Dr Hook

Not much going on out there this morning. Set lines in 50 fow straight out at 5:15 AM and took first hit in 95 fow at 6:15, landing an eater-sized king. Made another pass back in but no takers so went out to 100 fow and began marking fish. Made a couple passes from 100 - 130 but again no action so began heading west marking fish sporadically out to 170 fow. Radio chatter seemed to indicate others were having slow action inside so continued to head west and pulled lines at 230 fow. Did manage to take another small steelhead at 215 fow. Hits came on braid dipsy set at 3 90 feet back in 95 fow with UV/Crush spindoctor and the Big Weenie Last Brunch fly again. Steelhead came on 5 color with an old SS dark blue/dark orange spoon of which I no longer remember the name. And that's all I have to say about that.

Thanks for the report. Hope to be out tomorrow morning. The info should come in handy:thumb:

Well done there, Bob.

Early bite was key today as fishing was deathly slow after. Went 6 for 6 from 5:30 AM to 6:30 AM fishing 60-75 fow. Deepest lure was green spindoctor with white fly off rigger 50 feet down. Only ran dipseys and riggers and everything went off. All were nice kings on east/west troll. After the initial flurry, made 2 more passes with no success and began heading out. Finished in 190 fow picking off 2 undersized lakers and a small coho and another small fish that got away. 9 for 10 despite very slow fishing after the early bite. As far as lures go, pretty much ran the same set ups as yesterday.

Back at it again this morning, a bit earlier than yesterday. Left the pier heads at 5 AM and noted temp in close had dropped a couple of degrees from yesterday morning (down to 46) so slowed down and started marking fish in 50 fow. Set lines and lost a double at 5:30 in 80 fow with simultaneous jumping kings tearing up my spread. At 100 fow but the time the mess was squared away and lines were back in, so swung around back to 80 fow and promptly landed both ends of another double. Made a third pass with no takers, so started heading west at 6:30. Did not mark any fish in the 80 fow range. JP Slammer King Killer on rigger 50 down. Big Weenie Last Brunch on UV Crush Spin Doctor on dipsey 75 back took one hit. Big Weenie Frosted Luke on green/crush glow spin doctor off dipsey 90 back took two hits. Somewhere between 80 and 170 a throwback king hit Stinger Blue Bubble spoon 60 down off a rigger. Took 2 more kings and a laker in 170 fow. Big Weenie Last Brunch with UV crush Spin Doctor on dipsey again this time 150 back. 300 copper with DW blue spatter back plug. DW UV crush paddle off rigger 120' down with Big Weenie Jon's Little Weiner took the laker. Slow fishing today finishing 6 for 8 over 7 hours.

Set lines in 100 fow and trolled out to 190. Went 4 of 6 with most hits coming from 160-180 fow though most boats seemed to be fishing 120-140 range. First two hits were kings on 300 copper with Dreamweaver blue spatterback plug. Then took a coho on Moonshine RV blue flounder pounder spoon off a rigger 75 down. Missed what I presume was a coho on Moonshine agent orange spoon. I was bringing up my deep rigger to change lures when it caught the rigger cable and released the Agent Orange spoon. As I was reeling it in, it was hit by the fish. Was small and did not have the steelie tail. Lost a pig on Silver Streak pink panties spoon on 150 copper. Fish was taking line with the board underwater when the backing gave way. Last on was a king on a Dreamweaver UV paddle with a Big Weenie Jon's Little Weiner fly off a rigger 110 feet down. See you all out there again later this weekend.

The Outdoorsmen didn't have any trees earlier this week, but they would probably order for you like they did for me.

Probably yes. I'm running more UV this season than last but don't have enough of it that I can run it on every line to know for certain. More than once in the past I've changed a spread that was working ok only to have it go dead rather than better. I'm sure the same thing could happen with UV.

Good job! Gotta love those fronts moving in:)

Ran south out of Holland and began marking fish in 80 fow just north of Saugatuck, so set up there and began trolling. First hit came on glow mixed veggies on downrigger 40' down in 95 fow. Next hit came on braid dipsey set at 3 75' back with UV crush spindoctor and Big Weenie Last Brunch in 100 fow. Made it out to 120 fow and took another hit on the other braid dipsey 90' back on 3 with green/blue UV spindoctor with Problem Child fly. Getting ready to pull lines and 150 copper went in 130 fow with DW SS UV Jagerbomb. Finished 0 for 4 but 3 got close enough to tell they were nice kings. Net skills a bit rusty and knocked off 2 at the boat. Marks were sparse and scattered and fishing was slow but at least we had a bit of action. First 3 came on SW troll, and last one on NW troll. Speed at the ball was 2.5 - 2.9. Surface temps pretty uniform at 52-53 degrees but down temps at 60 feet down dropped a bit going north, from 42 degrees to 40 degrees. And thanks again to Bob of Coralee for the tasty lunch at Jay's afterward.

Use it?!?!?! I'll probably check it everyday, until my boat goes into storage.

Guess its up and running now. Just checked the site.

Anyone heard anything about the Holland/Port Sheldon/GH wave buoy? I saw the Limnotech boat headed out of the channel Sat. morning but couldn't make out if they were carrying the buoy or not.

I would check the port reports to determine your starting depth. And determine how deep you fish based on marks and temps. I usually run SWR off deepest rigger and boards outside dipseys. Your pattern may work, but since I've never tried it I can't tell about possible tangles.

Acutally the date should be 5/4.

Were you down south by Saugy again?

First trip of the year is now under my belt. No major breakdowns and fish in the box, so I'd consider it a win despite the slow fishing. Didn't see much going on inside so set lines at 140 fow and headed due west. First hit came in 180 fow on west troll on braid dipsey 75' back on 3 with my favorite Big Weenie Last Brunch and UV spindoctor combo. Lost that one. Trolled out to 200 fow without a hit. Surface temp out there dropped to 40 degrees so we came back in on southeast troll and boxed a 2 lb coho on the same set up in 135 fow. Surface temp at that depth was up to 48 degrees. Continued to troll 120-140 of water with 2 more hits. One on Moonshine Super Shadow on rigger 75 down that came off. Last was 4 lb coho on JP Slammer King Killer on rigger 40 down. Saw some nice coolers with good kings at the Yacht Basin cleaning station.

I just wish it were larger like the Coast Watch charts.

SWR is usually run off a downrigger, but could be run as a 2 or 3 color on a board as an outside line. I would probably start with the SWR and a 150 copper. Then go to more and/or longer copper as you get comfortable running it. Tracks are definitely the way to go.

Stay sushi, my friend.

Seems that everything is warming up. http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/res/glcfs/glcfs.php?lake=m&ext=swt&type=N&hr=00

He's a young 'un. By the time he turns 50, $ 8 million may still only get him a 12' rowboat.

The eagle is cool, but ya gotta have priorities. Let's see the new boat!

Count me among the cheapo bunch. Or maybe not.........pick mine up every 2 years at Aloha Stadium Flea Market.

I have been running Cortlandt Flea Flicker mono for some time now. I don't know about the relative cost, but in my mind its worth it.