zgrinder on Fin Warrior

That is truly and epic catch. How was it possible to have six on at once and not end up with a tangled mess? It appears most of the big kings on the back of the deck were naturals, not plants. That says a lot for the health of the Lake Michigan fishery.

Hey my friend, my congrats on your big king catch. I am very happy for you. Hope you get the board back. The 20+ king I caught last night was all over the back of the boat. Janet and I talked about it tonight over beers. I use 9' rigger rods for just that reason, to steer the fish off the dipsey and downrigger lines. And I had to use all of that rod to boat the King last night.

Must of put a smile on your face to put your family on some fish, especially that big king you landed. Had to be exciting for them.

Nice catch. Agree, there are lots of big kings to be had if you can keep them hooked up. I was fishing close to the same area and was going to give you a shout out but between the fish hitting and the three line tangle we had with a double including our big king, it was just too busy on the back of the boat. We pulled lines early after that but would have liked to stayed out a bit longer. Iced the fish for a 9:00am cutting. Hats off to you for taking care of that when you got in.

Headed out with the O'Neals about 5:30pm straight out of Holland, setting down in 115FOW and pointed the bow south. Ran 4 riggers with 2 deep spoons and 2 higher SD/flies, 2 mono dipseys with spoons a bit higher and one long line down the chute starting with a blue & silver J. About 40 minutes into the troll (after repairs required to a broken rigger clip right out of the gate), a SH hit SWR, the deepest line. After a respectable run, Mr. SH came flying out of the water and the hook set - gone. A blue powder fly on a blue SD came through about 20 min later in slightly shallower water producing a 6lb Coho(N). Shortly thereafter, SWR got bit again. A big run ensued and then the mighty fight began. But half way into the battle, the King gained the upper hand and let go of the hook. Tom was now 0 for 2 and dreading jumping on another rod.. 10 min later we got bit again on the powder blue fly producing a small king that we released to grow big for another day. After another short break, we got a big hit on the crystal fly that took a lot of line. Tom fought this one hard and with Janet's expert netting, we boated a 16.5lb King(N) . . . and there was much rejoicing as Tom now landed a nice size King to erase the previous misses. We had another drive by soon thereafter but then it got quite as we were well south of Saugatuck harbor. We turned around to a north troll to attempt to repeat some of the magic we found going south. Almost an hour went by without a bump. Prior to dusk we dropped a night program of Moonshine Blue and Green Jeans glow spoons on the deep riggers. An Alarm Clock rig and white SD/fly on the high riggers, Bloody Nose and Kevorkian spoons on the dipseys and pulled the long line. The Alarm Clock rig took the first pre-dusk bite with a pounding run. This time, I could move the fish a bit without neutral drops and with patience, boated my first 20+lb fish for the season (came in at 21lbs). Late in that battle, SWR got hit and the adjacent DR tipped up. Not sure who got into who but we had to cut through the mono DR line with the SD/fly to release the three lines that came together and decided not to put any of them back down. Just as we were getting that cleared, the port side dipsey got bit, like we needed that too on the same side of the boat but the fish came off fairly quickly. We pulled lines progressively to call it a night without any other bites. Not a lot of chatter on the radio other than the capsized boat I believe was near Grand Haven sending 2 people in the water that were recovered. Bite seamed to pick up for the fleet near dusk. Our long line was silent. Planned on running meat on one deep line but the action was steady that I never got around to making that switch. I would have liked to give a shout out to Parker but it got too busy on the back of Fin Warrior at dusk and we decided not to stay out long as the O'Neals had trave plans for the weekend. I have some video I may post tomorrow. # Time Fish Weight FOW Latitude Troll Wind Dir. Speed @ Ball Rod Bait Depth Bait Temp Bait 1 6:38pm Steelhead Miss 120 S N 2.3 SWR 70'@ball Mag Blue Silver foil spoon 2 7:00pm Coho 8 111 S N 2.4 DR 20# 66'@ball 45 Blue SD / Blue fly 3 7:10pm King Miss 112 S N 2.5 Dipsey - Mono 54' 45 Mag Blue Dolphin foil spoon 4 7:19pm King 5 108 S N 2.5 DR 20# 66'@ball 43 Blue SD / Blue fly 5 7:35pm King 16.5 108 S N 2.2 DR 20# 66'@ball Blue & Green & Silver SD / Crystal fly 6 7:55pm King 8 111 S N 2.2 SWR 70'@ball Mag Blue Silver foil spoon 7 9:05pm King 21 116 N N 2.2 DR 20# 65'@ball 44 Alarm Clock SD/Fly Glow Rig 8 9:20pm King 6 118 N N 2.2 DR 20# 66'@ball Mag Glow Blue Jeans spoon 9 9:25pm Miss 119 N N 2.3 Dipsey - Mono 52' Mag Bloody Nose spoon

Thanks for the report and the clips. Giving the golf game a rest and heading out Friday night bringing along the crew from Water Dog. With luck we can land a big one that we missed the other night.

Thanks for sharing your night of fishing. Sorry you had to donate 300' of copper. Hate when that happens but glad you got the board back.

I don't know that the fishing out of Holland or PS is any better than Grand Haven. There is no structure to hold fish in this area and fish stocking in Lake Macatawa has been infrequent. Suggest finding a tackle or bait shop in your area and talk to them. They usually have a handle on where the fish are and what they are biting over the last few days. Second, I would put some powder blue flies and blue spoons down even if you are only fishing down 50-60'. Kings and SH like blue offerings. Third, consider adding a high line to the mix - like 35-40' down targeting SH. 10-color lead will get you there if you have it. If not, a dipsey with a ring will do (100' of line out on a 1.5 side set if trolling under 2.5mph, add another 20' if trolling faster. These are my approximations from using Smart Troll probes on my gear). Lure choices might be a reg size silver-blue spoon or something with orange in it. Coho may hit this as well. Last, the traditional approach is to set down and troll West-East until you get into some action then North-South. Many boats run NW or SW to start. This is smart. Personally, I like to start against the current with a NW or SW troll then make decisions from there. This is just my choice, everyone has their own formula that they like the best. One more thing I feel compelled to add. At the depth your putting the bait down and with a rigger/diver mix, I would set the downrigger leads at 2.5 to 3.5 passes. A pass is one level wind across the reel in one direction or 9-11' of line depending on your reel. I don't know if anyone uses that term anymore. When I bring it up on my boat with someone I have not fished with before, I have to explain it. This will keep your spread tight and draw fish in. The long line guys don't fish this way but that is a long conversation for another time. Catch'em all your next time out!

I bet you slept well on Saturday. That almost qualifies for an all-nighter. Nice fishing and many thanks for the report.

Dennis, you are blessed. You have a fish goddess to bring in the big ones. Happy fishing.

Nice work and get some ice in that cooler. It is warm out there.

Great pic of those nice kings. Out of town guests left this morning & looking forward to getting some of that big king action that everyone is posting about.

Many thanks for the report. No action on Bloody Nose - that is mighty surprising. Love the pic of the steelhead - must of been fun to bring it in.

That is a big fish catch. Nicely done and congrats on your new fishing platform!

Great king fishing. The madness of a triple is pure adrenalin.