Whatahoot

We fished Holland Saturday 6:30-12:30. 1/1 with a 14 lb Laker and a throwback Laker. Both on DR 110 down in 125 fow, south troll. Setup in Mac, trolled out to 1/4 mile past piers, nothing but grass. Went out to 100 and reset lines, a dozen boats south towards Saugatuck in 130-140 so we trolled South until 9:30. Not even a release and radio silence so we turned around to take a break going Dow wind. Pretty rough 1-3's on the nose so we pulled the riggers for the turn and as I released 2nd rigger there was a dead heavy load on the line. Thought it was snagged on the rigger somehow... then it twitched it's head.... It may have hit it in the turn? As I released the rigger? Hell, who knows how long he may have been there?! The damn thing came up to the top in about 5 minutes and then it took another 10 minutes to get it in the boat as it's mouth was wide open. Kinda like reeling in a 5 gallon bucket! Only "hit" of the day. Better than a stick in the eye and a great day on the lake with my buddy!

LOL! I'm with you Kevin! Although... Cost of getting out of my wife's hair for a couple of hours? Priceless!

Nice solo, thanks for the report!

Thanks for the great report! Sorry to hear about the motor trouble Interesting to see your 300 Cu w/double or spoon hit, exactly what we hit last time out for a 30" King. I never thought to put orange down that deep until my buddy suggested it (after a couple hours of washing lures...) Hah! Best wishes with the motor!

Thanks for the report, great 1st outing, smiles tell it all and the dog looks like it enjoyed it too :-)! Very cool! We had a similar "June" outing Friday night out of Holland, fished 5-9pm, washed lures in 100-150 fow until 8:15 when the sun got lower and hit a nice 10lb King on 300Cu with a Orange Chilly Willy in 104 fow. Landed by a guy who doesn't fish much. What a blast!

Now that's awesome!!!! Start em' out right

Thanks for the report, very similar to our last two trips... early bites and nothing after 9am! Planning on going out tomorrow PM, looks like we'll be starting shallow...

Absolutely, thanks! Sent from my iPhone using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

Holland 5/21 12-3 pm Quick shakedown trip with my buddy Ken, 1 for 3 and a 15 in. King we released safely. We hadn't seen any reports from the morning following the storms and east winds so we put lines down in 80 fow south of piers, half way to Saugatuck. North troll, 2.3-2.5 SOG. Winds were SSW and got choppier as the afternoon went on. Our one fish in the box came 15 min's after first rods went down, 10 lb. King on 225 copper with Mag Blue Dolphin. Thought we were on for a decent day as we were marking a few decent fish. Nothing for the next 1-1/2 hours so we circled back south to our 1st fish spot and hit a screamer steelhead on a rigger free slider with mag blue flounder. Ball was 50 foot down, 2.5 SOG and 49F. We got it to within 10 ft. from the boat and it surfaced, zig zagged behind the boat twice and then danced on top of the water 30 feet sideways, right into our dipsy line. Bang, gone! 10 minutes later our chute flat line with a 4oz. dive bomb and plain regular sized silver spoon (left over from the 80's) went off screaming, set the hook and held on for about 30 seconds and lost it. Damn! Ended our day on a rush, the boat ran great and skunk out of the box... so can't say we had a bad shakedown!

Thanks for the article! So, what is the growth rate of the Ludington Ciscos? I tried to quickly consult Google but found nothing... Can one assume if the lake trout like them, they are taking the yearlings? Two year olds. Just wondering

Congrats Bob! Jealous! Our Wellcraft 232 Fisherman is 2 years into big lake fishing with some success but still learning I am still working and have two more years to get through, I may have to burn a few vacation days to come out and learn how to do it!