HitMan

Fishing in St. Joe was still very slow early in the week. By May 8 fishing began to improve and later in the week fishing was unbelievable. The best fishing for some boats was 80-120 with many large Kings being caught in this water, along with a lot of Lake Trout. If you wanted numbers of fish the best was 180-220 with Coho making up the majority of the catch. Smaller Kings and Steelhead were also being caught. Wednesday and Thursday we boated 24 fish and 35 fish. 90-130 back on divers with a setting of 3 worked almost everywhere you went with regular-sized Stinger Green Dolphin spoons. 10 colors of Lead Core and Copper rigs of 150 feet and 225 feet did a lot of the other damage as well. 40-50 feet down on Downriggers was good for the higher Kings and Cohos. The best spoons throughout the week for us were the regular sized Stinger Green Dolphin, regular-sized Stinger Lemon Ice, regular-sized Carmel Dolphin, Stingray Green Dolphin, Stingray Double Edged Kevorkian, Stingray Stinger Pox, Stingray Lemon Ice, Stingray Clown, Stingray Carmel Dolphin, and Stingray Double Orange Crush. The flasher/fly bite was spotty the entire week. We would get a few bites on Wednesday with them and none on Thursday. Overall, fishing in St. Joe is back to being excellent with spoons making up the majority of the fish catching damage.

Fishing has improved out of Grand Haven and continues to improve day by day. A few Kings, 3-7 per boat, are being taken out of Grand Haven. Fish are ranging from 5-17 pounds. Fishing in the muddy water from 30-60 feet of water has been the best. The Mixed Veggies Stinger Stingray spoon has been the best for many boats along with the Natural Born Killer, Blue Veggies, Seasick, Spring Chicken and Tangerine Stingrays. Fishing should continue to improve day by day as the water temperatures rise and the alewives arrive!!! Hopefully, this weekend will be the beginning of our good spring King fishing!!!

These are SOLD!!!

It is about 9-10 miles from Grand Haven Channel to Pigeon Lake Channel.

Lake Trout season opens May 1 and the size limit for our area is 20 inches.

Yup, the muddy water is the water from the river that forms the very distinct water lines between the lake water and river water.

A few Kings were caught this morning in the muddy water in Grand Haven. All fish were 10-15 pounds. Fishing from 25-50 feet of water. All fish were taken on Stinger Stingray spoons.

I have TWO Brand New in the box Cannon Mag 15 Electric Downriggers for sale. Asking price is $425 each. Price is negotiable. Email at: [email protected] or send a PM if interested or have any questions. Thanks a lot!

Who knows! Rumors have been flying about this cut bait subject since March! I would believe nothing you hear is true at this time. I haven't heard any accurate DNR rulings on this matter yet.

Hey Guys, Here is a response letter the USDA sent to NACO: http://www.nacocharters.org/documents/USDAVHS-WaterBallastLetter.pdf NACO would appreciate any comments or concerns you have. They are preparing a packet of letters, comments, concerns, etc. to send to the USDA. You can email NACO your comments, etc. at: [email protected]

Hey Guys, Here is a response letter the USDA sent to NACO: http://www.nacocharters.org/documents/USDAVHS-WaterBallastLetter.pdf NACO would appreciate any comments or concerns you have. They are preparing a packet of letters, comments, concerns, etc. to send to the USDA. You can email NACO your comments, etc. at: [email protected]

From previous years, they start around 43° 10´ 90" N from 60 foot to around 90ish foot and continue for about 5 miles until 43° 5´ 90" N. There are also 2 or 3 deeper sets from 120 foot to 140 foot in this 5 mile section as well. The best way to know the coordinates is to go on a nice ride, on a flat day, with the family and go right up to each kingpin and highflyer and mark it on the GPS. It may take an hour or two, but it is well worth the ride in the long run.

I received three phone calls from different people fishing out of St. Joe yesterday. Two guys said this is "The best Coho fishing in St. Joe in 15 years" and everyone is very surprised. Most guys got 20-30 Cohos in 1-2 hours, a few Browns, a few Lake Trout, and very very few Kings. Yesterday, fishing was a lot slower in Michigan City than it was in St. Joe. It took boats 8-10 hours to get 25-30 Cohos there with no other species being caught.

