FOW so fished that zone heading back North through sunset. Bite turned on at sunset, 9-9:30pm. Fought & lost a nice king on 275 copper dancing anchovy spoon around 9:20pm. Another hit & miss on same meat rig on low diver back 200ft shortly after. Fished Grand Haven tournament over the weekend and the fishing was brutal.... fish were hard to come by and many were small 1-3lb kings. Amatuer winner caught 20 fish totaling 48.7lbs... (2.4lb average). However, based on the marks & hits I saw last night and the two previous Holland reports from 6/3 on here I'm encouraged there are some decent kings around yet by us here in Holland. 9lb Laker 175FOW, Low Diver back 200ft, 6:30pm. Innovator 10in SD w/ A-Bomb meat rig Avg. King (Fought, Didn't Land): 130FOW, 9:20pm, 275 Copper w/ Moonshine Dancing Anchovy mag spoon Hit & Miss in 130FOW at 9:30pm, Low Diver back 200ft. Innovator 10in SD w/ A-Bomb meat rig