Plugs

Is this a boat out of Holland - blue?

I have found Perch patterns are good as well. Have had some good luck with a Smithwick with a white belly when nothing else seemed to work, so a white back to a spoon might be something to think about. Other than that, black and yellow drives them crazy at times!

There was a thread lately about this in Wisconson and I am curious about something similar in Michigan. Are there any good places where you can set up in a Marina and pitch a tent next to, or near the boat? My family loves to camp, but since we have gotten a little larger boat a few years back, we have not done as much as inland lakes are typically difficult to access with a 25 ft boat. Ideal would be to have access to the big lake from a slip and be able to have a tent within walking distance where we can have fires and somewhat of a normal camping experiance. The boat is big enough for us to sleep on, but for anything more than 1-2 days would be a bit much. Thanks for any advice!

Tony, If you have an open trip and Jason is in - I may want to tag along if there is room:thumb:. Jason fishes on my boat when he is not on his own and I would love to learn a little about Eye fishing as I'm sure it could be usefull around here at times. I cannot remember the exact details, but this one was the lone fish on a Thursday tourney night and they would not let me weigh it:lol: - somewhere around 100 FOW south of Holland.

Nice work, was hoping to get out tonight, but a sick son needed me more than i needed fish. Thanks for the info - hope to get out as soon!

Well - I still run both, but use copper much more than lead these days. Shorter lines with same depth achieved does not equal more work to most people I fish with:lol:. You do have to be a little more careful letting it out and slow to start is the ticket. Make sure you get the Copper from Blood Run - handles much nicer than anything else I have tried. Good luck:thumb:

I believe the lure you are describing is called a Buffalo Bill.

Love it nice work!

We have some 99% rest on the boat for ankles that seems to.slow them down. Not sure where to get it as hour late brought it to my boat.

Thanks - it was not a half glow, so Moonshine - Moonshine it is!

Steelie came on a MS spoon with black dots on one side - not sure of the name.

Set lines at 6:00 in 130 FOW and headed south west. Fished from 145 – 105 all night, but did not really figure out a good pattern ending up 3 for 7 heading in a little after 9:30. Fish came on: 1 - Can’t remember on a 150 copper - 7 pound Steelie 2 - Wire dipsy back 100 with a Coho Killer spinny and an aqua fly – 14 pound King 3 - SWR rigger down 80 with a Blue Flounder Pounder – 12 pound king Had one nice fish break off a rigger rod after a fight and another one break off the other rigger rod just after it tripped:confused:. Don’t know what the deal was as we rarely have any issues like that. The Fish were fighting hard then making a big run at the boat and then yanking back hard again. Also managed to tangle a 2 color SRW with a Braid dipsey at both ends including the fly leader – had to cut everything:mad:. Water was very nice with a current coming out of the north. We marked the most fish in 145, but could not get them to go. Several boats at the dock found hungry fish in the 80 – 110 range. Note: BRING FLY SWATTER & good luck:grin:!

Have a freind looking for a charter recommendation in St Joe which is a little far south for me to come up with names. They would have a total of 5 people with a couple kids. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks, Shane

I was not trying to imply anything about any post in particular, it was just an observation about all the posts I have read, talking to other boats & my own experiance. Just curious if there was any additional feedback. I have done everything I can think of over the years to improve including, sharpen hooks (or put new Owners on), check lines, change line type, etc... It just seems to me that I have read a lot of posts this year with slighlty low hook up ratio's and I have had a couple trips with the same - maybe it's just me. I got some feedback recently (Tangled Mess & Real Stories - thanks) that said to speed up if fish are hitting short, which was new for me & appreciate the reminder on the troll direction. I was only trying to get a little additional feedback. Thaks for all the info and I really appreciate all the info shared:thumb: Shane

Nice work & thanks.for the report! Quick question for one of the guys who seems to pay attention to all the details. Reading posts and based on some of my trips, do you think the hook up ratio is low for the number of fish this year? I have not crunched any numbers, but it seems like a general observation is that it is lower than normal. Do you think there are a larger number of coho's in the area this year?

Tom - Yep it was one of them:D. They have not all been tested yet, but two of them are doing quite well. Crock's debut was last night and took the first fish. Dragon fire had been out a couple times and did as good, or better than any other lure we had out. The new Stinger Red Head Dolphin had been pretty good as well.

Set lines at 6:00 in 100FOW straight out from Tunnel Park heading North. Did not mark much in that water and started to work our way deeper. Based on the graph, there did not seem to be a ton of fish around, but we caught and marked the most in the 120-140 range. It was nice and calm for the first time this year:thumb: and we pretty much did loops from Tunnel Park to spyglass pulling lines a little after 9:30. Ended up 6 for 7 all kings and everything on riggers landing one double. -3 hits on a rigger parked at 90 with a homade lure called Crock (silver, green with white dots) -2 hits on the same rigger on fixed slider with a MS Schizo running at about 50. -1 hit on the other rigger with a UV mixed veggies at 95. Radio sounded like it was a bit of a slow night. Good luck!

Can I ask if you went north or south? Nice work and thanks for the report!

Nice work! I am still looking for a day with some flat water, but the last trip did not require long jons which was nice. Thanks for the report.

Left the dock around 5:00 and set up in 140. We headed west to around 200finding most of our fish and marks in the 155 range. We trolled East, West and South with no real pattern other than the FOW. Riggers worked best for us tonight with spoons down in the 100 - 130 range, but we got a couple smaller fish on a 150 copper and a 300 copper. We ended up 9 for 12 & two doubles with the following working well: Red Head Dolphin Dragon Fire - Homade lure! MS Blue Jeans Jager Bomb We had 4 spinnies and flies out with nothing going. Good luck tomorrow - it was a great night on the water:grin:

Got on the water a little after 9:00 & set up in 100 heading SW. The waves made it a bit interesting and had a little of a slow set-up. Once we got 7 rods set, had a wire diver with a blue spinny and green fly set at 220 go off. The fish went to over 500 feet in a hurry before getting off and man did he make a mess. Wire Diver mixed up with a full core and a 400 copper which took a long time to figure out, but we ended up with all the gear back just having to scrap the full core line. Headed out to about 160 before turning around as the wind was just howling and waves were building. We ended up the day 5 for 10 with 3 kings and 2 Coho. When pulling lines one of the riggers had a Lamprey hooked right through the middle of the body:eek: - man those things are ugly. I have never heard of anyone just catching one with no fish. Fish were caught all over the place and the biggest king around 12 pounds coming in 50 FOW. Lures that got hit were: Blue Spinny - green fly Pink Panties Dragon fire - homade lure took three bites:thumb: UV Blue Mango Moon shine Bloddy Nose Boat ran good and we had a good morning.

I have been browsing another another boating forum that mainly deals with salt water off shore fishing for fun this winter. They tend to be making much longer trips, but talk about having Ditch bags and what they have in them. I typically have plenty of supplies on the boat, life jackets, cloths, food flares, an extra hand held radio, etc..., but would be hard pressed to put them all together quickly if we were taking on water in an emergency. So, I am thinking about putting something together and wondered if any of you have one and what you have in it? Also, maybe a strange question, where would you get such a bag for a decent price? Are they just dry bags that you would use for canoeing, or camping? Thanks

Great looking boat!

That would be great, I'm sure we can figure something out. Let me know what day you are looking at and I will try to keep it open. The new ride looks very nice!

Tony, I do want them. Just need to figure a way to get to your shop. I don't get out that way much. Thanks