OuttaTheWoods

Started prefishing for the Muskegon Tournament 7-9 out of port Sheldon, hit a king early in 70 fow, trolled around in 60-100 for a couple hours after that with only one hit before moving out and finding 3 nice kings in 150-180. 200 copper with orange spoons and diver back 125 took the fish. Friday fished out of Muskegon for the first time, started fishing out of the pierheads as fog was so thick you couldn't see 50 yards anyway. Lots of traffic in front of the piers with a few fish being caught but just wasn't happening for us. Started sliding out after a few hours without a hit and started picking up fish from 120-190 fow mid morning. 200 copper with double orange crush took two more hits, diver back 165 with big white paddle and green fly took a nice king, 400 copper with spotted dick meat rig also took a hit around noon. Saturday we went against the flow and went south while most boats headed north. Bypassed the shallow water this time and started in 120 fow working out. Took a king 96 back on a diver right off the bat and promptly lost it in the prop wash. Finally started a slow pick and boxed 3 kings and two lakers before the bite shut off around 10:30. Fish were deeper coming on 400 copper with meat, and 175 back on divers and 90 down on riggers with white paddles and flys. Nothing on the high coppers all day. Our day 1 was good enough for 8th place. Sunday we stuck to our guns and headed south again while 75% of the fleet went north. Started picking up fish right away putting 7 in the boat by 8:30. Only managed two more hits that we lost the rest of the day. Two 14lb kings came 150 down on a diver, 4 lakers came deep on 300-400 coppers, and a 9lb steelhead came on a 230 copper. With 5 fish limits hard to come by, our consistency earned us a 3rd place finish in the AM division. It was a beautiful weekend on the water, and other than dodging commercial nets we had the lake to ourselves both days. Fishing is still tough, but there's a few to be had if you can get on them. Good luck!

2/3 tonight out of PS. 9lb king and 12 lb laker. Lost another king I believe. 140 fow, 60-100 down. One hit on meat the others paddle and flys. Nothing spectacular, but keeping the skunk at bay.

3/4 out of port Sheldon tonight, 14&8 lb kings, 5 lb coho, broke another one off. Took hits in 180, 160, 130 and 115 so no real depth pattern. Meat rigs took all but one hit. Everything 60-90 down. Good luck!

1/1 with about a 12 lb king. Took the fish before we had all the lines in and that was it. Fish came in 150 fow, 140 back on a wire diver on 3, mtn dew spin doctor with green fly. Worked mostly the 150-170 range before moving in towards dark. Lots of current and cold water. On a positive note took my 3 year old daughter out and she did great on the boat! She was however not pleased with the lack of fish catching...

Fished the WMFL out of holland 6/21. Ended up 7/11, all kings. Boated one around 12 lbs, lost another good one at the back of the boat, but most were in the 5-6 lb range. 120-140 fow was best, anywhere from 50-75 down. White death UV meat rig took three, blue dolphin UV took 3, and the rest was a mixed bag. Every single hit came on a roughly west or east troll. 90-100 fow looks the best on the graph right now, but for the second trip in a row we haven't gotten them to go in there. The action was pretty consisent from start to finish, outside of a triple to start the morning. Overall a nice day on the lake, and enjoyed our first WMFL event.

Outta The Woods is in. Been looking forward to giving one of the wmfl events a try!

Not much happening for us out of PS last night for us. Fished from 35-135 fow going 2/3. Couple bait balls in shallow, marked the most fish around 90. Hits came in 90-120 on a 7 color, rigger at 40, and rigger at 75, all spoons. The lake was glass lastnight, so at least got to enjoy the ride.

8/8 on our shakedown trip Saturday evening. Set up in 55 fow and trolled out to 150 without a hit. Picked up and ran out to 205 where we found the surface temp break and scum line. Finally started taking hits when we made our way back into 195 fow and had steady action after that. Two 15 lb kings, 10 lb steelhead, a smaller steel, and the rest 4-9lb kings. Mostly coppers and lead core in the top 50 feet, however the two biggest kings were our only rigger bites at 45 and 54 down. One flasher fly bite on a diver, the rest spoons.

I was just doing the same calc as money pit on the payout, was actually surprised to see they paid out more than the total of the entry fees at the big red. Factoring in the dinner and lunches, slip discounts, etc, it's really not a bad deal at all.

I don't think anyone is making a living off off running these tournaments if that's what you're driving at. I don't know enough about the costs to break it down, but I do know most of the people running and working at the host tournaments are volunteers, so I don't believe anyone is breaking the bank on entry fees.

That price seems to be the going rate at most of the larger events. I share my expenses with crew members so its usually not to unmanageable, but I also don't slip my boat or have a gas hog. Holland seems to put on a pretty good event for the money, with a barbecue all 3 days and payouts to a large number of places, but that can vary by tournament. I don't have a ton of money to throw around either, but I enjoy the atmosphere at the tournaments enough to make it a priority. I also enjoy the smaller one day events, but higher stakes of the large tournaments do seem to ratchet up the excitement level.

Blacks have been great.

I've had a transom and some other touch up work done at Bowkers. They did an awesome job. Would recommend them in a heartbeat.

5/8 out of Holland last night, two kings weighed in between 18-19. Worked 70-100 fow, most hits were in the top 50 feet, riggers, divers, and coppers all took fish. Green spoons and green meat rig worked the best. Weighed a fish for a guy that pulled into the dock next to us that went 25lbs! Nice to see there are some hogs out there this year

Nice job!

4/6 from 5:30-6:30 before the surprise rain kicked us off the lake. Fished 200+ fow, getting hits between 50-100 down. 2 kings and 2 coho, big king was 18.5 with a couple solid rips on the two we lost. Would have loved to fish out the night with the fast action, but good to get some rain anyway.

The salmon haven't moved into the bays yet, but you can catch lake trout along the west and east banks of the bay in 60-100 fow. The hole is out in front of the boardman river, but it's more of an August-September spot when the fish are staging to run up the river.

2/3 out of Holland. A 14 lb king and a 19.25 lb king, but they are still tough to find. All 3 hits came on meat rigs, two were 140 down on a rigger, the big king came 375 back on a mag wire diver set on 3. Hits were between 180-200 fow. Not sure why the kings are still so deep, seems to be a decent temp break setting up much higher.

Thanks for the report!

Good to hear. Thanks for the report

It had been two seasons without so much as a whiff of the black and white kitty near my boat, now I'm coming off back to back kitties last Friday and Sunday evening. Starting to feel like I may never catch another fish again!

I certainly don't expect people to chip in, but I also won't turn down donations for gas. Most people at least have a sense of how much gas costs so they will chip in something. I do enjoy taking people out on their first salmon trip though, so occasionally you'll get someone that just doesn't have a clue, which is ok. I will say though that people who I can count on to chip in usually get rewarded with the first invites. Tournaments are a bit of a different story though, anyone that wants a share of winnings has to pay a full share of entry fee and gas.

Unfortunately I have to cancel, can find a crew for about anytime this weekend but Saturday morning. Will try to get in next time, good luck out there!

I'll give it a try. Boat name is "Outta The Woods"