Bobbys Toy

Joe Man, Check out the Detroit Area Steelheaders site at:http://www.detroitsteelheaders.org/tournaments.html. Go to St Joe Tournament hand out and download info. It will give you maps and nav info for the river. Read the fishing reports on this site for up to date info as well. Good luck!

Jimmy, we will be fishing Grand Haven that weekend for our first 2 day tournament. Good luck in Holland. Thanks all for the kind words. My crew and I enjoyed our day, we were just tired by the time the picture was taken. (Knowing we had to clean all those fish!)

Here is the catch...

This past weekend was the second of our nine-tournament schedule with the Detroit Area Steelheaders and what a weekend it was. Checking the weather reports Wednesday night gave conflicting information as one forecast called for 4 - 6 foot waves while another said 2-3 subsiding to 1-2 then to 1 foot or less. I opted to believe the latter and we were rewarded in doing so. As predicted, it was a bit on the rough side Friday morning with a steady flow of 2-3 footers coming out of the South with a steady 15 to 20 knot wind. Silver Addiction and Bobby’s Toy were the only club boats in the marina on Friday morning so we discussed our options. Mark decided he would head for the 65-foot range a few miles south while I worked the shallower water closer to port. The Silver Addiction was well rewarded for their efforts as they came in with 12 nice spring kings weighing 10 to 15 pounds. Bobby’s Toy did not fare as well as we only came up with four dinks for our 8-hour troll. We found no takers in the shallows so we moved out to 65-foot of water around 9:00 AM and were rewarded with our first 2 pound Coho at 9:15 AM which hit a regular Silver Streak black screwball set 18 down with a 100 foot stretch. We worked the 65-foot water for another hour without any action so moved out to 100 foot and started seeing action again. Over the course of the next couple of hours we boxed three more fish while losing twice that many on short strikes. All fish came on spoons in the regular size Silver Streaks with Blue Dolphin and Michael Jackson getting hit anywhere from 38 to 80 down over 100 to 110 foot of water. A couple of fish hit free floating sliders with matching spoons with one fish hitting a red dodger in OO size with a bloody nose Stinger spoon. At the end of our troll, we were approx 8 miles south of port. Our ride back was much easier as we had a following sea of 1 to 3 footers. Saturday, tournament day, conditions improved with 1 to 2 footers coming out of the south. I decided to fish in close for the first hour as visibility was low and the chop was steady. At 6:20, a 7-pound lake trout hit a Super Slim double oranges crush set 45 down over 68 foot of water. I called Mark on the phone at 6:30 to see how things were going in his area and told me to get down here and join in the fun. We pulled lines and made the 8 mile run at 10 miles per hour. We set up in the 02’s in 80 FOW and kept it on a south troll. At 8:00 AM, we had a 15-pound plus king coming to the boat on the full core rig with a SS Mike Jackson spoon, regular size, set on an in-line board off to starboard. From then on it was all catching as we worked the area of the 02’s to the 00’s. We ran four downriggers and two full cores off boards, one on each side and proceeded to keep catching fish. All on spoons, riggers set 45 to 65 down with stretches of 50 to 70 feet. We ended up going 16 for 24 with Michael Jackson being the best bait followed by the Blue Dolphin, then Double Orange Crush and Double White Crush. We had a Dipsey out for a while but it proved to get in the way and did not produce a fish so we pulled after running it for an hour or so. We were very excited about our catch and thanked my good pal Captain Mark Williams for putting us on the fish. Without his input, it is doubtful that I would have made that grueling ride south. I think Mark was as excited as we were with our results. We pulled lines at 2:00 PM still fighting our last fish. Once the fish was in, we made the 9 mile run back to port in calm seas and the sun shinning. Our cooler was a chore to get off the boat, even using the low dock by the marina entrance was a chore. At the weigh in Almost Paradise had their catch lying on the ground waiting for the weigh master. We thought we might have trouble beating him, as he seemed to a have a couple of more larger fish than we did. We had six fish over 10 pounds with the rest in the 4 to 8 pound range. We ended up with 14 Kings, 1 Laker, and 1 Coho for a second place finish, losing by less than 5 pounds. However, we did manage biggest fish with a 15.20-pound King beating out Almost Paradise’s 15.15-pound King. Therefore, we took our $40.00, kept our heads high, and talked about all the things we did right with no regrets on our second place finish. Saturday night and Sunday morning brought storms and heavy rain so we slept in Sunday morning. We decided that we would tear the boat down, put her on the trailer, and go for breakfast before heading home. I started the boat, letting her idle for a few minuets to warm up before casting of the dock lines when all the sudden the engine sputtered and dies. Yep, out of gas. The fish gods did indeed smile upon us Saturday by allowing us to get back to our slip in time for the weigh in. I know we were close on fuel but I did think we had a few gallons left. First time in twenty-three seasons in this boat that I ever ran it out of gas. One gas can purchase and two gallons of gas latter we were on our way to the boat ramp.

