GLF

OK....I have started looking into this again. I am looking into full color and single color decals. I would like the decal to be easily viewable. So, I would like to go for a 12" x 12" decal(around $11 ea). However, if I go with an 8" x 8"(around $5.00 ea), it cuts the cost in half. The only problem I see with a 8" x 8" is that it will not be very visible. I can also get them in larger sizes if someone would like a larger one. The cost goes up sharply in with the size. Example a 2' x 2' would be around $46 ea. This is for full color decals. I have not received prices for single color decals yet. I should have them some time today. Full color or single color? What size would you like?

I have heard a couple of reports, but do not want to steer you in the wrong direction. You may want to try shallow first thing in the am for some browns. Then work out deeper from there.

Who has been running charters this season already?

Nice catch Larry! How far down were the riggers?

Thanks for the report. Nice spring steelie! Did you let her reel in the fish?

Welcome to the site Skeiner! Must be rough pulling in 20 lb kings all day long this time of year! If you need anything, just give a yell! Mike

Welcome to the site. We look foreward to sharing some of your stories and reports.

Indiana boaters will need a lake permit before heading out on state inland waters Boaters are no longer required to purchase a daily launch permit. But they must buy an annual lake permit, allowing them to use any state park, reservoir or state forest lake for the entire year. The new permit is $20 for motorized watercraft and $5 for non-motorized watercraft. State-owned watercraft and state-owned boat rental concessions are exempt. Funds collected from the permits are used to support the operation of state parks, reservoirs and forests, according to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. About 67 % of the funding of state park operations comes from these, and other, user fees.

Twenty rivers and streams across Indiana will be stocked with rainbow trout for the opening of Indiana's inland-stream trout season. Stream trout anglers may start fishing at 5 a.m. (local time) on April 29. The season runs through Dec. 31, 2006. The inland stream creel limit is five trout per day and the minimum keeper size is seven inches long. Inland stream anglers should note that quality brown trout regulations are in effect for the East Fork of the Whitewater River below Brookville Lake. There is no closed season for taking trout from inland lakes. Lake Michigan and her tributaries have separate trout-salmon regulations. Check the 2006 Indiana Recreation and Fishing Guide or www.wildlife.IN.gov for details. 2006 Indiana rainbow trout stocking streams - ALLEN COUNTY - Spy Run Creek - BROWN COUNTY - Jackson Creek - ELKHART COUNTY - Cobus Creek, Little Elkhart River, Solomon Creek - FRANKLIN COUNTY - Brookville Lake tailwater - FULTON COUNTY - Mill Creek - HENRY COUNTY - Big Blue River - LAGRANGE COUNTY - Curtis Creek, Little Elkhart River, Pigeon River, Rowe/Eden Ditch, Turkey Creek - LAPORTE COUNTY - Little Kankakee River - PARKE COUNTY - Cecil M. Harden Lake tailwater - PORTER COUNTY - Crooked Creek - RANDOLPH COUNTY - Mississinewa River - ST. JOSEPH COUNTY - Potato Creek - STEUBEN COUNTY - Fawn River, Pigeon River

A youth fishing clinic will be offered at the Department of Natural Resources’ Michigan Fisheries Visitor Center in Oden on Saturday, May 6. The clinic is being offered by the Miller VanWinkle Chamber of Trout Unlimited. Registration is limited to 100 children. The program will begin at 10 a.m. and activities take place until 2:30 p.m. Children will participate in a variety of activities including fly tying, knot tying, bait demonstrations and fishing. A tour of the Oden Fish Hatchery follows the program. Lunch will be provided, along with a raffle and door prizes for all children participating. The clinic is free, but pre-registration is required. To register, call the Michigan Fisheries Visitor Center in Oden at 231-348-0998. The visitor center is located on US 31 in Oden, five miles east of Petoskey.

Welcome to the site silverseeker! I have been hoping to get more people that fish Lake Ontario on the forums. The site has only been up since 8 Jan. We continue to grow and are spreading our reach accross the Great Lakes. Make sure you tell your friends about the site

I may not make this one tonight. I will be working on my yard, trying to get it all smoothed out so I can plant grass. Just what I want to do...cut the grass I would rather be fishing!

Thanks for the report nomas.

