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Mega Byte

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Everything posted by Mega Byte

  1. Thanks for the reports. I heard of some nice kings being taken up at Manistee this weekend. They're spreading out.
  2. Some debris, but I think it was less than last week. Sent from my LG-Q710AL using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App
  3. The surf shop is right next to the fish cleaning station: 301 N Harbor Dr, Grand Haven, MI 49417 You won't be able to park your boat and trailer by the fish cleaning station, but there is a parking lot to the SE about a block that is usually open. I'm not sure if you can pull your boat up and park to clean your fish. I've never seen anyone do it. Seems like there would be room for one, maybe two boats, but I have no idea if that's allowed. I trailer the boat there, loop through the parking lot with the boat and unload the cooler, then go and park the boat.
  4. There's a public fish cleaning station on Chinook Pier. You can launch at Harbor Island, just bring boots. 2nd dock from the left (or maybe it was a 3rd), has a board missing in an area of the dock that is underwater. Be careful in the dark because you won't see it without a light. Some of those well-submerged docks are getting a nice coat of slippery algae on them.
  5. The ramp is still flooded but useable. After hitting Lake MI I pointed the bow north and ran about 5 miles. We started setting lines in 40 FOW on a NW troll. My new favorite setup - the slide diver - took a nice king in 51 fow. It was on a Moonshine Dancing Anchovy spoon. I had a 30' lead behind the #1 slide diver with the o-ring and it was set to a #3 setting. I let out 150' of line between the diver and the rod, so 180 ft total. Going from memory here, but I think that gets the bait around 35' down. We got that bait reset and the low diver fires in 55 FOW. It was mag dipsy diver with the o-ring on a 1.5 setting out 70'. The wire got stuck between the pullies and this king was just thumbing against it. We managed to get the big king in the net. He had bent one of the hooks before we could get the wire unstuck but was hooked with both of the other treble hooks. While we posed for pictures with that fish, the Dancing Anchovy slide diver went again (still in 55 fow). Boated another nice king. We spun around at 70 fow and headed SE to run over our other marks. In 68 fow on a SSE troll the other slide dive went. Same size, same settings, just with a Blue Flounder Pounder spoon. (all mag sizes by the way). We lost that fish due to poor coaching my part and a rooking on the rod who didn't know how the steer the fish. It kept going on one side of the outboard, then the other, and back, and forth, and back...it ended up shaking its head violently and throwing the hook about 5' from the net. It was a small king. No other hits as we trolled through our prior marks. We turned and headed west. In 90 FOW the SWR rigger fires with another Rachet Jaw Moonshine mag spoon. The ball was down 25' and the bait around 30' - 35'. Still working through some rookie mistakes here and he steered it right into the downrigger cable. Got it out of that and he kept reeling fast and I couldn't get the net down in time. He swam right under the net and the swim platform and got a hook caught in the net, started shaking and popped off. First time I've lost a fish due to poor netting in 5 years. It was another small king. Not really what we were looking for so we head West. Continued seeing some good marks, but these were deeper so we dropped the baits down more in the 50 to 70 foot range. We put out a 250 copper with a mag Blue Flounder Pounder and it took a nice hit in 135 FOW. Then the Rachet Jaw on the rigger went again. We had set it down to 70' but with blowback was probably closer to 65 or 60. So we had a doubleheader going. Boated the nice king from the rigger and he's in the net the high slide diver goes off again in 137 fow. (I can't recall if it was the blue flounder pounder or the dancing anchovy, but I'm leaning towards the blue flounder pounder.) If the fish is still in the net, and two are on the line, is that a triple? The fish on the high diver made some blistering fast runs. We got the king on the 250 copper netted and focused on the dipsy and he had run out 700+ feet of line. At 850 feet of line we pulled all of the lines on one side of the boat and started to circle him. He managed to 1025 feet of braid off at his max distance. Didn't want to set the drag any tighter for fear of bending a hook. Will all of the lines off one side, and we pulled the 250 Cu off the other side, we were able to more quickly gain line. The runs stopped, but it felt like we were pulling a parachute through the water. When we finally got him to the boat he was basically dead and literally being pulled sideways. We got him netted and noticed that the hook started out in the mouth, and there was a tear by where the jaws meet and after he threw the hook from his mouth, two trebles caught him in the side, right in the center of his body. (I'm a bit picky about having sharp hooks.) So a lot of that drag getting pulled was the boat driving away with a parachute fish behind it. We looked at the DNR regs on this one and they say you can't retain a fish if it wasn't hooked in the mouth. Well, this one was hooked in the mouth, then it was hooked in the side and the fish was basically dead so we decided to keep it. So, after just finding the fish my guys inform me that we have to get back to the dock so they can do farm work. So we pulled the rest of the lines and headed in. We tried to keep the SOG around 2.5 - 2.9. I lost a probe on the prior night's trip so I don't know the speed at the ball. Here are pictures of our four bigger kings. I couldn't find my digital scale and the cheapo, backup dial scale from Walmart wasn't working so I have no idea on the weight. We had one other miss in there somewhere, but I can't remember what it was on but I think the depth range was between 90 and 130 fow. Other interesting notes, we fished the prior evening right out front in 50 - 110 fow with nothing to show for but 2 for 4 in the steelhead department. (that's what drove us to head north in the morning) Also, Whitehall has some insane reports (20 - 30 hits) and there was a lady's tournament out of Grand Haven the morning of this report and a lot of boats motored north and I'm assuming they were heading to Whitehall. Overall, it was a great trip.
