littleboat

What was the muskegon lake temp? I was there last Tuesday late afternoon , but the lake was pretty warm yet. Anxious to stock up on my walleye supply before it turns to ice and then do some ice fishing. The gums on the little fish were pretty white, but the tail wasn't quite as square as the typical SH. I'll probably keep hitting the big lake as long as the weather and docks permit, but in the less then better days, I'll be heading for muskegon in the evenings.

Fished 2-5pm, 20ft then 60-115ft, 2 for 1 -1/4, 4.71# Steelhead caught in 20 fow on slide diver, set on 2, back 56ft, with Ed Ganger Glo spoon, 2.3 sog, north troll. 2nd SH (1/4 guy) in 90fow on DR, down 75ft, back 65ft with Double Glo George spoon, sog 2.6 west troll. Released him back into the water. Top temp 54, bottom 53.7. Lake was nearly flat. Used my electric motor to transient dock area. Main motor ran great.

Lots of slime

Not a problem, I'll be using my electric trolling motor to get in and out the dock. Should be good fishing tomorrow. Weather is supposed to be great.

There were a few birds, I didn't see them chase the bait. I was too busy trying to unclog my main motor while I was fishing .

Fished 3-4pm, 60ft to 118ft. 1 for 2, steelhead, 3# on a happy meal spoon, in 104fow, on 175ft copper, 2.5 sog, west troll straight out harbor. Water temp 54 on top 53.9 on bottom. Put lines down in 60ft, happy meal was hit once in 85ft when big steelhead jumped 10+ft twice on the air and finally managed to shake the spoon loose and then again when I caught the smaller one in 104. The SH hard 2 small undigested minnows that he upchucked. Trip was short because my outboard got clogged with the launch ramp green slime and I couldn't get it out of the system. I had to run on my backup motor (6hp). I finally cleared it when I came home and flushed it out through the hose port on the outboard. I then ran it with ear muffs to make sure it was functioning correctly. Back out again tomorrow if the weather holds. I think I will he using my electric motor to get away from the dock or anywhere near the dock.

What was your wave action? Nice catch!

Sorry to here about your boat problem. I hope you are able to resolve it. Timing is everything with fishing (right place, bait and time). Extra rods helps with their attraction always help bring the fish to the ones that they finally bite on. More steelhead seem to be a little farther north, that's where I will go next time when the wind settles down. I have picked up more fish on ladder back type spoons lately, just not big ones. Good luck next time out.

Thanks for the information. I am just in a small boat and didn't want to go out to 200+ ft. for the colder temps. Steelhead are still in this temp range. I think going from 28ft to 135ft is covering a lot of area. I was marking a large bait pod and working it trying to pull some hungry steelhead out of it, but I wasn't successful. But there is always next time. Thanks again.

Bads news about the bouy. I know they are predicting 15ft waves in a day or so. Great catch by the way.

1 for 1/2. Fished 28ft-135fow NW of piers. Started with crankbaits and spoons. Picked up a small salmon on board with a happy meal spoon. Lake turned into 2-4ft chop. Went back into shallower water and waited for lake to calm. Headed back out and marked fish in 135ft but was unable to get them to bite on spoons or flys. Small salmon caught in 60fow 25 down, west troll. 2.5 sog Released him so he could get bigger. He was probably about 16". Water temp same top to bottom (56) degrees.

Nice catch! By the way what kind of dog fo you have?

Good luck, the lake has a 1-2 ft chop right now.

Yes, as well as the cleaning station.

I like the autopilot. Planning the installation was the time consuming part, especially on a smaller boat with limited space. I'm not familiar with available space on a center console. Pics of my installation attached. Hydraulic hoses are not cheap and you want to keep the sizes as short as possible. Make sure you have some sort of connection to a gps antenna via fishfinder unit (you will need the mfg cable to the autopilot) or stand alone golfball type which I did to use the patterns that the autopilots can do (zig-zag, figure 8s, cloverleafs, 180 turns etc). I'm not familiar with the lowrance autopilot and it's components. But they must be similar. Autopilots usual come with everything, but hoses, mechanical types for cable steer, obviously don't need them. I left room at my helm for a future larger screen unit and Fishawk. The boat happened to come with a 5" Lowrance 2nd Gen HDS with a built in gps. Hopes this help.

I remember seeing you. Good catch. I wanted to hit the big lake, but I was to busy checking the boat systems out. How deep was the bite on and what time did it hsppen?

It does, but I'm putting in some new kitchen countertops and painting the kitchen. I watch the weather closely and the "littleboat" is armed, easy to launch and ready to get up to muskegon and catch a fall walleye in between projects.

Yeah, you got me!

Good question, my wife always asks me the same thing. I enjoy different types of fishing. Alot of times (jigging etc ) the launches are too small or too shallow for a larger boat and jigging off a larger boat is much more difficult. I can can do rivers and small lakes etc when I do my walleye thing. Hence the "litteboat". This past summer I had to cut my fishing short many times and stay closer to shore because of the waves especially when it turned to chop. The larger boat lets me go the distance 200+ fow and feel safer. Now I can fish on more days under conditions that my littleboat would be borderline. It's a safety issue mainly as opposed to pushing the limits of a smaller vessel.

Thanks, the autopilot is a Raymarine EV-100 with a hydraulic pump since I have hydraulic steering on this boat (this boat is a 2102 Trophy with two 4 stroke motors). My "Littleboat " is mechanically steered so I have a Raymarine Sportpilot on it. The littleboat is a 16 1/2 ft Crestliner Sport Angler. On this new autopilot, I bought the autopilot, had the hydraulic hoses made up for the length I needed and installed the system myself.

FYI. 2 of the 3 ramps have been pulled out of the waterat each location. Took my new/used boat out for a spin before I winterize it. Just installed a autopilot and ezsteer system. Trolled a little bit for some walleye. Wife and I enjoyed a couple hours on the lake