pikeman8

I fish mainly St. Joe and some New Buffalo. Haven’t been to South Haven this year yet. I think by the time the weather cooperated the kings were mostly north of me already. No shortage of Lake Trout though.

Thanks for the report. Despite the few phenomenal reports I’ve struggled this year to find Kings on the south end of the lake much more then last several years.

It’s a good site. It’s just fishing has been so spotty last couple years that there’s not much to report. Im guilty as is most others of only reporting good fishing. I’m on southern end of the lake and the only months to fish are March through May then the fish seem to disappear.

I’m planning to head out of St. Joe tomorrow evening again. Kings have slowed some over the past week as they move north it seems but there are still some around. Seem to be deeper 130-180’. More coho being mixed into the catches then kings now for me.

Tagged Salmon Michigan DNR Drop off Locations Hello, I was just wondering if anyone knows where there is a drop location for tagged salmon/trout heads near southern Lake Michigan (St. Joe or New Buffalo Area). I have caught quite a few tagged ones this year so far and don't know where to take them. Cant seem to find it on the Michigan DNR website either. I feel bad just throwing them away but don't know exactly what to do with them.

I know for me and at least two of my buddies out of St. Joe the fishing has been so bad this year for salmon we haven't made the effort to go out just to pound the bottom for grease or run out to 250 feet in hopes of getting something silver. Lack of fishing activity and poor fishing I think is the cause. Guys are much more inclined to report doing well then getting a skunk.

Looking to add some spoon racks under my hardtop and gunwales of my boat to store and hang spoons for easy access and organization. I have seen quite a few boats around the harbor with the hanging spoon/lure racks but never really paid attention to how they were setup. Doesnt have to be elaborate just dont want them falling off with every wave. What do you guys use? Thanks.

I had the same thing happen with my Lowrance. Was a different model # but same symptoms. Sent back to Lowrance but they had to replace the entire head unit stating an electrical circuit problem. Sorry for your luck.

Don't worry you are not alone. I have fished St. Joe two times in the last week and have caught 4 fish combined between the two. No pattern or color could be found. Each one of the four were caught on something different: spoon, meat rig, ff, and cut plug. Man I wish June was back when the fishing was good. Nobody seems to explain what is up. We find cold water and marks just can't get em to go.

Any color on the meat rigs standout above the rest?

Black Walker Deeper Divers is all I run now with great results for the past 3 years. It is my preference to stay away from the divers with removable rings (actual dipsey divers). Ditch the mono for braid if you can't afford wire. I run 40 lb power pro with flourocarbon leader. I have wire divers as well but often choose the braid over the wire to run.

It looks like it is tagged from the picture and missing the back adipose fin. Would be interesting to find the age and history of it.

Ran the transducer cables all by themselves across the floor of the boat last weekend and NO difference at all. I ordered an Alumaducer by Vexilar. Worth a shot at this point. Ill see how it works. Sooner or later ill find something that works.

The starbord side has two separate transducers for the humminbird. I originally thought the problem was with the transducer so I bought a new one and installed. The problem was still the same. Only one is hooked up currently. I then took my lowrance off my other boat (which worked awesome on the other boat) and installed with the transducer on the port side next to my fishhawk x-5 triducer. The lowrance has the same resolution as the humminbird. I have experimented with only running one unit at a time without the probe as well as playing with various settings in the fishfinders to no avail. No much room back there with all the stuff mounted.

I'll try to get some pics uploaded.

I have a Lund Genmar 2450 and ever since I have owned it I cannot get good/any resolution on the depth finders. I have a Humminbird 937c and a Lowrance LMS332C both have similar results. I can keep bottom fine however its ALWAYS blank between the top and bottom. I cant even mark my 15# rigger balls down 30'. The lowrance was taken off my previous boat and it worked flawless. Marked fish and my balls down to over 100'. I am convinced it is interference with my trim tabs on this boat. I have tried different transducers and locations and its always the same. With the trim tabs it really limits the spots to mount the transducers. Has anyone else had similar problems? Has anyone tried the shoot thru Alumaducer? I love the boat but hate I cant mark anything, no bait, downrigger balls, or fish:mad:

Although I havent bought any this year they have always had plenty in stock in different varieties the countless times I have been in there in previous years.