  6. None of the NBK hits and catches where on mags. Zoom in on some of the pictures and you'll see the lures we used. Sent from my LG-Q710AL using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App
  7. I've got the same TX-44 board, but I have an OR16 clip attached to the end. I played around with having the pull of the copper line and bait pull from the clip (so pull the board backward) or pull from the arm. It seemed to plane better when it was pulling from the arm. This was controlled simply by how I clipped the OR16 onto the line. Do your boards get pulled under water when they release? That's really my biggest complaint with them. We had one board that was underwater for over 5 minutes. You notice a huge difference once you get the board above water. It just seems like it would work a lot better if the board was able to free-slide to the surface, but yet not go down far enough to hit the bait. I've had boards pulled under with the regular Church board clips too, but they didn't seem to stay under as long. My theory is it's easier for the fish the pull the board under water once it has released. Maybe I just need to put more time into it and get a better sample size.
  8. Does anyone use a Sam's Pro Release on their planner boards and actually like them? I love the concept, but find the actual execution lacking. I find the fish more easily pull the board under water, so you are still fighting the board. Just wondering if anyone is using them in a way they really like. Sent from my LG-Q710AL using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App
  9. Here is a picture of the parking lot by the docks on Sunday. Lots of water. Sent from my LG-Q710AL using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App
  10. Great job. Sent from my LG-Q710AL using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App
  11. Great report. Thank you. Headed that way in a couple of weeks. Sent from my LG-Q710AL using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App
  12. Entering Lake MI, we counted 35 boats trolling inside of 50 fow directly in front of the channel. Looked like a slow moving dance floor. Decided not to dance and motored north 2 or 3 miles miles. Set up in 48 fow and headed NW. Took first hit in 85 fow. Spent most of the morning working 85 - 110 fow. Here's what worked: 100 Cu. 85 fow steelhead UV orange moonshine 200 Cu. 85 fow king. NBK 105 fow miss NBK 127 fow miss NBK 250 Cu. 105 fow miss Blue Founder Pounder 300 Cu. 95 for king. Green Flounder Pounder High slide diver, 3 setting, out 150 NBK, king in 105 fow High slide diver, 3 setting, out 160 blue flounder pounder, laker in 127 fow Rigger 95 fow, SWR with a NBK spoon, ball @ 40, bait @ 50. king Speed at the ball was 2.5 - 3. All trolling directions took hits. Much of the time we were 5 - 6 miles north of Grand Haven. After NBK produced early, I put more out and they delivered. Ran a blue spin doc and fly, no hits. Kevin's girlfriend meat rig, no hits. Big white paddle and fly on a rigger, no hits. Mixed veggie, no hits. Sent from my LG-Q710AL using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App
  13. I am happy with my fishhawk. Sent from my LG-Q710AL using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App
  14. I am heading out of Grand Haven in the morning. [emoji1696] Sent from my LG-Q710AL using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App
  15. Extra credit for posting pictures with the baits still in their mouths. [emoji106] Sent from my LG-Q710AL using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App
  16. Here's a good read from the MILWAUKEE JOURNAL. https://amp.jsonline.com/amp/3756392002 Sent from my LG-Q710AL using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App
  17. I would think by now the meat bite would kick in. We'll be over there in a couple of weeks. Thanks for the report.
  18. Nice job. I am using slide divers for the first time this year. They are catching a lot of fish for me. Sent from my LG-Q710AL using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App
  19. We motored Southwest out to 210 ft of water and spun around set lines and trolled back in. We didn't mark a fish until 130 ft of water. We didn't have a hit until 84 feet of water. It was a 8 pound King on a green flounder pounder. The bait was presented about 35 ft down. I heard someone else on the radio who got a king in 60 feet of water. That was the only hit we got tonight. We went into 60 and back out to 90 before pulling lines. Sent from my LG-Q710AL using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App
  20. Good luck. I've got a trip scheduled to June 7 & 8.
  21. This report was for May 18 by the way. Sent from my LG-Q710AL using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App
  22. Left the pier head at 6 am. It was a wet ride out to 60 fow. The bow would splash into a wave and the strong N wind would blow it into the boat. Started 0 - 2 with hits coming in 92 and 107 fow on our NW troll. Had our first king in 113 fow. We fished 100 - 125 fow in the early am, but eventually started working 125 - 150 from noon until weather pushed us off the lake at 4. Later in the day, 135 - 145 was the best water. Took 6 kings and 5 lakers, even though we didn't target lakers. Missed some nice kings. Big fish was 24 pounds. 100 Cu took 3, 200 Cu and 250 Cu also took fish. (All my Cu lines also include 1 color of On.) Riggers, high and wire divers also took fish. Basically worked from the 100 Cu down to 80' down and took fish everywhere in between there. Speed was 2.5 - 2.7 @ the ball. NBK blue flounder pounder and green flounder pounder had the most hits. Moonshine UV orange took a nice king. Kevin's GF Sprin doctor and meat took 2. Blue spring doctor and fly took 2. Most hits were on spoons and the favorite colors contained green. Sent from my LG-Q710AL using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App
  23. Thanks for the great report. We will be out Saturday.
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