numberguy77

Thanks for the reports. Even a report of no fish is still a report and could be helpful to someone. I also pulled my boat out this weekend and will now look forward to 2024, too. Tight lines and hope to be chasing them again come April-ish.

That's a darn nice steelhead! Congrats and thanks for the report. I hope to get out of GH in the morning if the storms hold off and it's not foggy.

Congrats and thanks for the report. Was your dipsy mono, braid or wire? Thanks.

Yes, with a 25' hardtop, I'd say Fruitport would be your best bet. Unfortunately, the high water has Harbor Island launch in Grand Haven, and Mill Point launch in Spring Lake closed. My advice for the Fruitport launch would be get there early and if coming back in late morning, be patient! Especially if it's a sunny day. Tends to get busy with the pleasure boaters headed out.

Ha! I wish I had a secret spot! I fished Muskegon for many years as I lived in North Muskegon. We just moved to Spring Lake in April, so now I'm fishing out of Grand Haven. Like a lot of guys this year (I think), I've been searching for the fish as they've been scattered or they're just not there in big numbers like several years ago. To answer your question, some days I go North, some days I go South, some days I go straight out. If you've ever fished out of Muskegon, I would say that Grand Haven fishes similar to that. No real structure to speak of as the lake bottom just gradually gets deeper. I'm not sure if you've been out in the big lake this year or not, so, I'd like to mention to be on the alert for debris in the water. With the high water and with the spring rains, the Grand River spewed all kinds of "stuff" into the big lake, and I'm sure it still is. Good luck. Hope you find a few hungry ones.

Joe, I'm just now noticing the picture of your boat in your avatar. If that's your boat, you may be able to launch at Petty's bayou near Spring Lake Country Club. It's a DNR launch, so you need the sticker and there is the Fruitport Road bridge right there that you'd have to get under. That would be the question mark with the high water. Launching there as opposed to Fruitport would probably save you about 5-10 minutes on the ride to the big lake. If you have the state park sticker, there's no fee to launch there. There is a $10 fee to launch in Fruitport and they monitor it closely.

I'm actually in a slip at Grand Haven Yacht Club. If you're launching a boat like 18' or larger, you'd probably have to launch all the way back in Fruitport. About 40 minutes to the big lake from there with all the no wake zones this year. But, I can think of worse things to be doing for 40 minutes...

2 for 2 on the morning solo out of the beautiful port of Grand Haven. 16# male king hit a Mandarin Minnow glow spoon off of a full core in 102’ of water about 7 am, and a 10# planted female steelhead hit the same setup in 135’ of water about 8 am. Flat, calm on the big pond. Great morning in this great state and country.

I always look at the NOAA buoy web site off Muskegon before I go out and it read .8 waves about 5pm yesterday, so I thought, cool. Well, those were the nastiest .8 waves I've ever seen. I guess I forgot to look at the wave crossing period. Very choppy right out front, so, only took a couple passes there and came back into the channel. Managed to pick up a 10# male king in there on a green j-plug 29' down in 35' of water. Saw 2 other nets go into the water, so, they were in there last night. Not hot and heavy, but, a few for sure.

1 for 1 last night in a short solo trip out of Muskegon. 16# male king hit a pearl colored j-plug 69' down in 84' of water a little south of pier. Hopefully they're moving in closer and closer each day. They're bound to run up the river eventually.

Well, not a whole lot to report, but, avoided the black and white striped kitty both days...barely. Waited for a little rain to clear on Saturday morning so got a little later start. Fair number of boats out, the lake was pretty agreeable with just 1-2' rollers. Set up in 120', and pretty much stayed in the 120-140' range for the morning. Only taker was a 4 lb laker, 100' down on a rigger, in 138' of water on a yellow flasher with a chrome blue/yellow whirly gig. Made it out Sunday at dawn and there was hardly a ripple on the lake. Maybe 6" waves, if that. Fog never materialized, as forecast, which was nice, too. Set up in 90'. Had a vicious rip on the SWR with a Wonderbread j-plug in 138'. Saw it jumping in the distance and realized it was a steelhead. It quit jumping and it felt like I was pulling in a log. I soon could see that the fish was completely wrapped up in the line. Managed to land it. Nice 8# steelie. Kept heading west as I really wasn't marking much. Had the full core go and the fish had the board buried under the water. Ending up landing it and it was a 6# steelie that hit a Salmon Buster SUV spoon in 165' of water. So, that was it. 3 for 3 on trout this weekend. Still waiting for ol' Mr. King Salmon to show up again...

Ha! Made you look. Nothing to report. Got the big ol' skunk. Fair number of boats out. Beautiful night. Not a whole lot of marks. Fished from 60-110 fow. Didn't sound like too many others out of Muskegon found any fish either. Heard of a 22 pounder caught out of Holland on the radio. Now with the big blow coming for the weekend, doesn't look like I'll be back out until sometime next week. Good luck out there.

1 for 1 out of Muskegon from 6-8:30pm. Set up in 120', went out to 185', headed back east and picked up an 11# King in 170' on a full core with a Blue Dolphin spoon. That was the only action for me. Third time out this year and the boat has been running great, until last night. Cruising back in about 26-27 mph and everything was fine until the boat just plain died right out in front of the Muskegon pier heads in 50 fow. Two other boats responded to my call for help on the radio and one boat with a father and son team out for a shakedown cruise came out and towed me back in to my marina. Thanks Ryan and son! You guys saved the night for me. Great to see fisherman and boaters helping each other out. Talked to my mechanic this morning and obviously, until he looks at her, he's not sure what it is, but, thinks it could be the ignition module gone bad. Boat turns over but just will not ignite. Mercruiser 3.0 i/O, by the way.

Good job on the fish. And, not to create a controversy or be a PITA, but, is it legal to net a fish like you did that was just swimming on the surface? I had an opportunity to do that once with a good sized steelhead, but passed on it as I wasn't sure of the legality of it. Maybe someone can chime in on it that knows the rule. I really couldn't find anything in the Michigan regulations, but, for some reason, I thought you couldn't do it.