Heck...I once hit a wrong button and deleted a whole website

Thanks for the report Eric. 4 oz can be an inch or a mile when it comes time for weigh in. Nice Job!

What is the first thing you think of when somebody mentions fishing for salmon in the Great Lakes? Is it a big boat? Big waves on open water? Ever heard the phrase that buying the boat is the cheap part of Great Lakes fishing? Maybe you are very analytical and the first thing that comes to mind is downriggers. I can remember back when my Grandfather used to dock his boat at Chalmers Marina in Whitehall, MI. The marina has since gone away and there really are no reminisce of it anymore. The memories however, are still with me. I remember as a kid getting up, stopping in at the local pancake house across the street from the marina, chowing down a short stack, then heading to the boat around 8 or 9am for our day’s journey. Back then it was 4 downriggers, 4 poles and that was it. My Grandfather had no cares for dipsies, lead core, wire, drop weights, or even planer boards. It was strictly two long arm riggers off the side, and two short arms off the back. We had many glorious days on the water back then, the fish were huge and plentiful. The fish today are still as plentiful as ever. The size has gone down some, but still enough 12 plus pound fish out there to make things interesting. We so often get caught up in the new techniques and state of the art methods that we often forget about what brought us to where we are now in the first place. (I admit I’m one of them. I only have two riggers on my boat.) Over the years down riggers have proven to be the most consistent technique on the water. They are a simple contraption to use, whether electric or manual. All you need is the downrigger, cable, a 10lb ball, and a release. To start off, you want to get yourself some decent dowrigger rods. (Don’t confuse decent with expensive.) When you are talking downriggers and salmon fishing you don’t have to go out and buy Loomis or St. Crouix rods. You are not in the river trying to feel a tiny little take, you are in the open water trolling around 2 to 3 mph. There is nothing tiny about the way these fish hit. My thoughts are more on the lines of the Shimano TDR, Eagle Claw, Diawa Heartland, Okuma Pro Series, and Pinnacle rods. Any of those rods should be around $30 dollars or less. Now that you have a nice 8’ 6†medium action rod to play with, you need to outfit that rod with a reel. Do your research because if you are going to spend big money this is where you want it to happen. I’ve had excellent luck with Okuma Convector reels. Another great reel is the Diawa SG series. Of course the old reliable the Penn 209’s and 309’s work wonderfully for riggers. I like to have a big enough reel to comfortably hold 300 yards of 20lb test line. I prefer a smooth drag that is easy to set. (If you feel surging when a fish is pulling line out then you probably need to give that drag system a little attention.) Once I have chosen my reel, I will spool it up with 20lb Ande or 20lb Trilene Big Game. (You can go much lighter if you wish.) A higher quality reel is necessary for lighter pound test line. I often fish with a lot of novices, the heavier 20lb test lets you get away with MANY mistakes that 12lb wouldn’t let you get away with. You can also go a little heavier but, I don’t really recommend it unless you are only running J-Plug type baits. If you run too heavy of a line, spoons will lose action dramatically. Now we move into the meat and potatoes of the meal. Time to find your favorite downrigger. There are so many out there to choose from and they all do a fine job. (Walker, Cannon, Big John, Scotties, Penn, Fishlander, Vector, and Proos.) Once you have your rigger it will probably come with 200 feet of 250lb test stranded cable. I prefer the NON-coated cable myself. With the cable, attach a giant swivel to the end. (Cannon makes the best termination kit I have found so far. There is NO crimping involved with it and is very reliable. I’ve never broken one since I’ve been fishing them for the last 8 years.) With your swivel attached you are ready for some lead. I like to run 10lb Tru Tracs. You can also use the pancake or the shark style. If you are running four riggers, I would suggest using Tru Tracs on the back two riggers. Pancake weights work great for the sides (bend the fins slightly so they will plane out to the side a bit for better separation). Once you have picked out your weights, you have to find a release that suit your needs. Personally I like the Off Shore OR-1 release (a spring pinch pad release). There are several others on the market, such as Cannon, Walker, Scottie, and just plain old rubber bands. Now that you have spent the pension on the equipment lets go fishing! On my boat the first lines I set are the downrigger lines. Weather, water, and wave conditions determine how I run my riggers. One term you will hear often is LEADS (lEds). A lead is the distance you let your bait out before you clip it into your release. Keep in mind that the shorter the lead, the more it will move with the cannon ball especially in wavy conditions. During the spring I am usually fishing 6 to 30 FOW (Foot Of Water) with longer leads (100’ or so). If that isn’t working for me, I bring the lead in as close as 15’ behind the ball. If fishing during summer, when calm, I will put leads out around 20 to 50 feet. If it is a choppy, I will shorten my leads (5 to 20 feet). In the Fall (where there are a million other vessels trying to fish the same exact spot) I shorten up leads at all times (5 to 20 feet no matter what depth of water or wave conditions). So if I leave you with nothing more than this. In the time we are in right now with all the crazed methods and techniques, none are as consistent or as simple to use as a downrigger. Written and Illustrated By: Jim Six(SixShooter)

