jdh

pretty sure its 5-6 miles.

Fished from 3 until 9. 140-190 fow. Ended up 8/11. All fish smaller than 5 lbs. All kings. Three fish lost were much bigger and all bit in last 30 minutes in 155-140 fow. NE troll. Mostly on spoons. Blues, greens , glows, orange, gold.. no real pattern on color. 2.3-2.5 fish hawk speed at the ball.

I think the winds dictate where people fish off of Ludington. Bait can get pushed around. Most of the time I've fished, I've gone pretty straight out - and I've done very well in the past. I do know people will run north to the point - but I think that's more in July and August.

Thanks for the replies. I have all the gear - copper, leadcore, wire dipsy, mono dipsy, etc. I think I just need some more time on the water to figure things out and get on some patterns. My goal this weekend is to clean up the boat and get everything organized and labeled. That should help on the water. I need to get this figured out! -JDH

I'm getting frustrated with fishing this year. Haven't been able to get away from work when the weather is nice. Been too wavy when I've been free. Finally got a day I could take off work and hit Ludington this morning. Fished from 6:30 am til 12 going 3-5. 1 king and 2 drop back rough steelhead in the boat. Other two bites were kings. Bite from 80 to 220 fow. No pattern, other than 3 bites on blue dolphin. Still trying to figure out how my boat fishes. But I feel I can't catch fish anymore. Other boat were reporting 5-10 kings in the box. Need to learn to adapt to what's working I guess. I shouldn't complain, but I'm cranky and running on little sleep! Al that said, it was an awesome day on the water with my dad this morning even if the fishing wasn't great for us.

You've been fishing a lot. Love the reports. Wish I had a few reports to contribute but I've been too busy this spring or it's been bad weather.

Fished 6:30 to 9:30 am. Worked WNW from 120 fow out to 180 fow and then back in on a ESE into 85 fow. 1-4. Picked up a 7 lb laker. Other three hits were likely salmon. One was really big and straightened out 2 points of a treble hook. 160 fow (WNW troll) - Mag Diver on 2 with 8" MI Stinger Green Jeans Flasher and riverside fly back 189. 0-1 (big king) 165 fow (ESE troll) - Mag Diver on 1.5 with Hammer Time 10" Spin Doctor 1-1 (laker) 145 fow (ESE troll) - Downrigger 89 ft down - 8" Pro King Mt Dew Scum Line Flasher with Frosted Phil fly (chartreuce & flashabou). 0-1 (coho?, smaller king?) 120 fow (ESE troll) - Downrigger 89 ft down - 8" Pro King Mt Dew Scum Line Flasher with Frosted Phil fly (chartreuce & flashabou). 0-1 (big release, no one home) Waves were pretty tight coming out of the ESE leading to limited acceptable trolling directions for us. Didn't mark many fish in the cold water (55 degrees or colder) where we had most our lines. Lots of marks in the 70-60 degree water.

Bite's tough out there for some reason. Thanks for the report!

There has to be some other species down there other than kings. But I would think if they were sheephead we would catch some. We took two silver fish hits last night, both hits came at 3 and 3.3 mph. We tried fast and slow and in-between. The king we did bring in had 10 alewives her her stomach. -JDH

Similar story for us. We fished 95-115 down on riggers from 100 to 140 fow. Lots of big fish marks. Had two bites and reeled in a 22 lb king. Hit a white plug on the rigger. Other hit was a 300 copper flea-4-all spoon. Got off after pealing out 20 feet of line.

Nice job! Fished the same water with similar lures. Went 2-3. Lake trout and small king. Lost one big fish bite. 5:30am until 10:00 am

I've run 3 or 4 diver frequently late in the summer. It's effective! I use a mag dipsy with ring on 1 inside (low), and a standard size with mag ring on 3 outside (high). Have to sometimes get some help while setting divers. Setting the high first and low second helps. They will tangle occasionally.

Fished 5:45 am until 9 am. South trolls between 125-150 fow. Ended up 4-5 all kings between about 12 and 21 lbs. Mag diver back 200 with a white/green spin doctor and meat rig was 3-4. Kevorkian spin doctor on a slide diver back 185 too the other fish. Trolling speed 2.2-2.5.

I'm not even sure what to run anymore. Even with the poorer fishing the last few years I was usually able to dial in a program to put a few fish in the boat each trip.

Fished from 6:30 to 10 am. Worked 80 to 150 fow south of Holland near the sliders. Lots of fish marks and bait in 140 fow. One bite, and it got off. 200 Copper with a green mag dreamweaver spoon. That was all.

You yell back?! I want to take some friends some afternoon to troll some sheep up. Got a best sheephead lure?

I have a theory that's it's due to the drought. We didn't have the usual spring flooding the puts lots of warmer muddy water in the lake and helps the lake warm up faster. Ive found in the past, the coho and kings usually show up deep first before they move in. They just seem to have stayed deep this year.

Fished today in deep water after hearing about good fish offshore. Started in 180 fow around 6 AM and worked in and out to 205 fow with only 1 coho bite to show for it by 9 am. At 9 we pulled lines and ran to 275 fow where there was a surface temp break of about 2 degrees colder. Started picking away at coho and one steelhead there on North and South trolls. We were 6/8 by noon. At that point we pulled lines again and reset in 245-250 and put in a midday "king" spread and shortly after were rewarded with some bites. Pulled lines around 3 pm and ended up 12/15. Overall, our best speeds were 2.7 to 3.2 at the ball. What worked in 180-200 fow: Mag Moonshine Double Trouble - Rigger down 35 - 1/1 Coho What worked in 275 fow: Superslim orange spoon - 2 Color - 1/1 Steelhead Superslim Magic Man - 150 Copper - 2/2 Coho ProKing Protroll Chrome Flasher/Fly - Mag Diver back 155 to 185 - 2/2 Coho Superslim Michigan Dolphin - Rigger down 65 - 0/1 Coho (got off at back of boat) Stinger UV Blue Spoon with dots - 300 Copper - 0 /1 What worked in 250 fow: ProKing Mnt Dew Flasher Fly - 400 Copper - 1/1 King MI Stinger Green Jeans Flasher Fly - Regular diver back 155 - 1/1 King Dreamweaver Mag Caramel Dolphin - Downrigger down 59 - 1/1 King Stinger UV Blue Spoon with dots - 100 Copper - 1/1 King Silver Streak Mag Blue Chilly Willy - Slide Diver back 155 - 0/1 Superslim Magic Man - 150 Copper - 2/2 Coho & Steelhead

I half yelled your name, but we i recognized your boat too late. Nice job on the fish. Went to South Haven yesterday to do some scouting and got two lake trout. Heard from someone boats were getting coho in 220+ fow on the surface.