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zgrinder on Fin Warrior

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Everything posted by zgrinder on Fin Warrior

  1. zgrinder on Fin Warrior
    Set out late afternoon to take my father-in-law fishing for salmon. The trip required an uber flat lake for him to manage a rod and thankfully Mother Nature delivered. Advice from fellow fishermen on the site encouraged working the Saugatuck mud in tight. We dropped down in 35 FOW just north of the harbor setting up 4 riggers and 2 mono dipseys. Long lines were out of consideration. Before we could get the 2 dipseys in the water, one of the 4 riggers with and SD/fly presentation got bit producing a nice 7lb king that we let go. Passed through the mud and flipped around to go back through it trolling north. South of the harbor mouth we had a good hook-up on SWR tipped with a mag Black Fin Tuna spoon running about 8’ above the bottom. My father-in-law got the rod. A good fight ensued with the fish running to the SB side as I kept turning Fin Warrior to port to center the fish. We had about done a 180 when the fluoro leader knot was finally out of the water. Then the worst happened, tip up and fish off. Man, I felt bad. Likely a good size laker but it never broke the surface so who knows. We did another run south with two tip ups on a Wonder Bread SD/White fly but no connections. Next north run we had two hook ups. SWR Black Fin Tuna delivered another 7lb king. And finally, a dipsey hit with a bargin bin white/yellow/hot pink spoon down 23’ (I just had to run this thing - it was the right time for a gaudy spoon). After 6:00pm the bite we had shut down. To my surprise, Wonder bread and hot pink J-Plugs did not get touched. I had a SD/green fly ready but it never got wet. One big bait ball was found in 33FOW north of Saugatuck harbor which produced a tip up but not tasty fish. We did not stay out to catch the late night bite. Lot of boats out tonight at numerous depths Steve Fishing 08-21-24 (2).mp4 . Hope the Parker got the bite going at sun set. # Time Fish Weight FOW Latitude Troll Wind Dir. Speed @ Ball Rod Bait Depth Bait Temp Bait 1 4:30pm King 7 35 41.1 S N 2.5 DR 20# 20'@ball 48 Silver/blue/gold SD / No-See-Um Fly 2 5:05pm Miss 36 40.1 N N 2 SWR 25'@ball Mag Silver Streak Black Fin Tuna 3 5:45pm King 7 36 N N 2.1 SWR 25'@ball Wonderbread SD / White Fly 4 6:00pm King 5 33 N N 2.1 Dipsey - Mono 20'@ball 49 Mag Spoon, bargin bin white/yellow/pink 08-21-24 Fishing Video 5.mp4
  2. zgrinder on Fin Warrior
    Congrats and great pics. Love that big spinny - did you tape it up yourself?
  3. zgrinder on Fin Warrior
    Keep it going Ed! You are killing it solo this morning.
  4. zgrinder on Fin Warrior
    I believe PUG made the right call to hunt the skinny water in front of the harbor. Nice cooler full of fish for the effort. Going to take my 88 year old father in law out mid day today. He needs the water to be uber flat to get around the boat. Hope to put a fish or two on for him.
  5. zgrinder on Fin Warrior
    Thanks for the shout out 2MD and so happy you boated and nice big king in rough water. PUG is a master on the net. Need a video of that :). We were coming in last night about that time directly east to the harbor mouth and I had two boats on radar and in visual on a plane coming into the harbor from the south. It may have been one of them but I never looked at the break wall coming in and with the engines so loud on a plane, never going to hear a wreck. There were also two boats in front of Fin Warrior in the channel so who was who I don't know. Thank god no kids got hurt. Grandpa would have never forgiven himself. As a side note, a couple of years ago, two teenagers and best childhood friends lost control of a Zodiac outside the mouth of the harbor and went into the water. One made it out, the other got cut down by the prop swimming back to the boat. The kid that made it out was the son of an employee of mine at the time. It was a dark time for many, many days. There is no way to erase events like that.
