GLF

I want to remind everyone, this is Memorial Day weekend. If you are planning on camping at Fisherman's Landing, you should reserve you camp site ASAP!

Last year was the first year I ran it. There were 11 teams that fished it. This tourney is only advertised on this site, and you have to sign up in this thread in order to fish it.

This will be a different lure package from the Lake Michigan Stinger Challenge. I will have this sign up thread posted in the next couple of days.

Stinger Challenge 24 May 2008 Blow date - 25 May 2008 Fishermans Landing, Muskegon, MI What is the Stinger Challenge? The Stinger Challenge is a fishing event with everyone on the same playing field. Everyone receives the EXACT SAME lure package at a discounted price! Everyone is limited to having no more than 6 lines in the water at one time. This gives the person with 2 people in the boat the same chance as someone with 4 people in the boat. The lures in your lure package are the only lures you are allowed to use. If you loose one or all of your baits, you are not allowed to replace it/them with another lure from your box. What does is cost to fish in the event? There are two costs associated with this event. One is the entry fee for the event($30.00($5.00 go's toward big fish pot)), and the other is the cost of your lure package($45.00). The total cost is $75.00 What does the lure package consist of. The lure package will consist of: 2 Stinger Spoons(Standard Size) 4 Stingray Spoons(1 Nitro) 2 Magnum Spoons 2 Flashers(These are the new Stinger custom painted Prochip 8's) 2 Flies 2 Dive Bombs(3oz and 4oz) 1 Hat The cost of the lure package is $45.00. This lure package and hat would normally cost over $80. Lure packages must be paid for by 3 May. Additional Stinger hats and T-shirts will be available to purchase at a discounted price at the weigh in. If you are planning on ordering extra hats, or T-shirts, I need to know shirt size(s) and color in advance. What color are the baits in the lure package? You will not know the colors of your lures until the morning of the event. This is another elements of the challenge. No one knows what colors they are getting. Can I just pay for the discounted lure package and not fish in the event? Absolutely not! If you do not show up for the event, your lure package will be DONATED as a prize at the event, and your money WILL NOT be refunded. In the event you sign up for the challenge and can not make it, you may try to find someone to fish in your place. When will I get my lure package? I will have everyones lure package in a bag at the boat ramp, the morning of the event. When the entry fee for the event is paid, you will get your lure package. Fishing Event Rules: 1 - Entry fee($30.00($5.00 for big fish)) is to be paid by 5:30am. 2 - You are not allowed to alter the appearance of a spoon in your lure package. ie...no adding/removing tape, or adding paint. You may change hooks. 3 - You are only allowed to fish the lures that are in your lure package. If you are caught fishing with a lure that is not in your package, you will be disqualified. 4 - If you loose one or all of your baits, you are not allowed to replace it/them with another lure(s) from your box. 5 - You may not set a line before 6am 6 - You may not have more than 6 lines in the water at a time. If you are caught with more than 6 lines in the water, you will be disqualified. 7 - You must be checked in at Fishermans Landing by 1pm. There will be someone on the dock to check you in when you come in. If you are not checked in by 1pm, you will be disqualified. 8 - Weigh-in will start at 1:30pm. 9 - There is no limit to the amount of people in your boat. 10 - You may not have in your possession more than a 3 person limit. 11 - You may only weigh in 5 fish of any kind. Chinook, coho, steelhead, brown trout, or lake trout. 12 - Each salmon(chinook or coho) you weigh in is worth 10 bonus points. Each trout(brown trout, lake trout, or steelhead) is worth 15 bonus points. 13 - Make sure you know which fish is your big fish before you come to the scales. NO CHECKING AT THE SCALES! 14 - NO CULL RULE - If you net the fish or box the fish you must keep the fish. There will be no throwing back fish unless they are under size. 15 - All boats will leave from Fisherman's Landing by water, and return to Fisherman's Landing. 16 - If your boat breaks and you can not make it in by check in time, you may bring your cooler in another boat to weigh-in. Someone from your crew needs to accompany it. 17 - All boats/coolers will be checked at the ramp before the tournament begins.

Great idea Ken! My name is Mike.

This is getting really close! If I do not have to work, I am going to try and be there.

I did not pick up a camera yet. I am not sure which way to go with one. HD, DVR, or tape???????

Welcome aboard Andrew. Thanks for taking the time and making a brief introduction. If you need anything, let out a yell! Mike

On a more serious note....My wife does not like the smell of fish, or bacon cooking the house. Looks like I will have to pass on this one.

