Whatahoot

Fished 7:15 - 11:00 am north of Holland on a SE Troll in 80-100 fow to Saugatuck and turned around back to Holland. 2 strikes and misses @ 8am in 85 fow, 1 on DR 40 ft down on Glow Grn Frog spoon, 1 on Dipsy on 1 setting back 60 back. Broke off when the ring ripped out of the snubber (2 yr old twisted rubber type), damn! 9:30a trying to reset a rigger for lakers when a cloud came over us in 80 fow SE troll, 2.4 mph at the ball. Bang, Landed 12 lb Laker on 250 cu on Grn/yell Big Weenie meat rig and a 7 lb Coho on same 250 cu rig. All in about 15 minutes. Put the rigger back down and never had another hit. Saved what looked link a skunk. Sent from my iPhone using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

I just talked to a CO this morning, here's what he said: "It would be situational, an Officer would ask questions, like is it a legal size and type of fish and in season? If all other things being legal, and it's a unique, one fish situation, I don't see it being a problem." This makes sense to me, actual common sense. FBD, Obviously the tournament situation you bring up would then be up to the discretion of the tournament. Again common sense. Good discussion!

Great trip, love to hear it when the plan works :-) Thanks for the report!

Thanks!

Thanks for the interesting feedback guys. I have had several friends ask me the same question. I honestly didn't think about it until today when someone asked, and they didn't know either... Only to say they and others have done the same. What I did think about at that moment was that there is no way that fish would have lived pulling all that garbage behind it. Heck, it didn't have the energy to avoid a slow moving net. Not sure how long it was suffering. Also not sure what the CO will say until I ask them but it seemed to be the humane thing to do (vs. turtle meat?). I will post what I find out :-)

Late start with my wife on board. We headed NW towards PS and had 3 lines down @ 8:30a in 85 fow on SE troll when my wife spotted a fish swimming on the surface (what the &/$@!?), we circled back on it and netted the 6lb King! She was pulling a wad of weeds with a green/yellow fly and green/yellow flasher with ~50ft of braid. She was calm until she was in the net... And then went crazy! Well, sorry for whoever lost the gear but thanks for the fish! We only fished 2 hours due to the flies, went 3 for 3 with 2 Coho and a King, so 4 for 4 ;-) 6lb King and 8lb Coho, both on SE troll in 100 fow on 250 copper with Speckeled Dick Meat Rig 5lb Coho - E troll in 85 fow on braid dipsey 100 back on the same green/yellow flasher fly we netted earlier! Hah! No fish to brag about, but going 3 for 3 (4 for 4?) with my wife was a great short trip, sure beat sitting at home!! LOTS of coolers full at the cleaning stations today, sounds like most boats were out before sunrise, glad to take a few leftovers!

Fished 180-225 from 9-1, not a prolific shakedown day but all it takes is a beautiful day and that one screamer to make for a fun day! 1st fish was a 15 lb King that took a Blue Dolphin 175 back on a dipsy. She took 3 long runs of about 100 ft each, the last with a big leap 300 ft back. Finally got her to within 25 ft of the boat and she refused to come in. Another 5 runs of 25-50 ft each with several of them with the dorsal and tail out of the water. Finally got her nose pointed at the boat and walked her in. What a blast! Caught 2 coho on the same 250 copper with the same Blue Dolphin. All three in 210-220 fow. Heard a few on the radio with good coho catches and a few kings. Just enough to keep us going back out! What-a-Hoot

Going out tomorrow for the first time in awhile... Any details? Trolling direction, depth, FOW?

I'll second your trash comment. There was also a sighting of a 40ft log floating just off the Holland Pier Sunday. Be careful out there, more rain this week should send more junk out of the rivers...

We fished our shakedown cruise Sunday morning 5/3 out of Holland, north down wind out to 50 fow, picked up one 12lb King right away on a 5 color with regular size Blue Dolphin spoon , marked nothing out to 70ft for another 2 hours. Went into 20 fow and caught 3 lakers, 2 on the 5 color w/ small gold spoon and one on a dipsey 50 back. We dragged 3 shaker Steelys across the mouth in the mud. Lost another nice king at the boat on a rigger 25ft down in 30 fow with gold spoon just south of the pier. The fish was still very green and zig zagged back and forth until it crossed a dipsey line. Trolled 2.3 - 2.8 all morning.

Drove from Grand Haven to Port Clinton last weekend with my brother in-law when his wife texted me to ask if he had noticed he left his cell phone at home? Uh, he does now! Seriously, I lost a prop one time 20 miles from a port in 200ft of water and the cell phone saved me a lot of grief. I had the insurance guy all lined up and the boat well ready to pull me before I hit their slip! Could save a life as a primary or back up to VHF.

Sent PM Rick Whatahoot

Perfect, Thanks!!!!

Getting ready to tie my first copper rigs, Silly question for Legacy... How do you tie the leader palomar knot to swivel on the end of your copper when the swivel is already hay wired/shrink tubed? Don't you have to pass the loop over the swivel? I wouldn't want to tie leader to swivel before shrink tube being heated. What am I missing? Thanks

Yesterday Port Sheldon was packed with ice flow all the way up inside the channel...

Thanks, still struggling as a newbie and trying to learn from my mistakes. We trolled SW first and then NE trying to find something to work. Generally ran 2.0 to 2.4mph down speed 2.2 to 2.6 gps so sounds like we could have slowed down a bit...

We were out there with you this morning fishing the same water. I agree tough fishing, but our 1 for 2 with a 4lb Steely makes your bad day look great . Steelhead hit rigger SWR but didn't trip it and went next door and wrapped around the dipsy and started pulling that drag out. We reeled in the dipsy only to find it hit the green ladder back J Plug on the rigger. Lost a small fish on the other rigger/meat rig when the clip broke in half on the snap swivel... Argh! What direction and speed worked for you? Thanks and good fishing for a tough day.