tltorrice

I am planning on being in Manistee this weekend. Looks like I will bring the fly rod and play with some salmon in the rivers. Hope to get out on Sunday and Monday. I too hope to get some pictures.

We decided to hit the early morning bite since we had been sleeping in all week. We were on the water and setting lines by 5:30. We fished south of the pier where we were the previous night. We didn’t mark very many fish. The cold water had moved closer to shore, so we did too. It was very slow, the only hit we had was around 8:00am on the Glow Ghost J-Plug. Pat landed a very nice 18.8# King Salmon. That got us excited but that was all we could coax into our spread. We decided to only fish until 10:30 so we could get out for the evening bite. We went back out around 6:00pm 2-3 foot waves and building. We went to a spot we like a little north of the pier and over very deep water. We managed 3 fish the largest was 15#. We took one hit on the wire meat rig, one on the down rigger glow spoon, and the other Glow Ghost J-Plug on the ten color. It is nice to catch fish on this plug and not lose it!! We pulled lines a little before dark because it was getting rough and it was time to head in. Wednesday Aug 25. No fishing due to the bumps. We should be able to hit it again on Thursday morning.

Ed, good to see you got out. Thanks for the report and nice job on the monster king Olivia!!

We fished the evening bite and went 5 for 9. Tough day… We started north of the pier, first fish on the rigger, I grabbed the rod and it came unbuttoned. Next fish on the wire I grabbed, it came unbuttoned. I am beginning to think I am jinxed. Next fish on the rigger meat rig I did manage a small king. Good, Skunk is out. We hit a long slow spell as we worked our way south. Pat had one on the full core on a glow ghost J-plug. It came unbuttoned. We lost another Glow Ghost J-Plug, a full core and a walleye board. We quickly marked a waypoint to go back for the board. As we were pulling lines we took a hit on the downrigger. As that was coming in the wire went! Nice double. Two nice fish. Once all of the lines were in we looked for the board, however due to the winds it was nowhere to be found, or someone already picked it up. I do have my name and phone number on the board. We stayed in that area and picked up our fifth fish after dark. We had a fun day. As we were motoring back in a tip broke off of one of the full core rods. Here is our catch for this day.

Steve give me a shout on the radio when you are here. I will be here on the holiday weekend too. Thanks for the info.

We got on the water about 1:00 pm after the small craft advisory was lifted. Sleeping in and a good breakfast was part of that. Went to the north to 225fow in 3-4 foot waves and trolled with the waves. We ran our usual spread 2 down riggers 4 divers and 10 color lead core. The lead cores have not been producing much this year for us. I think it is because the cold water is so deep. No fish on the first pass. Next pass moved to the front. Fish on… Brian lands a nice king. We ran back up and made another pass and landed two more. Glenn landed this nice one. We kept at it until 11:30pm. We ended the day 7 for 10. Here is what worked. Meat Rigs Chrome and Green with 8†fish catcher Meat Rigs Mountain Dew, behind a Mountain Dew SD. Flounder Pounder Sarge Meat Rigs have been far out producing everything else. We have been running a verity in our spread. Spoons, Meat Rigs, Flasher Flies and J-Pulgs. So far nothing on J-pulgs or Flasher Flies. We will hit it again today.

We took Pat’s son Riley and friends Brian and Glenn out on Lake Michigan today out of Manistee. We got a late start after a good breakfast. We set lines around 1:00 pm @ the 28 line. Trolled to the east and when the port rigger pulling a meat rig went off. Riley was up to the fight. Then the starboard wire pulling a meat rig went Brian jumped on that. Nice start double right out of the gate. Brian gets his in a 9 lb king. Riley still fighting and lands a 12 lb king. Here is Pats son Riley with his king. Later Glenn landed another king on (guess what) the meat rig on the wire. We had another hit on the meat rig rigger. That fish managed to take out the high diver and wrap itself in the starboard down rigger wire. It broke off. A little while later when we pulled up that rigger the fish and all of the hardware were still wrapped in the cable. It came off as we raised it up. It would have been nice to have that. The wind picked up and the waves got big. We decided it was time to call it a day around 6:00 pm. We went 3 for 4 today. We will hit it again tomorrow.

Nice report Ed. Glad you had a chance to get out. I am up in Manistee for the next week.