I had a happy troller on my previous boat. It trolled it down almost to a stop and I always had to give it additional throttle just to then get back up to trolling speed. Worked great in terms of trolling. What it really did bad was make my boat not plane properly at high speed. It always wanted to porpoise and I could never get up to full speed. Although my new boat has a kicker which I use most of the time in calmer seas, in rough water I still use the main engine and trolling bags. I have a set from Omish Outfitters that have performed very well for me plus they really help stabilize your speed and control in the rough stuff where the happy troller will not. Get the bags!!!

Well correction. I have MerCruiser stern drive power steering which as you probably know uses both a cable and hydraulic ram. I am having a very hard time finding anybody who has put an AP on this setup. Is there any manufacturers who make a unit for this or am I back to the SportPilot? This may be why this type of AP was used in the first place and not a standard unit...

I have a Lund Genmar 2450 w/MerCruiser 5.7 Alpha One with Hydraulic power steering. I currently have the original King Autopilot (wheel pilot style) that has seen its better days a few years back. I am going to purchase a new autopilot unit this winter and am looking for input. I had originally decided on the Raymarine Sportpilot as it is the same style as the current unit and is easy to use but others have tried to convince me since I have hydraulic steering that I can get better value out of other units. I do not need the top of the line unit with all the bells and whistles but rather a reliable unit with a simple interface that I can set quickly and more importantly take back over the wheel quickly. Should I go with the SportPilot or can I do better for that money?

I lived in the UP for quite a few years and fished many of the rivers around. If you are expecting the rivers to be like the ones off Lake Michigan then you will have way too high hopes. Lake Superior is mainly a Lake Trout fishery and an exceptional one at that but the number of salmon and steelhead is far diminished than that in Lake Michigan. Not to say you cant catch any but its almost always is SLOW. The Traverse pier was always referred to as the pier of 1000 casts. But really this time of year its prolly your best bet other than the drive down to the Falls River in Lanse. Also some of the rivers over by the Porkies are decent at times. Put your time in and you will catch fish but dont expect to set the world on fire.

Friday: Dad and I Started setting lines about 3:30 north of the harbor off of Warren Dunes in 120FOW hoping the colder water had moved in a little since last weekend. It had not, warm all the way to the bottom. Kept trolling out to my way points from last weekend and in about 140 cold water was found all the way at the bottom. Put my three riggers at 110, 130, and one bouncing bottom and my dipseys at 290 and 315 back set on two. Only ran five lines and went on to have great steady action till we pulled lines at about 8:30 going 14 for 19. With two small kings and two small lakers thrown back. The 10 kept consisted of 5 lakers (one being 20 lbs 37" which is my biggest ever out of New Buffalo), three nice steelhead, and two mean three year old kings. Caught fish in 140-160 FOW. Saturday: Headed out with a friend from work and set lines at about 2:30 in the same area and depth as yestarday with the exact same lures at basically same depths. Had four in the boat right away and was thinking this was going to be too easy. But after that it went DEAD trolled around out there with nothing and decided to head back in a little shallower. At 130 fow we started to pick away at our limit and were throwing back most of the lakers. At about 7:30 we had nine in the box and as we were watching the sun set CHAOS broke out. Not a double, not a triple, but a Quadruple! With only two of us in the boat it was absolutley a riot. Somehow we managed to get three of them up to the boat netted a nice king for our limit and released the other two right at the boat. Straightening out all the mess on the deck the last rod decides to go and we released another laker right at the boat. Ended 17 for about 23 and didnt have to pull a single rod in! The catch consisted of 7 kings, 3 steelhead, 1 coho, and 6 lakers (released, with one being 18.5 pounds). Bottom line find cold water and thats where the fish are at! Never changed lures so heres what worked: DR on bottom: Trash can dodger w/blue and green mylar spin and glo (HOT) DR at 120-130 Moonshine green flounder pounder DR at 110 SS Mag Yellow UV Spoon Dipsey back 290 Carmel Dolphin SD Monkey Puke Fly Dipsey back 315 Mtn Dew SD BW Cry Baby UV Fly (HOT) In terms of the number of fish per hours out this trip was my best ever fishing Lake Michigan plus I got my first Quad and my biggest Lake Michigan Lake Trout. Thanks for all the help I have gotten from you guys on this site! Ill try to get some pics up later.