Yes it is St. Joe.

If you were fishing strictly for Lake Trout, what technique would you use? Include lures, depths, etc, etc, etc...

What are your 5 favorite lures and colors for steelhead?

I bet most of you have never seen this one before. Where am I?

Port Dalhousie, Ontario The Scotty Spring Tournament in St. Catharines is the longest running tournament in our series. Port Dalhousie Pier Marina plays host and is located onthe Southwest shore of Lake Ontario. Their stable docks, clean bathrooms, fish cleaning facilities and most of all the indoor building that the presentations are heandled in, make the location seond to none when hosting a fishing tournament of this magnitude. This time of year brings out many different techniques when it comesto catching these silver bullets that our spring fishery provides us with. From the standard downrigger to a dipsy diver program to planer boards with stick baists or even led core, the past winners will attest that year to year the programis different but all the more exciting. The previous winners includes the likes of: Larry Schroeder, St. Catherines, Ont - 2001 Eric Marcinkowski, Massachusetts - 2002 Pat Commerford (Sandman), New York - 2003 Dave Sullivan (Hot Reels), Ontario - 2004 Mark Donnell (soggy 1), Port Dover, Ont. - 2005 This year should be no different. The spring fishery will bring fisherman from all over to troll the shoreline to bag their 5 salmon limit. THese fish are acrobatic and will keep you jumping all day long. This is a tournament that you do not want to miss!! Click here for entry form and rules.

What are your 5 favorite lures and colors for Chinook?

Thats why they call it fishing instead of catching Thanks for the report!

Miners Castle turret surrenders to lake MUNISING — What is arguably the best-known landmark at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore was changed forever Thursday when a large section of Miners Castle collapsed and tumbled into the waters of Lake Superior. About 10:30 a.m. Thursday, a handful of people — including at least one hiker, sightseers and anglers — were witness to the collapse, which was described as loud and sudden. One of the two prominent “turrets†at the top of the castle-shaped formation fell roughly 90 feet off the northeastern side of a ledge. From a distance, it appears as though the section was lopped clean off. The turbid waters of Lake Superior were still churning, darkened by the sediments from the collapse by late Thursday afternoon. “This is probably by far the most significant change that’s occurred out there since I’ve been doing the cruises,†said Dave Karbon, a captain with Pictured Rocks Cruises in Munising. Karbon, who has worked on the boat cruises for the past nine years, said substantial changes occur with regularity to the sandstone cliff formations that dot the coastline along the tour boat route between Munising and Chapel Beach. But what makes the Miners Castle collapse so great is the prominence and popularity of the feature with tourists and locals. “A lot of the people anticipate seeing it before it even comes into view because they’ve heard so much about it,†Karbon said. “It is the highlight of the tour for a lot of people.†Larry Hach, chief ranger at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, said the action that took the castle turret down Thursday is an example of the forces of nature at work that created the spectacular Pictured Rocks cliffs to begin with. “It’s part of the natural process, the erosional process,†Hach said. Each spring, the tour boat captains look forward to their initial journeys along the Pictured Rocks, finding new alterations in the cliffs. “The first trips are kind of interesting to see what’s changed over the winter,†Karbon said. “You see people comparing notes.†Last year, a section of Grand Portal fell and two years ago, a big chunk crumbled in on Chapel Cave, Karbon said. In July 2000, a significant collapse at Grand Portal now prevents pleasure craft from making what had been regular trips under the formation. The Grand Portal Arch also collapsed in 1900 in a significant event, chronicled by “The Munising News†on Sept. 22 of that year. “The Grand Portal was one of the grandest, most sublime and interesting sights of the Pictured Rocks,†the article said. “The cavity was large enough for a good-sized steamer to enter into and it was perhaps a hundred feet or more in height from the surface of the water.†During the 1940s, the Chapel Rock Arch also fell. Word of the Miners Castle collapse spread quickly throughout Munising Thursday after it was reported to park officials by witnesses. Later in the day, small groups of people wandered along the pathways between two National Park Service viewing decks at the castle. “It’s so sad,†said one local woman. Another added, “It’s going to change the whole landscape you’ve been used to seeing for thirty or forty years.†Hach said the collapse Thursday illustrates the importance of park railings, signs and other warnings intended to keep people away from the precipitous drops off the edges of the sandstone cliffs. “You never know when one of those things is going to fall,†Hach said. In the past, Hach said rangers have had to remove park visitors from the top of Miners Castle, including the turret that dropped into Lake Superior Thursday. “If someone had been out there, it really could have been bad,†Hach said. Under the trees, near the lower observation platform, an interpretive display titled “Crumbling into Time†explains that erosion by wind, water and ice at Pictured Rocks is a continuous, ongoing process along the cliffs. In text placed above a sketch prominently showing the two turrets of the castle intact, the sign asks visitors an ironic question. “As you visit Miners Castle, what do you think it will look like next time you visit?â€