Thats a whopper! I wish there was some big fish like that in Lake Michigan.

Welcome aboard Scott! I live in Otsego but keep my boat in Muskegon. What name do you go by on the radio? Check out the tournament section, and the WMFL section if you are interested in fishing some club tourneys and such. If you need anything, let out a yell! Mike

Welcome aboard Mark! Nice silver king in your photo. Whats your biggest king you have caught? If you need anything, let out a yell! Mike

OK......all of us want to know. How do you prep caviar?

Speaking of trolling speed. Speed is very critical to catching fish. How do you know how fast you are trolling? I did not see a lot of room on your boat for all of the electronics and such.

LMFAO Good one muskybob!

How about the photoshop file instead?

Nice job Tony!

This is the first time they have done a Salmon days. This is geared towards the big lake fisherman instead of bass fisherman.

I only run one rod per rigger. You can put two rods on each rigger, with stackers.

The Dive Bomb is a planing weight. It has a planing surface that helps get your bait deeper. To get the MAX depth out of a Dive Bomb, you should put it on your lead core, closest to the leader. So.....if you was setting your line, you would let out your leader, on the first color of core, attach the Dive Bomb, then let out the rest of the core. Some people attach their planer boards right after the core. I always let out 50-100' of backing after the core before I attach a board. One note with Dive Bombs. The Dive Bombs really dig. You can not work a line with a Dive Bomb over another core without tangling. Always use a 4oz Dive Bomb on your inside board(closest to the boat). With a 1/2 core and a 4oz Dive Bomb, it will get your bait to at least 50', if set it the way I mentioned above.

Here is a crude image I just put together. You can see the down rigger cable, the main line, and a slider. Set your main line to the down rigger and put it 10-20' down. Attach slider(6' of line with swivels on both ends. Have a spoon on the other end.)to the main line. You can wrap a rubber band around it and clip your swivel to it and the main line to keep it from sliding down to the cannon ball. Then run your down rigger down to your desired depth. What you end up is, one line at your down rigger depth, and another line 10-20' above it.

How many hooks can you have per line? I usually run a slider line(6' line added to the main line with a swivel) on my down riggers. This lets me have 2 baits in the water per line. More baits in the water = more chances of getting a fish. If the action is fast and furious, I will not use a slider. My typical spread is 3 boards off each side, 2 divers off each side, and 3 riggers. I usually run my flasher/fly combos on my divers. Lots of people will run them on riggers. If the flasher/fly bite is hot, I will add them to my riggers in addition to the divers. Find something the fish like and give them lots of it! You are on the right track by viewing the Hot Spoons thread. I am a Stinger guy. I like the light weight of the Stinger spoons. They have a great range of speed they can be trolled at. I mostly use the Stingray size. It is an in between size between the standard and magnum spoon. Every tackle box should have at least one of the following. Blue Dolphin NBK Carmel Dolphin Double Orange Crush Mixed Veggies Some of my better spoons from last year. All of the above plus these. Killer Tangerine Killer Dolphin Glo Dolphin Green Dolphin Orange Killer Craigs x-mas Craigs x-mas reverse Freakin Veggies Freakin Blue Veggies Some of us start fishing before the sun comes up, and glow in the dark spoons are a must. Nitro Twister Nitro Area51 Nitro Green Fireball Nitro Citrus Flasher/Flies I started pulling ProTroll flashers this year. That teamed up with a Siggs Rigs Trophy flies are a GREAT combination. There are several colors of flies I did well on. Probably my number one color was the Green Hypnotist. Bluegreen Hypnotist, Bluegreen Aqua Crinkle, and Blue Mirage also produced well for me.

D & R Sports in Kalamazoo is have a Great Lakes Salmon Days on 8 March. There will be several seminars, tackle representives, and deals on salmon fishing merchandise. This is a seperate event from their spring fishing show in April. Show times are from 9:30am till 4:30pm.

Never an issue with the rougher seas. Then again, I have a 27', 10,000lb boat The springs on the clips are pretty strong. I put one on my finger to see how much of a man I was. Call me a whimp

I am not sure how many of you have read Anton's post in the welcome center. Anton lives in Russia. Do you have brown trout, lake trout, and steelhead(rainbow trout), in your great lakes? I am assuming you will be targeting salmon, or will you be targeting walleye as well?