zgrinder on Fin Warrior

Took some neighbors/friends out looking for the evening bite. I was too busy managing the gear and entertaining to keep up with the catch log. Set lines half way between Holland and Port Sheldon in 130FOW @ 5:45pm marking small bait pods 30-40' down once again but could not get anything to go. Fearing skunk, pushed out past 200FOW in very flat water. The fish finder was very silent on the way out to deeper water. Three small boats were beyond 200FOW to the North and one to the South. We had 5 baits between 45-65' above the thermocline and on one below at 77'. Our first hit came in 220FOW on the full lead core line. I did not coach up my neighbor on how best to get a board to the boat and we lost it somewhere in the fight. In 224FOW the same rig got bit again and this time we got the board to the boat, off the line and landed a nice Steelhead (pic below). The lure was featured on a previous post but I don't remember who to give the credit too. Reset both dipseys a bit higher with SH favored spoons. Stinger Green Veggie UV, 2-set, 44' down took two hits over the next 30 minutes between 228-224FOW. One shaker we sent back to grow big and the other strike got off. Pulling lines in 188FOW a SH hit the SWR deep line after it was popped from the release however, it got caught up in another line we were bringing in and it came off. Janet said it jumped twice but I never saw it as I was putting gear away. Radio reports were in the small numbers from a couple of other boats out deep. I updated my profile to include our boat name and sit on channel 68 for future contacts. Cheers!

The blank looks to be a Silver Streak and Northern King however, NK's come with a split ring (which I remove) so I would put my money on a NK. A true Norseman to troll in yesterday's blow and nice job on landing the two kings. Hope you get a call on your lost gear. Plan on getting out mid-day today in calmer seas.

Put lines down about 4:30PM in 130FOW just north of the harbor on a NW troll. Same marks around 120' down on previous trips showed up and we put SW down in that area with Blue Tuxedo but no action to speak of. Trolled a few passes around 140' to 170'FOW but no action and few marks. Made it north to 42o 50' but no action. Went out to 220 FOW but no action. Picked up a few shakers along the way and did our best to let them grow big. Shakers on the downriggers and long lines were a problem. We stopped counting after releasing 9. About 7:45 we took a small king on the UV Green Dolphin stud from previous outings and kept it for a Saturday dinner. Clearing lines, swapping spoons and more shakers. The boat was about latitude wise in front of the harbor as the sun went behind the storm front to the west and we turned east toward the harbor to get ready to pull lines as nothing was happening and the chop was picking up. Both dipseys got hit right after the turn. Unfortunately the rig on myside of the boat took off on a long run whereas Brian my gest got a much less of a hit. Brian got his small king to the back of the boat and released, then netted the king I battled which came in at 17.5lbs. (the increased 7' to 9' leader on my dipseys is clearly a challenge in netting fish). He did a great job netting it but I wish he was on the rod instead of me. We parked those two rods and pulled the remaining 4 and each had a shaker on it - from 30' to 90' down in the water column. It was a battle to catch keeper fish while dragging shakers around all evening. But on the upside - NO FLIES . Data is a bit week below. # Time Fish FOW Latitude Troll Rod Bait Depth Bait 1 7:45 PM King 5lb 174 ? S Downrigger 41 Green Dolphin UV / MI Stinger 2 8:50 PM King 4lb 178 42o 47' 06" W Downrigger 50 Green Dolphin UV / MI Stinger 3 8:50 PM King 17.5lb 178 42o 47' 06" W Downrigger 50 Blue Dolphin / Pro King Foil The big king - great hook set on the high dipsey. Good hunting this weekend!

In the morning, the bite going north from Holland up to Port Sheldon was great but heading back south I found little interest in what I had in the water. Thanks for sharing that Spin Doctors on dipseys were getting some action. Tells me that fish were very aggressive. Lot of boats are fishing 170+ FOW but in my opinion, the better bite is inside of 150 FOW. Thanks for the report.

Nice looking kings. Glad you had a great trip.

Great outing and enjoyed all the details of your report. Must have packed many sandwiches to stay out that long! The spoon on your slider is similar to what has been working for the king bite out of Holland. Will have to wet my RV bloody nose as well and see what happens.

