tltorrice

We had a slow day in Manistee today. Didn't get out til 3pm and ran to the north. We picked up one salmon on the down rigger set at 80 down on the Red meat rig. A little while later we had another hit on the same meat rig. That was all. We marked fish but could not get them to play. Pulled lines about 8:00 and called it a day. No skunks this week The weekend looks like conditions will be less that ideal.

We got a Salmon yesterday with a lampray on it from Manistee.

I have a pretty clear understanding of the nets, and have them marked on my GPS. There are only 5 nets now and they are to the south of the port. One good thing about the nets is they do provide some structure that attract bait fish. I don't fish them that closely, and I don't let them stop me from working an area. A few years ago there were a lot more.

Mark, we took a NW heading out of the port of Manistee and set down in 120 fow and pointed the bow tward the sun. (West) At our furthest point we were about 8.5 miles from the port. The lake starts to drop off in that area to over 700 feet. The nice thing is we were the only boat out there. We had a freighter flash its lights at us as we were pulling lines!

Very nice day on the water today. Started @ 5am 135 fow. Warm water down to 90 feet. Slow start only two fish before first light on glow stuff. Area 51 & white glow meat rig with a small white glow fish catcher. As it got light we just slowly picked away at them. We worked our way to the south and continued to mark fish in the 135 range. When we got off the water around 3pm we had 8 fish. Not the 3 man limit we had hoped for but a nice box. Got some food then back on the water by 7 til well after dark. We ran to the north to stay away from the crowds. Once we got the glow program going it was fast action. We had 4 fish in the box and lost at least another 4 and two meat rigs and flashers. When I looked at the graph we were at 478 fow. We have been here fishing all week. Got out every day except Tuesday and caught fish every day. On Tuesday we could not fish because of the weather so we went up to Tippy Dam. We checked the dumpster at the fish cleaning station. It was 1/4 full of Salmon. So it looks like the fish are in the rivers now as well.

Those are not teeth on that fish. There is some lettering on the cooler at that spot. Just looks like teeth in the picture. We did not do that on purpose. Sorry for the confusion. Tom.

Nice job Terry.

Nick, I will be here in Manistee all week. Hope to have some more good news.

Fished out of Manistee today. Got a late start after a good breakfast, about 11:00am. Since the lake was a little bumpy we motored to the south and trolled to the north. We went 5 for 7. 4 kings and an steelhead. Blue seemed to be the color of the day for us. What worked. Superman J-Plug off the 15 color Dark Green Frog Stinger spoon off the down rigger @ 85 Blue Machine on the other rigger @ 65. Also had hit SS Alwife pattern on the wire @ 225. Lost. Another on the blue machine on the rigger that was on then not. We fished til 4:30 and headed in for a salmon dinner. Another great day on Lake Michigan.

Nice job Frank. You really have those walleye nailed this year!!!

I used to fish out of a 16' boat that was 6' wide. I used to clear the port rigger and dipsy to bring in a fish. My riggers did not swivel. There was no room to land a fish with out doing that and it avoided a lot of tangles. I am in a 19 foot boat now and do not clear any lines. I move the riggers out to the side and keep my speed up as stated above.

I will be going to Manistee on Saturday evening to fish all of next week. Thanks for the forecast. Sunday morning looks good. Good Luck all.

I have had my Depth Raider for 3 years now. I change the battery once each year. My cable has nicks in it and small sections of the coating that has been stripped off. I run it next to my kicker motor and have not had a problem. I even ran it down to 120 fow while on Lake Ontario. I know that Kell Labs will stand behind the product. If you call them they will help you. They want you to be happy.

Very nice box of fish!!

Great Job, nice very detailed report. I will be fishing in Manistee the week after next so I hope there is some fish left. LOL.

Fantastic!! I am still amazed at the size of the fish in the Big O.

WTG Frank, the bay has been on fire for you this year!!!

Dennis welcome. You will like it here.

Nice job, awsom fishery!!!

Nice job Andy. Good to hit some salmon.

