2MD

Went 4 for 5 with some of the kids & PUG A couple real nice hardy kings came on Copp200 scaley green size4 jplug - both in 93fow on a SW troll – the first at 5.30AM and the second at 8.20AM when we were pulling lines High Dipsey went on both sides too with spindoctors on em – out 180 and 200 Lost a beast of a steelhead on a slider frozen toad spoon down about 50 as well Spent the bulk of the morning unknowingly running the copp200 and copp300 on the starboard side tangled so that was unfortunate …the current and East wind was relentless so all things considered we were pretty pleased with how we turned out…

haha - thanks guys!

decided to troll again tonight didn't run out and setup until about 7.15PM radio was dead quiet & a couple guys fishing in that 130-160fow eventually we found em after zip-zag trolling south towards Saugatuck (off the sliders is where our fish came) went 4 for 4 (all at around 9.00PM with 3 of them coming in the form of a triple just like last night) all hits in that same 126-130fow as last night - SE troll was best 1 Laker about 10# on deep diver out 180 with meat rig white paddle 1 King about 9# from the looks on high diver out 200 with meat rig purple fish scale yellow UV 1 King about 17# from the looks of it on copper350 racket jaw spoon 1 King about 15# from the looks of it on low out 145 with meat rig green jeans PUG delivered again!

My son got em real good in that 72-95fow off Holland this morning with Randy from Wave Dancer (they went 5 for 8 with 4 salmon weighing 15# plus) so we instinctly returned to those waters but as it turned out the wind had flipped the lake and brought in warm water and nothing was really marking or biting in tight so eventually we slid out. Ended up going 3 for 4 Missed one on high diver out 180 with spotted Richard meat rig in 130fow southwest troll …then we got a TRIPLE at around 9pm… Got one on the rigger down 74 with green flounder spoon in 125fow west troll – 16# king (natural) Got one on high diver out 200 with green jeans meat right in 127fow southwest troll – 21# king (natural) Got one on high diver out 180 with spotted Richard meat rig in 128fow south troll – 12# king (plant) Hats of to the crew and especially PUG for all the hard work out there in the wind & waves tonight! PUG was getting nervous as the sunset because if we would’ve gotten skunked he was gonna have to swim home…

what a great night! way to go!

thanks! and let me check with PUG and see what he thinks... a fishing weapon he is

thanks guys and yes Kevin the cat went to live somewhere else bout 2-3 years ago

Went 7 for 12 out of Holland tonight on Parker – took the PUG as a good luck charm – if you rub his ears it is like a rabbits foot and just overall he serves as a good luck charm Got a slow start mistakenly trying to find em in tight based on some info we had gotten out of GH (for the first 2hrs we only had one hit) but eventually come 8pm had em dialed in real good right in that 115-119fow Starting at 8pm for about the next 90 min we ran a south troll starting at around Tunnel Park and ending up down off Castle Park and in that time period we had 13 hits and managed to capitalize on 7 of them All Salmon… no Lakers Had a couple two or three “biggies” in that 10-15# range that got us real excited & were a blast to fight! Then though after sunset we connected on copper300 with an insane bite that dwarfed these other guys… fought it for a full 50 minutes jumping all over and constantly emptying the reel and eventually netted in the darkness a 27pound 38.75inch king – our biggest in a while at least for this time of year (we usually get our pigs in the fall for whatever reason) The crazy thing is that well after 10pm once we netted the big monster that we had slowed the boat down and were taking photos and cleaning blood off the deck and all a sudden the rigger slider goes off (makes sense because there was bait everywhere) so that one was a late night bonus fish to add to the hopper I guess… Here is what worked for us tonight: #1 - rigger down 50: dancing anchovy/Mongolian beef combo - miss #2 - high diver back 160: spotted Richard meat rig - 7 lbs king #3 - rigger down 66: blue flounder/green flounder combo - 9lbs king #4 - rigger down 66: blue flounder/green flounder combo - 13lbs king #5 - high diver back 160: spotted Richard meat rig - miss #6 rigger down 66: blue flounder/green flounder combo - big king hit slider, came off, and did backflip by outboard in a matter of seconds. #7 high diver back 160: spotted Richard meat rig - 15lbs king #8 rigger down 66: blue flounder/green flounder combo - miss #9 rigger down 66: blue flounder/green flounder combo - miss #10 low diver back 130: purple fish scale spinny with yellow uv meat rig - 14lbs king #11 Copper 300: standard moonshine happy meal - 27LBS King #12 Cleaning deck in dark at 10:30 after landing big fish when rigger down 66 took a 10 lbs king 20230709_201328.mp4 20230709_205248.mp4

yes for sure and wow I cannot imagine running north in that solo - impressive man!

what trolling direction(s) worked this morning?