  6. zgrinder on Fin Warrior
    Glad you got a few for the effort. We marked big hooks at the bottom in the water we were working but only got one to go right at the end of our trip.
  7. zgrinder on Fin Warrior
    Motored out just south of the harbor to 130 FOW, pointed the bow south and began setting lines. Initially ran 4 deep riggers, 2 SD/fly presentations, one silver blue mag spoon and one green & white large J Plug, and no dipseys. Quickly had one tip up and did not have the rod back in the water very long before boating a 5lb king on a Wonderbread SD / white fly with rattle beads. Little did we know that this would be the only presentation to catch fish other than one we dragged along for hours that bit the silver blue spoon. Decided to deploy a heavy dipsey on wire, 2 set with 250' of line out. Smart troll recorded the dipsey at 82'. Later traveling north, it recorded the dipsey at 95'. Due to the current, we only ran one dipsey on the shore side. Boated another similar king about an hour later on the same presentation while making a slow turn to head back north. We intentionally raised the ball 30' to make a 180 and not tangle the balls. About another hour went by and we hooked up with a 7-8lb king, same set-up. As we went to redeploy the rod to the rigger, the snap swivel on the rigger cable broke at the ball bearing (rusted through) sending a 15lb ball to the bottom. Also, by this time, I tangled the rigger cables on each side once (cables where between 110-135' down. One tangle damaged the coating on the Depth Raider cable that I just installed 2 days ago. Another hour went by and it was almost 9:00pm. John wanted to pull lines and get in. He asked which rod to start with and I pointed to the rod that just went tip up and said "start with this one" (Wonderbread SD / white fly - again). He played the fish brilliantly and was rewarded with a 16lb king. After that, we did pull all the other lines without another bite. # Time Fish Weight FOW Troll Wind Dir. Speed @ Ball Rod Bait Depth Bait 1 5:45pm King 5 131 S N 2.1 DR 20# 115'@ball Wonderbread SD / White Fly 2 6:53pm King 5 153 SW N 2.5 DR 20# 93'@ball Wonderbread SD / White Fly 3 7:48pm King 7 143 N N 2.4 DR 20# 111'@ball Wonderbread SD / White Fly 4 8:59pm King 16 124 NE N 2.4 DR 20# 125'@ball Wonderbread SD / White Fly Running.mp4 The Catch.mp4
  8. zgrinder on Fin Warrior
    Thanks for the spoon pics. Going out tonight. Ironically, yesterday in prepping the boat for the outing, I laid out the two far right spoons. They will be in the water.
  9. zgrinder on Fin Warrior
    Many thanks for the report. In talking to a dock mate yesterday, that is exactly where I was expecting them to be. Down on the bottom outside of 100' getting as close as they can with the little cold water that was available. Got a trip planed for Wednesday evening. BTY, how could anyone sleep through all that action? Pug was certainly on point.
  10. zgrinder on Fin Warrior
    You must be so proud to put that little man on that fish. Well Done !
  11. zgrinder on Fin Warrior
    Hey Little Boat. I could feel the adrenaline pumping as I read your story. Gutsy move to pass a rod under water. Might change your handle to Maverick! In my opinion, the temp of the top layer of water is cooler this year that it is not exhausting the fish which leads to back-of-the-boat mayhem. I am dodging more lines and cables than in past years. The last modest size king I caught rolled in the last 100 feet until we got to the back of the boat and then it came to life trying to get into any other line that was in the water. Crazy stuffy. Boating two big kings is a championship day. Congrats!
  12. zgrinder on Fin Warrior
    I love weighted steel over copper. I have many reels of both but I seam to always grab the WS first. They both sink to equal depths - I know this because I measured it with Smart Troll probes. Copper wanders more like leadcore but I just like the way it runs in and out of the reel. Bloody Nose on WS - I can see you running that set up many more times in the future. Congrats on the 23# king.