I have the same setup. I have two Okuma Catalinas 30LC with 1000 feet of 7 strand. I have two Okuma Convector 30LC with some 20#mono for backing and 40# Power Pro for the main line. I never get into the backing. I don't run any backing on the wire.

Jays Sporting Goods in Clare normaly carries it.

Aug 5 weather conditions at 05:00 am were less than ideal. 4-5 foot waves and high winds kept us ashore. The lake started to lay down about 3:30pm so that is when we went out. A 23" steelhead hit the downrigger meat rig set 80' in 210 fow before all of the lines were set. It was released. 05:00pm we released another small steelhead hooked on the wire dipsy on a green mirage fly and a spin doctor NBK. 07:00pm 8lb steelhead 480 fow on 85 down on the down rigger on an NBK Glow. Aug 6 set lines at 06:30am east troll 180fow first fish was a steelhead on the downrigger on a moonshine carbon 14, released to live another day. Steelhead are like blue gills around here!!! Next a 7# king on the white glow meat rig off of the down rigger set at 110 down in 160 fow. Later 15# King hit the green dolphin spoon on the 15 color core in 180 fow. Then we had a double hook up of a 14# King and a 16# king on the wire diver 150 back, and the downrigger 105 down in 175fow. Then we had another double. We got a steelhead on the 15 color green dolphin spoon, released. 14# king on the wire dipsy green meat rig with a green fish catcher. Then we landed a 10# king on the downrigger set at 100 down in 175 fow, green meat rig with the green fishcatcher. That rounded out the box. We actually did run some spoons and other flies but today the meat rigs were working. Another great day on Lake Ontario. Pat & Tom

Aug 2. Started at 3pm working 200 to 300 fow north troll landed a 20lb King on a NBK Stinger Spoon on the down rigger set at 60. Next came an 17# & 18# king on an NBK Spindoctor DW Green Mirage fly. This has been very hot for us. This was on the wire dipsy 150 back. Next was a 13 # King on a Gold Meat Rig from Captian John King behind White Fish Catcher on the down rigger 15 back and 80 down. Then we landed a Steelhead on the meat rig, Then a nice coho on the 10 color. We ended the day with a full box. Aug 3 Set lines at 06:00am worked 300 to 500 fow top 80 foot. 21# King on the Meat Rig, with a white glow fish catcher and a white glow meat head. Then a 15# King on the full core with a Stinger Gator spoon. Next was a 14 # king on the full core with a Green Spoon not sure the name. Pat landed a nice Steelhead on the NBK Spindoctor and caught two other steelhead and a 10# king that were released unharmed. Aug 4 Set lines at 06:00 am at 200 fow on a north troll. At 6:30 landed a 9.5# Steelhead on a NBK Glow Moonshine Spoon 70 down & 80 back on the downrigger. At 6:45 250 fow 24.5# King on the white glow meat rig on the down rigger 15 back & 75 down. We also landed a 21.5# King on the downrigger on a stingray NBK on the free slider. We landed another king 17# on the braid dipsy on a moonshine black spoon with a round circle. (I don't know what it is called, but it works) Later in the day we got a hit on the full core Stinger 42 second spoon. It turned out to be an unusual Steelhead. At one point in the day after lunch we had a triple on. A steelhead on the DR on an NBK Spoon, 10# king wire diver, 14# King on the meat rig on the downrigger. We ended up releasing 4 steelhead and 10# king. We found a place to get wireless internet so the updates should come faster. This place is a blast, the fishing is incredable.

Aug 1 Pat & I decided to take a trip to Lake Ontario after seeing all of the fish porn from this lake. We arrived on Aug 1 set up camp and went fishing. The first fish came 220 fow on a NBK Spin Doctor with a Lunker Tackle green fly, on a braid mag diver set at 2 150 back. 27# King. The next fish was a 13# King on 10 color on a Glow Goast j-plug. We caught two more Coho one 7# the other 3#. We missed a few other hits on the riggers but all in all what a great day. We will be here all week and will update when we can.