very nice! may give it a go tonight so what you just shared is super helpful...

we don't use fishhawk but SOG trolling south was best 2.5-2.9 trolling north was 1.9-2.1 got kinda violent rough out of the north late morning and current was coming at us for sure

6 for 9 one 24pounder and also a 20pounder all hits between 112-118 fow south troll was best but north produced too here's what worked: Green Jeans meat rig - 4 hits on low diver out 100 Happy Meal Standard size - 3 hits on copper 300. Kevin's girlfriend meat rig - 1 hit on low diver out 125 Chrome two-face spinny and fly - 1 hit high diver back 160 Blue flounder / green flounder standard size rigger combo- 1 hit on rigger down 75 IMG_0855_1.mp4 IMG_0856_1.mp4

trolled in the dense fog while bringing the Parker back around from Port Sheldon to Holland tonight took us a bit to find the fish but at around 8pm we had em cornered and the action in the 90min that followed was pneunominal 5 for 7 1# Spotted Richard 8inch spinny meat rig combo on diver back 110/Roughly 55 down. 102 fow 2# Same Spotted Richard Meat rig on diver back 110 92 fow 3# Same Spotted Richard meat rig on diver back 110. 92 fow 4# Copper 300 with standard moonshine spotted dolphin. 102 fow (our first salmon to exceed 20# this season) 5# Chrome eight inch paddle with green crinkle fly . Rigger down 72. 95 fow 6# Same Spotted Richard meat rig on other diver back 115. 92 fow 7# Chrome and Crinkle on rigger down 72. Rifled off clip, ran out 450 feet, turned back and ran towards boat before stopping and spinning hook up in leader and coming unhooked. (BEAST - would have loved to have seen how big this one was - see video) 20230701_213732.mp4

well done man!

wish you were wrong but think you're probably right! regardless, we will have fun trying and we aint after no 3 year olds... we want the behemoths so we can put em on the wall got a 41.75 inch male on Oct1 2019 (Saugatuck mud - freezing rain sideways east wind howling) got a 42.5 inch male 3rd week in Sept last year (Holland Channel - 11 footers banging pier from the North)

uggh... bad sign they weren't even biting down in Saugatuck stay tuned kids and I may brave the rain and give it a whirl a few more times in Holland Channel in the next 48hrs... if they are gonna run and however many are left this cold front has gotta be last call

finally some colder water so decided to give the mud and channel a shot fished a couple hours... was honestly a little disappointed that there were not more fish eating in there had 3 strikes... all in channel and east of big red... only one stayed hooked up - size3 plug 15 down on rigger anyone else figure something out with the salmon run here off holland or even saug then sure appreciate info!

GREAT fishing tale Kevin from last night and I know it was all true because i was out there witnessing it! Impressive as heck that is all that traffic and chaos you scored some kings! there is nothing quite like fall fishing... I love it, even when I strikeout

my son was nice enough to track and type out our setup that worked: #1 Wonderbread size 3 plug – 5 color #2 Standard size Rv Flounder pounder – rigger #3 Scaly Golden size three plug – rigger #4 12 inch Purple Fishscale paddle with Honey Phil Phil fly – diver #5 Chrome Redhead size three plug – diver #6 Chrome redhead size 4 plug – 5 color #7 Scaly Green size three plug – rigger #8 Scaly Golden size three plug – rigger ...and Aaron he apparently knows you and was gonna just message or call you about leader length... decent but not extreme I'd say... definitely use 40-50# mono because they take a beating

6 for 8 off Holland this morning You ought to be able to tell from the photos where we were smoking em! Sad truth is we did poorly out in that 50-70 at sunrise and the crew was pretty much despaired and giving up and then Mid-morning I trolled us straight in and right there heading in we had 3 go off almost instantly Some nice big fillets! Size3 and size4 plugs mainly Although 12” flasher took the biggest They were pissed off and fought great! Dead calm beautiful morning and noboddy around us…

take that back... i see here you shared LOTS of info... think it is about time i dig out the legendary blue bubble spindocter based upon what you weote hey keep me posted if you get out again soon in the next few days especially if you find em in by the piers and I'll do the same... on 68 i go by Parker

haha - yes sir lil fibber - way south and skinny water at the end... but yep that was us setting up by you off tunnel in the beginning... shoot man we were so excited and figuring we'd 3 man limit when we scored on that triple at 6.40am in 78fow east troll but unfortunately we had so many tangles and counter carnage in our gear coming out of that it took a while to recover and we ended up just 4 for 4. Seen you glowing up baits. Did you get into em some? if so share info please. Yesterday was a better bite (went 3 for 12) but who knows... tonight my son is out there with my buddy and they aren't getting em too strong either... couple sheep and a small salmon is all so far.

nice work your fish were up high and later in the morning... think I seen you out there