jdh

I go with 6-8 wraps with the mono and 10-12 with the braid.

Awesome!

Tie a section of leader 3 to 6 ft long with snap swivels on both sides. Clip your spoon to one end. Then, after you set your rigger normally, pull the line towards you and clip on the other swivel to the mainline. Throw the spoon so it's trailing and watch it sink down on the rigger rod line. Usually it will run about 2/3 of the depth your ball is at. If the ball is 60 ft, the slider will be about 40 ft

Some pictures:

Was going to stop in Pentwater but cruised right on past and launched at Ludington instead. My fishing buddy was only running on one hour of sleep and wasn't as quick getting ready as normal so we got a later start than I would have liked. But we had lines in the water at 6:30 am starting in 85 fow and trolling west. Not fast fishing, but steady all morning. At 11 am we were sitting 8/12 with 4 kings and a steelhead in the box. Let some 18-inchers go boatside to grow up some more. We decided to run west and ended up about 12+ miles west of port, and a depthfinder unable to find bottom (500 ft +? ). Water temp was 39.9 on the Fishhawk and my graph. Upon deploying 5 short long lines (2 through 5 color, 100 to 150 copper) with orange Superslims we began the troll east at about 4.5 mph. Once the surface temp reached 48 degrees it was game on. Wound up the day going 13/22 or so and finished out the box with 4 kings, 5 steelhead, and a lake trout. Was wondering if we were going to hit some big fish, and we had 4 chances and got 2 of them in. A 22 lb male and a 17 lb hen. The other two big fish had other plans. Smaller kings were about 6 to 10 lbs. Steelhead ranged from about 3 to 10 lbs. Laker was 5 lbs. Morning program: Riggers 45-65 ft down, divers back 85-110, 150 copper, 200 copper, 300 copper all took bites at some point. Stingray sized UV tape spoons with green on them worked. Also Pro King UV Taped flashers with green flies worked. Later morning, setting the divers back 215-250 took a couple hits. East and West trolls. 2.5-3.0 mph. Deep program: Superslims at speeds of 1.5-5.0. I kept changing speeds and directions and did a ton of circling once we found a group of fish.

Notes: 1. PLEASE TURN OFF THE WATER AT THE CLEANING STATION AFTER YOU'RE DONE. AT LEAST UNTIL THEY GET IT FIXED. 2. Alewives are in the channel and Lake Macatawa in huge numbers. Hunkered down near the bottom on our way out of the channel, jumping everywhere on our way back in. 3. No matter the forecast. If there's north wind involved its always bumpier than you would think. We launched late and it was starting to calm down, but took us a while to motor out to our spot. 4. If you're not marking any fish - move! Report: We started in 80 and worked out to deeper water. Graph was empty from 80-130 fow. Lots of 3 to 10 lb fish in 140-160 fow last night. Went 9-9 (8 kings 1 steelhead) in about 1.5 hours once we found them. Got dark, so we left. Glow spoons - mag & standards size spoons. Divers back 65-85. Riggers down 41 - 55. 100/150/200 Coppers. WNW/ESE Troll 3.0 mph.

Nice job! Fish have spread out quickly. Not so many numbers the last few days

It will probably change soon, but if you're going out again soon try fishing in closer. Fish have been shallower - 60-100 fow. 35-55 ft down .

Won't be fishing down there tomorrow. If I was I would be looking in 90 fow+. 40-80 ft down.

Mid 40s. I'm guessing the St Joe tournament will be an offshore deal this weekend. Warm water will push south tomorrow if the forecast holds .

I'll redirect you to this post next time there's a two fishing day weekend!

Due to the slow action in South Haven on Saturday, I decided to run south Sunday. Thank you Joe for joining me! Aftermaking it out of the pier heads around 7 am we set up in 45 fow outside of almost all the boats. We worked our way in and out to 70 fow with nothing and then shifted to a NNW troll to get to deeper water. Once we got 80 around 8 am, the dipsy fires and we got our first king of the morning. About an hour later the 100 copper fires and the slide diver fires. 2 steelhead, got the small one, but the bigger one got away. At 10 am we decided to make a change, so we pulled lines and ran about 6 more miles to the west setting up in 95 fow. First fish hit in 105 and then we had a ton of bites in 105-120 fow making big circles for most of the rest of our time out there. At first it was all kings with 2 about 18 lbs and 1 about 20. Then the lake trout started eating. We ended the day 16-18? Not sure because we let a bunch of lake trout go next to the boat. 6 kings, 1 steelhead and the rest lake trout. Everything from 40-110 feet down got bit. Most of the kings came on riggers down 60-70 feet with stinger uv spoons with yellow colors. Yellow tuxedo was hottest. Lake was glass calm. One smaller lake trout was stuffed with alewives.