EdB

I crewed on a buddies boat last Sat out of Pentwater. He was in the PSA tournament. Fishing was kind of tough there lately and the 6 rod limit makes it tougher. We got 6 fish that day but we worked hard for them. We were on a mission to target big steelies or lakers since the tourney is based on the biggest fish of each species and not combined weight. We put it on a west troll and never stopped taking it out to the 47 line west. No big scum lines and no big deal. We did hang the 2nd place steelie that day but it got bumped off the leader board by Monday. I came home Sat night but they got 6 fish on Sunday and 6 on Monday so the fishing is still on the slow side. Good luck!

Had a couple good days at Erie. The action was red hot and we pulled our limit in 2 hours Sunday. It took 4-1/2 hours on Monday for our limit. We fished 14-18 feet of water about 4 miles south of Bolles Harbor both days. All fish caught trolling, we had stinger scorpion confusion and copper watermelon on the riggers set 2 ft off the bottom and tots and warts 50-80 back on the boards. Chrome in blue/black and green were the best cranks. Cranks were best Sunday, spoons were best Monday. Get em while it's hot-good luck!

Still one more day left and if it's not pouring out, I'm taking the wife out tomorrow AM for her last chance. The kids have really slowed down our hunting together. It's been a great season for me. It started out calling in this jake for my brother. My turn next and I got this limb hanger, 11 inch beard and with a 1-/18 spur. 3 days later, I guided my buddies wife and called in this big boy, 11-1/2 inch and 7-1/2 inch beards with spurs going 1-11/16. It was still in first place in the contest at Cabela's as of a week ago. How about the hooks on this one: Two weekends ago, I called in this one for my young hunting buddy Alex, it had a 10 inch beard and spurs were 1-1/8.

Caz, I've never smoked turkey legs before but all the legs from mature birds that I've cooked end up tough as leather. I don't think smoking them would help. But I bet with the right brine, smoking them would give them a great flavor. Here's what I do with my turkey legs that we roast in the over. I cut the meat from the bone and grind it up in a food processor or blender. Add some mayo, copped celery, onions, lettuce and it makes a great turkey salad spread for sandwhiches. If you smoke it and it comes out to tough, try this and it might be good. Let us know how it turns out either way?

Had a probe down last weekend and it was 42 degree's down at 80 feet. 44 on top. I think that is a bit unusual for this time of year too, usually it is in the high 30's that deep now. Now the books say salmon like water temps in the mid 50's but I think the great lakes salmon have evolved to like colder water and 42 to 45 has been a great temp range to target for us. Outside of late summer, we find more fish in the 40's vs the 50's.

I change mine monthly through the season. Watch out on the farmers field, oil kills everything. When I was a teenager doing all the oil changes for 3 cars in our family, I used to dump it on a vacant field across the road, mostly in the same spot. A few years back, they developed it and built houses. There is a house with a fairly nice lawn over my oil dump with a big 3 ft dead spot they can't get any grass to grow. I chuckled when my mom was telling me they didn't understand why the grass wouldn't grow there. Most quicky oil change places will take used oil to recycle. I save my gallon jugs from windshield wash and put my oil there and take it to a local quick oil change. That is the best way to dispose of it for the environment.

Great to finally meet you too Ben, I'll stay in touch, should be there quite a bit for the rest of this month.

The kings are starting to go good at St Joe. 3 of us fished today and we landed 10 kings, threw one back and got one coho. We hit and lost a lot too. Our fish came on full cores, half cores, riggers from 40ft to as deep as 80 ft and a 1-1/2 lb drop out 120ft with a white and green seaweed meat rig. Free sliders on the riggers worked. Blue dolphin, monkey shine and a steve's bait were the best spoons, all took at least a couple. A double jointed orange and gold rap took a couple high lined behind a bird. We fished from 80 to 125 ft of water, deeper was better later in the morning. Good luck!

100-120 feet of water a little ways south was the spot on Sat. We trolled around out front and took 3 quick ones and it died there. Picked another around 9:30 that kept me hanging there longer than I should have,mostly in 40-50 of water. A buddy calls about 11:30 after a long west troll and lit it up at 100 feet. We ran out, hit 4 and boxed 2 in a hour but had to be at the docks at 1:30, I couldn't convince my crew to hang there longer as they had a committment on land. My buddy boxed 17 and he got out deeper late with only 3 in the box to start there. All in the top 50 feet of water, free birds, 1/2 cores, full cores, divers from 60 to 90 and riggers 40-50 did the damage, mostly spoons, dolphins were best, but double jointed orange and gold rapalas were good on the birds. I couldn't get back Sunday but friends picked away at some good boxes in the same water, not quite as fast but a steady bite.

I'm new here but hang around a few other sites. Fishing the great lakes is my passion 10 months a year but October and December is nothing but hunting. I'm on the water every weekend and as many weekdays I can blow off work or take vacation. We have our boat at St Joe till the end of May, Lake Erie in June and Ludington till late September. I started salmon fishing in 1976 off the piers, fished a small boat and bummed as many rides as I could through the 80's and got my current boat new in 1990. Boat stands for "break out another thousand" and she got her share this offseason. She's got lot's of hours and is super dependable but her retirement is on the horizon. I know or recoginze a few people here and hope to see some of you this summer.