Early spring King fishing usually depends on your location. The majority of the better fishing begins further South and slowly moves North. For example, Grand Haven and St. Joe are good examples of places to fish near the harbor and channel because of muddy, warmer water, which attracts alewives. But, this type of fishing can be hit or miss and is not extremely reliable this time of year. Usually, shallow downriggers, 2-5 color cores, and shallow divers are used. Usually, the depths from 50-120 feet are good for spring Kings from St. Joe to wherever. Our spread usually consists of 3 downriggers, shallower cores (3-13 colors, but more 3-10 colors), shallow divers, deeper wire divers for the deeper fish, and surface planer boards. The biggest problem with late April to May King fishing is the water temperatures are usually similar from the surface to 120 feet down. This allows for the Kings to be anywhere they want and you have to have a variety of techniques to get them at different levels. It is very common to catch a large king on a 3 color core on a spoon and 100 feet down on a flasher and fly combination at the same time. Early King fishing is very diverse and you have to adapt to the conditions.

I second that! It is a lot less stressful when you have two nets and get into a herd of fish all at once. I would recommend Cumings Nets. They are locally made in Flint, MI and the customer service has always been fantasic for as many years as I can remember. Ranger nets also make a good net. Be sure to get a strong but light handle, otherwise netting becomes too much of a job and is like work.

Here is a link to the LIVE webcam of the Salmon in the Classroom project. It is kind of interesting watching the little fishies swim around. http://webcamserver.westottawa.net

Our Hit Man No-See-Um Rapture Fly has really sucked over the last couple years. It was by far our best fly in 2003 and 2004, but has let us down the last couple years. Interesting that it is your best fly behind the dew spinnie still.

We have had a lot of "bad eaters" on the copper rods over the last 3 years. Yes, we do get a lot of foul hooked fish on the copper and they do come unpinned within a minute or so, or we fight them and they come in side-ways and foul hooked, etc. Anyways, we do catch a lot of foul hooked fish on the copper or if we lose some of them initial line ripping fish, there are scales on the hooks; a good indicator the hook wasn't in it's mouth.

We normally leave at 6AM. If fishing is extremely good later in July and August, early in the morning, we will call the customers and see if they want to leave at 5:30AM. Anyways, we don't want to get up any earlier than we have to, plus most people have a hard time getting to the boat by 6AM anyways. As of this year, all our morning trips will be 6AM-12PM and all afternoons will be 2PM-7PM. We definitely don't see a need to get out earlier than that for our own tired state and the customer's sake.

You always put your mono or surface boards out first, so they are the fartherest from the boat. You would then put your lead core rods closer to the boat. When you want to reset a rod you just let it free spool straight out the back of the boat and then when you think it is time, stop free spooling and the board will pull right back into it's original position. For example, when offshore fishing, we usually run 4 surface boards and 6 lead core boards. We would have 2 surface boards on a side and 3 lead core boards on a side. The 2 surface boards would be fartherest from the boat with a 1/4 oz and 1/2 oz, and then your 2 color, then a 3 color and then a 5 color coming closer to the boat, etc.

#1 Copper (225 feet-375 feet) #2 Lead Cores (3 colors-20 colors) #3 Wire Divers #4 Downriggers

You always put the shallowest running core the fartherest out. The deepest running cores are closest to the boat, just as Levi explained. When weather permits, we run 4 core rods on a side. For example, the 8 or 10 color is farthest from the boat, then a pair of 13 colors, then a few 15 colors, and lastly the 17 and 20 color rods closest to the boat. I hope this explains it well enough!

Handheld VHF radios all depend on the cost. You get what you pay for in a handheld VHF radio. The more expensive the radio is, the greater the range is most likely. We have a $400 Raymarine that works great. The range picks up boats from Whitehall to Holland, while in Grand Haven. It is clear and has good battery life. The best idea is to shop around for handheld VHF radios and see what features you can get or are interested in for the price. Meanwhile, you can also get a great mounted VHF radio with brand new up-to-date features for less than half the cost of a similar handheld radio. It all depends on what you want to do with it and how much you want to spend.

Luhr Jensen 11" White/Pearl Fishscale Coyote Flasher with Oceana Rapture Fly or Little Bride Rapture Fly

In charter boat talk, a spinnie is a Spin Doctor or FishCatcher. We usually always start with a 15 feet lead on the downriggers and then shorten or lengthen the leads when approriate. But, overall, 15 feet is a good starting point. We will run them as short as 5 feet or as long as 50 feet.