chazgreen

While our group of 6 couldn't get together this spring, I thought I would give you all a chance to rub it in. How is the fishing along the shoreline? I expect the browns are coming in by now. So here I sit in front of my computer instead of putting new line on! As always, thanks/Chaz

Arrived 4/19 afternoon to find rain and winds too big to get outside in our little 17 ft IO. Fished inside on White Lake & marked fish in 40-60 FOW; no hits. Friday & Saturday big winds out of the north provided little relief for us. Got out early Sunday AM and picked up nice kings in 80 FOW down 70 on blue/white paddle with blue dolphin; pearl paddle with white fly. Lost 2. Our second boat traved it out 180 to 210 FOW & picked up 2 kings, 2 coho & 1 nice brown. Dipseys out 150 on spoons, riggers down from 80 to 100 on spoons. Winds shifted from NE to north with waves building to over 3 feet by noon. Went to Muskegon Lake & talked to DNR census lady who said nobody was catching anything either inside the breakwall or in the lake itself. Waves worsened Monday at sunrise wo we packed it in & drove back to Detroit. Clearly we have much to learn about this new area. Hope to return next spring. Anybody have any advise? As always, thanx/Chaz

Thanks all for the response. Greatly appreciate the advice & counsel. It's a 3 1/2 hour drive to Whitehall & 2 of the guys still work, so this will be our spring fling for 2012. Will certainly hollar if we have luck. We are the ELISU & the DANCY. FISH ON! Chaz

Fishing Folks/ have read only one post out of Muskegon; 6 of us (2 boats) will be fishing out of White Lake Channel April 19th from Detroit area & am a little concerned. Is there nobody fishing out of this area because fish have not moved that far north in the big lake, or is it that nobody posts on this site from there? I am new to this site so I monitor it daily to learn from you all; thanks for your sharing each day. What a cool site! Thanks/Chaz

Thanks; I have a lot to learn/Chaz

Kids are our future; way to go/Chaz

This is new to me.......what colors work best for you/what size/spoon how far back behind? Can you suggest a retail outlet? As always-Thanks/Chaz

Thanks for the responses. I did spot several creeks that seem to drain into the big lake, both north & south of the White Lake channel. Will watch out for the shipwreck/nets. When we fished out of Onekama, we would turn north & set lines at the first of the "3 Sisters", a set of 3 small dunes about 1 mile north of the channel. We would troll body baits north to "The Slide", which is a very tall dune, then turn around at Pierport and do it again, and again, etc. Some days we would run the planner boards almost on the beach. Most fish were caught on the inside board out to about 20 FOW. Back 100 feet. Guess we will try this when we get to Montague/Chaz

I am new to this site and to Whitehall area; plan to go out the channel & fish the big lake April 19-21st. 6 of us had fished out of Manistee/Portage Lake Channel for browns for some 20 years, but the bites got fewer & we washed a lot of lures. Is there any shoreline structure where we might look for ( troll north or south?), or should we just troll body baits until we hit Muskegon? Appreciate any advice. Thanx/Chuck

We will be fishing out of Whitehall for the first time April 19 to 21st. Hope to find some browns inshore. Any advice? Is there any shoreline structure going north or south of the channel? Or should we just drag our bodybaits behind our planner boards until we hit Muskegon? We had been fishing out of Manistee/Portage Lake channel for some 20 years but we seemed to run out of fish & just washed off our lures day after day. I am new to this site, so I really appreciate a shout back. Thanx/Chuck