  13. zgrinder on Fin Warrior
    you guys have a bumpy ride tonight. good luck
  14. zgrinder on Fin Warrior
    You absolutely crushed it this morning. Another big downpour like the other day will push those fish in the channel. Soooo, I hope the rain holds off for a bit so we can continue to enjoy this fishing.
  15. zgrinder on Fin Warrior
    I greatly appreciate the insight. I have no knowledge of the strains that are stocked. In the DNR search engine under strains, Sturgeon River is also listed. This strain is supposed to be more warm water tolerant but likely not getting to the big lake as well. When I harbored out of Waukegan, IL, just south of the harbor before the Naval base was a fine brown hunting ground. I do miss that.
  16. zgrinder on Fin Warrior
    Bold move to go out. I seldom go out in the morning because of weather and I am toast for the evening. I did high seas when I was younger. Now I find flat and calm. But it is fun when I do an early run. Glad you got a few - the heavens did open up this morning.
  17. zgrinder on Fin Warrior
    Structure is important for browns. Thanks for the recommendation.
  18. zgrinder on Fin Warrior
    Pushed off at 5:00pm, ran out slightly north to 55 FOW and started a north troll. Ran a high & low mono dipseys on the SB side down 45-48' with small size spoons, low diver silver with black tape and high diver orange & black stripe. SWR down 40' at the ball tipped with blue dolphin type spoon with no reflection to it (below). Ran all the way up to the Power Plant between 48-61 FOW, cleaning the spoons from time to time as I was trying to stay about 8' off the bottom. Went 4 for 5 on that pass, all kings and no brown trout. High and low dipseys had one hit each. SWR accounted for the other 3 hits. Bounty was 3 jacks and one 13lb king (female plant) that came on the SWR. The large king did not want to get into the net but I got it done. Marked two huge balls of bait. Turned around and headed south. Moved all three rods to the other side of the boat. Replaced the silver spoon on the high dipsey with and orange ladder back I worked up in the off season. Had two quick hits on the high and low dipsey, 1 for 2 with another small king. At 8:30, I replaced the high dipsey with a standard alewife spoon and raised all lures to about 42' as I was now in 50-52 FOW still looking for browns. The high dipsey got hit 3 times in the span of 20 minutes, 2 for 3 with again, small kings. Marked more big balls of bait along the way. Now getting near the condos and I put Blue Jeans glow and another blue/white tape glow spoon out on the dipseys. Added a dark J-Plug to SWR. Went 2 for 3 with each dipsey landing a small king. As these rods were up, I pulled SWR and called it a night at 9:30. Ended up 9 for 13, kept the large king and released all the small kings. Could not find any browns. Water temp for the baits was 51 to 56 degrees for the most part. One jack I know didn't make it due to the hook set. In closing, I was impressed with the amount of bait in close and the good water temps that could hold feeding fish. For now, they appear to be all small fish in this part of the lake. Spoon on SWR and South Troll Rigging pics below.
  19. zgrinder on Fin Warrior
    Outstanding story. You told it well. I noted the Great Republic was unloading as I drove past the depot area where the power plant was formerly located. Lake has been kicking up in the evening the last two nights. Glad I made the call to play golf and grill steak and corn for the evening. Hoping to get out tonight if seas stay level.
  20. zgrinder on Fin Warrior
    MD - that is big balls fishing in those seas. Nice big kings after dark.
  21. zgrinder on Fin Warrior
    Dan - your are dialed in. Happy you are on big fish and bringing them in.
  22. zgrinder on Fin Warrior
    Nice Beast - your happy face says it all!
  23. zgrinder on Fin Warrior
    Yep, those J-Plugs will catch anything and everything. Congrats on the Master Angler king.
  24. zgrinder on Fin Warrior
    It was destined to be a night to try your patience since of course it was your first time back out this year. Happy it ended well and with a few fish in the cooler.
  25. zgrinder on Fin Warrior
    Really nice work landing that 20lb king on your own. That is work of a Champion! I hope Big Red this weekend doesn't decimate the early staging of these big kings.
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