The DAS had their first tournament of the year at Lexington this weekend. The fishing was great, catching not so much. We pre-fished Friday, just two of us on board, we set up north of the harbor in 15 FOW and trolled north starting around 7:00 AM. We trolled for five hours without a hit. I zig zagged from 15 to 45 FOW until we reached Port Sanilac. We were in 45 FOW just north of the PS port entrance when a rigger set 25 down with a 100 foot stretch went off with a double orange crush Super Slim spoon at 12:07 PM. We landed a nice Laker that weighed 6 pounds on my digital hand held scale. Shortly after landing that fish another rigger went off with a green spoon dolphin Super Slim that was set 17 down with a 100 + foot stretch in 35 FOW on a NW troll at 12:20 PM, we netted a little bit bigger Laker that weighed in at 8.2 pounds. In 25 FOW on the same NW troll a board took off with a perch color jointed J-11 on a two color core rod. This fish weighed in at 8.8 pounds, again another Laker. All three fish were released unharmed. We decided at that point we had our Laker spot for the tournament and pulled the four riggers and two boards to make the ten mile ride back to Lexington. Seas were relatively calm at one foot or less. Saturday we awoke to temps in the mid forties which was a welcome change from the mid-thirties of the morning before. Our game plan was then to fish in front of Lexington to see what we could make happen and then make the run to Sanilac latter. As we broke the pier head I received a call from a fellow club member, Vicki’s Seacret, that he was experiencing motor problems and needed a tow. I asked him to put an anchor out that we would come over to get him once the sun came up. I did not want to make a tow in the dark. We fished for about 45 minuets without so much as a knock off so we trolled over to a club boat in distress and hooked him up for the tow. We had about a 1.5 mile trip back to port where we got the disabled boat into the boat launch dock and headed back out for our tournament. We decided to run to Sanilac and set up there. At the 9:00 AM fish call two boats reported one fish each, Hard Top & Tails and Almost Paradise, the remainder of the fleet reported no fish in the box. I received a phone call from a pal that had been fishing the week before and he suggested we put down a trash can dodger and metallic green spin & glow. We did just that, 2 foot off the bottom with a 114 ft stretch, it was down less that 2 minuets when it went off with a nice 8 pound Laker. Our one and only fish for the day. All boats pulled lines at 2 and were in the weigh in line by 3:00 PM. 4 boats weighed fish, the first place boat, Bad Dog (Puppy) had 4 Lakers caught in 76 FOW banging bottom with a dodger and spin & glow, the second place. Almost Paradise, boat had one Laker and a small Coho, the third place boat, Bobby’s Toy and fourth place boat, Hard Top & Tails, had one fish, ours was a half pound bigger, thus giving us a third place finish. The remainder of the boats had no fish. Next week we are off to St Joe where hopes are high for better catching than what we experienced at Lexington.

2 blue, 1 white

I created my version of a fishing log last year using Excel. Using Excel gives you more options for sorting data and calculating. Send me a pm with your email and I would be happy to send it to you.

I use the 4oz dive bomb on a 5 color and figure I am getting the depth of a 8 color. I put the dive bomb in the center of the core. Just remember to make sure all the core is in the water or at the very least out of the rod tip. Core left in the tip will not be for long. Learned that one the hard way:mad:

Super copper is the way to go, you will not look back...

I have been using both lead core and copper and feel both have their place. I am fairly new to the copper set ups, I have used the pre rigged Opti copper rigs and have managed to destroy them within a few uses. A friend told me about super copper so I gave it a try. I took my 345 Penn to Captain Chucks in Ludington and them strip the double core off and put on full core of 45lb super copper, what deference in the way it handles on the reel. The super copper has a tin coat on it that gives it a coating that makes it behave more like lead core. I caught my three largest fish of 2009 on this rig. I use the copper when I want to get deeper than 70 foot. I kept my cores for everything above that. I also added a couple of sets of Dive Bombers that gives me extra depth on my cores. I use a 4oz DB on a half core to get me down to the 8 color core depth with out the length. They work great and give you that extra adjustability, again just another tool, albeit a cheap tool.

Thanks for the kind word all. The boat will run in the low 30's with 4 large fishermen, full fuel and all equipment. But it is rare day that it is calm enough to open the throttle all the way. Crestliners are not wave breakers, ride a bit rough but very stable when trolling which is what we do most of the time anyways. I must admit those 25 Carolina Classics with the 24 degree deadrise hulls are looking better all the time as I get older...

Yes, we start South and work our way North. This year we start on the Huron side at Lexington the last weekend in April then head to St Joe on the Lake Michigan side the first weekend in May. Couple of weeks later we go to Grand Haven for a two day event. Here is the schedule: Lexington 4/24/2010 St Joseph 5/1/2010 Grand Haven 5/22/2010 Grand Haven 5/23/2010 Pentwater 6/26/2010 Manistee 7/10/2010 Ludington Ladies Day 8/7/2010 Ludington II 8/14/2010 Team Doubles 8/15/2010 Manistee 8/28/2010 Onekama 9/11/2010 If you would like more info on our tournaments check out the DAS website:http://www.detroitsteelheaders.org/ It would be awesome to get some new members with boats to participate in these events. We used to get 20 some odd boats now we are doing well if we get 12 or so. The economy and gas prices had caused some members to keep their boats dry docked. The boat captain needs to be a member which cost $25.00 per year. Tournaments cost $25.00 per or $125.00 annually which is a good deal is you plan to fish more than five events during the year. I do not mean make this sound like a sales pitch, it is just meant to be informational. Again, thanks for the kind words everyone.

