Fake Bait

It’s June…..or at least that is my excuse. Hit the water at 6am in dense fog. Crawled out to 75, set lines and headed west. Tried everything I could think of. Deep, shallow, speed variations, changed directions, nothing happening. Dead calm on the water. Found a couple slicks and even tried top water for steelhead. Nice to be out, but looking forward to a more productive trip next time. Sent from my iPhone using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

Braved the flooded launch ramp this morning in grand haven. Originally planned on running out and starting in 100 and working out. But the pack of boats in 65’ and the bigger than expected waves kept me in closer. Slow morning, ended up 2-2 with a 8lb and 6lb king both coming on the same wire diver set 90 out. Green/pearl paddle and green hallow fly. As always, a great morning on the water. No other place in Michigan I would rather be on a Labor Day weekend morning.

Nice! Thanks for posting a report. Debating about heading out this weekend if the weather cooperates

Set lines at 90' and started heading east about 7:00pm. Out to 180 and back in to 45 over the course of the night. Marked absolutely nothing until we were back in around 90. Then marked quite a few between 90 and 80. Had one release, I will call it a missed fish just to make myself feel better. Practiced changing baits, depth, speed, direction, but nothing working last night. It was a beautiful night out there. Nice sunset and a perfect boat ride. Watched the coast guard helo search the area for quite a while. Hopefully just routine maneuvers.

Went 2/4 last night out of Holland. Started NW of the pier in 180. Worked out to 200 and then back in to 100 over the evening. Marked 80% of the fish in the top 50 feet of water. Lost a mid teens King when I knocked it off with the net. 65 down, rigger, mag blue dolphin, 190' 8 pound king. 50 down, rigger, mag blue dolphin, 170' Lost something on 300 copper, silver/red nose j-plug, 165' 5 pound king. 30 down, rigger, mag moonshine flounder pounder, 135' Beautiful night on the water. Lake was perfect. Buddy's son who had just returned home from college came out with us and caught his first fish. Really good night.

Holland - 7/31 PM To start it was a nice night on the water. Took out a grandpa, dad and three kids (13, 11, 8) for their first salmon trip. Was their first time out on the lake in a boat and they were excited about everything from the boat launch to the channel to getting splashed on the run out. It was a lot of fun to get them out there. Set lines in 100 just north of the pier at 7:00 pm. Started out with all spoons. 300 copper, 250 copper, 10 color, 7 color, three dispy divers and two on the riggers. Headed out to 150, back into 80 and out again. Sounded like everyone was slow last night. Started switching up baits after about an hour of searching. At 8:45 I switched the starboard rigger to an 11" paddle (not sure what brand, blue holo on one side and a pearl holo on the other) and a Big Weenie Blue Bubble UV fly. Set the rigger at 61 down, turned my back for a second and one of the kids starts yelling "FISH!". Put the 8 year old on the rod with my help. Fought it for about 2 minutes and it shook loose. Pulled the bait in, checked the hook, laser sharp. Strange. That was at 110 eastbound. Rest of the night was like this... 9:10 - Same rig, 61 ft down, 108 ft of water westbound troll. Had the fish on for about 2 minutes again, took a couple really nice runs, off. Checked hook again, still sharp, no flaws, what the heck?!?! That was the bait that took two fish so I put it back down. FYI, I picked the speed up for about 30 seconds and this one hit. 9:25 - Same rig, 61 ft down, 111 ft of water, eastbound troll. Had this fish on for about 4 minutes, again took a couple really nice runs, off. Down speed was 2.0 - 2.3 all night. So that was the lucky pole, bait and depth for the night, but I could not keep the fish on. I maybe loose three fish a summer and that was three in one night, on the same rig. For some reason I have always been fortunate in being able to keep fish hooked. Outside of knocking them off with the net or a broken line, I just don't loose fish. Now I can't figure out what to do with this bait. It was the hot bait for us last night, but clearly could not keep a fish on. Probably will just replace the fly. Just wish I could figure out the cause on this one. If anyone has any wisdom for me I sure would appreciate it! Fortunately the kids had a good time and there was enough action at the end to keep them interested. They are eager to go out again so mission accomplished there.

Holland 6/3 pm Set lines at 7:20. Nothing going until 9:00pm when we picked up our first. Two more came around 9:45pm. Sounded like it was pretty slow for everyone. Nobody else at the cleaning station. 7lb king - Moonshine Flounder Pounder 75 down in 112 feet of water. 8lb king - Moonshine Eminator. Wire dipsy, 150 back, small diver 6lb king - Purple version of a monkey puke. 300' copper Missed one on a braid dipsy, 165 back, mag dipsy, magnum stinger blue dolphin. Picked up speed to about 2.8 and things started to go. Not sure if it was that or getting close to sunset, but it worked.

Yeah that. I would not feel guilty for a second.

Curious question on the legality of netting the fish. I have wondered that a few times myself after a big one had broken me off. I looked in the Michigan Fishing Guide, but did not see a specific example. It states that you can use a hand net to help land a "lawfully hooked fish". The fish was lawfully hooked originally before it broke off somebody's gear so I could argue that it was still lawfully hooked and you were in the right to net it. A CO may have a different opinion of course. Hopefully someone has some first hand knowledge here on what the regulation is.

That looks like a really nice unit! I would think you could sell that and get yourself a good finder/gpr and a fish hawk. I don't know much about fish finders. I have been using an old basic lowrance for for about 15 years. Work fine to tell me the depth and occasionally marks a fish. I did pick up a fish hawk 840 a number of years ago and that had a positive impact on my fishing. Being able to find the temp breaks was a big help. I will be curious what others have to say on the topic.