Left the harbor at 5:30AM, fished 6:00 to 11:00AM. Set up on a North troll. Lots of boat traffic as it was a beautiful morning. Had 3 hits releasing 2 small kings before the 15knot gusts from the SE turned the flat lake into 2 foot chop. That was not in the forecast. During the blow, SWR took off on a long slow run. It was rolling on the back of the boat, the downriggers were singing (two parked, SWR and the Depth Raider down), could not gain any ground on the fish. No choice but to holster the rod, rip the two dipseys and proceed with neutral drops to gain ground while keeping out of boat traffic (when fishing alone, this is absolutely exhilarating to land a fish). Finally got the king to the back of the boat and it was not ready to come aboard, meanwhile the rigger lines are singing louder, boat rocking, eerie storm like, all adrenaline to land this fish. Missed it on the first swipe (or two) but got it in the hoop, broke the fitting lifting it over the transom (15.7lb king weighed in the slip). SWR popped twice almost immediately after setting it down again and a shaker hit while tagging the line into the downrigger ball – could not keep the line from being bit during the blow. Once the blow subsided, so did he action. Two hours of next to nothing other than a good boat breakfast I made before casting off. Trolling South I found next to no action until I got out in front of Holland harbor. While pulling lines, a bonus 8lb king hit and 5lb Coho bit SWR. Everything fisherman look for when pulling up for the day. Charts and pics below. # Time Fish FOW Latitude Troll Rod Bait Depth Bait 1 6:20 AM King 5lb 144 42o 48' 0" N Dipsey 1-set 41 Green Dolphin UV / MI Stinger 2 6:40 AM miss 144 42o 48' 72" SE Downrigger 40 Green Dolphin Foil 3 6:55 AM King 3lb 143 42o 48' 09" SE Dipsey 1-set 39 Green Dolphin UV / MI Stinger 4 7:10 AM King 15.7lb 155 42o 48' 20" N SWR 63 Tuxedo Blue / MI Stinger 5 7:45 AM King 3lb 153 42o 48' 80" N Dipsey 1-set 49 Green Dolphin UV / MI Stinger 6 8:05 AM miss 154 42o 49 71" N SWR setting Tuxedo Blue / MI Stinger 7 8:18 AM shaker 157 42o 50' 69" N SWR 63 Tuxedo Blue / MI Stinger 8 8:19 AM King 8.5lb 157 42o 50' 69" N Dipsey 1-set 46 Green Dolphin UV / MI Stinger 9 9:30 AM shaker 159 42o 49' 72" N Dipsey 1-set 43 Green Dolphin UV / MI Stinger 10 11:03 AM King 7lb 148 42o 49' 03" SE Dipsey 1-set 46 Green Dolphin UV / MI Stinger 11 11:28 AM Coho 5lb 131 42o 48' 06" SE SWR 42 Tuxedo Blue / MI Stinger This one is going in the smoker The champs of the day

Fished north of the harbor but not quite up to Fort Sheldon. Finished 9 for 10 from about 6:30 to 11:30am in one of the better trips in some time. The action came in about 150FOW and I ultimately never worked much outside that zone trolling North and South most of the trip. I could not get much of anything to hit early morning under the cloud cover. Once the sun broke and swapping out UV lures for early morning glow and dark spoons, things picked up. The one Spin Doctor / fly did nothing and I pulled it early to go with all spoons. Also, J-plug on SWR had no takers and was pulled early. Blue spoons were dominant for kings but most were in the 5lb range and released. I kept one 10lb king and another that I could not unbutton off the back of the boat. Green UV spoons took the rest other than the Coho (tonight's dinner) that came on Orange Crush. The SH that kept jumping on the SB long line while the Coho was brought in on the Port long line was eventually landed with one barb left in its mouth that about fell out. I will take fish luck when I can it and added my good fortune to the fish box. Inspired by Mega Byte, I did my best to take notes during the trip on my yellow pad and loaded the data in the table below. Dipsey bait depths came off of Smart Troll probes. SWR was +10' on top of the Smart Troll reading. Big marks again between 120' to 150'. I assume these are LT but will have to put a line down there next trip to see what is down there. Hope to build a log sheet over the next few days to improve my reporting.

I know how frustrating it can be to get on some fish and not be able to double back over due to boat traffic. Like you, most often I fish outside the fleet. I am impressed you have enough time to capture all the data when the fish are hitting - thats double the work. Thanks for the report.

Fished mid-day on Saturday with primarily a 4 rod top water set-up, small UV spoons in silver, red, green and blue in search of Coho, one Spin Doctor & aqua fly on a rigger and SW down deep for that King. Set down in 160FOW trolling west, marking fish between 35-50' and a few big marks at 85' all the way down to 150'. Some reports at the dock of fish caught in 220' but we found nothing and flipped around north east to 150' and then turned around again south to south-west. About that time we must of crossed over a school of small kings. Four rods went off in rapid succession. We released them all and retired the 200' copper that was a tangled mess. Somewhere in the rush SW got hit as well but nobody was home and found we had only one line left in the water. Set the spread back down then finally, we got the Coho we were searching for, not very big but we will double up on the veggies to make a full meal. On our last pass, we released another small king and had a solid hit on the 100' copper that broke the surface after a big run. As Janet took the board off, the wire broke just before the Fluoro leader. I retied all the lines not that long ago and must of not seen the damage to the copper-leader union - drats. Fixed it at the dock over a cold one. The most active set-up was 100' copper tipped with a UV green dolphin. Spin Doctor & aqua fly saw no interested and was retired half way through the trip.

Well done!

Nice kings - congrats! Agree completely with your assessment of the wind and waves. It has been hard to trust a forecast within the same day. On the other hand, my lawn is beginning to look really good this year

Fish were all high in the water column. Many thanks for the sharing the details your catch!

First time out in 2022. Set-up about 2:30pm just north of Saugatuck in 60 FOW trolling SW. Spent the first 90 min partially fishing and mainly educating myself on how to best run the new Smart Troll system on riggers and dipseys and comparing speed and temp at the ball to the old Depth Raider. At 100 FOW flipped the boat around on the reverse course. In 75FOW, SW down 51' on the counter took off just after I set it down with a UV blue dolphin like spoon. Landed a 13lb king. As I was setting the rod back down, the Deeper Diver on the opposite side of the boat went off in 55-60FOW. The DD was on a 3 set, down 28' per the Smart Troll and tipped with a small sized silver & red UV spoon. Big runner. Was happy that I had a 10.5' rod and Janet to net the king which came in at 20lbs. No other action for the day and unfortunately, no Coho were interested in the high lines. And much to my delight, nothing added to my Fix It list :).

Great catch and many thanks for the report. Looks like a very calm day on the water.