Well, we prepared for and fished the Saugatuck tournament again this year hoping to do as well as we did 2 years ago - winning the 333 event.
We did NOT do that well...but congrats to Vern and team Deep V who won the 333 and placed 5th overall in the Pro Division...
Friday we had the pleasure of taking out 4 kids (I call them kids, there were about 16 years old) from up north. These guys had never been big lake salmon fishing before, but they were fisherman (rivers and lakes) and knew hwo to follow instructions. Great guys. So, I've been fishing the big lake on and off since I was 5 years old - 32 years now. Biggest fish I've caught was a few weeks ago - 21.5lbs...I was pretty happy with it. Well we get all the lines set - fishing most a meat program - nothing takes a hit - I'm thinking crap...we're not going to catch these guys any fish...then it all starts.
Dipsey fires 150 back on 1.5 with in about 120fow - 18lb king.
A while later Rigger 70 down fires - 27lbs 4 oz.
Kids first ever big lake salmon - ruined him for life.
300 copper goes for another 18lb fish.
caught a laker on a high line - go figure.
Missed another 3 or 4 fish in there somewhere, but everyone was happy.
Saturday - first day of the tournament - set up in 70fow southwest - everyone else went north for some reason.
Went 3 for 6 before 7:15, then it dried up.
10:30 we found some more fish in 150fow headed straight west.
Picked up 4 of them.
Hit 200 fow, turned around to the east.
Turned west in 140, immediately picked up another 2 fish (of 3).
Ended the day in 5th place with 9 fish - weighed one 17.3lb king and one 8.45lb steelhead in 333 hoping to get a laker in day 2...we knew we'd be nowhere near 333 champs with all the big fish coming in.
Day 2 of the tourney - decided to go north with everyone else - went to 80fow NW, set down on nw troll...almost the exact same thing as day one - no fish during setup, a few before 7:30 - then NOTHING.
Only problem with day two - NOTHING lasted a lot longer and we could not keep fish on. Ended up with 4 for 8 totalling 18lbs.
Fell from 5th to 15th place - but still got some gas money. :-).
I have to say it was a GREAT weekend on the water with some new friends, and the team did awesome for two days - had a blast.
WOW, what a nice 3 days to be on the lake....I don't think I've ever fished a nicer 3 days in a row.
Thanks to everyone who helped out with sharing information:
Flycatcher
Deep V
JimBobber
Got Fish
Great job guys...we had a wonderful time.