Sharpen every hook before it goes into the water. I have a Lansky hook sharpener in the boat and use it every day. I am amazed at how dull new hooks are on spoons and flies right out of the package. Our catch rate went way up since we sharpen hooks.

Thanks Frank, We are heading back up on Friday the 20th for a week of salmon fishing. Should get into them. TT

Kevin & Tony thanks for the tips. I will try the qtip trick and look over the guides very closely.

Saturday am got a little late start around day break. Went north of the pier and set up in 80 fow. Trolled north staying around 110 - 130 fow. Marked a lot of fish and bait fish. We managed a 9lb king on the full core on a glow ghost J plug. The line broke at the back of the boat but we got the fish in the net. Lost the J plug . We got another hit on the Meat Rig off of the starboard wire diver. Another 9 lb king. . Later in the morning we had another hit on the starboard down rigger pulling a meat rig behind Big Al's flasher. After quite a long battle our 12 year old deck had landed a 17.5 lb king. Kind of a slow morning but at least no skunk. Later we went back out for the evening. We went south of the pier to the shelf. Again we marked tons of bait fish and marked plenty of fish. We took one very nice hit on the full core on a glow ghost J plug. After a long fight to get the board off, the line broke and lost another glow ghost J Plug. I have been using some new 20# Trilean Big Game and am now think of changing to something else.

Nice job. Sounds like a fun morning.

We keep our hooks sharp and pay close attention to our lead lengths. Shorter leads gives the flies more action. Sometimes the fish like that. Other times the fish are less aggressive and a longer lead length, slower presentation can coax them to bite.

Thanks Richard, Pat and I learn a lot about fishing Lake Ontario from reading your posts. Next year we are going to be there the second week of August to fish at Oak Orchard Creek.

Pat & Tom went back to Oak Orchard Creek. Arrived on Saturday and the weather was not conducive to fishing. On Sunday morning we hit the launch only to find out we had a problem with the boat. The starter was not working. It took until Tuesday noon to get on the water. Tuesday we hit the water and got setup by 1:30 and fished until 7:00. We ran two downriggers and two wire divers, and a ten color which finished out our box at the end. We had 5 steelhead and 2 kings all on the small side. We let one of the small kings go. This is what worked. Green Gator DW stinger size wonderbread spoon Circus freak Stinger Undertaker meat rig with black mamba flasher NBK Spin Doctor with green mist fly Silver/bloody nose Lyman Plug on the full core Wednesday morning we got setup by 05:30 am @ 80 fow east of the port (Point Breeze). We started marking fish and bait fish right away. We trolled to the east between 80 and 120 then out to 250fow where we picked up the most and biggest fish. We boxed out at 10am. Larger fish than yesterday. 6# brown on a blue killer, 4 kings mostly 2 and 3 year olds, 10# steelhead. We also had 3 throw backs. We're still searching for the big boys. Here is what worked. Da Shizznit DW Blue Killer Stinger Gold Meat Rig – John King 42nd spoon DW Dirty White Boy DW Wonderbread glow spoon Side Kick with a blue green fly Sorry no pictures. Camara Problems. We will work on that.

Jason, Those guys at Berts are ok. I had one of the tubes come off of one of my rod holders. They replaced it for me.

Very nice Mike. I guess you know where your deer stand will be!!

Thanks for the great report. Pat and I will be hitting the Oak for a week starting July 24. We had a blast last year and cant wait to get back there. Your report just adds to the excitement.

Nice job Frank and crew.

Priceless!!

There is a product called Flea Flicker Line you can spool up on your mono rods that will keep them off. I used it last year on Lake Ontario and it worked well.

Nice job Mike. Your boys are getting big. They will be handling rods by themselves soon.

Fished the Ohio waters NW of West Sister Island. Thanks for the tip Ed. We got on the water around 2pm and fished til 8:30. We caught 7 walleyes one was too small. Purple seemed to be the color. Most fish came on purple hammered spoon trolled off of a mini disk 100 back on the big board. The other was a purple spoon with pink dots. We caught another on a jointed Rapala perch color off of the down rigger just off of the bottom. There were enough silver bass and sheep head to keep us busy. We ran crawlers off of BB for a while but they didn't go at all. Perfect day on the water, flat calm. Not what was predicted.

Great Job Frank and Crew!!