Jasper Moceri's canal home in Harrison Township has a view of one of the best fishing holes on Lake St. Clair, but the sight of hundreds of dead and dying fish at his dock has Moceri convinced it's more than just a winter fish kill. "I've been here 11 years and I've never seen anything like it," Moceri said Thursday. "There's every species possible out there: dead. Something happened." The thousands of fish that are popping up dead in canals along Lake St. Clair in Harrison Township, Chesterfield Township and St. Clair Shores is a result of winter stress and fluctuating temperatures, a biologist with the Department of Natural Resources said Thursday. Mike Thomas, a fish research biologist in the Lake St. Clair Fish Research Station, said the dead fish are typically canal species such as bluegill, sunfish, largemouth bass, crappies, perch, carp and bowfin. "They're dead or dying in canals down south of Metro Beach Metropark and in some canals off of South River Road," Thomas said. "Some fish have been dead for a couple weeks, some died more recently, and some are freshly dead or dying. That tells you this was not a one-time event." Thomas said a combination of "winter stress" on fish coupled with "fluctuating lake temperatures" often result in the death of thousands of fish each spring. "This type of situation looks like a typical spring die off around canals and coastline of Lake St. Clair this time of year, much like we see in inland lakes," Thomas said. "We attribute it to water temperature changes. It may be 30 degrees at night, but 65 degrees by day; and the water temperatures fluctuate more in the shallower canals." Thomas joined Doug Martz of the Macomb County Water Quality Board on Thursday for a tour of dead fish-infested canals from Metro Beach to the Clinton River Spillway. "I've been here 30 years and have never seen anything like it," said Martz, a lake watchdog. "Is it just a winter fish kill?" Thomas said the fact that water cools or warms more rapidly in canals has a direct effect on the number of fish killed. "When we have cold nights and hot afternoons, it's not a good thing for fish already struggling from winter stress," Thomas said. "As water gets hot and cold it stresses those fish out even more." Thomas, who tested the oxygen levels in the lake Thursday, said the DNR has examined "this sort of pattern before in late spring." "It's a similar type of mortality over the years," he said. "It's common in inland lakes around the state. It's late springtime when you see this mortality take place." Harrison Township resident Ritten House said the thousands of dead and dying fish in his canal just south of Metro Park and Jefferson Avenue was caused by something "more than winter stress." "I think it's chemicals," House said. "You never see the bluegill die off like this. They are a good indicator of water quality. Something killed them." Thomas said no sewer overflow events have occurred this month and there have been no reported incidents of chemical spills from Sarnia, Ontario, Canada, to Detroit. Still, the news was difficult to stomach for Tony Vadio of Harrison Township, who said he purchased a fishing license but decided not to venture out on a beautiful sunny day. "Who wants to go fishing now after seeing this?" Vadio said. With dead and rotting fish in canals, Thomas said the best-case scenario is for strong winds. "If they're lucky," Thomas said, "the wind shifts and takes them away."