mriversinco

I think it'll be even worse. I don't know who to believe on what's going on with the lake but I look at the numbers the manistee weir puts out and it's scaring me. http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7-153-10364_52259_19092-51534--,00.html

Word I just heard was 70' of water with fish moving out to 140 at times.

awesome man, thanks for the info

That's awesome, thanks for making me jealous while at work....

Thanks for the report Mike.

I'd agree with everything above but like to add that we've been out in December many times (when weather was permitting) and tore the steelies up WAY off shore. Many times they were in 300 foot of weather and running the top 50'.

Have you gone back and sharpened all your hooks? I know my catch rate went up dramatically when I learned how to get every hook sticky sharp and not trust them out of the box.

After not doing very well last week out of Holland I decided to take my brother in law and his fiancee out of Grand Haven this morning. The morning started out very well with a double at about 7am. Picked up another 2 fish during the next pass. I'd love to tell you what depth we were but the fish finder decided to power down early in the trip and I couldn't get it to work after that. We were somewhere in the neighborhood of 120'. Then we had to get off the lake by 9 o'clock because the fiancee's first boat ride ever on lake michigan turned into a bunch of chumming off the side. Here's what worked: 5 color with double orange crush took a nice King. Full core with orange carbon moonshine took a medium steelie. diver set at 120 with a 8" mountain dew spinner and a proctologist fly took a coho and a medium sized king. Didn't have anything go on copper, and all the salmon were really full on big alewives.

Nice job last night Mark.

Agreed with above, sharp hooks are the key. I check my hooks religiously and touch them up even after a strike. If they don't dig deep into your fingernail they aren't sharp enough.

Well, after finally getting the boat out of storage for the first time (long story), we went out of Holland about 4pm and fished until a little after dark. Got 3 really nice steelies and a smallish laker. 5 color with a orange crush, dipsey at 1 about 80 back with a green skirt spoon, and a free slider with a mixed veggies uv got the steel. The laker came on 250' of copper with a patriot spoon. Good to be out fishing again.....

After not having a fishhawk for many years (have one now), here's what I would commonly do. Try to match as close as possible the boat of someone who's catching fish and then separate a little and do slow s turns. If hits come in the inside slow down a hair. If on outside then speed up.

nice job Mike

Nice job Bob

You could always buy new "wide mouth" guides from tuna toms. They run about 5 bucks each.

It's the Goldie Hawn by Flinststone lures. http://www.brettsplaceonthebay.com/flintstone-spoons-bd-std-reg-overstock-goldie-hawn/

In comparison, my cousin and I used to walleye fish on saginaw bay. He had a 20' aluminum with a really old 2 stroke 75 on it. We would use 2 separate 3 gallon tanks and come home on fumes after close to a whole day of fishing. When I got my 18' aluminum with a 50hp 4 stroke on it we would barely use 2 gallons of gas. In short, the 4 stroke used about 1/4 of the gas, but I do know the newer 2 strokes use way less than the old engines.

started inside the pack in about 70' and once the pack cleared out we worked our way out. One big fish was about 80' but the really big one was at 150' just about straight out from Holland.

After what seemed like years, finally got out again on the lake. We got a late start since a buddy decided to have his brights on while driving in the country to meet us and got pulled over. Ended 5-8 with some real nice fish. 300' of copper with a coyote spoon was hot and went 2 for 3 with a 26 pound king. Wire diver with rv moonshine at 120 on 1.5 took a 22 pound king. full core with orange carbon moonshine took a king and an 8 pound coho. 5 color with double orange crush took decent sized steelhead. Not a bad day considering the late start.

Personally I run moonshine spoons all the way through the depth spectrum. Don't concentrate on the thermocline until later in the day. The reason for moonshine is I found a little better success going faster early in the morning. I'll go between 2.8 and 3.2 on the fishhawk and it usually works well. The moonshines handle that speed better than most spoons. Hope this helps.