Being new to the site I thought it only appropriate to get my "Toy" on this board. Bobby's Toy is a 1987 Crestliner Saber 225 GL which I purchased new in 1987 at the Flint Steelheaders show. I purchased the boat from the now defunct Empire Marine in Flint. I ordered the Toy with a couple of options, starting with a 165 Mercrusier, carpet (bad choice on my part, carpet has no place on a fish boat) and a heavy duty 5200LB EZ Loader roller trailer. This purchase left little to do anything else with; lucky for me VHF came with the deal. I scraped $400.00 together for a Ray Jeff black&white CRT fish finder. A bud gave me pair of home made riggers for which I made a trolling board with flush mount PVC rod holders. I had a pair of Fish On rod holders for which a made a couple of angle brackets that enabled me to mount the rod holders to the gunnels and use them for dipsey rods or Pink Ladies at that time. Another friend gave me some old rods and reels, some spoons and a hand full of Bomber Long A's, I was ready to go salmon fishing. As time went on I upgraded to four electric Walkers and a Atlantic Towers top. A new interior came in 2005. Home built over the winter, new vinyl flooring, storage for all of my tackle, new seats and a new Ray Marine fish finder. 2006 brought a re-power, the 165 went away and was replaced with a slightly used 4.3L 205hp V6 installed by Michigan Marine Gear in St. Clare Shores Michigan. This brought a whole new life to the Toy. I decided to finish this project with a new paint job over the winter of 2007/2008. Paint was done by D&R Marine in Caseville Michigan. Today Bobby’s Toy is about where I want it to be. Here is a list of equipment I have added, most of it in the last 4 years: 205 hp Mercrusier Bennet Trim Tabs (This was needed after the engine up grade, had to keep the bow from bouncing) New Paint New interior Ray Marine 500DX fish finder 840 Fish Hawk 320 Ray Marine GPS Chart Plotter Ray Marine Sport Pilot Ray Marine 49 VHF Beaver Troll (added 2009) Atlantic Towers Top Custom made enclosure by Canvas Kings in Spring Lake MI 4 Walker Tournament II electric down riggers 6 Bert’s rod holders with 2 24 inch tracks 3 Fold down Tite Loc rod holders between out downs Electric winch with trailer mounted battery LED trailer lights New trailer brake system And many more things that I can not recall right now. And here she is running in all her glory last year out of Pentwater.

My diver program has not been very productive the last couple of years so I would like to get it moving again. I think my biggest issue is lead lengths, I use 6 ft leads with 30ld Ande with mostly flasher and flies. What do you do?

Wow, what a warm welcome, thanks you all. I have a pretty heavy work schedule so most of fishing is geared around the DAS tournaments. So I fish out of many ports, most of which are on Lake Michigan's Eastern shore line. Though we do make it to Lake Huron once or twice a year, but since the salmon crash on Lake Huron we concentrate on the Lk MI ports mostly. My favorite port is Ludington as I have a cabin in the area and plan to retire their in another 15 years or so. I like the variety of ports, something new all the time, but it does get to be a challenge to be competitive. My crew and I usually arrive at the port on Thursday night, Fish all day Friday, fish the tournament on Saturday then we take it easy on Sunday. If the fishing and weather is good we will hit it for the full morning, if not we go to breakfast, load up the boat and head home. Unless of course we are fishing a two day tournament then we are out there before six giving it our all. I started keeping a very detailed fish log last year and found a wealth of info in it once I started analyzing the data. I can get a bit winded in my writing. I tend to talk more on these message boards than in person. If they get to long just tell me! I will get some pics posted of the Toy and some fun catches.

Hello everyone, I discovered this site through the links section of the new Detroit Area Steelheaders web site. Browsing this I was impressed and decided to join. I was first introduced to salmon fishing in 1985 from a co worker. My first time out was a rainy and cold Fathers Day weekend out of Onekama. I had the time of my life catching small Coho's with some Lakers and Kings mixed in. I think the biggest fish was about 7 or 8 pounds but for someone who never caught anything bigger than 4 pound small mouth, I was hooked. A growing family and small boat kept my fishing time to a minimum even after I bought my first and only salmon boat in 1987, I still only made it out 2 or 3 times a year. Speed frame to 2000 I joined the Detroit Area Steelheaders to learn more about salmon fishing. I started fishing a couple of tournaments a year and began to get more confident in my abilities as a salmon fisherman. Now that my boys a grown I have more time to fish. I now have a seasoned crew and we fish all the DAS tournaments for the last 3 years. I still have the same 1987 225 Sabre GL Crestliner that I bought new in 87. I have since up graded everything including new interior, new paint and repowered from a 165 four banger to a 4.3L 205 V6. I think I have the boat the way I want it now and enjoy my time on the water more than ever. I look forward to learning more from the site, sharing my stories and hope to read many of yours. Good fishing to all this year!